Dragons

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A Shadow In The Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout(Review Post)

Published September 6, 2021 by bookbesties

A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire, #1)

A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Make him fall in love with you, then end him…..

A Shadow In the Ember is I guess you could say a spinoff prequel to Jennifer Armentrout’s widely successful From Blood and Ash series. It takes place in the same world, just a reeeeeally long time before the events in FB&A. In this we meet Seraphena(Sera) who has been chosen and trined for one thing and one thing only. Make the primal of death fall in love with her, then end him. Its the only way she knows how to save her kingdom. But When that time comes, things don’t go as planned and now Sera has to face a new reality, Or so she thought. When the primal does come, he is like nothing she was expecting. The slow burn of Sera and Nyktos was one of the best ones I have read in a really long time.
I thought no one could beat out Poppy and Casteele(from Blood and Ash) for my fav couple, but I’m telling you now, SERA & NYKTOS have surpassed them so much and this only the first book in this series! Sera is everything you want in a strong female lead. Cunning, smart, fierce, strong and yet, vulnerable and loyal. And Nyktos is…he’s…well he’s Nyktos. He’s a Primal, THE Primal of death and gives of BDE(Big D Energy) BIG TIME! The book answers a few questions we may have from the Blood and Ash world, and tied in some key elements that we will need for the next book in the Blood and Ash world. It also left me with my pulse literally racing by the end and my mind blown.

I have been a long time reader of Jennifer’s and the way she wove this story into all the elements from the past and what I hope will come in later books is simply amazing.
I feel like I say this with every book she puts out lately, but this book was amazing! I’m speechless at how much this world has grown and how it keeps growing! I can’t wait for the next book!

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The Crown Of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout(Review Post)

Published April 21, 2021 by bookbesties

Bow Before Your Queen Or Bleed Before Her…

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes book three in her Blood and Ash series.

She’s been the victim and the survivor…

Poppy never dreamed she would find the love she’s found with Prince Casteel. She wants to revel in her happiness but first they must free his brother and find hers. It’s a dangerous mission and one with far-reaching consequences neither dreamed of. Because Poppy is the Chosen, the Blessed. The true ruler of Atlantia. She carries the blood of the King of Gods within her. By right the crown and the kingdom are hers.

The enemy and the warrior…

Poppy has only ever wanted to control her own life, not the lives of others, but now she must choose to either forsake her birthright or seize the gilded crown and become the Queen of Flesh and Fire. But as the kingdoms’ dark sins and blood-drenched secrets finally unravel, a long-forgotten power rises to pose a genuine threat. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that the crown never sits upon Poppy’s head.

A lover and heartmate…

But the greatest threat to them and to Atlantia is what awaits in the far west, where the Queen of Blood and Ash has her own plans, ones she has waited hundreds of years to carry out. Poppy and Casteel must consider the impossible—travel to the Lands of the Gods and wake the King himself. And as shocking secrets and the harshest betrayals come to light, and enemies emerge to threaten everything Poppy and Casteel have fought for, they will discover just how far they are willing to go for their people—and each other.

And now she will become Queen…

OH MY GOD

Where do I really even start? This book blew me away!

I am going to try and do this without soiling anything, which is so hard because it all was amazing. I sat on this review because I had to process everything and I still don’t know if this review will adequately relay all of my feelings.

After all the ups and downs from A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire I thought Jennifer couldn’t top it, it was seriously my fav book this far. how could she make me love Poppy, Cas and the gang more? Oh, but I was wrong, so, so wrong. This book starts with so much happening it left me screaming,

“That’s how you start a book!”

This book started on 100 and ended on 100000! The excitement doesn’t end there. This book picks up exactly where the last book left off with Poppy, Cas and crew thrown into a new deadly situation. I was on the edge of my seat for the first 100 pages and couldn’t put the book down enough to even sleep.

New revelations leave Poppy to question who she is and what really happened the night of her attack and her and Cas have to navigate a new life, new rolls and new feelings. So many feelings.

The twist and turns this book took me on were heartbreaking,emotional and phenomenal! I laughed, I felt things, and I cried, man did I cry! New characters were introduced and old side characters were showcased( Shoutout to Delano and Vonetta, my personal fav ;-)) more and I loved it! I was happy that a few of the theories that I guessed were correct and others were not. And the steam?

The steam was steamier, the swoon was swoon-er and everything was just so much more. I have been a JLA fan for a long time, since her first book back in 2011 and this was by far the best book Jen has ever written(so far) and defiantly my 2021 top read(so far).

Bravo Jen, BRAVO!

A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane (Review Post)

Published February 4, 2020 by bookbesties

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A generation past, the western realms were embroiled in endless war. Then the Destroyer came. From the blood and ashes he left behind, a tenuous alliance rose between the barbarian riders of Parsathe and the walled kingdoms of the south. That alliance is all that stands against the return of an ancient evil—until the barbarian king and queen are slain in an act of bloody betrayal.

Though forbidden by the alliance council to kill the corrupt king responsible for his parents’ murders, Maddek vows to avenge them, even if it costs him the Parsathean crown. But when he learns it was the king’s daughter who lured his parents to their deaths, the barbarian warrior is determined to make her pay.

Yet the woman Maddek captures is not what he expected. Though the last in a line of legendary warrior-queens, Yvenne is small and weak, and the sharpest weapons she wields are her mind and her tongue. Even more surprising is the marriage she proposes to unite them in their goals and to claim their thrones—because her desire for vengeance against her father burns even hotter than his own…

A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ok, here it is, fair warning that this book is NO WHERE NEAR what I typically read and review for y’all. Originally this book was presented as a Viking story, so as your Historical Romance Book Bestie I took it on. After reading this book I will tell you that this is not a Viking book at all but rather it is a barbarian book full of warriors, battle, sex, enemies turned lovers, and sweet revenge. While this is wildly different from my normal reading material that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy this book and the adventure it took me on. This is book number one of the series: A Gathering of Dragons. It is also the first book I have read by this author. I enjoyed how this author made both men and women equals. Both sexes were represented with matching strength, intelligence, and value to their people. This was done with such skill that unless a description or the pronoun of a character specifically designated a gender I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish one from the other. To me that shows the author’s close attention to detail as well as her creativity and ability to create and maintain a world and society different than the norm. I am truly impressed with this author in that regard. Again, while this book is very different from what I primarily read I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Upon learning of the murders of his parents, Ran Ashev and Ran Marek, the Parsathean queen and king, Maddek wanted nothing more than vengeance upon those responsible. While the alliance council has forbade him to take up arms against Zhalen, King of Syssia and his son’s, no one has said he cannot find his vengeance through Zhalen’s own daughter.

Yvenne is the direct descendant of Syssia’s most revered warrior queens, and as such upon reaching a queen’s age or delivering a child she may claim the Syssian throne and save her people from her evil father and brothers. It is with this knowledge that she risks her life to offer an alliance through marriage to a warrior who would see her dead before he heard her words.

Will he help her become the warrior queen her people need? Will her lessons give him the heart of a king? Will their alliance built on a foundation of mutual hate turn them from enemies to more?

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have.

stars 4