The Queen's Bastard by C.E. Murphy

Author Spotlight C.E. Murphy

For today an tomorrow I will be reviewing first in series books by author C.E. Murphy.  I enjoy her books - even though the tend to get mediocre reviews.

Author Bio from Amazon:

C.E. Murphy was born and raised in Alaska and has since moved to her ancestral homeland of Ireland. She lives there with her husband, a chef, and three very spoiled pets. 


She's a full-time writer. Thus far her plans to take over the publishing world are proceeding apace.




Spotlight Book #1:

The Queens Bastard (The Inheritors’ Cycle, Book 1)

Set in an alternate reality of Elizabethan Europe, The Queen’s Bastard highlights the life of Belinda – The queens bastard and trained assassin. Magic, death and court politics, this book drips full-bodied, lusty appeal.

Belinda, while a strong, death-wielding assassin, is basically a slave to the system she was bred into. She has been raised in total ignorance of who she is. She has been taught to act a certain way, believe a certain belief system and follow her Queen with blind faith. She kills indiscriminately and has very little remorse over doing so. In fact, Belinda shows very little feeling what-so-ever. She is just a tool.

When Belinda is given an assignment to infiltrate the elite of a neighboring enemy country, Belinda is given the opportunity to behave differently then she is used to. Her usual roles have been those of the servant class, on missions of assassination. This role is that of a spy and for that she has to get close to her targets, befriend them and wait for word. She is not used to this role and in so doing, her feelings, which she has pushed to the side as meaningless become more and more apparent. Belinda begins to care for the people she may have to kill.

Along with her realization of the magnitude of emotions, Belinda also realizes that there is something quite different about her, something that gives her the ability to blend into the shadows and become the perfect assassin. Belinda is witchbreed and she is not the only one of her kind.

This is a very different read than my usual modern books with bit, but I do recommend it for those interested in historical dramas and the paranormal. There are some explicitly violent and sexual scenes in this book. Overall the book was good and kept my interest. I do plan on picking up the second novel when I get a chance.

Check back tomorrow for the review of C.E. Murphy’s Heart of Stone.