My review: NIA by Mella Reese

Nia, a 16 yr old princess with a penchant for healing, is stunned to learn that the "gift" her father's conquered enemy has offered is in fact a man. His name is Garreth, the fourth and therefore worthless son of a conquered king.

Nia is furious. He is not a gift--he is a man. And what does she need with a giant, muscular shadow anyway? But as kingdom intrigues unravel and Nia learns more about the world around her, she will become grateful to have Garreth by her side.

Nia is a good story. I found myself entertained, and did not close the book wishing I’d never opened it to begin with. The characters stayed with me for a time afterward; I wondered about them and whether Nia’s next venture would meet with success.

There were, however, two things that nagged at me. One, I found the language to be distracting at times. The more formal language would occasionally pull me out of the narrative. The other issue was, in the entire book, I can't recall what Nia looked like. I have, in my own stories, occasional forgotten to describe a minor character for my readers--but to not recall the main character's description bothered me. I even went back and re-read the first 30 pages and still didn't find one. Still possible I missed it, but it lessens the odds. :)

Overall, I liked Nia. The characters are entertaining; the plot plausible and definitely full of interesting twists. You can order your copy HERE. I would also strongly recommend you check out author Mella Reese's WEBSITE and BLOG.
Mella Reese is a native Nevadan and proud survivor of Cushing's Disease. She attended Brigham Young University in Utah and Hawaii before completing her decree in Special Education at The University of Nevada Las Vegas. Ms Reese lives in Southern Nevada with her husband, son and daughter.