From blood and ash, by Jennifer L. Armentrout, the first book in the blood and ash series.

Classic yet original. The first book in my April Challenge

“An arm curled around my waist, pulling me back against a very hard, very male body. “This,” a deep voice whispered, “is unexpected.””

So Penellaphe or Poppy, was chosen at birth to become the Maiden when she turns 19 she is supposed to ascend and be given to the gods. Despite her sheltered lifestyle, where she is not allowed to have any type of human interaction despite a select few people. She manages to sneak out, and accidentally meet a guard by the name Hawke, he makes her rethink whether her sense of duty to the gods is more important than her heart. A duty she never even got to chose in the first place.

“Obviously, the book would most definitely be the type of reading material Priestess Analia would expressly forbid. And if I were caught with it in my possession, it would be yet another reason for her to believe that I wasn’t respectful of my duty as the Maiden.”

It’s a very well written fantasy romance, the story contains a lot of otherworldly creatures, like Vampires, and werewolves although she calls them something else in the book, vampry and wolven.

“The handle was fashioned from the bones of a long-extinct wolven—a creature that had been neither man nor beast but both and the blade made of bloodstone honed to fatal sharpness.”

Her use of ancient roman and Greek mythology is also a very good part of the story, I puzzled over the names Masedonia, Elysium Peaks and Atalantia even poppys name Penellaphe, sound like it could be Greek in origin, so it would fit with the theme.

“‘Jalara Solis and his army were brave, but Nyktos, in his wisdom, saw that they could not defeat the Atlantians, who had risen to godlike strength through the bloodletting of innocents—’”

I like the mix oof the old and the new, even if it’s not exactly a big part of the story, but the contrast Is definitely there. The story has a medieval feel to it with swordfights, cloaks, and a ruling monarchy but electricity exists and is available to the public if you can afford it. it made me scratch my head when I read it but, now I really like those contrasts, we are looking at a world where anything can happen and Jenifer L. Armentrout mad it happen.

“Electricity was expensive and heavily controlled by the Royal Court. It made me wonder who some of their clientele was for the luxury to be available.”

I absolutely loved poppy, she was a study in contradictions, she is full of shades of grey, and that makes her feel very real to me, her struggles between her duty and longing for freedom makes her relatable, not her problems specifically but the polarizing felling you get form being tugged between wants and needs. She is not the perfect maiden, a timid and meek little flower that they want her to be, and she does try, but she is a  fighter, passionate about her friendships and the training she receives.

“I may yet again be in the process of doing something incredibly reckless, inappropriate, and wholly forbidden, but I wasn’t foolish enough to enter a place like the Red Pearl without protection, the skill to employ it, and the wherewithal to take that weapon and skill and use them without hesitation.”

Hawke is another matter entirely, he is not a contradiction at all, he is extremely straight forward, with no hint of wavering in what he wants, the question is what his motives are. He always felt like he had secrets. And not the good kind. But he could be extremely romantic as well as flirtatious and playful. All in all I thing Jennifer did a great job with her characters.

““I did. And I’ll say it again. I don’t care what you are.” Hawke’s hand slid off my back. A moment later, I felt his palm flatten against my cheek with unerring accuracy. “I care about who you are.””

The plot is very well invented and executed. We start with dash of righteousness, then a pinch of duty to king, country and religion, then a teaspoon of adversary. and then we simmer with a buttload of  awesome female power and fighting skill, and there you have it a plot that cant possibly fail.

““The last thing I expected was to find a hooded lady with a talent for archery manning one of the battlements.” The dimple made an appearance in his right cheek, and I felt the tug low in my stomach.”

All jokes aside, even though the plot felt predictable in the girl meets boy, forbidden love kind of way, I think we need to be a bit more realistic, not only is it extremely rare to come across a happy ending that doesn’t have some of the same plots as other books, but it’s almost impossible not to get influenced by outside sources when writing a book in my opinion I think its unfair to judge a book on predictability, since its not the ending that’s important its how you get there that matters.

The pace was fine and the book was well timed, it wasn’t all go all the time with nonstop action and passion. It had some well-timed rest periods, the fact that we see Penellaphe going about her daily life is a breath of fresh air because a lot of authors skip over the monotony to pack the book with to much action. In my opinion the right amount tedium enhances the action and make the plot more credible and relatable.

“Deep down, I knew why I hadn’t risen and left the room like I was supposed to, like I knew Tawny waited for me to do. I understood why I was so willing to risk censure for simply sitting and minding my own business. I was enthralled by the antics of the two Ladies in Wait.”

The book succeeded in bringing me in emotionally, I felt with Poppy because Jennifer L. Armentrout is exceptionally good at describing the feelings of her characters, and that makes it particularly easy for me as a reader to immerse myself in the story. I cried several times,  I felt horrified along with poppy, I could feel the anger whilst reading. But I also laughed and found some characters to be cute and lovable.

 “I tried to push up, knowing I couldn’t stay down. “Tawny!” I screamed, looking for her, but all I saw was red…everywhere.”

I will definitely finish the entire series, I loved the book, and for a brief moment wondered if the challenge really was that important, and If it wouldn’t be better to just go ahead with the series, but I’m glad to say that I very narrowly avoided throwing the challenge away in favor of this series, even though it was a close call.

Will I recommend this book, YES definitely yes. I think this is one of those books that I will read again and again and still find things I overlooked the first time around.

4 out of 5 stars from me. Nothing is perfect but it came pretty close. I felt like the only annoyance I felt over the book was I had no idea what I was dealing with until I had read about a third of the book. I usually stay far away from vampire books they freak me out.