Catherine Green - Life in the Palace

31. Life in the Palace by Catherine Green (2014)
The Palace Saga Book 1
Length: 257 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Started: 12 May 2014
Finished: 21 May 2014
Where did it come from? I originally downloaded a copy of this book for free from Smashwords. I downloaded a second copy for free from Amazon.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 21 February 2014 from Smashwords; Since 21 March 2014 from Amazon.
Why do I have it? I like fantasy and Catherine Green is a new author for me. I'm not exactly sure how I ended up downloading two copies of this book - I downloaded the first copy to be part of a Virtual Book Publicity Tour being hosted by Kathy at I am a Reader, Not a Writer. The second copy was an accidental download, but since it was free at the time I kept it.

Chloe Diaz's perfect older sister, Stacy had done the unthinkable when she hopped on the back of her boyfriend's motorcycle and rode off into the sunset. Her parents were furious, and so Chloe became the repository of all her parents' displaced hopes and dreams. It is becoming truly exhausting, so as soon as she's able, Chloe leaves for college several months early.

Once she's enrolled in summer school, Chloe's life begins to change in ways she never expected. She's more than happy to leave the super heroic, save the world missions to her new study partner, Tal - who claims that as one of 'The People', she was sent from 'The Palace' to maintain the cosmic balance between good and evil. Chloe assumes that this is code for "I'm a pamphlet distributing, incense burning, religious weirdo."

Chloe was certain of three things in her life: first of all, boys who looked as gorgeously suave as Seth Wilks never even looked at her twice; second, they sure as heck never claimed she was their soul mate (as appealing as that particular thought might be); and third, there would never come a time in Chloe's life when she would have to choose between following her heart towards her own happiness, and following a much different path towards her destiny. Chloe was wrong; the time for her decision has come...

Now the future of the world is in her hands, but what if the price is too great to pay? Chloe learns that, in the Palace, destiny is not enough...

I must say that I enjoyed reading this book very much. This was a very intriguing and unusual premise; slightly darker and grittier than most readers might expect when they think of religious-themed fantasy, but I found the characters sympathetic and well-developed, the story was well-written and kept my attention engaged through to the end. I certainly want to read the next book in this series - To Call Your Name. I give Life in the Palace by Catherine Green an A! 

A! - (90-95%)
 
May you read well and often