Love and Memory

The Rizkaland Legends #3

by Kendra E. Ardnek

When a Queen forgets,
Her enemies rejoice in her weakness.
But when the Queen remembers,
They tremble in fear.
When a King loves,
His country rejoices with him.
But when that love is broken.
The land is broken, too.
Can Water and Fire join again?
Can Love and Memory be restored?

They spent years in Rizkaland. They ruled the land, forged friendships, built families, and made it their home. But then it was time to return to Earth, and their former lives just don’t fit anymore. Clara and Andrew struggle to reevaluate their priorities when hundreds of miles separate them. Reuben and Petra are lost as they seek a balance between their old friendship and their Rizkan marriage. And Ashna and Noraeto never planned to return, so what live is there for them on Earth?
When the unthinkable happens and a new enemy arises, they’re all thrown back into Rizkaland, into a young prince’s rise to power and struggle to build alliances for his kingdom. But they no longer belong in their other world, either.
Are good memories too much to bear?

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Christian Fantasy, Fiction, Time Travel, Christian Fiction

650 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 19, 2021

About the author

Kendra E. Ardnek is the self-proclaimed Arista of Fairy Tales. She makes her home in the hills of central Texas with her fellow author husband, who she found at a writer’s conference. When not writing, you can usually find her crocheting her own cloaks, valiantly attempting to read every retelling ever written, and pretending that owning toy dragons makes her a dragon trainer.

Reviews

[Erika Mathews · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like epic portal fantasy or romance, you'll love this book. If you like imaginative worlds with Christian messages, you'll love this book. If you like deep emotional journeys and vivid characters, you'll love this book.

Me? I don’t read many fantasy books of this type. This author's books are one rare exception. Why? It’s because the way she handles the fantasy systems of her worlds are very solid and thought-through. They aren’t random. They are based on reality and on the true system of rightness/wrongness – on the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the enemy. Many of the fantasy elements are strictly scientific, and evil is never condoned or presented as right. Central to everything is Alphego, the Rizkan name for God. And what is more, the books are deep and heartfelt and rich and show right and wrong, good and sin – but they never go to a dark place.

This book is also full of romance. Everywhere. Specifically, there are a lot of arranged marriages, and there’s a lot of married/engaged/Tied romance (it’s complicated. Read the book.). And I’m not a big fan of romance in books. I typically don’t read romances, and when I do, I don’t enjoy them. But again, this series is unique. First, the romance is usually between a well-established couple: either best-friends-for-life-getting-married-or-already-married, or an arranged marriage. There’s not much if any of the whole “attraction but no relationship” phase. Second, it’s pretty clean. There are way more kisses than I like, but very few are totally unmarried couples (it’s complicated. Portal fantasy. But there’s a lifelong commitment behind the kisses). But why I enjoy this aspect anyway? The romance isn’t the focus. Sure, it’s a big plot point. But there’s so much more to their lives and the plots, and the romance is presented in its proper place. #putromanceinitsplaceinbooks

So – YOU might enjoy a romantic fantasy, and if so, by this point in reading this review you're probably already convinced you'll LOVE this book. But why do *I* enjoy a romantic fantasy? Primarily because of two things: the characters and the message. (Also, the plot is AWESOME, and the setting is cool.) The characters are so rich, so relatable, so well-drawn. And the message is so Biblical, so true to life, so applicable. And it’s woven in gently and gracefully through the characters, the choices they make, and the plot itself.

In particular, Love and Memory was full of heartbreak. There were wrong choices. There were characters I wanted to push off the page. (Or at least shut their mouths!) There were times I sighed with the characters because resolution is never as easy as we wish it was, and the things we try don’t magically fix our problems. I really appreciated how this book tackles the theme of return and reintegration. When there’s been a huge change in life, we don’t just bounce back. We’re never the same. With a portal fantasy, it’s easy for an author to return the characters to earth exactly as they left–but life doesn’t work that way. Truly, no one with those experiences can return unchanged, and that’s what Love and Memory shows. There’s hurt. There’s loss. There’s grief. There’s so much more, and with twelve points of view in this book, the author portrays a wide variety of actions and reactions.

