From Blood and Ash

5/5 stars

I'm speechless. slow applause Jennifer is a goddess thank you for this masterpiece. I have always been a Jennifer stan but she really blew it out the water with this one.

My favorite part of this book is the characters hands down. I usually hate the chosen one trope and how self righteous the main characters tend to be and while the main character Poppy is “the chosen one”, she is one of the best characters I have every read. She is so feisty and I related to her so much. She didn't want to be the chosen one and defied people higher than her to protect herself and do what she wants. The side characters were also so fleshed out and I loved them all (or hated depending lol).

NOW DON'T GET ME STARTED ON HAWKE. I love him so freaking much. He's my baby and even tho he is slightly toxic I need his toxicity in my life. I need him to claim me instead of Poppy lol. He is just so witty and charming while also protective and deadly. He's just the combination of everything I need in my life. So what I'm saying is that he's perfect.

This book has a slower beginning but it was very necessary for the world building and understanding the different types of creatures in this world without info dumping. We also got to know Poppy so well and got attached to her guards and the people that cared about her. The plot picked up about 60% of the way into this book and the plot twists had me SHOOK! I kept being surprised left and right and that's when the real steam started too which I loved obviously.

I'm literally so hyped to read the second book since this one is in my top 2 favorite books of the year and I know the second book is going to blow me away just the same.