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.
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GENRE:
Fantasy – Toes the line between YA and NA
PAGES:
634 pages
PART OF A SERIES?:
1st in a New Series
RELEASE DATE:
March 30th 2020
PUBLISHER:
Blue Box Press
SOURCE:
Owned E-Book
YOU CAN PURCHASE THE BOOK AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE/LIBRARY OR THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
At the time of publication, there are limited signed copies of the book through JLA’s online shop – this is where I bought my physical copy! Check it out now.
BookShop
Audible
Book Depository
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
Captivating and action-packed, From Blood and Ash is a sexy, addictive, and unexpected fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Laura Thalassa.
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.
MY REVIEW
Its not every day that one of your favorite authors drops a brand new book, out of nowhere, and it was kind of the best news ever. JLA has never written a high fantasy book before – all of hers take place in contemporary settings – so I was seriously excited to see what she could do with the fantasy genre. I’m not reading basically at all right now – I’m in the worst slump and I’m working on edits and rewrites so I barely have the time! I only read one book in the entirety of May – which is crazy for me – and it was this book. That shows you how damn good this book is.
I had no idea what this book was about before I read it. Normally I’m a staunch reader of the synopsis of a book but when it comes to authors I already know that I love, I just read them. I went into this book completely blind. I think I had kind of heard through the grapevine what it *might* be about but I didn’t really KNOW.
It did take me a little bit to get into at first, I think mostly because I haven’t really been feeling fantasy or any kind of speculative fiction right now. By the moment that Poppy meets Hawke and things start to happen, I was absolutely hooked. JLA has this way of being such a great storyteller and world builder that lets you immerse yourself into the story but also balances it with mystery. I felt like there was a part of me that absolutely knew what was going and another part of me that was kept guessing the entire time, like, WHAT IS GOING ON? She was SO good at that and its partly the reason that I kept reading because I just had to figure out how this world worked, what its mysteries were.
What I honestly truly loved about the book though were the relationships in there, and I’m not just talking about Hawke and Poppy, though we’ll get to that. Poppy’s relationship with everyone around her was so well written – her friends, her teachers, her keepers, everyone. None of her interactions were small, none of them were insignificant. You remember all of her interactions. To be fair, her world is so small and her interactions ARE very limited as the Maiden but I really appreciate that JLA takes the time to really build the relationships she has with those around her, good or bad, small or large. Even those she interacts with for a brief moment, it has impact and I think that drives the story and is a real strong core to the book.
But yes, of course, we have to talk about Hawke. Hawke is beautiful and charming and sexy and dangerous and mysterious and how can a fangirl NOT fall in love with him? I followed easily along the journey that Poppy takes in getting closer and eventually falling in love with Hawke. He’s hard to resist for sure and there are some seriously sweet scenes between the two of them and some incredibly fun and steamy scenes between them as well.
The WORST part of the book – and let’s be real, this is just me being a brat – is when it ended! Because it ends with so much revealed and all these new twists and turns and revelations and I seriously was so sad that it ended because even though it had answered a lot of my questions, it had created so many more. I’m in absolute distress waiting for book two so please, JLA, keep writing!
RATING:
5 out of 5 Stars
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