Hmm, why did I give a Tristan/Isolde retelling another chance? I've had awful luck with them. I'm going to be gentle though and maybe finally admit I just dont like the source material.

There was just too much relationship drama for this book to get a 4/5



3.3/5

I really wanted to enjoy this book but I think it just wasn't for me. I usually love paranormal/SFF romance, but the enemies-to-lovers trope is always hit or miss for me. In this case, it was a miss. I just had no patience for the FMC and how slow she was to work through her prejudice towards the beginning of the book.

If you enjoy vampires and/or are a die-hard enemies-to-lovers fan, then definitely pick this one up.

Welp! That was a way to start of my 2022. I'd been in a reading slump, but this brought me back to life in a very pleasant way. It's a fantasy erotic romance that has a soft cliffy ending, which I appreciated. Let's break this down, shall we? And by we, I mean me.

The Sitch: Isolde, Princess of Lara, was out minding her own business when she runs into Adrian, the Blood King, who says he wants to marry her in exchange for saving her kingdom, since he's conquering all the Nine Houses (why is it always 9?) and Isolde's all hell naw dude you can miss me with that shite, I'm ruling on my own, but unfortunately, that's not happening. An arranged marriage, leading to some attempts on her life (because people are crazy), and eventually lots o' hot sex and romance happens.

The Good: My kingdom for a heroine who doesn't look like everyone else, and isn't the gentle soul swept up in the shenanigans. Isolde fits that bill nicely. She's a strong, no-nonsense, warrior princess who isn't waiting around or settling for a man to give her pleasure or tell her what to do. She's brown skinned, and it wasn't buried away in her backstory and I'm really looking forward to hearing more about her. Adrian is more of a standard, protective hero-type, which is one of my smutnip joys. The sex though, that was fun and didn't make me wait too long, so I was happy.

The worldbuilding is always key in a fantasy romance - too much and you get bogged down in the details, too little and you're wondering what is even going on. This has a decent mix of familiar monsters and little variations that keep the narrative flowing.

The Bad: It felt a bit standard in the setup. I was still intrigued, but it felt very familiar and the suspense wasn't that suspenseful, since the twist isn't that big of a twist. You'll recognize the signs if you have any experience with fantasy, but the overarching storyline has potential so I'll withhold my final rating on that for now.

The Bottom Line: Nothing irks me more than starting a book, then realizing that nothing has been resolved and I'm left dangling out in the cold until the next book comes along. This allowed me to enjoy the ending that it had and yet I know there's more to come. I need some sense of completion. *blinks* Yes I can make all manner of sex joke here but you get my drift. I really liked this and I will read the next one when it comes out.

Frankly, this book really surprised me. A couple weeks ago I picked up another book by the same author but didn’t rly love it. However, I loved this premise so much so I decided to pick this one up. I’m glad I did because I enjoyed this book a lot more than her others! I couldn’t stop reading it. It captivated me from the first chapter because of the characters and the overall plot. Both those aspects were interesting and done extremely well. Let’s just say I cannot wait for the rest of this series!!

Imagine a fantasy world with an updated (somewhat) view of gender politics, vampires & other creatures inspired from Eastern European myth, throw in some witches, and make the enemies fall in love. And then make it read like a massive first novel of a YA fantasy series, except with sexy times, and you pretty much have this book.

For me personally, it was an ok read. I liked the world-building and history of the world enough to keep reading. I really wanted to know more about the backstory of the vampire Blood King Adrian. But the character development and the way in which we learned about the world could have had more finesse in the delivery. Hence the nod to YA - it's not a bad thing to be a YA fantasy novel. To me, that just means all the feelings and actions are dialed up to 11. I'm not angry, I JUST FEEL LIKE I WANT TO STAB EVERYTHING. And he's not just sexy, BUT HE'S LITERALLY BOILING MY BLOOD ALIVE. Anyway.

Solid 3 stars, and I would venture into this author's world again.

meh. we have a love-hate relationship with eachother.

Spoiler!!

they know each other like 5 minutes and then she wants to marry him? and without some resistance? and why is this wedding night so important and why does she agree to everything, literally everything? why isnt she a bit suspicious? why why why why?? *Throws the book at the wall*

dont get me wrong, i liked the "scenes" but i feel that the book was more about their satisfaction rather than the plot, wich i wasnt a fan of.

but all in one, i did read it in two sittings!, it somehow kept my attention and i liked the humour and the enemies to lovers trope.

i guess i had a false expectacion of how this book is going to be before i started it. I expected a epic fantasy with a little lovestory and a special plot. if i knew that the lovestory was more important than everything i would had liked it more- i just waited for the mindblowing plotwist, that sadly never came.

