The War of Two Queens (Blood And Ash)

Love this book and every book in the series

I read some of the reviews on here & was preparing myself to be disappointed. I wasn’t. I loved this book!! I can definitely see how those with more conservative, traditional views of relationships may be slightly turned off by the book’s developments but I don’t understand the hate the book is getting. I felt that JLA did a great job of developing Kieran’s role in Poppy & Cas’ lives while staying authentic to the characters and their existing relationships. It’s a longer read. It took me about 3 nights to finish (Got to work & get stuff done some time!!). This book answers A LOT lingering questions while setting the stage for a new antagonist. However, my favorite thing about the book was the relationships. You can feel the love Poppy has for her chosen family-Emil, Naill, Delano, Kieran, Tawny…. You even see a connection developing between Poppy & her father-in-law. I also appreciate that JLA has written a leading lady who doesn’t fulfill society’s definition of beautiful. She’s curvy with a soft stomach & scars. Yet, she’s so much more. Has so much that makes her beautiful- strength, kindness, devotion, intelligence, etc. SPOILER ALERT: I have ALWAYS felt a connection between Kieran & Poppy. The development of their friendship feels like a solidification of the Poppy-Kieran-Cas triangle. Throughout the series, Kieran was honest with Poppy, answering her questions & helping her sort through her feelings about Cas. He’s always been a support system for Poppy. When Cas is taken, Poppy & Kieran bond over their mutual love for Cas & grief over his absence. The bond between Kieran and Poppy has always been Cas. I didn’t feel at all that Poppy was cheating on Cas or forgot about Cas- even for a moment. It is mentioned several times that Poppy & Kieran orbit Cas- they even turn towards Cas in their sleep. Given the frequent mentions of the Joining throughout the previous books, I wasn’t surprised at all when the Joining occurred. JLA foreshadowed the Joining- it was not fan service. I also appreciated that JLA gave a catalyst for the Joining v. having it just occur. I felt the Joining was also tastefully done. It held true to the smut we have come to expect from JLA without being too over the top or eyebrow raising. We’ve been told from the beginning that the Joining was very primal & can get intense. JLA made the feel more surreal so you weren’t 100% sure who was doing what, when. The reader felt as out of body as Poppy felt during the whole experience. However, Poppy was still drawn to Cas. The focus and love was still skewed towards that relationship. I am excited to see what happens next! I want to witness Kieran find love. For Poppy to meet her father. To see the kingdoms united. To see Poppy & Cas lead.

I am running on so many emotions right now. I also would like to state that I took a break from the B&A universe for over a year. With that being said, when I jumped back in, some people were getting on my nerves. Kieran & Poppy mainly. There’s many reasons, but I won’t share them due to spoilers I guess. I also LOATHE Isbeth and all I will say is I’m happy with the turnout. If you know, you know. This book was a lot. I’m not a fan of the part in a series where there’s nothing but war, but it was essential to the storyline and I can appreciate the storytelling and world building and the many new relationships we saw blossom. I will continue on in both the Flesh & Fire and Blood & Ash series. I’m nervous to read what happens next. 🫣 I’m rating it 4.5 in my review, but rounding up for Amazon. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/🌶️🌶️🌶️.5

Okay first off I'm very confused at the amount of hate this book was getting when there was nothing that was a shocker! JLA has been dropping hints for a lot of things that happened in this story throughout the other books! This review will contain SPOILERS so please stop reading now if you want to avoid! As a huge fan of this series, I loved this book! I loved how a lot of questions that were brought up in the earlier books were answered! I also loveddd the dynamic between Kieran and Poppy and I'm very confused about people bringing up emotional cheating? That was definitely not the case. What I read was a natural progression to their friendship that has blossomed into them having love for each other, but not necessarily being in love. Their relationship is different than Cas and Poppy who are STILL heartmates. Nothing they did in this book was odd, it literally all made sense. Not to mention, Cas adores Kieran and would approve of everything that was happening, especially how Kieran was emotionally SUPPORTIVE of Poppy the entire time. So we finally get the joining this book and I was super excited because it's been hinted about since book 1! Again, super confused about how people didn't like the scene. If anything I wanted a little more detail, but that's for my own enjoyment. I thought JLA handled it very well and actually delicately! There were ton of conversations about consent first before anything actually happened! For those that thought she didn't handle it well, I'm curious to know how you wanted it written? Either way I was very excited. Love the emotional intimacy between the three of them and I feel like it takes nothing away from Poppy/Cas. My only critique was that the world building keeps getting more intricate and it's hard to keep up at times! So will definitely be doing a reread. And I thought some of the scenes dragged a little, I definitely wanted Cas to be saved sooner. Besides that, I loved this book and highly recommend it!! Do not be discouraged by the negativity!!!

