THE LORD OF ILLUSION receives starred reviews from Booklist & Publishers Weekly

I'm honored to announce the following reviews for my upcoming release. My publicist did not have the names of the individual reviewers, but my sincere thanks goes out to them.

Running in this week's issue of Publishers Weekly:

The Lord of Illusion
Kathryne Kennedy. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $7.99 mass market (448p) ISBN 978-1-4022-3654-9

Fans will adore the satisfying conclusion (after The Lady of the Storm) of Kennedy’s Elven Lords romantic fantasy series. In a medieval England invaded by elves, the human rebellion has gained in strength thanks to the efforts of the elf/human half-breeds, and rebels have managed to steal several of the scepters that channel the lords’ magic. Drystan Hawkes is an unexpected hero, a curator and historian of magical artifacts. The scepters send him visions of Camille Ashton, one of the elves’ human slaves, and hint that she is the key to the rebellion’s success. In love with Camille from his visions, Drystan is overjoyed when he finally finds her, but daunted by the twin challenges of uncovering Camille’s powers and teaching her about loyalty, trust, and love. The world sings with vivid imagery and fantastic magic, and all the previous characters join forces in a thrilling final fight for humankind.

And running in the January 1st issue of Booklist:

The Lord of Illusion.

Kennedy, Kathryne (Author)

Feb 2012. 448 p. Sourcebooks/Casablanca, paperback, $7.99. (9781402236549).

The third book in Kennedy’s Elven Lords series is the story of Drystan Hawkes and Camille Ashton. Forced to give up his birthright when it looked like his magic was powerful enough to condemn him, he was raised outside Elf-ruled England. She is a slave with rainbow-colored elven eyes, but no magic, and is seemingly cursed. Drystan has always been an outcast, taking refuge in books because of convulsions and visions inflicted on him by the scepters stolen by the Rebellion. Finding a rainbow-eyed girl seen in his visions becomes his obsession. Just as his research opens up clues as to the identity of the girl, the Rebellion taps Drystan to go to the palace of Lord Roden, which is where Camille is enslaved. Kennedy’s world-building, featuring an eighteenth-century England ruled by cruel Elven lords facing a rising rebellion of their half-human offspring, is superb. The hero and heroine are also out of the ordinary, and while this novel remains true to romance-genre mores, Kennedy infuses it with unexpected plot twists that will keep fantasy readers enthralled, too.

Book 2 in the Elven Lords series, The Lady of the Storm, was recently named a Top Romance Novel of 2011 by Booklist.