Aurelia by Anne Osterlund

“Aurelia, the crown princess of Tyralt, wants control over her own life. Robert, her former classmate, wants Aurelia. And someone wants her…dead. There have been several narrowly escaped attempts to assassinate the princess, but the king has no desire to incite panic by making the information public. Instead, Robert, the son of the king’s former royal spy, is allowed into the inner circle to secretly investigate and watch over Aurelia. Robert is determined to help, if only Aurelia would let him! But the princess will not heed the danger around her, and she does not need Robert to save her. Just as their friendship begins to grow into something more, the threat on Aurelia’s life becomes paramount. With everything possible on the line—her life, her kingdom, her heart—Aurelia must take matters into her own hands, whatever the cost.”

I have mixed feeling about this book. I was first drawn to it by the beautiful cover and the story sounded intriguing. I enjoyed the mystery (although, it was fairly obvious) and the relationship between Robert and Aurelia. The ending felt a bit rushed and left me wanting more. I try not to give spoilers in reviews, but it’s unavoidable with this one. So I will just say that throughout the story we hear how Aurelia’s mother left when she was just a little girl, the king leading her to believe that she had abandoned them. When Aurelia learns the truth I was hoping that she would be resolved to go in search of her mother, but there was nothing. There was a huge lack of emotion of Aurelia and again I was hoping that the path she chose at the end would be one in search of her mother, not adventure. There wasn’t any sense of justice for those involved, and it seemed that Aurelia just gives up what is rightfully hers to pursue her own life. This is odd because she claims to really want to know and help her people.

I read somewhere that this may be the start of a trilogy; I am hoping that is the case. Maybe some of my concerns will be answered in other books. This was Anne Osterlunds first novel, it is exciting to read someone first work, I do look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.