Titles: Danube Waves (Wiener Blut #2)
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, & Mystery
Pages: ebook
First Published: 2016
Where I Got It: My shelf (given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)
The portals between worlds have been shut down, leaving king-to-be Maximilian Schindler-Krug trapped in our world in the form of a goat. An impending revolution, a murderer on the loose, recurring nightmares and a mad scientist stand between him and the throne. It’s going to take more than a talking swan, a fainting goat and copious amounts of coffee and cake to save the day.
Ten years since the murder of his mother, Max Schindler-Krug is having increasingly vivid dreams about the night that changed his life forever, but that is the least of his problems. His coronation as King of Neu Meidling is approaching fast, but revolution across the kingdom threatens the monarchy and the portals between the worlds have been mysteriously sealed, closing off all trade and splitting up families.
Karin’s peaceful life at the Alt Wien is turned upside-down when her daughter brings home a wounded swan, leading her to discover a lost family secret that will change her life forever. Her own husband’s place in events could rip their relationship apart.
Lily, a trainee Beschützer finds herself trapped in another world, torn between her duty to protect the Wächter line and coffee trade and her love for her future king. When she meets a man who could solve all her problems, she has to make a choice that could topple the monarchy, assuming she can get the young king back home alive.
There is a lot going on in this novel. Between Max and Lily going off on an adventure, political turmoil, a possible Revolution stirring, Karin's lost family secret coming out, an evil genius causing havoc, and a man with his fainting goat companion. SO much is going on and I was worried at first that I wouldn't be able to keep it all straight. To my surprise, the author did a fantastic job keeping the reader on board and not getting confused. The POV switches were well done and it was clear and obvious when a POV was going to switch.
I loved the fact that not everyone and everything was as it seemed. Even the "baddies". Were they truly bad? There is no black and white in this story and I liked that. The fact that even the baddies were complex made me extremely happy.
Oh my was there some wacky moments that had me laughing! Especially Ludwig's goat! He's a fainting goat and later in the book *SPOILER ALERT* he gained the ability to talk and he was HILARIOUS! *END OF SPOILER* So cute! I wanted him as a pet! Also, Max turning into a goat was hilarious too. I did feel bad for him, because the goat life is not an easy life especially when your human girlfriend has to take care of you.
There were some parts that seemed too easily fixed in my opinion. Or a little cheesy. It worked and moved the story along, but yeah. Especially the part with the decaff coffee beans. Sure, I had a chuckle, but it was an easy fix AND it was cheesy. That could just be me though.
Also, the last couple of chapters seemed to drag on and on. As much as I loved the world and I want more, I wanted it to end a couple chapters earlier.
My favorite part of the book was the beginning of each chapter! In the first book she started each chapter with a specialty coffee beverage. In this book, the author started each chapter was a special kind of cake known in the region! Each cake was tied to the story in some way and I simply LOVED that. However.....it made me really hungry! HAHA.
In the end, I really liked this book. It was a good sequel to the first one. There were a couple of things I was meh about like the conclusion and some scenes, but overall this was really good. I loved the humor and the drama. It was all mixed together well. I especially loved the little snipbits of cake. Made me happy, but also hungry. This is a good sequel to the first book and I highly recommend it, BUT you need to read the first one first. I hope there is more! Out of five stars, I shall stamp this with 4 stars.
