This was a fun page-turner which held my attention until the end. The main character was strong and resourceful which made her likeable throughout.
The premise around firebloods and mages was interesting although (and this may be due to the luck of what I have been reading recently) there were times it felt similar to other fantasy YA out there.
It would have been really interesting to have a bit more fleshed out around the world the author has constructed and the history around the firebloods and their origin and especially the "Saints" as I found myself wanting to know more.
I would have also liked to see more detail around the main character's parentage because the big reveal or realisation felt too quick and just slipped in for me.
Overall an entertaining and diverting read that I enjoyed.

This had a lot of potential. Maybe the main series will be more flushed out. I especially liked the moral questions raised-what is evil? how far can/should you go to stop/prevent evil? However, it wasn't explored as much as I would've liked.

The plot was very repetitive. Sol and Kelan constantly (like every 10 pages) had the same argument. The pacing also felt off. I can't quite pin down what was wrong. Maybe the tension vs. release was off. There's a pretty strong romance element to this. That doesn't bother me, because I like romance. The romance wasn't insta-love in my opinion, but I didn't buy into the romance 100%.

I would've liked some more world-building. I'm guessing there will be more in the main series, but this isn't a small novella-there was time. I don't understand the politics and on a smaller scale, the magic system. I might continue...I might not. I'm currently undecided.

3.5

Sol and Kelan are the only survivors in a mission gone wrong. Unfortunately, they hate and want to kill each other. Over the course of the book, feelings turn to love and soon they will do anything to stay together.
I started off enjoying the book. I never go into a book with incredibly high expectations which lowers my chances of being disappointed. I enjoyed Kelan and Sol's relationship initially. Enemies to lovers is my favourite trope! But they so suddenly went from enemies to lovers. There was no falling in love and slowly seeing the other person, not as an enemy, but as a friend. I felt like I got whiplash from how quickly it changed.
Another thing that I noticed was her complete lack of pronouns. Paragraphs would be: Kelan couldn't believe it... Kelan pulled out his sword... Kelan fought his way out... Does that make sense? She just kept repeating names over, and over again. It would've flowed better to exchange quite a few of those with pronouns.
The writing wasn't bad. The characters weren't horrible. It was an overall enjoyable read for me, but it hasn't become my new favourite book. I might pick up the sequels.

Engaging from the beginning, it starts like a 'road movie' but with traveling on foot through snow and mountains. I do enjoy it when circumstances, usually extreme ones, force enemies to work together. "We're both afraid of what fire can do to us"

Sol is practical, straightforward, bossy and tough and you admire her strength. You can't help liking Kelan from the get go, he is the nicer one and more accepting. He also has a dry sense of humor.

Kelan's symbiotic relationship with the pyra is tenuous and I like how the inner turmoil is depicted. How the demon of fire taunts him and he fights it from totally possesing him. Also how Sol's conflict of her beliefs and her hate with actually liking Kelan is shown. This is a budding, confusing relationship, tinged with melancholy and the companionship of hardship.

The interchangeable 3rd person POVs have a straight to the point narrative with clear pictures of what each protagonist is experiencing. And you'll love those little details that makes the images so clear.

Emotionally charged, with wonder action, suspenseful and described beautifully (there are so many elegant picturesque sentences). Except for the growing feelings of the protagonists which you see coming a mile away, it is entertainingly unpredictable.

There is emphasis on how prejudice is not necessarily a fixed state and change to acceptance. Violence brings more violence, the wrongness of war, how it brings out the worst in people, how devastating it is for all sides.

An against the odds adventurous story. Heart-wrenching and wonderfully optimistic at the same time. With a great ending that satisfies but still promises more.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Two people were destined to be together, yet doomed from the start.
In Firefrost by Camille Longley, we witness a few ugly human characteristics play out in a fictional fantasy setting. Sol is a girl born in a small mountain community and is led to believe that the “Flameskin” people are evil from birth, long before they even begin to display their affinity for fire. Kelan is a boy born with what he feels is a curse – the ability to wield fire. He agrees that it’s a dangerous trait, but he can’t help how he was born. It’s immediately clear that they’re both born and raised to be enemies without a chance at civility between them.

