Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Mark of the Tala: The Twelve Kingdoms
    The Mark of the Tala: The Twelve Kingdoms
    The Mark of the Tala: The Twelve Kingdoms
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Mark of the Tala: The Twelve Kingdoms

    Written by Jeffe Kennedy

    Narrated by Cris Dukehart

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    The tales tell of three sisters, daughters of the high king. The eldest, a valiant warrior-woman, heir to the kingdom. The youngest, the sweet beauty with her Prince Charming. No one says much about the middle princess, Andromeda. Andi, the other one.

    Andi doesn't mind being invisible. She enjoys the company of her horse more than court, and she has a way of blending into the shadows. Until the day she meets a strange man riding, who keeps company with wolves and ravens, who rules a land of shape-shifters and demons. A country she'd thought was no more than legend-until he claims her as its queen.

    In a moment everything changes: Her father, the wise king, becomes a warlord, suspicious and strategic. Whispers call her dead mother a traitor and a witch. Andi doesn't know if her own instincts can be trusted, as visions appear to her and her body begins to rebel. For Andi, the time to learn her true nature has come.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 28, 2014
    ISBN9781494576189
    Author

    Jeffe Kennedy

    Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning, best-selling author who writes fantasy with romantic elements and fantasy romance. She is an RWA member and serves on the Board of Directors for SFWA as a Director at Large. She is a hybrid author who also self-publishes a romantic fantasy series, Sorcerous Moons. Books in her popular, long-running series, The Twelve Kingdoms and The Uncharted Realms, have won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance and RWA’s prestigious RITA® Award, while more have been finalists for those awards. She's the author of the romantic fantasy trilogy The Forgotten Empires, which includes The Orchid Throne, The Fiery Crown, and The Promised Queen. Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine. She can be found online at her website, every Sunday at the SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and on Twitter.

    Related to The Mark of the Tala

    Titles in the series (1)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Table Talk in Austenworld

      May 17, 2018

      There are two traits in her character which are pleasing; namely, she admires Camilla, and drinks no cream in her tea. —Jane Austen in a letter to Cassandra, January 1796 The company was seated for dinner on the second night of the camp, and as we di

      5 min read

    • Article

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own

      Sep 20, 2022

      As the nation mourns, let us remember an extraordinary woman who was devoted to us all until the very end. She was only a woman. Just like us, she loved, laughed, rowed with and worried about her family. But she was also unique. A woman born to a de

      3 min read

    • Article

      Reading Corner

      Apr 8, 2024

      The past is full of interesting characters and compelling stories. Author Olivia Hayfield’s specialty is taking those characters and putting them into a modern-day setting. If the legendary King Arthur lived among us today, who would he be and what w

      2 min read

    • Article

      This year WILL BE RELAXED’

      Oct 26, 2023

      This year WILL BE RELAXED’
      3 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Nov 2, 2022

      Great Read
      7 min read

    • Article

      Strong Women

      Nov 22, 2017

      Strong Women
      3 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Jun 14, 2023

      Great Read
      7 min read

    • Article

      'Children Of Blood And Bone' Is A Feast For Hungry Readers

      Mar 10, 2018

      Tomi Adeyemi's debut novel is a fast-paced hero's quest through a rich, West-African-inspired fantasy world-- and a seamless mix of empowerment and rip-roaring storytelling.

      3 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading room

      Dec 4, 2019

      The most anticipated book of the year is Atwood’s sequel to her novel The Handmaid’s Tale, 34 years after the original. And while it may not pack the same punch, this is racy addictive storytelling. Fifteen years have passed and Offred is out on her

      6 min read

    • Article

      A tender THREAD

      Jan 5, 2022

      A tender THREAD
      9 min read

    • Article

      5 New Fantasy Novels Invigorate Old Tropes

      May 18, 2023

      Spell books, dragons, mermaids, fairies and a magic circus all take on new life in the pages of these five enchanting tales hitting shelves in May and June.

      5 min read

    • Article

      READER Reviews

      Jun 4, 2021

      by Peter van den Ende Pushkin Children’s Books, £16.99 Review by Amélie PW, age nine This book has loads of gorgeous black and white pictures, which all look like they took days each to draw, but no words. However, this book is not for babies! I

      5 min read

    • Article

      Autumn Reading

      Mar 25, 2020

      A charming novel about a ready-to-retire Paris psychiatrist, who is counting the hours until his final session. Our protagonist has never spoken to his next-door neighbour, although he hears the old gent rattling around at night. He has never enquire