But wow. There’s growth. There’s hope. There’s positive influence. There are friendships made and relationships restored or forged. There is love, and there is the hand of God guiding the lives of each person – drawing them to Himself.

Love and Memory reminds me of a frank heart-to-heart with the characters . . . a heart-to-heart that grips the reader with the ups and downs of the journey while reminding them that hope, love, and faith are never too far gone.

[Aria · Rating 5 out of 5]

FINALLYYYYY!
A few years ago when I was but a young teenager I stumbled across the first two in this series on Kindle Unlimted. You can read my reviews of them - they are literally awesome and I need to read them again. Anyway, I loved them! And I was so sad that Kendra hadn't finished writing the third one yet BECAUSE I NEED MORE RIZKALAND.

Y'all. I did not start out a fantasy fan. I really enjoy fantasy now - but I do have limits. Some fantasy is just wayyyy too elaborate and unrealistic. I'm not that much of an escapist, folks. I need my ✨human connection✨. And Rizkaland books HAVE that connection. Their world reminds me of Narnia - not in a fanfic kind of way. Just in an inspired, similar style kind of way. And I LOVE the powers! I LOVE super powers! That's one of my favorite elements in fantasy and this book definitely has them!!

Also, the characters! are! growing! And it's so neat to see how far they've grown since the first book as true characters should. NOT TO MENTION THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THIS BOOK. It's good. Really good. But also there's just so much more story and new characters and AHH. WHAT A WONDERFUL SERIES.

Last but not least the ROMANCE. I've always loved reading romance, but see, I got married a year ago, and after that all romances just seemed kind of bleh compared to real life. BUT I REALLY ENJOYED THIS ROMANCE. or rather, THESE romances. First off a LOT of it is married romance, which is really quite realistic and great. And a lot of the parts of romance I don't think you would really understand really well unless you were actually married, which is also great! It also didn't feel G-rated or kiddish. You know how some romances just get dumbed down for middle-schoolers? This was not. Nope. And that was really cool, because it was pure and good but also - for adults, I felt. Or mature teens.

Also I just have to say the STRUGGLE that some of the characters went through when certain people died and all was so real, I literally felt it. AHHH. Yeah.

All in all, a FIVE. STAR. READ. And Kendra PLEASE write the next one as soon as possible. I will happily sacrifice hours out of my work day to binge-read it as I did this one. *guilty look*

[Kendra Ardnek]

And it's up for purchase again!

Check out the new giveaway here: https://knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.co...

Couple updates: Even after shifting the release date forward, I still came down way too close to the wire and I'm not sure if I hit the upload deadline for the preorder. I uploaded, but I wasn't able to hit publish. I've contacted Amazon, and they may publish it, but I don't know.

So ... if you preordered, you might be getting a refund on Thursday instead of the book. I don't know. I'm ... I'm tired. And if it does fall through ... I will have to rethink the preorder giveaway.

