“A Silent Hope” by Madisyn Carlin

Blurb

Can hope be found when everything seems hopeless?
When illness threatens her brother’s life, deaf peasant Calaine Kalen vows to do anything to save him—including finding work near a war-torn area overrun with giants and nefarious schemes. When war threatens Prince Renner Leorin’s kingdom, he vows to save it no matter what—even if that means convincing a surly former enemy to help.
She needs a cure. He needs a miracle. Can tragedy bring two unlikely hearts together, or will heartbreak shatter any hope of both love and saving those they care about?
A Silent Hope, a New Adult, faith-filled retelling of The Wounded Lion, is a standalone novella, complete with tropes like rags-to-riches, concealed identity, and a deaf heroine. It is part of the Hope Ever After series, a collection of twenty hopeful and uplifting fairy tale retellings. Each book is written by a different author, so it can be enjoyed in any order. The proceeds from this series are donated to the O.U.R. (Operation Underground Rescue) to rescue children from exploitation and trafficking.

My Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ & ❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎

5+ stars (7/10 hearts). I knew I’d love this, but I didn’t expect to love it this much. But it’s so delightfully new and different—while still being so Madisyn Carlin!! 

Of course, the worldbuilding is immaculate. And this time it includes lions (so unique) and GIANTS!!! Nobody ever does nonmagical or non-ogre giants and I AM HERE FOR IT. I’ve always loved giants in fiction!! Yeah, that’s probably 65% of my love for the book right there. It’s so cool. I loved Fald. And I loved the giants’ culture. SO. CRAZY. COOL. 

Speaking of giants, I loved the characters. Renner was a less typical Carlin hero, not being a great fighter and instead a negotiator/ambassador. MORE YAY! Also, his feelings for inferiority were more valid than most of the Carlin heroes and ones I related so well to. Sibling inferiority is a cruel snare. Renyssa and Conrad were awesome (petition for a novella about Conrad’s romance now????) and so were the parents, briefly as they appeared… And Celaine. She was so sweet and brave and natural. I loved her and she was so inspiring. And I loooooved the Deaf + ASL inclusion. <33 Also, Jared and the rest of her family were sweet, and the villains were so fun to dislike. Though I would have liked more confrontation with the traitor. 

The romance was kinda enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, which I love (I mean, they didn’t start out as enemies but Celaine thought he was, so….) and also included the royalty+peasant trope (yussssss). I loved Renner’s protection and Celaine learning to accept love and her own worth—worth being a big theme of the novel and SO well done in the two different circumstances of R & C. 

Yeah, this was just adorable and deep and so, so funny and all-around satisfying and perfect. ❤ 

*Quotes to come. I received a complimentary copy of this book for promotional purposes. I was not required to write a positive review. These are my honest thoughts and opinions.*

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Tags: coming soon.

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