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From Blood and Ash
494 pages
A sweeping, tension-drenched fantasy romance where suffocating duty collides with dangerous, forbidden desire.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like standing on the edge of a precipice, waiting for the inevitable, thrilling fall. It begins with a suffocating sense of isolation, wrapping you in the quiet, gilded cage of a heroine denied her own life. But as the pages turn, that quiet repression gives way to a simmering, undeniable tension. The atmosphere is thick with danger and forbidden longing, pulling you through a world of blood-soaked secrets and shifting allegiances. The prose is highly accessible and deeply visceral, anchoring you in every spike of adrenaline and flutter of betrayal. It is a propulsive, swoon-worthy experience tailor-made for readers who crave high-stakes fantasy where the romance is just as lethal and world-shattering as the magic.
- Mood
- tension-filled
- swoony
- atmospheric
- dangerous
- Tone
- passionate
- angsty
- suspenseful
- earnest
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- forbidden desire · claiming agency · questioning dogma · burden of duty · betrayal and trust
- The writing
- Accessible and dialogue-heavy, with a visceral focus on internal emotional and physical sensations.
- The arc
- Moves from suffocating isolation and dutiful repression to a fiery, world-shattering awakening of desire and rebellion.
- Who it's for
- Readers who devour high-stakes fantasy romance featuring fierce, underestimated heroines and explosive enemies-to-lovers tension.
Content notes
- graphic violence
- explicit sexual content
- blood and gore
- emotional manipulation
- death of loved ones
About the book
Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.
The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.
Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.
Description from Open Library.
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