But this book ... I am so much in love with it. It may have carved out my heart and soul, but it's a gorgeous story and I really can't wait for all of you to read it.



~~~~~~~
And the kindle edition is up for preorder now, folks, so you don't miss out when it hits shelves next April!

Not the paperback, unfortunately, Amazon doesn't give me that power - BUT, I will be giving away a signed paperback edition for every ten kindle editions preordered. All you have to do to enter is purchase the book and forward the receipt to me at kendraeardnek(at)Gmail(dot)com. AND, if and when I reach a hundred preorders, an additional four people will be getting a FULL set of the series.

(Disclaimer - Giveaway is US only, but all preorders count towards the tally, as I'm watching my Amazon dashboard for that.)

https://knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.co...

[AnnaScott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just to create some context for this review, I read the first book in this series - Water Princess, Fire Prince - for the first time five years ago. Then the second book came out fairly soon after that, building on a separate plot, and they both ended on cliffhangers. So suffice it to say that I have been waiting for this book for years.

Let's just start with the world building. Kendra has done an amazing job creating a unique fantasy world, with each book adding something new and different. This installment takes us to a new country within the world of Rizkaland and Klarand, resembling Aladdin and the Middle East more than the European fairy tale vibes of the previous two. Moving on to the characters, I loved that we got to see them again, and see how they've adapted to the 'real world' after being royalty in Rizkaland. They are each unique and quirky in their own way, and they made me laugh so many times while reading this book.

I really only have two complaints. The first is that there were too many main characters involved. We have Clara, Andrew, Kath, Rich, and Stephen from the first book, and then Petra, Reuben, Sarah, Richard, Sylvia, Robert, Ashna, and Noraeto from the second book, plus new characters that were introduced here. The result was that there were a lot of plot lines to keep track of, and I didn't get to spend as much time with my favorite characters as I would have liked.

Building on this, the combination of all of the main characters plus a new adventure meant that they were always in an action scene that was important to at least one of the plot lines. As a result, we get very little time just seeing them in the little, inconsequential moments that really flush them out and give them depth as people. Personally, I'm partial to Clara and Andrew, and so I honestly could have just read a whole book about them adapting to our world and been perfectly happy, which may be biasing my opinion in this matter.

Overall, it was a exciting installment in this series, and I loved seeing all of my favorite characters from the first two books meet and interact with each other.

I received this book for free from the author. All comments and opinions are entirely my own, and I am writing a voluntary review.

[Faith Gilliosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest, I never thought I'd be able to read this book for quite a few years at least. I am so, soo happy I got a chance to ARC this book, otherwise I would still be wondering what was going to happen.
Love and Memory definitely felt a little different from the first two, in particular the first. I think there were just more pieces to pull together and a little bit less intense worldbuilding to do. I loved seeing all the pieces start to weave together from all the corners I wouldn't have thought to look.

The emotional conflict as it gets into the story was a little hard for me and I really wanted to tell certain people (or a certain person) to just open their eyes, but alas, I had to let them realize it themselves. It was good. And it was probably eye-opening for me as well.

This series is just plain probably the best fantasy series there is (aside from the ancient classics like Lewis and Tolkien, but we all know those are the best already). If you love fantasy, thoughtful and creative worldbuilding, and characters that make you think...then read this series.

*I received a copy of the book from the author in return for an honest reviews. All thoughts are my own.

[Lilian]

so prettyyy

[Kori Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where do I even start with this book. It ripped me into a million shreds and slowly put me back together again. If it were just solely based on how much I loved the book, it would absolutely have a 6 star rating, but there were some things that, when I stepped back and really looked at it, were just a little disappointing, so Im giving it 4 stars

Reasons I docked a star:

- there were a lot of typos. I know the author had to get this book out to meet a deadline, so I'm sure it will get revised at some point, but it was a little annoying. There were some sentences I had to stare at for a lengthy amount of time, trying to understand what was being said. Overall, it didn't really take anything from the story, but it was a little bothersome