Enjoyable, for a topical title, but maybe a bit too shallow. The overall plot and setting had so much more potential than was realized, as is sometimes the case with romance novels - the relationship becomes too central when there are other interesting aspects to explore. The focus is on the steam, which was well done, but the plotting suffered a bit. The ending in particular felt rushed, and I feel the overall Revekka society structure was not fully fleshed out and left gaps, but perhaps that will be rectified in later books. At times, Isolde’s attitude and mannerisms were grating and I lost patience with too much back and forth on her feelings. After she promptly revealed a crucial secret, she lost my respect as an MC.
Might pick up the next one, might not.

This book is an easy, enjoyable read for readers that like paranormal romance. However, I will say that it reminded a lot of From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout, but the world-building wasn’t as fleshed out, the characters were not as likable, and it didn’t have the same sense of humor. So if you’re a voracious reader in this category and you’re in need of a new book, pick this one up! If you just dabble in this genre there are better options.

This was a pretty okay book... not the best of the vampire books that I have personally read but it was still enjoyable. I wouldn't say that I was a huge fan but I can see why others are and I know who I'd recommend this too during reader's advisory.

I ended up not finishing this book. I have read other books by this author and I ended up enjoying those but not this one. I was also so excited when I heard about this book and the plot. I really like books that have vampires in it because we don't get to read many of those but this book completely fell short. This book was basically all sex. Which doesn't bother me but there was like no plot other then the characters having sex. It was just to much and I couldn't finish it. Pretty disappointing.

Very nice book! Enemies to lovers, and good construction of world and characters!
Can't wait for the next one in the series

The story had a lot of potential, I just wish the author could reduced the amount of sex scenes. We got it, they were hot for each other! Isolde was tempestuous, stubborn and reacted to her emotions without much thought for the consequences or how those actions would hurt others. But she was brave and put others first.
I believe there will be more in this series and I would be happy to pick up the next one to see how the story progresses. I will just be skipping over the love scenes.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book. I was on a real supernatural fantasy romance kick and this seemed to check all the boxes. I really could not get in to the writing of this. It felt really lifeless and forced. There really wasn't any chemistry between the two leads. I went back and read a book from the author's other series and it felt a bit like a copy paste. Good idea, would love to see more improvement in execution

I really enjoyed this book!
The vampire mythos is different from what it normally is, which was really great. The heroine, Isolde, is one of the most badass characters that I have read in a long time. She has no qualms about killing to defend herself and she can hold her own in battle. I love how she intentionally pushes Adrian's buttons to piss him off, but then will have sexytimes with him when she wants.
I was reading this concurrently with From Blood and Ash, and honestly, I liked this book better. They are similar in many respects, but I think what makes it better is Isolde. She is one of the best heroines that I have read in a very long time! She's confident, capable, and intelligent. She works to make sure she has agency and independence, even as a queen.
I am very excited to read the next in the series! It can't come out soon enough!!!!

"Moon above and earth below, Bring my love stars that glow. Far past midnight, shadows sneak; Bring my love dreams that speak."

SCARLETT ST CLAIR DID NOT DISAPPOINT! SHE DELIVERED ANOTHER WATTPAD FANFICTION, BUT NOW INSTEAD OF HADES AND PERSEPHONE IT'S FROM BLOOD AND ASH.🤪🧛🤦🙃

"Surrender today, live to conquer tomorrow."

Princess Isolde👸 is marrying vampire🧛 who conquered her country to ensure her people safety💁. There was no plot here, except plot holes⚫, but I knew from the beginning this is not a book with plot. 👀

"I am sparrow in the den of wolves"

So let's talk about smüt🥴. It was descriptive and literally everything was on page. But whilst some "stunts"👀😏 they pulled I was wondering how many limbs they had🤨🦵💪🦴, cuz when I tell you it was wild...🤪

"I think you want to kill me, and if that is the case, I should warn you now that any attempt will be met with my wrath."