I have to preface this with my words are very lacking to the book I have just read. No matter what I say it will not do it justice, but here’s a glimpse. I will be honest and have to say I was a little prideful going into this book thinking I’ve read all of Jennifer’s books and I was ready to tackle it. I will also be the first to admit, I was wrong! This is why she is the Queen! There is so much that comes together from the other books in the From Blood and Ash series AND Shadow in the Embers series. It was shock and awe, followed by aftershocks that continued until the end of the book. This is writing. The characters you thought you loved, are beloved beyond words now. Poppy and Cas, including the other supporting characters we know are so well developed in this book on a whole other level! You will meet new one and may have a new favorite! You will feel all the emotions, and just when you think it’s safe, you’re not, you really aren’t! It will steal your breathe days after finishing it. Incredibly amazing. I may have said this before but I sincerely believe this is one, if not my favorite book in the FBAA series. Jennifer Armentrout continues to give it her ALL. Guys… you want to read the this book. I Note: If you haven’t read A Shadow in the Embers, I highly recommend you do!

An excellent 4th book in the Blood and Ash series by Jennifer Armentrout. Story connects easily with prior books in series and kept me interested the whole time I read it. I would recommend for fantasy readers who like many different "creatures", vampires, wolven (werewolves), and magic with God's and Dieties. A fun read. Off to series book 5 for me.

This is my honest review. This is a very highly anticipated book, and I can 100% say, it does not disappoint at all! I am always amazed by how talented Armentrout is and how she can create such fantastic worlds and characters for me to fall in love with. Poppy is just amazing. The amount she has grown throughout this series is fantastic and she has really learned a lot about herself and her role. To see her so determined and confident is out of this world. Being able to get Cas's viewpoint is the best thing ever. I love getting his thoughts and emotions. It honestly makes me wish we had more of those moments, but I'll try not to get greedy! These characters go through a lot of emotion in this book, and I was along for the roller coaster of a ride! I got goosebumps, so many times when something was revealed and it clicked into my head. I laughed, I cried, I squealed with joy, my jaw dropped in shock. You will feel everything throughout this journey, I promise. And there is a lot of information we get in this book. I feel the need to reread already because I just know there are things I missed because I was speeding through everything, trying to absorb as much as I could as quickly as I could. This book will answer a lot of questions, but also leave you with new questions for the future books. I'm so happy I got the chance to read this story! JLA has been my auto buy, favorite author for 10 years and I have multiple formats of all of her books, so to be able to add this book to my collection makes me all warm inside. Enjoy the ride!

** spoiler alert ** I have to say, I don't get why there was such a fuss over this book when it got released. I did not read the spoilers, and honestly even having finished I'm not inspired to. I thought the book was great even if it was pretty predictable. I'm a huge fan of the Joining. My only complaint being that we didn't have a few more chapters like 44. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. If we start at the beginning I really liked having dual POVs with this book. It was definitely necessary with Casteel and Poppy being split. I have been dying to get a peek into that boy's head since the first book in the series. Despite the grim circumstances for Poppy and Kieran to need to become even closer, I felt like it was so exciting to watch their relationship deepen. It definitely helped me appreciate the Joining even more because the emotional connection between all three felt like it was more even...not just a pity screw (so to speak). I enjoyed Poppy dipping into more of her dark side and toying with her god powers. Getting the reveal for Poppy's sister and what Malik's real motivations are was an interesting twist that I'm looking forward to seeing more with. I was also excited to see that Isbeth didn't get a chance to serve more destruction. The blood crown is gone and we know the real player is Kelios. That was a serious AHHHHH moment for me. I really struggled to get through a Shadow in the Ember, but with the last few chapters of this book I felt like it's all starting to come together. I'm looking forward to the next book. So much to see especially now that Nektos is joining in (love me some big Daddy Nektos), Poppy's got to go get her dad, Malec is going back to his mama, and the gods are starting to awaken.

Correspond tout à fait à mes attentes. Livraison rapide.

Whats not to love about Jennifer. This series is amazing. Unexpected ending. Cant wait for more.

Great book to read

Continue reading this series. So good

Was unsure if to give this book 5 stars as the book itself is absolutely fantastic and i literally can’t stop reading it. The quality of the book though is incredibly poor. Pages literally keep falling out the book. Not sure if it’s the seller selling bad quality books or if I was just unlucky. Would highly recommend the book but maybe with another buyer