Title: Royal Bastards
Author: Andrew Shvarts
Series: N/A (as of yet)
Genre: Teen Fantasy
Release Date: May 30, 2017
The Overview: Being a bastard blows. Tilla would know. Her father, Lord Kent of the Western Province, loved her as a child, but cast her aside as soon as he had trueborn children. At sixteen, Tilla spends her days exploring long-forgotten tunnels beneath the castle with her stablehand half brother, Jax, and her nights drinking with the servants, passing out on Jax’s floor while her castle bedroom collects dust. Tilla secretly longs to sit by her father’s side, resplendent in a sparkling gown, enjoying feasts with the rest of the family. Instead, she sits with the other bastards, like Miles of House Hampstedt, an awkward scholar who’s been in love with Tilla since they were children. -Goodreads
Nik’s Notes:
Royal Bastards is one of those books I had to resist from requesting on NetGalley (if you caught my ARC Management Tips: How to Avoid Over-Requesting post, you’ll understand why this is a big deal). It just looks so dang interesting! But luckily the release date is not that far off. It appeals to me on a few levels – the summary makes it sound cheeky, the context of the story promises a lot of mischief, and the overall “feel” I’m getting from the book is making me reminiscent of Locke Lamora (Lynch), Kvothe (Rothfuss), and Jimmy the Hand (Feist). It’s probably a little unfair to expect so much from a YA debut, but if it’s half as good as these other works, I’ll be happy. :)
Has anyone read this yet? Thoughts??
The Obsessive Bookseller 
I haven’t read this yet, but I do have an ARC – it’s one of those “might read if I have time” books so I’m hoping I’ll be able to fit it in this month because it sounds fun :)
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It does sound fun. :) In that case, I’ll look forward to your review if you do manage to make time for it.
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I haven’t read it yet, although Netgalley recommended it to me so hard that I very nearly requested it! I’ve been attempting to follow your virtuous example with ARCs, though, and mostly requesting high priority titles (often only if I’ve already read the author before). It sounds like it’ll have a really strong voice, though, so I’m super curious about it!
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I am too! It looked so good I almost went against my own advice haha. At least the release date is not that far away…
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Hmm, I must be burned out on YA. This one doesn’t appeal to me that much at all. Of course that could be because I chose to read the summary out loud to my husband in an overly dramatic voice. That will ruin any book. I do love Jimmy the Hand though, so if I’m wrong and this book is as good as Feist you’ll have to let me know.
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Haha yeah, I imagine that would make any book seem silly. ;P I honestly think those comparisons are going to make me go in with too high of expectations. I’ll let you know if it surprises me. :)
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