Review by kaitbreads - From Blood and Ash

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kaitbreads 's review for:

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious 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: Complicated

Song Pairing: Gimme What I Want - Miley Cyrus

Oh, what to say about this book. I absolutely loved it.

Poppy is The Maiden. She has been chosen from birth to usher in a new future for the kingdom. She is hidden from the world and heavily protected. Poppy is not allowed to be seen, to be touched, or to be spoken to, and it is a solitary life that she is not even sure she wants. It's not like the choice is even hers to make. With a fallen kingdom on the rise, things start to become a bit more complicated for Poppy.

Let's dive right in. The world building and atmosphere crafting are amazing. I will warn you, the first 100 (ish) pages of the book can be quite slow but it is truly worth the build once you are immersed. You are thrown right into the story and it can be a little difficult getting your bearings at first.

I am not going to discuss the plot, because I think going in not knowing much about it really helps. As someone getting back into fantasy, I was left so shocked by the twists and turns in this book.

The characters are SUCH a strong point in this book. Poppy is an amazing main character and I love JLA for taking the time to craft her into the fantastic bad ass that she is. She is strong, fierce, confident, and is not afraid of a challenge. Poppy also doesn't back down when it comes to her shortcomings and instead of caving under pressure, she does what she can to come out stronger than before (...and swinging, with a knife).

Hawke Flynn, the royal guard sworn to protect Poppy at all costs, is your typical (but also not so typical) hot love interest who is also witty and demanding and extremely intriguing. There are so many sides to his character that I could talk about all day. I really could talk about the characters in this book all day, I thought they were really well built and added so much depth to the story.

Now, for Poppy AND Hawke...I loved them and their banter SO much. Their relationship is electric and sweet and steamy and it draws you in like crazy. It is a fantastic romance and it adds another layer to the already great world building and story.

There is so much more I could write about this book. It is a wild rollercoaster that I found myself reading in every spare moment of my time and led me to staying up until 4am multiple nights so I could finish it. It has become a favorite of mine and I instantly bought the second book (A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire) and read all 500+ pages in less than a week because I am obsessed. No shock here but they were both 5 star reads for me.

If you love fantasy, a great romance, and lots of action, I highly recommend this book! And now, I will be here anxiously awaiting the third book in the series, A Crown of Gilded Bones.

Thanks for building such an amazing universe @JLA

Content Warnings