Thank you to Rockstar Book Tours and Alex Lidell for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

Okay, so, honestly, I had no idea this was a reverse harem book. I just saw the cover and was like "Oh this is pretty, I want to read it" and only when I was reading did I discover that this was...different from what I normally read. But I genuinely enjoyed it and immediately went and got books 2-4 to read because this was just that frickin good. 

Plot:

Long story short, Lera is a slave that lives on the edge of a forest that separates the mortal and fae worlds. One day, several fae males (haha oh that word) come out of the forest and take her away because Lera has been chosen to be the fifth member of their quint. But a female human being bonded to an all-male (that word again) immortal fae warrior quint is impossible, a mistake. So they're off to the Citadel to have the bond severed. But the longer the five spend together, the more they discover that Lera holds more power over them than is safe for anyone, especially Lera herself.

This is definitely a first book in the series. Now, that's not a bad thing, but it sets up a bunch of things that will (hopefully) be addressed later on in the series. I really liked that this book moved fairly quickly because it allowed you to really get into the story and learn more about the characters as you progress. There was definitely a really good mix of action, romance, backstory, and plot/current story spread throughout and that was something I was so happy to see. Never having read a New Adult (or even a reverse harem book, for that matter) I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to the story/plot of one, but I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading! It wasn't super focused on one aspect of the story but, as I said above, a good mix of several different things all combined to make one really addicting story. I loved following Lera and her journey to kind of figure out just what her role in this fae warrior quint is and seeing how she interacted with the four guys as the story progressed. 

Characters:

I wanted so much more of all of the boys in this book, oh my goodness. I've been becoming more open to reading multiple POV books and this one was just a slam dunk for me! You get way more of Lera's perspective (which isn't a bad thing) but there were little sprinkles of Tye, Coal, and one chapter from River. When I say little, I mean little, but it was enough to make me want more! I'm really hoping to see more points of view from each of the guys in the rest of the series because I'm so interested to learn their individual backstories and how they came about being a part of the quint. They're all from different backgrounds and parts of this world that I would really love to see more about them and where they came from. I'm not sure if I have a favorite (okay that might be a lie, I really like Shade) but I feel like I'll end up liking each of them for their own reasons once I continue on with the rest of the books.

Lera was such a strong female main character who definitely was no damsel in distress and I really appreciated the departure from that stereotype that I tend to encounter in books. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind or even to say no whenever she wanted or when she felt uncomfortable, despite the abuse she experienced from her previous...guardian...? I said this above but I loved seeing her interactions with each of the four guys and how different each encounter or conversation with them was. But I really liked her character and I think that I can already see her becoming even stronger and more awesome as the series progresses! 

All of the characters, in general, were very well-written and I enjoyed not only reading the very short chapters from Tye, Coal, and River but also getting to see the four guys from Lera's point of view. They were all so unique and had great personalities and it was super easy to tell them apart, especially as the story went on and you got to know them a little bit better. I can definitely tell that these characters are going to be some of my favorites and I know that as I read the rest of the books, I'm going to love reading their development and learning more about them!

Writing:

Let me get this out of the way before I go into my thoughts on the writing in this book. I noticed as I started to read that the word 'male' was used...often. So often, in fact, that I went back to the beginning and started to count in my notes how many times the word was used. I also started to count the word 'female' just to see if there was an imbalance in the two words. But the total number of times that the word 'male' was used in all 226 pages of this book is 192 and 'female' is 40. I'm not necessarily annoyed by this or anything, it actually just became a game for me to keep a tally in my notes on the count and this was something that I, for some reason, really wanted to point out.

Alright, let's talk about the writing! I actually really, really enjoyed the writing in this book. There was just something very addicting about it and I don't know what it was. It was so easy to just sit down and read and not get distracted by anything else. It was a wonderful combination of easy to read, fast-paced, detailed without being info-dumpy, and just plain fun. Something I would love to compliment Alex Lidell on is her ability to write an addictive story. I really could not put this down until I finished it and then proceeded to pick up the rest of the series because, like I said above, it was just so good. I loved the plot and the characters so much and I wanted to know what happened next and I think I can say that it's because of the wonderful writing from Alex Lidell! 

All in all, I think that Power of Five is a fantastic start to a new-to-me series. The writing is so easy to read and get lost in, the characters are mysterious and fantastical, and the plot is fast-paced and addictive! I'm so excited to continue on with the series because this opening book was such a wonderful surprise for me as a reader. This has definitely gotten me interested in not only more of Alex Lidell's writing but possibly New Adult/reverse harem books in general. If you're looking for a fun introduction to a new-to-you genre of books, then definitely check out Power of Five!

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About the Author:

Alex Lidell is the Amazon Breakout Novel Awards finalist author of THE CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013). She is an avid horseback rider, a (bad) hockey player, and an ice-cream addict. Born in Russia, Alex learned English in elementary school, where a thoughtful librarian placed a copy of Tamora Pierce’s ALANNA in Alex’s hands. In addition to becoming the first English book Alex read for fun, ALANNA started Alex’s lifelong love for YA fantasy books. Alex is represented by Leigh Feldman of Leigh Feldman Literary. She lives in Washington, DC.

Join Alex's newsletter for news, bonus content and sneak peeks: www.subscribepage.com/TIDES 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Book Bub | Instagram

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Giveaway!

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Read Power of Five for free!

Get Power of Five: Amazon | B&N | TBD
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Tour Schedule:

Week One:
1/4/2019- Under the Book Cover- Review-Power of Five
1/4/2019- Writer of Wrongs- Excerpt- Power of Five

Week Two:
1/7/2019- Loie Dunn- Review-Power of Five     
1/7/2019- Texan Holly Reads- Excerpt- Power of Five     

1/8/2019- BookHounds- Excerpt- Power of Five
1/8/2019- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt- Power of Five

1/9/2019- Good Choice Reading- Excerpt-Power of Five
1/9/2019- Adventures Thru Wonderland- Excerpt- Lera of Lunos

1/10/2019- A Gingerly Review- Review-Power of Five   
             
1/11/2019- Burgandy Ice- Excerpt- Lera of Lunos

Week Three:
1/14/2019- Smada's Book Smack- Review- Complete Series
1/14/2019- Books a Plenty Book Reviews- Review- Complete Series

1/15/2019- Reese's Reviews- Review- Complete Series
1/15/2019- Parajunkee- Excerpt- Lera of Lunos

1/16/2019- Book-Keeping- Review- Complete Series
1/16/2019- Jaime's World- Excerpt- Lera of Lunos

1/17/2019- Bookbriefs- Review- Complete Series
1/17/2019- Abooktropolis- Review- Power of Five or Complete Series

1/18/2019- Love in a time of Feminism- Review- Complete Series

1/18/2019- Eli to the nth- Review- Power of Five or Complete Series
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Thank you so much to Rockstar Book Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour! I'm so happy that I was able to discover a new genre and new book series that I really enjoy and I can't wait to continue on with the rest of this series. Don't forget to check out the rest of the awesome bloggers on this book tour and also be sure to enter the giveaway above! Let me know in the comments if you've read Power of Five or the rest of this series and what you thought of it, or if my review helped persuade you to try the first book. Also, be sure to check out Power of Five which you can read for free from January 4th-8th by clicking right here. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in the next chapter!