Sol and Kelan cross paths when Sol, posing as a man, is leading a princess and her guards through the dangerous snowy mountains. Known to the princess and army men as “Hunter”, Sol is their leader on the dangerous journey because of her expertise in the mountains. Her status in the village was once held by her father. Since the passing of her father, Sol has been the provider for her family and thus poses as her father to keep the job.

We are human first. We’re not as different as we think.
A common theme throughout the book is Kelan’s desire to be seen as a human and not a demon. There are many Flameskins who have committed tragic offenses against villagers; yet, there are terrible humans who have murdered their people as well. The basic nature to protect their own by harming others actually makes them the same while they’d like to believe they’re very different.

The build-up of Sol and Kelan’s love worked well because it took natural stages. At first they were just civil with each other for survival. Then they started to warm up to each other and became allies. Friendship and love built upon those stages. It wasn’t a quick jump to love that we tend to see in YA books. Thereafter, Camille Longley provides multiple stages of conflict among Kelan and Sol. Love is never easy after all.

I enjoyed this story of love, danger, and compromise very much. Sol and Kelan work hard to see past what they were raised to believe. It’s even harder for them to try to influence their own family and friends. Needless to say, trying to end a war between Sol’s people and the Flameskins seems impossible but necessary. In Firefrost nothing is every easy, and no step that is taken comes without a personal price to Sol and Kelan.

(8/24/2020) Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc copy of this novel. (4.5 stars)

Firefrost is a great action-packed adventure with a great enemies to lovers romance. The book has two protagonists and has a dual POV structure. We have Sol, a mountain huntress from Hillerod and Kelan, a flameskin warrior. The continent of Nordby is plagued by war and terror, stemming from King Anton Bruun's execution of his flameskin wife and daughter. Others across the continent, especially the Tokkens, have taken up arms against the flameskins, vowing utter annihilation of their race in order to prevent the burning of their lands. The novel shows how internalized prejudices and war can destroy nations and peoples, leaving countless innocent victims both within and outside of the armies.

I really loved the magic system of Firefrost. Flameskins are beings with magical fire powers; these powers manifest themselves because of pyra, a seemingly demonic that is able to possess flameskins after excessive use of their powers. Pyra have a penchant for destruction and chaos and feed on anger and other negative emotions. These aspects of pyra ultimately scare non-Flameskins and they harbor extreme prejudice against flameskins. The only way to keep them at bay is by not using powers and/or using an emberstone to extinguish the pyra's presence. Mages can also use emberstones in order to use fire magic; however excessive use of emberstones leads to mages becoming emotionally extinguished (emotionally blunted). There is also mentions of powers granted by the goddess Maja to the "saints" of Nordby.

The character development for Sol was great. Her feelings towards Flameskins changes drastically throughout the novel and we see her overcome what horrible ideologies she was taught. The great thing about the novel is that there is no purely good or purely evil character. Each has their faults and many are just victims of their environment. But we get to see both Sol and Kelan grow past their faults. They are both desperate to live a life of somewhat normalcy but are both used as tools. But in each other, they find the belonging they always wanted. The romance was heartbreaking and sweet. Both Kelan and Sol struggle with their emotions and it was nice to see how the romance developed in tandem with their development.

I only docked a point because there was a lot of redundancy in the beginning of the novel and it took me a little bit of chugging along to get through around the first 20%. After that it was super action packed and didn't let up for a second (much to the chagrin of Sol and Kelan).

For future novels, I hope to see some kind of resolution to the war in the future because it ends somewhat abruptly. I also want to see more worldbuilding and learn more about the other three kingdoms of Nordby outside of Tokkedal and Cassia as well as different races like the dryads. There is a lot of potential for this universe that Longley has created and I can't wait to see what she has in store next!

This book drags you in right from the start and features two very different characters with the classic trope enemies to lovers. This epic story features love, loss, and adventure. Some of the plot twists are predictable, not all, but some are not and keep you asking for more.

Sol is a huntress pretending to be a man to help her queen cross the mountains, Kelan is a soldier for a group of people overcome with fire demons.

