King of Battle and Blood: 1 (Adrian X Isolde)

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At least, most of the time Isolde realized that her behavior and jealous/hurt reactions were ridiculous, but the fact remains that I had to read wayyyyyyy too much about her jealousy and her whining about her hurt feelings for me to like her. The man dropped his sword, as if he no longer perceived me as a threat, which made me want to be a threat, except that I dropped my arm too, my fingers loose around the hilt. I tried to tighten my hold but couldn’t.

I don't really know what to say . once again I find myself a minority in my opinion of this book among my friends but I would still say : don't waste your time with this folks . This books is nothing new (taylor reference yes) but actually a combination of good parts of FBAA, Shadows between us and TVD. I loved the whole witchy vibe in the second halfHe knew there was no need in fighting because they would be demolished if they tried, so he sought a more peaceful approach to save his people – to surrender. The second I read the synopsis I actually immediately thought of “The Bridge Kingdom” by Danielle Jensen. The latter is one of my absolute favorite romantasy books because it was brilliantly able to (in my opinion) balance the romance with a very engaging and intriguing plot. Since both books deal with similar tropes and topics, I thought this one would also be a win for me. Safe to say, that was not the case. In an attempt to get away from all the frustration, Isolde ran from commander Killian but met a strange on her way to the castle. As a seasoned fighter, she defeated the filthy creature of course, suffering just a few scratches that were healed by a strange vampire she encountered in the woods – the same people she considered her enemies.

When Adrian the blood king, goes to honor the surrender of the house of Lara, he asks for princess Isolde’s hand in marriage in return – a young maiden who had enticed him in the woods. As he’d expected King Henri puts up a fight for his daughter, but eventually he agrees because in truth, the house of Lara has no other option except war. Commander Killian Isolde is a heroine that you love immediately. She's a beautiful princess, but she's not sheltered by any means. This is a woman who's fierce. She's battle hardened. And she's also a woman that owns her sexuality and isn't a shy virgin ingenue. And I absolutely loved that about her. Things even get worse for Killian who’s still disagreeing with the fact that Isolde doesn’t like him. When the blood king enters Lara, he demands to wed his sweetheart, Isolde, in return to spare the people of Lara. Killian is ready to fight and die to prevent this, but his hands are tied when Isolde agrees in a heartbeat. I READ THIS FOR the smut and I definitely got some smut 😉 If anything, there was a bit too much smut because it kind of got repetitive after a while

My pace lessened as the smell of decay permeated the air. At first, it was faint, and for a brief moment, I thought I was imagining things. No one can prepare for monsters, Princess,” Killian said. I broke from his gaze and focused on the king’s tent, distinct with its crimson and gold details, as he added, “I doubt even the Goddess Dis knew what would become of her curse.” To be fair, there are several big-name female authors writing successful high fantasy stories that include significant romantic elements these days, such as Sarah J. Mass’ Crescent City books or Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash series. But both those women initially found success in other genres, specifically young adult fiction and traditional romance. ADRIAN WAS SURPRISINGLY not as alpha as I thought he would be, which actually made me like him more. I was worried he was going to be a douche-lord like Knox from Flames of Chaos, but he was very respectful but still macho enough to be sexy

My readers were so eager for this kind of world meshing. I feel like there’s this tendency in traditional publishing to not recognize what readers actually want. And [as a result,] they’re more than two years behind on everything that they’re putting out. So I think in a couple of years you might see more of this sort of fantasy romance stuff.” For her as a writer, centering Isolde’s perspective and grounding the story in the changes her character is going through was always paramount. And, in a way, the book’s steamier interludes are just another kind of worldbuilding. I think that you have to really be very mindful about how you use sex in your plot. It’s part of the character arc of this person. And Isolde went from just kind of exploring and having fun and whatever to being with one person. And she maybe teases him at first but she learns through all of this what kind of relationship she actually wants to have.” You’re supposed to say no, at least to my face. Unless you wish to conduct our marriage openly. In which case, shall I start scouting for potential lovers?” One thing i hated abt this was the woman vs woman thing where Isolde literally hates anyone who even talks to adrian I'm like girl chill pls :))))Adrian and his vampires did not tell everything to Isolde because she made it no secret that she still considered them to be her enemies and didn’t trust them, so of course, they wouldn’t trust her with their secrets and battle plans, yet Isolde was hurt every single time she learned that they didn’t share something with her. I can be anything. Your jailor, your savior, your lover.” His mouth was closer to my ear as he added, “Your monster.” Self-consciously, I lifted my hand and hissed at the sting of my shredded skin.The sudden flare of pain made me feel light-headed. A Touch of Darkness” by Scarlett St. Clair introduces PersephonE, a goddess of spring that seems to have lost her powers. She lives in New Athens and is in college where she is a senior student interning at a news agency as she waits to graduate with her degree in journalism. Away from her overbearing mother, she thinks that she finally found something she is great at. But her freedom is threatened by the nymphs that her mother sent to spy on her. They are just waiting and hoping that she will make a mistake so that they can swoop in and take her to the greenhouse prison. When she goes on a night out in town, she meets Hades and they come to an understanding. From then on, she goes on a journey of discovery of love, her powers and the place of people like her in the world of the gods and mortals. The good thing about Persephone is that even when she is without her powers, she is not your classic damsel in distress. Instead, she stands up for herself when pushed and calls out anyone including herself for their bullshit. On another note, I am disappointed by the sex scenes in this book. I know a lot of people rave about them in Scarlett’s work, but since reading A Touch of Ruin and now this book, I just can’t help but be reminded that quantity does not equal quality. The sex scenes are repetitive (pull tab, insert in hole, repeat), and I noticed that once again, several serious conversations are happening while the characters are having sex. Look, I will be the first to admit that I am 80% here for the spice, and it doesn’t take much to entertain me—but I just scratch my head at characters who can’t talk to each other unless their clothes are off.

I started to step around him, and Killian reached for my hand. I wrenched free and punched him in the stomach. He groaned and fell to his knees as I turned on my heels. By the way, please excuse this very messy review. I’ve been focusing on my bookstagram lately so I feel like I haven’t written a proper review in a while — which means that I’m very aware that this is kind of all over the place lol. When I was very popular as a self-published author, I was looking for an agent or a publisher and I was told that people who loved fantasy would not understand the romance and people who loved romance would not understand the fantasy,” she says. “And I just [knew] they were wrong.” How is Commander Killian able to talk so boldly to Isolde and her father, the king, and get away with it? There's no way any royal would allow this because at the end of the day his opinion on their personal life doesn't matter. Will you take a wife for every house you conquer?” I countered. Adrian seemed amused, his brows lifted, his lips pursed.Look, this book is damn entertaining, and I think it’ll hit its mark with most of its audience, but I was frustrated that so much of the plot is devoted to other woman/other man drama. I was wavering on what to rate it and had initially gone with 4 stars, but after more thought I am going with 3 stars because what I see in this book is some of the same mistakes I felt Scarlett St. Clair has made with her Hades X Persephone series. Far too much of her writing is spent on relationship drama and it hangs over the rest of the story like a dark storm cloud.