The Affiliate

By: K.A. Linde

Narrated by: Erin Mallon

On the day of her Presenting, in front of the entire Byern Court, 17-year-old Cyrene Strohm's lifelong plans come to fruition when she's chosen for one of the most prestigious positions in her homeland - an Affiliate to the Queen.

Or so she thinks.

When Cyrene receives a mysterious letter and an unreadable book, she finds nothing is as it seems. Thrust into a world of dangerous political intrigue and deadly magic, Cyrene's position only grows more treacherous when she finds herself drawn to the one man she can never have...King Edric himself.

Cyrene must decide if love is truly worth the price of freedom.

Find out in this first book in USA Today best-selling author K.A. Linde's new Ascension series. Great for fans of Game of Thrones, Tudors, and Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series.

©2015 K.A. Linde (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"With rich romance and twisty political intrigue, The Affiliate is a breakneck fantasy ride that's perfect for fans of The Selection or Throne of Glass." (Susan Dennard, NYT bestselling author of Truthwitch)

It spoke of caution

The Affiliate is the first book in the Ascension Series. A YA Fantasy with a spunky heroine and plenty of suitors vying for her attention. When Cyrene Strohm becomes an affiliate to the queen, her entire life is altered. She is swept into a deep dark mystery full of magic and intrigue. When the unforbidden attention of the King becomes her new reality, Cyrene’s struggles are only beginning.

The Affiliate offers a magical plot with numerous players in the game. Be forewarned there is a lot going on in this plot, so you will want to pay close attention to every single detail!

Overall, The Affiliate will appeal to YA romance fans who enjoy a little magic and intrigue in their reads. This plot is complex, so readers will need to be on guard the entire read so they don’t miss a thing!

Good book

Tons of intrigue. A Prince and his brother both want her. The kingdom needs her. She's confused at what is happening to her, hence book two. Good story line. Too many filler lines but still worth reading. Listened in Audible.

Excellence All Around

Wonderful world building, character development, story, narrator... everything! I also loved that it wasn’t predictable at all. Perfection!

Good story! Men's voices take a while to get used to

Story is interesting and well done. Men's voices are a bit strange from this female reader (in my opinion) but just take warming up to. Good book for morning drive.

Loved it!

The performance overall is excellent. She really grasped the emotions behind the lines. The book in itself is wonderful. After I began listening to it, I just can't stop! I listened to it in class, while I was doing homework(I know this is bad). The romance parts are mind blowing! I really hope to know what happened at last between Cyrene and Edric, with the whole forbidden love thing going on. I am certainly going to purchase the following books and I recommend this book to anyone who loves YA and a good romance.

LOVED THIS BOOK!!

the ending is not at all what I was expecting and I can not wait to dive into the next. there was deceit, murder, beginning of love, heart ache, betrayal.

Patience young grasshopper

This is a world building book. Introductions to many characters, the backstory of magic, the political machinations; at the end you can feel why it matters so much. I just finished and can’t believe it took so much time to set up even though it didn’t feel like a while books worth. Just like the “if you like these books” suggestions—they are set up similarly and the reward is sweet therefore I’m putting faith in Audible and ploughing forward.
I am eager and hopeful and can see disaster and joy hovering in the wings. Can’t wait for the next phase of the ride.
Very light on romance-hoping for more in the next books.
Narrator did a great job.

Really good book.

This book kept me interested all the way until the end. There were lots of twist and turns can't wait to listen to book two.

good story, author is "breathy"

the story is good, but the recording picked up on a lot of the readers intake of breath. was a little annoying, but you kinda get used to it after a bit.

Fun fantasy Listen for ya/na fans⭐️

So far this first book has set up an interesting world enriched with dangerous intrigue, magic, mystery and forbidden romance. I understand some reviewers becoming confused about plot line etc, however, in my opinion it wasn’t an overload of info at all. This first book sets up the series for a more complex fantasy, not a mindless listen yet not as complex as say Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller series(one of the best by the way)
This first book has me relating it to something like Mitchell Hogan’s crucible of souls or Sarah J Maas Court series?!? Perhaps it will be more so I’m second book....I’ll let you know lol!
If you like fantasy, I would also recommend series by Melissa McPhail, or David Hair’s Moontide Quartet, or the Ryria Chronicles by Michael j Sullivan, and Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings.
Note: this narrator usually annoys me but sometimes she gets it right, her male voices were actually better than her female narration 😀