This is the epitome of a haters to lovers story and I adored it. This book does a wonderful job of explaining what the stakes are in a situation, and then taking them through to their conclusion. There is no shying away from death, casualties of war, or hiding the way that organizations will work until their goal is achieved.

I found both Sol and Kelan incredibly compelling. Their backgrounds do a wonderful job of shaping who they are, what they can do, and how they react to everything around them. There are some twists and turns in this book that I never would have expected, and some that I did but still really enjoyed.

This book centered on the romance between Sol and Kelan, an enemies to lovers theme. That part of the story was pretty interesting, although I do think their romance progressed rather quickly, but I attributed that to their long time together.
What I would have loved to find out more about was what made them enemies. I knew the gist of what started the war but it would have been nice to know why the King did what he did. Maybe that will be explained later on in the series.
I enjoyed this book and I definitely want to continue the series and see what happens in their future.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the ARC. Firefrost is a page-turner. An enemies-to-lovers story, set in a fantasy world. It's fast-paced if a bit repetitive. I would've loved a bit more worldbuilding, and Sol leading Kelan on at every turn rubbed me a bit.

But as a whole, if it's a quick-read with a romance and an imaginative magic system what you're looking for, look no further. You can get that here.

2.5 stars

I was hooked immediately from start with plot and characters Sol and Kellan have Zutara feel.
But sadly half was through story starts get repetitive and pace slows and I lost all my interest.

I'm sure other will like it more, but I didn't.

*𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

4.2/5 ☆ = 5

In a world filled with war and magic, we follow Sol - a hunter/mage - and Kelan - a flameskin. Even though they're on the opposing side of the brutal war between humans and flameskins, they have to work together to travel across the Ulve Mountains. Their lives depend on cooperation. Secrets are uncovered, the hunter has become the prey and their lives will never be the same again.

The book is filled with a lot of room for the characters to grow, as well as some action scenes. At first, the book dragged for a bit during the start but got way better at the end. There was also a lot of repetition in the plot, which made it a bit boring at times. But at least the end was good. Honestly, I sometimes feel like the ending was a bit rushed. However, it also kind of wound up perfectly at the end.

Moreover, the world-building was a bit lacking. Of course, the whole war and between the humans and flamskins, and their struggles were definitely well written. However, why did the war really start? What created the stigma towards the flameskins? What are the different creatures? Obviously, this is a prequel. It's just introducing us to this new world. Yet, I would have liked to travel through the world and learn more. More about the different cultures and etc. However, I will say that the author was amazing at giving clues which would be vital by the end. A great buildup of tension!

I absolutely fell in love with both Kelan and Sol. Headstrong Sol and complex Kelan, who was practically raised to hate each other. But their character development, oh the development! I love how their relationship grew as they began to finally trust each other. What can I say, I do love a good enemies-to-lovers, and this book delivered just that! The romance was definitely swoon-worthy.

The focus was mainly on Sol and Kelan's relationship, which I understand. Yet it dragged the opportunity to have a more engaging and creative plotline. Moreover, secrets were unveiled and the characters learned more about themselves. However, after a revelation, things seemed to be just normal. It was almost no big deal. I really wished the author dug deeper into Sol's ancestry.

In conclusion, I found myself enjoying the story a lot. This prequel was a pretty good buildup for the upcoming series, and it definitely got me excited for the Flameskin Chronicles! I got my hands on the novella Flamecursed, so I'm looking forward to reading it soon!

Over and out. -Nora <3

This book has a slow burn (no pun intended) romance between enemies Sol and Kelan. It also has other romance tropes like being stuck alone in the wilderness/a cave in winter (Oh no! How will these sworn enemies stay warm?! 😏). This dual POV book explores the star-crossed Romeo & Juliet romance/“that’s what I was taught about you people since I was a child” themes. There are some super incredible lines, like Kelan comparing his feelings for Sol to loving the river while he drowns in it.

I found the idea that a power is a demon waiting to take some of the people over super fascinating, but that’s not fully explained. I had a hard time telling the difference between flameskins & mages if both can wield fire. Are there any normies? It seems non-magic people are the minority, so fearing them doesn’t make much sense. How did some end up with powers?