- there were so. many. characters. I appreciate the idea behind including the various characters from the first two books, but in actuality it just got extremely confusing. Half the time I couldn't keep track of who was where, and sometimes I struggled to understand whose POV I was even reading. It also did get a little bit annoying that we kept switching POV. I understand that the whole story being told meant we had to know what was going on in several places at once, but I would have preferred something more similar to the first two parts of WPFP, where we focused on one person for a whole part before switching POVs

- the fight with the twins was extremely anticlimactic. It was way too easy. I kept expecting there to be some sort of mistake, where they swooped back in and surprised everybody, but it never came. I know that the point of the book was more about exploring the relationships and growth of the characters, but it did feel like we were kind of shortchanged having the twins as just a plot device to get everyone back to Rizkaland.

Okay, now on to the good stuff. Oh boy, there was so much. I'll try to be brief.

- the relationships. Gah. Im serious, I normally hate romance so much that I will stop reading a book because of it. But these relationships not only are amazingly realistic and adorably sweet, they are actually helpful to me in my every day life. My personality is VERY similar to Petra's, and the things she and Reuben discuss in this book caused me to take a step back and really think about those aspects of my own marriage. And it really has helped. My husband even commented on it. And again, I love how Kendra doesn't shy away from alluding to the intimate relationship between a husband and wife, while still handling it in a chaste way.

- I loved loved loved getting to explore a new part of Rizkaland's world. I really appreciated the history and mythology created for Rintae--amazing world building once again, Kendra's worlds never cease to amaze me.

- Petra. I see a lot of myself in her, like I mentioned, and I appreciate that even though she's extraordinarily powerful, she never becomes a Mary Sue. Her flaws and mistakes are shown clearly, and I've learned a lot just from reading about her and from her POV.

- I'm very pleased with the overall diversity of the personalities of people. With so many different characters, it becomes very easy to have a lot of one dimensional or very similar characters, and I appreciate the fact that not only are most of the characters fleshed out and have their own personality and struggles, but also that the relationships between each couple are unique. The struggles each character deals with are unique to themselves and it's something that is refreshing to see in such a large cast of characters.

So yeah, that's about it. I loved the book, I could barely put it down. And I highly recommend it to those who are old enough to handle the mature content.

I hope we're going to see more of these characters eventually, but until then, I'll be busying myself with The Worth of a King.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another excellent entry in the Rizkaland Legends, definitely worth the wait. If you're a fan of the series, you should definitely read it. Some particular things I'd like to highlight (copied from my blog post on this book):

• It picks up where most stories leave off. A lot of portal fantasies end after the characters come home and don’t really look at what leaving behind a life really does to you. A lot of books in general end after the couple gets together and don’t pay much attention to what it takes to make that relationship work — not in the early stages, and certainly not in the much later stages. Love and Memory, however, is first and foremost a book about these things: about how you rebuild when you’ve been pushed out of the life you’d come to love, and about how you navigate a relationship that’s been in place for years, but which is now strained by a different context and different limiters.

• It’s very family-focused. You all know how much I like books with a lot of family, and Love and Memory certainly qualifies. Almost every main character in this book is related somehow, whether by blood or by marriage. And of those who aren’t, a lot of their motivations and conflicts are still oriented around families. This is a story that recognizes the difficulties of all types of family relationships — but also celebrates the joy and strength that can come from even the most stressful of those bonds.

• It features Laura. I really like Laura. She’s mysterious, but she’s also a lot of fun, and she makes any book she’s in better. And this book has a lot of Laura. (Also in-narrative speculation about her origins, which was satisfying.)

• It doesn’t get bogged down in romance. This doesn’t mean there’s no romance. On the contrary, I would say that at least 60% of the plot is, in some way, shape, or form, romantic in nature. (And that’s a conservative estimate.) But it’s not the type of romance you usually find in YA novels. The characters aren’t dealing with the kinds of romantic problems most YA characters get tangled in. (It helps that most of these characters are, as I’ve sort of pointed out already, either sort-of-married or formerly married.) So instead of the romance feeling like a drag on the story, it feels . . . honestly refreshing.

