FFBC - Review: Chantress Alchemy by Amy Butler Greenfield + Giveaway!

So today is the last day of our FFBC Event with the wonderful Amy Butler Greenfield.

She has been so wonderful to work an the overall consensus of this book was that

it was a big hit! Personally I couldn't put it down and had so much fun reading it!

Chantress Alchemy (Chantress Trilogy #2)
by Amy Butler Greenfield
352 pages
Publisher: Margaret K McElderry Books
Release Day: May 6th 2014

Synopsis:

Since defeating Lord Scargrave with her music, Lucy, the last Chantress, has lived by the sea, mastering the intricacies of Wild Magic. But now her quiet life is about to end: the wheat crop has failed, the people are rebelling, and Lucy is called urgently back to King Henry IX’s court. There she finds the Inner Council planning to save England by making gold through alchemy. But the golden crucible — the critical element in the alchemical process — has been stolen, its guards murdered. Lucy is charged with finding the traitor behind the attack.

Meanwhile, enemies old and new are gathering. Scargrave's brutal Chantress-hunter has become King Henry's closest advisor. Lucy’s beloved Nat has fallen out of favor and is shunned by his colleagues; their romance means trouble for both of them. Worst of all, something goes wrong with Lucy’s magic. The palace is a labyrinth, and there’s a monster at its heart — a monster who may have the power to defeat Lucy once and for all.

Amy Butler Greenfield returns to the beguiling world of Chantress for a suspenseful tale of courtly intrigue, music, and magic in Chantress Alchemy.

My Review:

Let me just start off by saying that this book is one of the must action filled books I've read in a long time. With the first book, Lucy was just discovering herself and what it truly means to be a Chantress. The first book in the story was filled with such slow sweet character development and world building. But in the second book, everything that needed to be set up was done, and the story just took up beautifully. I feel like his is the first series, where I actually enjoyed the second book better than the first! Usually the second books flop in my opinion. But the way the author set everything up was brilliant.

I'm not going to go too much into the overall synopsis of this story, only because I don't want to spoil any of you. I will however talk about some of my favorite aspects of this story. First off let me just say that in this book, we have a new cast of characters. And the way that they are woven into the story is done so in a way that up until the end of the book, you don't really know who you can trust and who Lucy should stay far away from. At the same time characters that we met in the first book, ones we thought we could trust are starting to act find of fishy!

I really enjoyed the whole alchemy aspect of this book. The quest for knowledge was such a big aspect of the time period and I thought it was beautifully portrayed in the book. And yes the science geek in me was truly wondering if some of the experiments that they were performing were actually possible (Side-Note: I suggest reading the author's note in the back as it tells you more about the actual history off Alchemy!).

And Nat and Lucy's relationship in this book is once again tested. But they do have some sweet scenes that I truly cherished.

But now let's get down the meat of this story and my favorite aspect of it! I loved Loved LOVED how Lucy is the "savior" once again in a group full of tough titled men! That is fun to read at any given time, but taking into account the historical aspects of this book it was even more awesome!

The ending of this book is a tough one. Keep your tissues handy and your hearts protected! But it one that will keep me desperately waiting for book 3!!

An easy 5 Stars for me!!

Amy Butler Greenfield was a grad student in history when she gave into temptation and became a writer. Since then, she has become an award-winning author.

Amy grew up in the Adirondack Mountains and later studied history at Williams College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Oxford. She now lives with her family in England, where she writes, bakes double-dark-chocolate cake, and plots mischief.

There will be TWO winners: one international winner and one US winner.

You must be 13 or older to enter this giveaway

It's an US Only & INT giveaway.

Each day there will be available a #QOD (question of the day) in each participant blog. You can earn more points by answering the answers.

For those who don't know how this works, the winners will be those who have participated the most. Meaning, the winners will be those who have more points. No Rafflecopter luck this time, Book Addicts. This is all on you now! If there's a draw, then the odds will decide and this time the Rafflecopter luck would be a major factor deciding if you win or not.