From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Summary:

In world where there is the thread of Craven infect and killing people, the gods must be honored and children must be give to the Rite to Ascend. Poppy is the Maiden, the Chosen, and someone who represents the future of the kingdom. As such, she is never to be touched, spoken to, or looked upon. The problem is Poppy wants to experience life and more than what the role of the Maiden offers. When Hawke enters her life, he tempts her in very dangerous ways. As Poppy risks her very own future, the thread of the world she lives in begins to unravel.

My Thoughts:

I really struggled with the first 150 pages or so of this book for a couple of reasons. The main character, Poppy, just seemed reckless in the stupidest of ways and I found very little about her that I liked. Secondly, the world building was infuriatingly vague and dragged out. 

Once Hawke really came into the picture, things picked up and got way more interesting. I also just want to note that Hawke is now one of my new book boyfriends. 

The storyline overall is really interesting and I’m sure will be predictable to some. Because I’m terrible at guessing storylines, I didn’t quite get things right but I had a sense of some of the plot twists. 

Poppy continues to annoy me to the end but she has some likable qualities that you discover as you read further. The romance was on par with what I would expect from a fantasy/romantasy novel. 

The ending gave me so many feelings that I can’t even put into words and I’m very excited to read this book in the series. This was a great read but you definitely have to work for it to get good!