Emerald Bound ~ Review

Emerald Bound
Altered Stones #1
By Teresa Richards

A simple game of Truth or Dare has an unexpected result when the dare doesn't go quite as planned. After a night of intense studying Maggie Rhodes and her BFF's Kate and Piper decide on an impromptu game of Truth or Dare and Maggie takes DARE. Big mistake when the Dare turns out to be a spy-by on Marshall Parker who is one of the meanest guys Maggie can think of. But Kate and Piper won't let her back out of her dare. What follows is the worst experience of Maggie's life and it's just starting.

With time against her, Maggie has no choice but to accept help from Lindy a fellow classmate who is more than she appears. But can Maggie trust Lindy's fantastical story one that if true adds a sinister twist to the old Princess and the Pea fairy tale? And when aid comes from a most unexpected source Maggie has a glimmer of hope at saving her friends from an unknown fate.

But an ancient magic is not easily defeated and the magic that Maggie is attempting to break has a failsafe that is about expire and all trapped within its grasp will soon be lost forever. The fate of a kingdom and those closest to her depends on the choice Maggie is about to make. Can she restore all that has been lost?

This is a book that the tension slowly builds as the past and the present come together in an exciting and altogether satisfying conclusion. But not all the questions are answered and the book ends on a climactic note hinting at what the sequel will bring.

This is well-written YA fiction with a unique twist on a well-known fairy tale. I believe teens (especially girls) will find this to be a book to draw them. This is a book about the power and loyalty of friendship and family with a sizeable pinch of fantasy and pinch of romance.

A word of warning Beware of strange beds with lumpy, bumpy mattresses! You may never wake up if you ignore it...

I was provided a review copy of this book by the author with no expectations of a positive review ~ All opinions expressed are my own. 

About the Book:

A princess, a pea, and a tower of mattresses. 

This is the sliver that survives of a story more nightmare than fairytale...

Maggie Rhodes, high school junior and semi-reformed stalker, learns the tale’s true roots after a spying attempt goes awry and her best friend Kate ends up as the victim of an ancient curse. At the center of the curse lies an enchanted emerald that has been residing quietly in a museum for the past fifty years. Admirers of the gem have no idea that it feeds on life. Or that it’s found its next victim in Kate. 

Enter Lindy, a school acquaintance who knows more than she’s letting on, and Garon, a handsome stranger claiming he knows how to help, and Maggie is left wondering who to trust and how to save her best friend before it’s too late.

If only Maggie knew her connection to the fairy tale was rooted far deeper than an endangered best friend.