The Scarecrow Queen - Melinda Salisbury

Twylla and Errin come together in the final book to The Sin Eater's Daughter trilogy. Both separately and together, they have a crucial part to play in rescuing their world from Aurek, the Sleeping Prince. He is a thing of myth and legend but the stories are actually true and just as horrific as told.

Aurek has moved through the Three Kingdoms, terrorising the people and destroying towns, villages and anyone who tries to stand in his way. He is so powerful it seems no one can stand against him. with his magic he can force people to obey his orders and he can create fantastically strong golems. Their only hope is to recreate the potion which put him to sleep hundreds of years ago.

I really enjoyed reading the story from both points of view. In the parts where they were together, I felt like Twylla and Errin could have been sisters. They had such a close relationship despite not really knowing each other that well. I loved how they both believed the other to be so brave and strong though they could not see those same talents in themselves. They are inspirational to each other and with their support they do more than they ever could have on their own.

Some mystery remains, even at the end of the books, we'll never really know Lief's motivations. It seems like everyone, Errin, Twylla, Prince Merek, all have a different view of him and we don't know what changed him or if he was always this way. Maybe this leaves an opening for more books or at least short stories to come in future. I really hope so.

These books just got better and better and I felt like I would need a week to recover when I finished! I was lucky to have The Heart Collector short stories to keep me going a little while longer. These are well worth a read to get some background to the legends.

While reading I was thinking I really needed some kind of golden cocktail to accompany the book. The alchemists from legend can create gold and Aurek's name actually means Gold King, or Ruler of Gold.

Hopefully I can be forgiven for mixing magical worlds here but the Felix Felicis (liquid luck) from Harry Potter looks like the perfect sparkling golden drink to accompany this book. Not to mention that the girls really need all the luck they can get.

A great recipe can be found on buzzfeed, I'll put the link below for all the other Harry Potter drinks. Mix 1/4 shot sugar syrup and 1/4 shot lemon juice in a champagne flute. Pour in 1 1/2 shots of ginger beer and top with champagne. A simple drink to make but it looks magical.

Link to Harry Potter cocktail recipes - https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/harry-potter-and-the-night-he-wont-remember?utm_term=.vm19VaAaJ#.dnWzAVOV3