Things like this & other plot points where something actually happens are sometimes skipped over, but there are so many scenes where they are just walking all over the damn world LOTR-style. To the point 50% of the book is them traveling on foot, so I would’ve liked to have more world-building.

"She’s a huntress:
Sol d’Hillerod is sent on a desperate mission through a treacherous winter pass. She carries with her the only hope of her village’s survival, and she will do whatever she must to keep her world from burning.

He’s a monster:
Lieutenant Kelan Birke has spent his whole life fighting for his freedom and his soul. As his control slips, and the war rages on, he knows it won’t be long before he loses himself entirely to the fire that flows through his veins.

Sol and Kelan are enemies in an age-old war, forced to depend on each other to survive a perilous journey through the mountains. As fire melts the ice in Sol’s heart, she questions everything she’s been taught to believe, and Kelan becomes more desperate to fight the flames that consume him. Together they discover that their struggle will have repercussions for both sides of this burning war." ( Description taken from Goodreads)


*****

This book was something different.
First of all, I love the enemies to lovers thing, which was written so nice and good and so that you can'T really tell. Then. The moral choices. This book is such a deep dive and discusses some really deep things that makes us really bound to these characters, because they seem real because of their choices. Can someone be truly evil? Are we evil from the beginning? What is a good moral? What is right, what's wrong?
And next to these question is a great world building, an even greater story telling and just lovable characters. Definitely one of my favorite reads this year!

Thank you to Netgalley and BooksgoSocial for my eARC in return for my honest review.

Firefrost by Camille Longley is an excellently written fantasy novel. Focussing on Sol d’Hillerod, a huntress struggling to feed her family in the wake of her father's death the previous winter; and Lieutenant Kelan Burke, a ’flameskin’ the enemies of Sol’s kind. Each chapter of the story is written from the perspective of one of the two, alternating as their tale unfolds.

I found it interesting seeing how the two see their same world and the historical incidents that have indirectly impacted on their lives. Despite their differences, the two are also incredibly similar in their views and reasoning for what they do. They both feel loyalty to their families and endeavour to honour those who are no longer with them in their actions; for Sol, it is her father, that has her following in his footsteps as a hunter an provider for the less fortunate and Kelan it is the loss of his mother that has him fighting against his inevitable fate.

Firefrost has several storylines running linear with one another, the tale of seeing through inbuilt presumptions is the main one but there is also a love story between the two. Their love reminded me initially of Shakespeare’s tragedy; Romeo and Juliet as I have previously said, Sol and Kelan are enemies by default of their birth and the hatred they both feel for one another’s kind. Inevitably, they are forced to realise that whilst there is indeed justification for their prejudices, the two are not the same as those they have previously encountered.

Time spent together allows the two to see each other clearly though of course being young, mistakes and presumptions hinder them both but unlike Romeo and Juliet? They are stronger together than apart and refuse to allow others to come between them.

Longley’s tale of how Flameskins were initially created is an interesting one and I would enjoy knowing more about it than what insight we are given in Firefrost. I don't want to tell you the story, it's so well done that it's worth learning for yourself but I imagine you too will want to know more. I have a feeling there is so much more than what we (and our two protagonists) are told. I can easily see from the story, just why there is such fear for Flameskins and why those who have encountered them react the way they do. Fear of the unknown after all breeds distrust and further fear and we often destroy those that we do not understand.

That problematic human trait is seen in those villagers who have been Sol’s friends and family when they initially meet Kelan and seeing Sol’s desperation to show those she loves that Kelan isn't like the others was heartbreaking to read. You can fully relate to her fury and fear that they cannot see what she sees in him, and I found myself cheering her on as she fought for what she believes in.

Her emotional growth along with Kelan’s is refreshing and I enjoyed reading their story unfold - especially when things were extremely hard for them both. Longley doesn't make it easy for the two of them both in their survival physically and emotionally - so often in other books what is supposed to be ’gritty’ is far from it and it lacks a realism that is still a necessity for a fantasy novel.

Not in Firefrost.