I didn't like the main characters👎, Adrien🧛 was one dimensional and I really wanted to see his wrath💥, but through all this book when Isolde👸 professed her hate, he was like "I will protect you always", "I loved you forever", I will get rid of my old blood vessel🥺🥺🥺

Summarizing this book:⬇️⬇️⬇️

"Adrian had stolen my energy. Every encounter with him had me on edge [...] - would we fight or fuck?"

It was predictable, characters lacked any depth and smüt was sometimes too wild (they even grew new limbs during🙃). Would not recommend. 2/5⭐

Thank you NetGalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

You do not have to wait long for the action and the steam in King of Battle and Blood. This enemies-to-lovers high fantasy story of Adrian and Isolde, the Blood King and Princess Isolde of Lara, has it all - dilemmas and hate, passion and lust, love and sacrifice, bond and magic. With an unexpected turn of events on more than one occasion, their love for each other manifests in many different ways, but it is their passion and needs that are expressed so vividly in this book it makes it unputdownable!

♪ Elley Duhe - Middle of The Night

"I had begun the day hating vampires with every fiber of my being and ended the day engaged to one."


I wouldn't say this book has a marriage-of-convenience trope because the relationship between Adrian and Isolde is anything but convenient. Nevertheless, the wedding with which this story begins was unexpected for both of them, carried on shortly after they met, and Isolde most definitely did not get married for love. What implications would it bring to them and to their world – no one has expected. But these have been in motion for centuries, as much unexpected as unavoidable.

What distinguishes this story from other high fantasy romance tales is the character of Isolde, bold and uncompromised, and very confident. I have noticed the tendency in high fantasy books over the past couple of years, where authors present the female protagonist as somewhat inferior in power and confidence to the male protagonist, only to let them develop in the plot, to contrast their beautiful emergence with initial lack of strength and self-awareness. I am not negating that the damsel-in-distress trope can be enjoyable in a book, I only wish to point out how different this book is in this matter. Isolde is the impersonation of confidence and assertiveness, she is bold and follows her heart fiercely. She is not afraid to speak her mind and has no issues in reminding men that she has the brain to use and does not need theirs to decide for her. It is a truly empowering character, I enjoyed her manifests of feminism and I admire the author for presenting the matter of sexuality as a natural part of human nature, with no place for shame, but with plenty of space for mutual respect.

"You are my light," he said.
"And you are my darkness," I replied.


Read if you like:
- Enemies-to-lovers
- high fantasy world with a map!
- witches and vampires
- mysterious past and its implications
- handsome king conquerer
- strong and confident female protagonist

I picked this book specifically because it's PNR (which I dearly miss) and ADULT. However, aside from the sex scenes the book reads incredibly YA. The worldbuilding and plot were decent but the sex scenes didn't move the plot or the couple further and the character development quite immature. Having said that, I think that newbie romance readers and those who prefer YA would enjoy this new series.

I think it's always hard to rate romance titles, because they're so subjective.

The first Adrian x Isolde, though, was equally spicy and fantastic. I've really enjoyed St. Clair's Hades x Persephone series, and she brings the same heat and worldbuilding to KBB. Adrian is sexy and mysterious, and Isolde is your favorite type of heroine--she doesn't back down, is headstrong, and is really someone I'd LOVE to have the confidence of. Anyway.

It's really hard to recommend romance like this to library patrons, but when you've found the right patron for a book like this, it always works out well. I can't wait to suggest it to my romance readers, and can't wait to throw it at literally anyone on bookstagram who I talk to.

Uh, this was pure vampire erotica.

Which isn't bad...I've read way worse, but I did not see the sexual shenanigans, ah, coming. There's very little emotional development between the protagonists, but apparently there's a plot reason for that.

I know that this is the beginning of a trilogy, so for that reason, I'm interested to see where the worldbuilding goes.

This should've been incredibly my jam based on the premise alone. Arranged marriage + vampires + fantasy/paranormal romance + enemies to lovers elements? Unfortunately, the book itself failed to deliver on several levels for me, including the character Isolde, who felt incredibly young and very mercurial in terms of emotions and behavior (even though the book, in several instances, made a point to mention how mature she supposedly was). I'm not sure if including Adrian's perspective and having a dual POV would've made the book better or if it only would've made Isolde more irritating by comparison. In fact, if it weren't for the sex scenes (which were pretty much the saving grace and the reason I kept reading, even if the overall plot itself didn't improve), this book would've skewed closer to YA for me than adult fantasy romance.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.