From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout Review

 

From Blood and Ash | Jennifer L. Armentrout | Blue Box Press| Pub: 3/30/20

 

“You make me proud.”

As I have said before, 2020 is the year I am really into fantasy books. Natalie and I have been buddy reading quite a few. She read From Blood and Ash first and encouraged myself and April to read it. April has only just started though.

I flew through this book. I started it on Monday and finished this morning. It’s a long book, 613 pages so being able to finish in 5 days on top of working every day, I am proud of myself.

Poppy is the Maiden, the Chosen and she has had to live a life that isn’t her own. Always veiled, not allowed to speak, not allowed to do anything basically. She still manages to get herself in a fair amount of trouble though, so there is that. All Poppy wants to do is live her life her way.

Then she meets Hawke and things get interesting.

As with most books, if I go into more details it is just going to spoil everything. Just know that this is a very long book but a wild ride that could not put down. Some of the pieces are easy to put together, at least for me because I am one of those people who is constantly trying to solve everything, but that doesn’t make the book any less enjoyable. The romance scenes are also delightfully steamy and Chapter 33 puts Chapter 55 of a different book to shame. If you know, you know.

The second book in this series, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, releases on September 1. Yes, I preordered it this morning and I will literally drop everything else when it comes in to devour it. I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!

Do not sleep on this series. Pick it up. Read it. Enjoy a strong female lead even though she is supposed to be weak. Enjoy the steamy scenes because you deserve to. Enjoy the sadness and heartbreak and love and sarcasm. PICK IT UP.

Synopsis (Credit: Goodreads)

A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.