Review for Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh by Katie Hamstead

Blurb:

When Naomi’s sisters are snatched up to be taken to be wives of the erratic Pharaoh, Akhenaten, she knows they won’t survive the palace, so she offers herself in their place. The fearsome Commander Horemheb sees her courage, and knows she is exactly what he is looking for…

The Great Queen Nefertiti despises Naomi instantly, and strips her of her Hebrew lineage, including her name, which is changed to Kiya. Kiya allies herself with Horemheb, who pushes her to greatness and encourages her to make the Pharaoh fall in love with her. When Akhenaten declares Kiya will be the mother of his heir, Nefertiti, furious with jealousy, schemes to destroy Kiya.

Kiya must play the deadly game carefully. She is in a silent battle of wills, and a struggle for who will one day inherit the crown. If she does bear an heir, she knows she will need to fight to protect him, as well as herself, from Nefertiti who is out for blood.




KIYA: Hope of the Pharaoh by Katie Hamstead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I've never been one to jump at historical fiction, but this book was beyond amazing. I suddenly find myself enthralled by Egyptian culture. Katie Hamstead did an amazing job of teaching the reader about ancient Egypt through Naomi's eyes and not making it feel like a lesson. There was never a dull moment of world-building or history lessons. It was all contextual.

Naomi is a believable heroine. She is brave, strong, true to her beliefs, but also stubborn, and she can be a bit naive. She wears her heart on her sleeve, which I suspect is going to bite her in the ass later on in the series. I love that in Kiya, Nefertiti has met her match. Nefertiti is believably cunning and vile, but her motivations are always clear. And just when you think she is done, she strikes like a snake.

The love triangle in this book came out of nowhere for me. I don't want to say too much because of spoilers, but I love how, because we see everything through Naomi's eyes, we were just as surprised as she was.

On a more technical note, I think Katie's style is wonderful. Naomi's voice is solid throughout the entire book, never wavering. We feel everything she feels, and see everyone else just as she sees them. Not once did I feel like the language was dumbed down (which I've seen in other first person novels--it drives me crazy.) or like Katie was trying to force information through Naomi.

The ending felt abrupt to me, but I have a feeling that is more to do with how I was not ready for the book to end. Luckily, the sequel comes out soon. =) I can't wait!

View all my reviews

About the Author: 

Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s early years of day dreaming in the “bush”, and having her father tell her wild bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.

After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona with her husband, daughter and their dog.
 
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing. She is currently at school studying English and Creative Writing.
 
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports and be a good wife and mother. She now works as a Clerk with a lien company in Arizona to help support her family and her schooling. She loves to write, and takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels.

You can follow Katie on:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/KatieTeller1

FB page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Katie-Hamsteads-Stories/247238178656484

Blog - http://kjhstories.blogspot.com/

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18169048-kiya

Kiya: Mother of a King (by Katie Hamstead) Cover Reveal!! And Giveaway!

I am so excited for this book! I finished the first book, Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh, a few weeks ago, and have been chomping at the bit for the next one to come out. Luckily, I don't have to wait too much longer because Kiya: Mother of a King comes out October 25th. And to get you guys just as psyched about it as I am? I'm going to post the cover reveal, and let you know how you can win signed copies of both books! Be sure to check back soon for an interview with Katie, and if you want to see my review, it will be posted during her review tour on October 24.

Nefertiti has forced Naomi to flee Amarna with Malachi and the three children. But even under the protection of Naomi’s family in Thebes, Nefertiti still hunts her and Tut. Nefertiti sends assassins to kill them, and while Naomi fights to protect the children, Malachi fights to keep her safe.

With three children in tow, one of which isn’t her own, she is labeled the harlot outcast wife of the pharaoh and is shunned. She isn’t safe among her own people, and flees from being stoned to death. Although her family protects her, she must find a way to survive.

While Naomi struggles to keep herself and Tut alive, old adversaries return as Smenkhkare takes advantage of Akhenaten’s ailing health. Naomi must rely on Horemheb’s promise to protect Tut’s birthright, but her feelings for Malachi could cause more problems with Horemheb than she expects.

Add it on Goodreads, and make sure you read Book 1 first or you might get a little lost.

You can follow Katie on:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/KatieTeller1

FB page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Katie-Hamsteads-Stories/247238178656484

Blog - http://kjhstories.blogspot.com/

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18169048-kiya

Want to win some signed copies? Here's how:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Teaser! An E-Book Extravaganza! Another Heirs of War (and more!) Giveaway!

I swear, I just can't help myself. I finish one giveaway, and I can't help but think of how I want to do the next one. This time, I've decided to make the giveaway as special as can be in two different ways:

1.) I'm not just giving away my e-book. One of the most amazing things about this whole writerly experience has been the vast amount of support I've received from all around the web. So I am also giving away three purchased e-book copies from three incredible people that have supported Heirs of War (and me) along the way. So you can not only win an e-copy of Heirs of War, but the following titles from authors that continue to inspire me:

• Coldness of Marek by Rachel O'Laughlin
• First of Her Kind by K.L. Schwengel
• Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh by Katie Hamstead

2.) Heirs of War became a feature on Wattpad September 11th, and I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and encouraging words people have given me. As I am writing this, I have 789 followers, 524 votes for Heirs of War, and over 46k reads. My jaw hits the floor every day when I look at it. So, as my way of showing how incredibly appreciative I am of all my new followers and readers, I decided to include a way to enter the giveaway with Wattpad. It isn't really intended to gain new followers so much as give the followers I already have a chance to enter their own way. In fact, if you've never used Wattpad before, I would encourage you to use the other ways to enter.

