REVIEW: Protector (Magio-Earth #1) by Joanne Wadsworth

To love and protect…across worlds.

Eighteen-year-old Faith Stryker is prepared to leap out into the unknown world beyond her home shores of New Zealand to experience life. Only she never expected to encounter Magio, a planet with two warring countries, where its people reach adulthood at eighteen by coming into their strength and prophetic abilities. Only after Faith discovers she’s a Halfling--thanks to her warrior father she’s never met--does her own skill of forethought develop.

Peacio’s Prince Davio Loveria is sent to the young Faith Stryker by his grandfather, but not all goes as planned. Davio discovers Faith isn’t just a Halfling, she’s also his soul-bound mate--an intense relationship he cannot, nor will not, give up. 

With two wars now waging…one of land and the other of the heart…can the young lovers find their place in the world?

Book Links: Goodreads l Amazon l Barnes & Noble

My Thoughts:

Spellbound, my mind spun with sudden lust-filled fantasies as I took in his staggering height. He must be at least six foot four. His hair held a slight wave and was that teasing shade in between dark blond and brown, the longer length just sweeping his shoulders. His eyes were to die for, their liquid brown speckled with gold, the darker color the exct same shade as his hair.

Yum.

Protector is the first book in the Magio- Earth saga by Joanne Wadsworth. When we first meet Faith she has just turned eighteen and is trying to wrap her head around learning that she is a halfling from Magio and some unusual abilities that she has just developed when she meets Davio. There is immediate attraction between the two, but both vow to fight that attraction when Davio informs Faith that he is actually the Prince of Peacio and she is his soul bound mate. But their need for each other will prove hard to fight. 

One of the first things that I was drawn to was that it had a New Zealand link. Not living there myself but having family that does, I absolutely love books that I can have that connection to outside of the story.

When it comes to the relationship between Faith and Davio I swear I had whiplash by the end of the book. They were so backwards and forwards with their arguing, which at times became physical, and their need to love each other. They are both incredibly stubborn. Davio in his need to protect Faith and Faith in her need for independence. It took me most of the book to wrap my head around their relationship, but their connection and love had definitely grown on me more by the end of the book and I'm hoping that with the experiences that Faith has had there will be more balance to their relationship in book two.

"Your bloodshed is my bloodshed, and I need you. I will not be separated from you, for that would be a deadly kind of hell-a certain madness if it did."

I loved learning about the tensions between the two warring countries of Peacio and Dralion. The connection that Faith has to both countries was cause for a lot of the tension that was experienced throughout the book and I definitely felt her pain at being stuck in the middle so to speak. But her strength really shined through to help her deal with everything that was thrown at her.

Protector was a really enjoyable, well written book. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next for Faith and Davio and the battle between Peacio and Dralion.

4/5 Stars!