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Mark of the Tala

    4.5/5

    7 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This beginning story in a new fantasy series begins as a traditional fairy tale because it is the story of three daughters of the High King. This is the story of the forgotten middle daughter. Princess Andromeda isn't the smart, political one. Nor is the the charming and beautiful youngest. She much prefers riding her horse to any other activity. Her mother died giving birth to her youngest sister when Andi was five. Since then she had been trying to gain the approval of her distant father. When she meets a young man in the woods, her life changes. Andi learns that her mother was one of the mysterious Tala and that her father broke his oath to send one of his daughters back to the Tala. Rayfe is the King of the Tala and needs to convince Andi to return to their land with him. Andi is torn between her loyalty to her sisters and her country and her growing love for Rayfe.This is a story of a young woman learning secrets that have been withheld from her and learning that she can be something other than the invisible middle sister. I enjoyed the magic in the story and look forward to reading more.
    • 3/5
      Though the relationship in this book was hard to swallow at times, I liked the characters, the world, and the story. The climax was particularly rewarding.
    • 4/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: A high fantasy with engaging characters, a destiny that doesn’t seem as dark as first believed and a steamy but complicated romance.Opening Sentence: My version of the story goes all the way back to the once upon a time with the three princesses, each more beautiful than the last.The Review:The Mark of the Tala is a high fantasy novel that masquerades as a romance. My assumption that this was just a straight up romance was wrong. There is a bit of romance with some sexy, steamy detailed love scenes. This series is about three sisters who happen to be princesses. They each have their own stories that they have to learn. I have a feeling that this series will be the trials and tribulations that all of the sisters go through in order to save themselves and their kingdoms.The Mark of the Tala is the first novel in the series and it begins with the middle sister, Andromeda. She has always felt invisible next to her sisters. Everyone has always gushed over the other two, Ursula with her warrior pride and Amelia with her beauty. Andromeda has never had a thing for politics. She left that to her sisters as she would spend her free time with her horse riding around the countryside or grooming her. It just so happens that on one of her rides leads her to a destiny she didn’t even know she had, let alone know that she even wanted.Andromeda isn’t aware of her past or the legacy that her mother left to her. She knows nothing of the kingdom of Annfwn or the Tala. The Tala are a magical people with the skills of shapeshifting among their gifts. Andromeda has the strongest pull of the Tala among her sisters and is meant to lead Annfwn as their queen.The dark and mysterious Rayfe is the one who opens up Andromeda’s eyes to her destiny. He needs her in order to save Annfwn and he will do whatever he has to in order to get her. He is strangely gentle and compassionate with her, even though he is waging war to get her hand in marriage.Andromeda was such a strong woman whether she knows it or not. She was so comfortable in her invisibility that when the attention turned completely towards her she was quite uncomfortable. She wanted to run and hide, which sadly is what her family tried to make her do, but she didn’t want a war if it meant that she stay in hiding. She was willing to sacrifice her happiness. She was even willing never to see her sisters again if it meant that no one else would die over her. Instead of constantly fretting over her latent powers she fights for a way to figure out how to come into her own.This novel was told entirely through Andromeda’s first person point of view. I connected to her personality and understood her reasoning. I also loved the conversations between the characters. Jeffe Kennedy’s writing immediately sold me on the story and I never once felt lost in the storytelling. (Side note: I tried to read the 3rd novel first since I was given it for review and was completely lost as to what was going on. I picked up the first two novels because I wanted to find out what happened from the beginning.)I was instantly drawn into The Mark of the Tala. I had no problems with learning about this world and how everyone fit into it. I really found myself looking forward to the next time Andromeda would meet Rayfe on the page. That being said, I did find that the novel moved slowly at times before rushing to the ending. The Mark of the Tala does have an ending but it is set up for the next novel, The Tears of the Rose, which I am very much looking forward to reading.Notable Scene:“You are all I want. Annfwn needs you. Everything else is secondary, at best.”“You keep saying that. Why does Annfwn need me?” I ground out.“That is an old and complicated story. Trust that we do. And that I admire your desire to save the lives of my people.”“My people, too,” I shot back.“In truth, they are all your people, aren’t they?” He fingered my braid where it hung over the cloak. “Put the dagger away, my part-blood.”“That’s an ugly thing to call me.” I shot a glance up into his shadowed face.“I don’t mean it as such.”I didn’t know what to say in reply, so I stared at the center of his chest, the blade gleaming silver against his dark vest.“Why are you willing to come to me, if I frighten you so?” he finally asked, in a surprisingly gentle voice.“I already told you. I explained it all in that letter.” Except the part about the strange changes in me. I superstitiously hadn’t want to put that into words.“Only because you feel trapped into this course of action, then?”FTC Advisory: I purchased my own copy of The Mark of the Tala. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.