The Affiliate Synopsis:

On the day of her Presenting, in front of the entire Byern Court, seventeen-year-old Cyrene Strohm’s lifelong plans come to fruition when she’s chosen as an Affiliate to the Queen.

Or so she thinks. When Cyrene receives a mysterious letter and an unreadable book, she finds nothing is as it seems. Thrust into a world of dangerous political intrigue and deadly magic, Cyrene’s position only grows more treacherous when she finds herself drawn to the one man she can never have…

King Edric himself.

Cyrene must decide if love is truly worth the price of freedom. Find out in this first book in USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde’s new Ascension series.

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Exclusive Excerpt:

“I see the way you look at her, Edric. Your eyes follow her, you dance the longest dances with her, and now, you’re sending her presents. I’ve known you too long not to know that this is unlike you. You’re not Kael. You don’t fraternize with the Affiliates who parade themselves in front of you, hoping for a scrap of your time. Yet here you are with this Cyrene. What is she to you?” Daufina asked.

At her question, Edric paced the long room. She watched him through the silence and wondered what he was thinking.

“You told me once that you would inform me if you wanted to take a mistress—”

“I do not want to take a mistress,” Edric snapped.

Daufina straightened in surprise. He never raised his voice with her.

“I apologize,” he said with a sigh. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Just talk to me.”

“Would you believe me if I said that I didn’t want anything to do with her?” His eyes were pleading.

“No,” Daufina admitted.

“No,” he agreed. “No, I wouldn’t either. I keep telling myself that I’m acting like a fool, Daufina, but then I see her again.” He stroked his chin as he tried to find the words. “She has this pull. When I’m with her, the throne slips away, and I’m just a man with a beautiful woman. It both intrigues and terrifies me.” He splayed his hands before him. “I can never be anything but the king…but when I’m with her, I want to be.”

Robin’s Review

In her acknowledgments, author K.A. Linde tells us The Affiliate was borne from her great love for reading fantasy and young adult fantasy. She explains The Affiliate has been a book that’s been “several years in the making.” Linde is the author of the Take Me Duet, and the Avoiding, The Record, and the All That Glitters series. Her typical writing falls into the new adult and contemporary romance genres. I was incredibly excited to learn Linde was writing The Affiliate! To the best of my knowledge, this is her first venture into the young adult fantasy genre. I really love seeing an author step out of his or her comfort zone, and it’s exciting when those efforts are successful!

Cyrene Strohm dreams of becoming an Affiliate. Although she was raised in a First Class family, it doesn’t guarantee her own placement in First Class. But on her seventeenth birthday, the day of her Presenting Ceremony, Cyrene catches the attention of handsome King Edric. She is named Affiliate to the Queen in First Class, just as her mother was before her. Even as the dreams for her future come to fruition, a whole world of court politics and intrigue opens up before Cyrene. She starts to notice strange occurrences and senses the presence of evil and deadly magic. King Edric and Prince Kael both vie for her attention, while she also garners the unwanted attention of Queen Kaliana. Cyrene has a long, dangerous road ahead of her as she navigates through the difficulties of her new life.

Linde plans at least four novels for her Ascension series, and much of the first novel is dedicated to world-building and the introduction of characters. She sets the Ascension series in a world named Emporia. Linde provides readers with a detailed map of Emporia to refer to while reading. This map includes locations of kingdoms, cities, mountains, lakes and rivers. Readers will also notice there is a pronunciation guide, which is important, because the names of characters and locations are unique and have unusual pronunciations. Linde explains the differences in the Class system, and she gives a very important history lesson about the Kingdom of Byern.

Linde begins The Affiliate with an intriguing prologue, sharing background information that immediately   piqued my interest. Don’t cast aside what you read in the prologue. In my opinion, this information will be very important to the entire Ascension series. From the start, I was captivated by the fantasy, magic and intrigue. Royalty and court politics. The energy that flows between Edric and Cyrene. If you look beneath the surface of the story, I believe there much going on that is just beyond our reach. We are given a wealth of information to speculate about, and I have many theories. This is the type of story that I thrive upon – a story full of mystery, clues and foreshadowing, and I’m looking forward to finding out if any of my theories are correct!

While I was in the process of reading The Affiliate, thoughts of this story were in the back of my mind during my workday. I couldn’t wait to get home to pick back up in my reading. Although there are moments in the story where the pacing felt a little slow, my overall opinion of The Affiliate is very positive. The Affiliate is a strong start for the Ascension series, and I have no doubt this series will continue to strengthen with the addition of future novels. I’m giving The Affiliate a 4.5 star rating, and adding it to my list of 2015 favorites! Congratulations to author K.A. Linde!

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K.A. Linde Bio:

USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde is the author of The Affiliate, the first book in the Ascension Series. As a military brat, she traveled the world with her family, imaginary friends, and ever-increasing supply of books. She has spent much of her life dreaming up new worlds and characters and forcing them into uncomfortable, usually life-threatening scenarios. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a masters degree in political science, she began spending every waking hour putting those characters onto paper.

When not writing, she spends her time dancing, collecting paperbacks in the hopes of filling a Beauty and the Beast style library one day, traveling to visit her friends who live all over the country, and still reading anything she can get her hands on. She currently resides in North Carolina with her husband and two puppies, Lucy and Riker, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

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