You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There’s enemies to lovers and then there’s romanticizing Stockholm syndrome. I fear Blood and Ash might be the latter.
In the spirit of optimism, I’m giving this 3 stars. There were parts of the book that had me invested and I do feel the series has potential. The political dynamics driving the story are interesting, but the romance?? Problematic on several levels!! So jury’s still out on whether or not I will be carrying on with this series. I don't know how to feel.
In the spirit of optimism, I’m giving this 3 stars. There were parts of the book that had me invested and I do feel the series has potential. The political dynamics driving the story are interesting, but the romance?? Problematic on several levels!! So jury’s still out on whether or not I will be carrying on with this series. I don't know how to feel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Child death, Kidnapping, Death of parent
Minor: Cursing
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Wow, that twist! This book was fantastic in so many ways.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Gore, Torture, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Couldn’t put it down! At first it seems like a normal fantasy romance but then there are so many unexpected turns. Normally I don’t like a book series with a “cliffhanger”. I feel it’s cheating and forcing me to read the next. But this one…I can’t wait to read the next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Blood
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
I enjoyed this more than I expected to! Although I guessed a few things from page one, it was still a fun read. I haven’t read a vampire fantasy book in a while and this one sets up an interesting world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence
dark
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The number of ellipses… (done ironically) oh my god. It only rivals the number of times I almost DNFd this book. The pacing is painful. Slow with sporadic handfuls of pages that go at a break neck speed. Also, I seriously struggled to get past the purity component. It bled into practically all the FMC’s interactions with nearly every single character she came across throughout the whole book.
It felt like there should have been substantially more background in the beginning to assist the reader in understanding the context for the extreme focus on purity. Frankly it just felt like a weird plot device to further tensions between FMC and MMC. Speaking of, there were moments of good banter but it got ruined by some variation of the MMC’s favorite phrases - “you’re so intriguing”, “you’re nothing like I thought you’d be”, “you’re so violent”. It’s giving “she’s not like other girls”, and I hated it. The spice was okay-ish, but again, with the focus on purity, sometimes it just felt off.
Ultimately, the only thing that kept me going was that I thought the plot had potential so I kept waiting for things to get ironed out (they did not get ironed out). Going to give book 2 a try and hope that things are less painful, if not… it’s gonna be a no for me.
EDIT: Nope. DNF second book 172 pages. It’s just painful, and not in a good way.
It felt like there should have been substantially more background in the beginning to assist the reader in understanding the context for the extreme focus on purity. Frankly it just felt like a weird plot device to further tensions between FMC and MMC. Speaking of, there were moments of good banter but it got ruined by some variation of the MMC’s favorite phrases - “you’re so intriguing”, “you’re nothing like I thought you’d be”, “you’re so violent”. It’s giving “she’s not like other girls”, and I hated it. The spice was okay-ish, but again, with the focus on purity, sometimes it just felt off.
Ultimately, the only thing that kept me going was that I thought the plot had potential so I kept waiting for things to get ironed out (they did not get ironed out). Going to give book 2 a try and hope that things are less painful, if not… it’s gonna be a no for me.
EDIT: Nope. DNF second book 172 pages. It’s just painful, and not in a good way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Slow beginning and middle and yes, too much monologuing, but I was delighted by the direction and pickup at the end. Enjoyable baddies and dark world buiding. Has the young maiden trope but I found it forgivable because it was relevent to the plot and monster type. Armentrout is much better at writing spicy scenes than a certain dragon rider author...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Child death, War
Minor: Stalking, Death of parent
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Holy smokes!! This was an amazing book to jumpstart a new series after getting through the Sarah J Mass-verse! The book is a little slow to start, but it’s written that way to understand the setting and the way the world turns for the FMC.
And similarly to the books of the Sarah J Maas-verse, when the switch is flipped, the pages cannot be turned fast enough!! I absolutely can’t wait to read the next one!
And similarly to the books of the Sarah J Maas-verse, when the switch is flipped, the pages cannot be turned fast enough!! I absolutely can’t wait to read the next one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment
Minor: Torture, Death of parent