• It will make you feel all the feels. (Do people even still use the term feels? Or was that an early 2010s fandom thing? Not that it matters. I just realized that I think I’ve seen the term less and less. Anyway.) The story is honestly heartbreaking at times; characters are dealing with the fallout of losing pretty much an entire life they’d built and trying to start over again and trying to fit themselves back into places they don’t fit anymore, and not all of them make the best choices about how to make that happen. But it also has some moments of absolute joy and delight (and also cuteness) that make all the heartbreak worth it.

It's not a perfect book. Every so often, I'll get tripped up over some dialogue that sounds too self-aware or too formal to be natural. And I did like LDTD better. But still, if you're a fan of Rizkaland, you'll enjoy this.

[Carina Shephard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Read April 2021


thoughts:

First off, this is not a stand-alone. You'll definitely want to read both WPFP and LDTD if you haven't already, or even if it's been awhile, you may want to brush up on them first. Secondly, I was so excited about this book that I just kind of dived in and tried to gulp it all down at once. I would recommend just taking your time and enjoying it!

Just a heads up... you'll probably need tissues. *cough* especially if you're a Reuben/Petra shipper *cough* Although relationships are pummeled/strained/put through the wringer they emerge better and stronger from the struggles.

There's quite a massive cast of characters in this one. The author did an great job of balancing all of them, but there were a few times I had to pause and remind myself why someone was in that particular place or what they were doing.

I really enjoyed how Love and Memory explored other cultures that we haven't really seen much of before, especially as this one had a Middle Eastern flavor and was significantly different culturally.

The cover!!! Definitely my favorite of the series; it's so pretty and definitely matches the flavor of this book. Actually, the cover for WPFP was what inspired me to start the series in the first place 😛

Of course Reuben's twins would be named Eowyn and Eomer. 😂 Why am I not surprised.... On a more serious note, I do hope we get to find out more of Wyn's story in the future.


Favorite quotes:

“Just because I follow the One Who knows every step ahead of me still doesn’t mean that I can see the path,” the Water Princess explained. “I just know that there is an end planned for me, and I just have to trust Him to see me through to it.”

“And even here, amidst the worst struggles, He can and will give us all the joy and peace that we need.”


Content: Mild/Light Medium.
Sensuality: If you're comfortable with the way physical aspects of romance are handled in previous books, you should be fine. There's quite a lot of mild kissing. Married/Tied characters flirt with each other. There is one kiss between an unmarried couple that is mentioned as being more intense, although not described in detail.
Violence: Very mild.
Language: None.
Other: A character with telepathic powers is able to temporarily "possess", for lack of a better word, another character; however, it is done with the possessed character's consent and doesn't come across as too creepy or anything. Also, it's mentioned that one character suffers from PTSD from being tortured.


*Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.*

*Disclaimer to the disclaimer: just want to say, while it didn't influence my review, I was so excited to get an ARC! Seeing it in my library brought a smile to my face and made my day. Thanks so much Kendra!!*

[Madisyn Carlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love thick books. The thicker the book the more issues the characters must face, the more unexpected plot twists occur, and more problems that must be conquered. And at 650+ pages, Love and Memory is a doozy.

Love and Memory is full of humor, action, faith, sweet relationships, and danger. With twelve POVs and so many things happening, things can be confusing if you aren’t a slow reader. I love the struggles the characters face, and so many character arcs seem to come to near completion. The familial love and protection the sets of siblings exhibit is heartwarming and, at time, humorous. Everyone knows those Eaglechasers are unique individuals, and watching shattered and unsteady relationships strengthen and grow was satisfying.

As aforementioned, there are twelve POVs in this book. A difficult undertaking for most authors, but not Kendra. She does quite well keeping ever personality unique. I quite enjoyed the two new additions, and they added so much to the story. Perhaps the best thing about Love and Memory (and there are many delightful elements) is the salvation theme. Not only do characters put their trust in Alphego, but those who were already believers grew in faith.

As with the other two books in the series, it was bittersweet when the book came to an end. You have no hope of escaping the hold of these characters, and it is impossible to escape the draw their stories contain. That bittersweet feeling was assuaged a tad at the promise of a fourth book, but still, it was difficult leaving characters I’d grown quite of fond of behind. I guess that’s the lovely thing about books, though. You can always return.

Love and Memory is an enjoyable read that will sweep you into a world of faith, danger, romance, and adventure. Be sure to add it to your TBR list.

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The entirety of this review can be read at https://madismusingsblog.wordpress.co...

[Merenwen Inglorion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rtc!