They were sloppy words, but I meant them. I’d only chosen to sleep with Killian because he’d been there, and I’d wanted release. That had been my first mistake. Because I’d ignored other warnings, like his tendency to keep my father aware of my every move. Scarlett St. Clair’s “A Touch of Ruin” is set a few months following the events of the debut. Hades and Persephone have made their relationship public even though no one knows that Persephone is not a mortal. The only person aware of her immortality is Lexa, her best friend. Persephone is still butting heads with her mother who is displeased that she is dating Hades. Meanwhile, her boss wants an exclusive on their relationship and she just learned that Sybil, her friend who is Apollo’s oracle, has been stripped of all power after refusing to sleep with the god. Persephone the justice warrior steps in to help as everything goes wrong. Persephone is still dealing with her feelings of love and trust and Hades is catching up to him. Persephone is finding that she cannot control the manifestation of her powers and being in public with all the stress in her life is not helping. Everything seems to be going wrong, setting the novel up nicely for what comes in the books to follow. Self-consciously, I lifted my hand and hissed at the sting of my shredded skin.The sudden flare of pain made me feel light-headed. The man dropped his sword, as if he no longer perceived me as a threat, which made me want to be a threat, except that I dropped my arm too, my fingers loose around the hilt. I tried to tighten my hold but couldn’t.

One thing i hated abt this was the woman vs woman thing where Isolde literally hates anyone who even talks to adrian I'm like girl chill pls :)))) The author spent too much time focusing on the relationship drama, and not enough time on the plot and developing the characters. Also, the fact that many important and significant conversations between Isolde and Adrian happened while they were having sex just feels weird. They obviously have this very physical and intense connection that makes it impossible for them not to rip their clothes off when they are together for more than a few minutes, yet they can take the time to chat while having sex? And once the sex part is over, don’t ask them to sit and talk seriously because of course, suddenly all feelings-related discussion is just impossible to have. It only added to the immaturity I felt from Isolde, but from Adrian, it was a little harder to explain considering how old he is. He must’ve felt the same way about her too because he asks for her to be his queen in exchange to spare the house of Lara. Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev Romance makes billions of dollars!” St. Clair laughs. “It’s like you have all the science here, all the numbers that you should be dominating the markets with romance and you don’t do it because people think it’s ‘not literary’ or whatever.”ISOLDE WAS GREAT and I thought she was written as a strong and interesting morally-grey character. You could tell from her mannerisms and the way she spoke that she was actually raised to lead and be a queen. Far too many fantasy series tend to treat women as supporting figures: Love interests, damsels to be rescued, victims of violence, or passive figures who must spend their lives reacting to the action happening around them. But St. Clair had a very particular vision for the sort of heroine she wanted King of Battle and Blood’s Isolde to be—and it wasn’t any of those things. I told myself I didn't mind that much at first. Hell, I've read worse plots than "nekkid vampire sex" for sure. But it is super cringey. From the use of the pet name "sparrow" 🤮 to the anthropomorphised clitoris.

I have to say, after reading ATOD from the 3rd person perspective and this book from the 1st person, I think SSC does much better writing in 1st person. While this is not something that will matter to some people, it made a big difference to me because this book is such an improvement from ATOD. Some of the sentences in this book really wowed me. Like "I met him beneath jasmine and kissed him under stars, and we made love in the dark, and that love ended in fire and damned the world" just made me speechless because I think this might be the best sentence in the whole book for me. The second I read the synopsis I actually immediately thought of “The Bridge Kingdom” by Danielle Jensen. The latter is one of my absolute favorite romantasy books because it was brilliantly able to (in my opinion) balance the romance with a very engaging and intriguing plot. Since both books deal with similar tropes and topics, I thought this one would also be a win for me. Safe to say, that was not the case. I can be anything. Your jailor, your savior, your lover.” His mouth was closer to my ear as he added, “Your monster.” was literally so cringe-worthy and terrible that it was funny/entertaining and that was the ONLY thing that kept me reading

My favourite character, other than Isolde, was Sorin. My baby brought so much comedy and had me laughing. He was so open and sweet to Issa, too. I swear, if anything happens to him, I will cry. After spying on the vampires, Isolde had returned to the castle in an attempt to get away from commander Killian, but met a strange on her way – one she’d successfully killed, suffering just a scratch on her end. I would rate this a 3.5/5 on a spice scale, especially because I appreciated all the ~self love~ scenes. I also adored how s3x positive this book was and how heroine refused to be shamed for it. That is always a hallmark of a stellar book and I adore heroines like Isolde so much. She is a warrior first and a queen second, she isn’t afraid to take action and ask for approval later. His decision had been met with mixed emotion. Some wished to fight rather than succumb to this monster’s reign. Others were uncertain—had my father traded death on the battlefield for another kind?

Trained in weapons and prefers daggers . pretty much half the female leads in YA , so ? its the overall effect points 1 to 3 make combined with the rest of the points that I just couldn't ignore IT SEEMED TOO OBVIOUS that Adrian and Isolde had some weird and historical connection. It felt like it was supposed to be this mysterious reveal but to me all the foreshadowing just had me rolling my eyes

Quality :

I didn't hate the heroine which was a surprise bcz i usually hate NA heroines bcz they're all like "oh ik everything ill kill everyone" but actually never does it. King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair. Photo: Sourcebooks Read the first chapter of King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair I started to step around him, and Killian reached for my hand. I wrenched free and punched him in the stomach. He groaned and fell to his knees as I turned on my heels. On another note, I am disappointed by the sex scenes in this book. I know a lot of people rave about them in Scarlett’s work, but since reading A Touch of Ruin and now this book, I just can’t help but be reminded that quantity does not equal quality. The sex scenes are repetitive (pull tab, insert in hole, repeat), and I noticed that once again, several serious conversations are happening while the characters are having sex. Look, I will be the first to admit that I am 80% here for the spice, and it doesn’t take much to entertain me—but I just scratch my head at characters who can’t talk to each other unless their clothes are off. There’s a twist in the novel that I just went WILD over, and man did it wrench my heartstrings in the best way. Also, side note, but the writing itself? *chef’s kiss* So good. Scarlett St. Clair writes enviable fantasy!