I'm also doing something else a little bit different. I'm not including an option to tweet about the giveaway. I know this is a great way to earn entries, but it is also kinda spammy, so I'm not a fan of it. If you want to continually comment on my blog to earn entries, that's cool. But I don't want to clog people's Twitter feeds. =)

And now, without further blabbering from me, here is the teaser for Heirs of War, and the Rafflecopter giveaway! If you want to enter the giveaway with a comment, here are the questions to answer:
What books are at the top of your TBR list? What is your preferred genre? Do you prefer e-books or physical copies? Why?
(Note, answer whichever ones you choose, let's just keep the conversation going!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kiya Blog Tour: Guest Post by Katie Hamstead

As promised, today I am lucky to have Katie Hamstead stop by to talk about the research she did on the origins of Israel for Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh (available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble). If you'd like to hear more from her, you can follow her on Twitter or check out her blog.

Thank you, Mara for having me on your blog.

The Origins of Israel

Abraham was the first father of the people known as the Israelites. Abraham married Sarah who gave him Isaac in their old age. Isaac then married Rebekah who gave him twins; Esau and Jacob. Jacob then traded for the birthright with Esau, and married Leah, then Rachel, and further down the line Bilhah and Zilpah. These four women gave him twelve sons between them, and Jacob become known as Israel.

These sons are:

From Leah – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah(Jews), Issachar and Zebulun.

From Bilhah – Dan and Naphtali

From Zilpah – Gad and Asher

And from Rachel – Joseph and Benjamin.

Each of these sons fathered the twelve tribes of Israel, excluding Reuben. Reuben lost his birthright by sleeping with Bilhah. So, Joseph became the birthright because he was Israel’s favorite wife’s firstborn, (We all know the story of Joseph and the techni-colored dream coat! ) and became the father of two tribes; Manasseh and Ephraim, of which Ephraim is the birthright line.

So, now you can understand why it is so significant that Naomi (Kiya) is a direct line of Ephraim in Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh.

Israel’s time in Egypt isn’t well documented. We see at the end of Genesis Israel dies, but then many generations later, Moses begins Exodus. During this time they grew enormously as a people and somehow went from being favored by the Pharaoh to being slaves.

This is the time in which the Kiya trilogy is set.

Kiya: Inside the Egyptian City of Amarna

World-building is such a huge part of what we, as writers, do. Sometimes the city in which our story takes place can take on a life of their own. Just look at Tolkien's Middle Earth or the world of Hogwarts from the mind of J.K. Rowling.

Sometimes, though, they can be plucked right from history. I'm not sure which is harder--starting from scratch or doing the research for a real place. Katie Hamstead is here to show us the end result of her hard work for her novel Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh (available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble) by giving us a brief tour of the Egyptian City of Armana as seen by her main character.

Be sure to check back here for a guest post from Katie! Until then, you can follow her on Twitter or check out her blog!

The city of Amarna, built by Pharaoh Akhenaten’s decree and under his direction, was a short lived capital of Egypt. But, it is the city in which Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh is set. So, I’m going to give you a guided tour through Kiya’s eyes.

The city was centered around the main city, with suburbs built to the south.

“…and I beheld for the first time the city of Amarna. Long, white walls ran along the eastern shoreline, with a wide gate framed by pillars that faced the stone wharves. To the south of the main city, I saw smaller enclosed areas made from darker stone—the residential districts.”

Kiya, having grown up in Thebes, which was considerably older, not to mentioned designed for more than just one god. As she moves through the city she observes:

“I saw open streets and courtyards. The white walls of the buildings reflected the glare from the sun; the architecture looked modern and stylized, with hieroglyphs depicting the great Aten over each doorway. The men led me toward the palace down a wide, busy road, where people stopped and moved aside to watch us.

We passed under a covered bridge that led from a large, elaborate house into the palace, which had windows cut out along the middle.”

The city itself was used by later Pharaohs as construction material and torn down, so what is left now is mostly foundations which were buried by the desert. As a result, I couldn’t find much information on precise details. All I knew was the palace was located to the north, with the royal residences also in that vicinity. So, also knowing that the Pharaoh had many wives and concubines, I thought that they’d all be placed together in a protective, enclosed structure.

“The women's wing was poorly named. It was not so much a wing as a dormitory. A large common area lay before me, with a pool in the middle. From this common area, several corridors branched off. Like everywhere else in the palace, the common area and corridors remained uncovered, but I could see that the corridors' rooms had roofs.”

To find out more about this city, check out these websites:

http://amarnaproject.com/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/700792/Tell-el-Amarna

http://www.world-archaeology.com/great-discoveries/tell-el-amarna/

As well as, of course, your local library!

Cover Reveal! Katie Hamstead's Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh

I've got yet another book for you guys to add to your readerly exploits! Katie Hamstead is set to release her book Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh April 30th by Curiosity Quills Press, and I've got the cover and blurb ready for you guys! Be sure to add it on Goodreads and check out Katie's blog for more information on Kiya and her other writerly exploits!

To save her younger sisters from being taken to the cruel life of the palace, Naomi intervenes and gives herself to be a wife of the erratic Pharaoh Akhenaten.

In the palace, Naomi finds herself thrust into the intrigues of the royal family, and has her name changed to Kiya. She becomes beloved by the Pharaoh, who declares that she will bear him his heir. But the Great Queen Nefertiti, furious with jealousy, schemes to destroy Naomi and even brings her fidelity into question, which could cost Naomi her very life.

Naomi must play the deadly game carefully. She is in a silent battle of wills, and a struggle for who will one day inherit the crown. And if she does bear an heir, she will have to fight to protect him as well as herself from Nefertiti who is out for blood.