• Home
  • Search
  • News
    • All Posts
    • Mugshots
    • Court Filings
    • Jobs Listings
    • Business Articles
    • Dining Articles
    • Marriage Licenses
    • Obituaries
    • Sex Offenders
  • Events
  • Features
    • Maps
    • Elected Officials
    • Elections
    • Read Columnists
      • Shirtless Chef by Jason Murphy
      • Krystle’s Bookworm Diaries
      • Get Real with Doug Robinson
      • Shelli Cooks
      • “The Sleigh” by Roger L. Poole
      • Built to Battle – with Amanda Elliott
      • Common Man – Brent Davis
      • Anna’s Avenue – Anna Colby’s Columns
      • Bite Out of Life with Kaitlynn Garrett
      • Lee’s Faith & Fitness
  • Business Directory
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Contact us

MySaline

News & Events for Saline County, Arkansas

 

Feels like a fairytale, complete with a curse! – Krystle reviews The First Girl Child

February 28, 2020 By Sarah Heer 1 Comment

Book: The First Girl Child

Author: Amy Harmon
My Rating: 4 Cursed Stars

Fellow book lovers, have y’all ever read a book no questions asked just because you love the author? That’s what I did with The First Girl Child, by Amy Harmon. I absolutely love her historical fiction, so when I saw she had a new release I snatched it up. BOY WAS I CONFUSED! I had no idea that this was actually a YA Fantasy novel. Once I took a moment to read the synopsis and get my bearings, I was totally in for the Viking vibes of this book!

Amy has this lyrical writing style that really made this feel like a fairytale. Complete with a curse, an evil king, a princess, and her protector. I will warn you now, this story covers a span of over a decade, so at first it seemed like the pacing was a little slow. The magic in this world was treated more like mythology or religion, so it didn’t read like a typical fantasy novel to me. It clearly had a Nordic flavor with nods to Norse Mythology, which I realized I need more of!

Here’s the basics of the story, so you don’t go in blindly as I did. Bayr is born to a great female warrior, raised by his uncle as a “keeper” (think monks/scholars), blessed with supernatural physical strength (think Hercules), and pledges his loyalty to the first girl child born in Saylock for years (AKA the Princess Alba). You see, Bayr’s mother, with her dying breath the day he was born, cursed the land of Saylock to have no more daughters. And thus a society that placed most of it value on men, turned around and discovered the value of its women a bit too late. The story follows Bayr and Alba as they grow up in this cursed land and fight against the oppression of the king. Their relationship is the definition of a slow burn. You literally read about them from the time they’re born until they’re adults. So, if you see anything about this book having romance, just know it doesn’t even appear until the last quarter of the story. The characters in this story are so carefully and fully developed. Two of my favorite characters were technically supporting characters.

Ultimately this gets 4 out of 5 from me because of the slow pacing of the story, I think it might bother some readers. However, it was totally worth it to push through! I recommend this if you enjoy Vikings, Norse Mythology, and/or fantasy.

Krystle Goodman is a crazy cat lady, who loves to drink exorbitant amounts of coffee, and read a shocking amount of books. She lives in Benton with her husband Josh, her son Roman, and their two cats Roxanne and Abby. When she isn’t reading, you’ll find her cooking, painting, or watching true crime shows.  Watch for Krystle’s book reviews every other Friday. Send fanmail to: [email protected]

See more of Krystle’s reviews at www.mysaline.com/krystle.

Filed Under: Columns Tagged With: book reviews, books, columns, krystle

CLICK FOR MORE NEWS

Search MySaline!

Recent Posts – Scroll for Story Comments

  • Instantly Obsessed! – Krystle reviews The Riven Kingdoms
  • MySaline’s Jobs List for Central Arkansas — 040921
  • JA to host fish fry on Saturday April 10th; order ahead now
  • Saline County Mugshots — 040921
  • New Marriage Licenses in Saline County — 040921

Comments

  1. Debbie says

    March 2, 2020 at 10:49 am

    Another one for my after April 15 list. Thanks for the heads up.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search MySaline

Advertise here! [email protected]

BentonChamber.com








See the list of Food Trucks serving Saline County and submit yours! www.mysaline.com/food-trucks

Contact Info

MySaline.com
P.O. Box 307
Bryant, AR 72089
501-303-4010
[email protected]

Don’t miss a thing…

  • Subscribe to MySaline’s Email Updates

Community partners:

Advertise Here! Email [email protected]

CONTACT US

MySaline.com
P.O. Box 307
Bryant, AR 72089
501-303-4010 [email protected]
Facebook Page
Facebook Group
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn

Search posts by date:

April 2021
S M T W T F S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« Mar    

Recent Posts

  • Instantly Obsessed! – Krystle reviews The Riven Kingdoms April 9, 2021
  • MySaline’s Jobs List for Central Arkansas — 040921 April 9, 2021
  • JA to host fish fry on Saturday April 10th; order ahead now April 9, 2021
  • Saline County Mugshots — 040921 April 9, 2021
  • New Marriage Licenses in Saline County — 040921 April 9, 2021

Site Tree

  • Home
  • Search
  • News
    • All Posts
    • Mugshots
    • Court Filings
    • Jobs Listings
    • Business Articles
    • Dining Articles
    • Marriage Licenses
    • Obituaries
    • Sex Offenders
  • Events
  • Features
    • Maps
    • Elected Officials
    • Elections
    • Read Columnists
      • Shirtless Chef by Jason Murphy
      • Krystle’s Bookworm Diaries
      • Get Real with Doug Robinson
      • Shelli Cooks
      • “The Sleigh” by Roger L. Poole
      • Built to Battle – with Amanda Elliott
      • Common Man – Brent Davis
      • Anna’s Avenue – Anna Colby’s Columns
      • Bite Out of Life with Kaitlynn Garrett
      • Lee’s Faith & Fitness
  • Business Directory
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Contact us

Copyright © 2021 · MySaline.com