Sol maybe a huntress and Kelan may have fire in his fingertips but winter is their enemy and they struggle to survive. There's nothing in their traps to eat, and Kelan is afraid that fire will inevitably consume him as he's running out of time to still be himself - everything that could go wrong for them, does and everyone who could possibly come between them? Does.

Firefrost is a wonderful story and an excellent introduction to this series and I am really glad I read this first book. I am certain the series will be a firm favourite and for those as the ’blurb’ says who enjoys the tales of Maas and Tahir. Camille Longley’s name definitely belongs alongside these fan favourites and I’m sure there will be many more tales from the mountains and forests of this new fantasy world.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This book was super entertaining, it also contains one of my favourite thropes which is enemies to lovers. It gave me some beauty and the beast vibes with the huntress and mage romance, which who doesn't want to read a book that makes them think about that, I really enjoyed the author's writing style.
I loved the dynamic between Sol and Kellan, I loved how they had no choice but to keep each other alive in order for themselves to survive.
While this was not by any mean "The best book I have ever read" it was a book I just needed to know what happened next, I could not put it down !
One of the only downside of this book, was the length of it, it did not need to be that long. it started to feel like nothing was really happening halfway through and that it was sort of repetitive.
It would have benefited from more editing to downsize it and prevent the repetitions from happening.
Overall a lovely story that was super entertaining and fun to read!
3.5/5 stars
Bookarina

I found this book pretty good!!
It was intriguing and it gripped me almost immediately! I liked Sol, she was super loveable and she had this fiercess about her that made her character all-the-more interesting.
The slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance was cute, but I found that I couldn't get fully into it. I also wished we'd gotten more wordbuilding and how it works!
Overall, a nice read, I recommebd it to lovers to YA fantasy.

I originally wanted to read this book based on the cover alone - because it is just gorgeous! The description of the book was interesting to me as well as I tend to enjoy YA fantasy novels. This book did not disappoint me.

I would give this a solid 4 stars on a 5 star rating scale.

Sol is a Huntress in the inhospitable Ulves Mountains, and was raised to hate the Flameskins - fire demons who possess people. One fateful journey through her beloved mountains brings her into contact with a Flameskin, Kelan, whose actions make her reconsider everything she thought she knew about a people she was bred to hate.

Enemies to lovers is the general description of the romance but for me, I saw it as so much more than that. This is the story of a young woman struggling within herself to follow her heart and to not just blindly hate because that is what she was taught. For me, it was a heartwarming story of a young girl not only coming of age, but of coming into her own personal power to choose her own path - despite the prejudices of her past. It raises the age old question of can 2 people from very different worlds put those differences aside and become something greater together?

There is a lot of action in this book too, although I have to say that the action that occurs in the natural world was far more enjoyable for me than the "battle" scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the author, Camille Longley, for the opportunity to receive this advance copy. I am looking forward to future installments in this story.

Firefrost introduces us to a world in the midst of a war. We're introduced to Sol, a young huntress who comes from a small village and just wants to help provide food for her family. Kelan is a solider, a man that has the unique ability to control fire, and he's managed to keep control the powers from overtaking him. Due to unique circumstances, they're tossed together in the middle of the snowy mountains. To find out more, you'll have to read the story for yourself!

I think the premise and the world behind Firefrost is really interesting. Those were what made me download the book after reading the description. I loved discovering more about the world as I was reading. I loved the world building that we did get from the story, and I wanted to know more about the magic system and the world itself. It seems that this is a prequel to other stories, which I wasn't aware of when I first picked up the book, so I'm hoping we can learn more about the world in the next books.

The romance, for me, felt extremely rushed. I knew from the summary that this was an enemies to lovers story, but it felt like the transition between those two states was too abrupt. I would have liked to see more character development that led to that change in feelings for them. There was a lot of focus on their survival, and there was a lot of the book that revolved around them hiking from one place to another. The journeying chapters were often slower and more repetitive than some of the more action-filled chapters, but I felt that all of the chapter were short enough that the story didn't drag, despite the time that they spent walking between locations. I also enjoyed having both Sol and Kelan's perspectives and being able to see inside of their heads.

Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.