I’ve heard so much about Scarlett St.Claire, so I thought I’ll pick this book as my first read, because it has Vampires! I am a big sucker for any vampire-based fantasy. I tried my best to calm my excitement and started this, but as I progressed, I couldn’t stop reading. I agree with the fans, the story and the writing amazed me. I’m very happy how this story turned out to be — full of adventure and romance. I think I might just buy the physical book and wait for the next book in the series! (4.25🧛‍♂️)

Thank you Sourcebooks Bloom via Netgalley for the e-arc.

4.5 stars rounded up!

Holy hell. I LOVED both Isolde and Adrian. This enemies to lovers romance is steamy as hell. Oh, and it’s VAMPIRES!

The worldbuilding is fantastic. I love that Isolde refuses to let anyone think her weak or lesser and ensures that everyone around her knows it as well…vampire or not.

The diversity is well done. Isolde is a Brown and curvy woman. The majority of the characters are queer and their relationships are on page (steamy scenes Included).

I’m ready for book two now. I need more of this story!

Thank you Bloom Books for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

*This book was given to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review*

I had tried reading A Touch of Darkness and it wasn't for me and feel that I've maxed out on vampire books. But all it took was three little words to get me on board for this -- enemies to lovers. I'm a sucker for this troupe, sign me up!
Was this a strong fantasy? No. Is it original? Also, no. Did I enjoy it anyway? Why yes, yes I did.

I have had this review sitting for a month because I want to give Scarlett St.Clair the review that she deserves for this outstanding novel! King of Battle and Blood is an extraordinary new NA novel following the life of Isolde! King of Battle and Blood is full of adventure, twists and turns, gasp moments and yes steam!! Scarlett St.Clair is the queen of steam and saucy novels!! I fell in love with her Hades x Persephone series, and was so excited to read King of Battle and Blood!! This book does not disappoint. I love the hints foreshadowing that Scarlett St. Clair adds to the novel, I've done about 2 reads and have picked up on so much more information!! I don't want to spoil anything for anyone!! But a little info on the characters! Isolde is a fierce badass character who oozes female power! She is snarky and doesn't take two shits from anyone which I love!! Adrian is a VAMPIRE KING! Like come on!! How can it get any better then that?! He oozes snarky comments but also makes your heart melt!! In terms of
antagonist? He's the Loki of the series... The world that Scarlett St.Clair created has to be one of my favourites
that I've read, I love the historical yet present feel! If you are a fan of Sarah J Maas or Jennifer L Armentrout you will not want to miss the chance to read this fabulous novel along with 'A Touch of Darkness'!!

I'm on the fence with this one. This is the first book I've picked up by St. Clair and while I felt like this story was missing something, I will still most likely pick up the next book because sure enough, the last few pages reeled me in so that now I need to know what happens next.

There's plenty of action and sexy times in this book if that's something you are looking for but again, I just wanted something more in this story. St. Clair does a solid job with the enemies to lovers trope and with the main character being a vampire, there was plenty of room to create a story that had me engaged.

This is hands down one of the best adult fantasy books I have read!! I don't know how I will recover from this book! I first want to mention that for my standards, it was very spicy (and I enjoyed it), but if that is something you are not into, you could skim past it and still get a lot out of the book! It was beautifully written with characters that I adored, and the twists were jaw dropping! It was perfection that I could not put down! This is a book that I will treasure and rave about to friends! If you love adult fantasy, you won't want to miss this one!

This book is definitely spicy but it also has a great plot. Enemies to Lovers, but with vampires, this book kept me intrigued throughout. I loved the twists and turns and the relationship between Adrian & Isolde. I’m still a little unsure of how buyable the last large plot reveal was, but it was enjoyable regardless.

What a great read to finish out the year! This story draws you in from the very beginning and leaves you captivated until the end. Only wishing it were longer!

I was pretty excited when I saw I was approved for this, thank you, but also a little worried. I've read some of the other stuff by this author and to be honest, I really hated Persephone. Loathed her. Needless to say, my worries were misplaced. I loved every second of this. I loved Adrian and I liked Isolde, and I'm excited for what she will become. The potential this has is amazing. I'm so excited for where it will take us and the relationships that will grow. This needs to be on my shelf.

Ok, this was SO SO GOOD. I heard vampire romance and I was sold based on absolutely nothing but that - and the romance certainly delivered. It gave me all the vibes I was looking for.

But aside from that, the world-building in this story was really interesting! I am excited to find out more about the history and the conflicts here and I feel like this first book set up some awesome plot twists - we will see.

Also, if you're only here for smut (valid) there is smut every two chapters. Iconic!

This was quite a wild ride! Lots of enemies to lovers, forced/arranged marriage, fated mates trope-y goodness. There were a few questionable decisions that I wrote off as romance reasons but overall I was entertained and TBH that's all that really matters.

**Received an eARC via NetGalley for Bonkers Book Club**

I enjoyed the plot and the world-building was great. I loved hearing all about the various creatures that walked the earth and how they interacted. I enjoyed the members of Adrian's court and would have loved to have had more time on Ana Maria or Sorin or any of his court.

I was also interested in the history of the witches and found the discrepancies between various lands based on the courts to be very interesting. Obviously, we know that History favours the winners' and it was fascinating to see how the misinformation spread over the land.

But what I didn't like was the far too fast advancement of the relationship between Isolde and Adrian.
She has been bred all her life to think he's a monster and in 5 days she goes from lust to full on die-for-you-til-eternity love?
Yeah. No.
I could see that she desperately wanted to have sex with him and even found his company acceptable. Her fighting against her own desires versus what she had been told was a decent start but she gave in far too quickly for someone who had flinched from him not a week ago.
Despite his keeping his promises and lavishing her with attention, I don't feel that he did enough to justify her having such an abrupt turnaround. Especially with his blood-thirsty behaviour, the rumours of the court and her own deeply ingrained misgivings.
I'm prepared to suspend some disbelief but 5 days? I honestly don't see it. That bought it down to a three-star for me.

oh my god. i finished it in one sitting. what a dark, fun ride. plus the spice? absolutely obsessed and praying for a sequel!

Is Scarlett St. Clair the author who will finally make me a romance reader??? MAYBE

I don’t even begin to know how to explain:
a) how obsessed I am with this book
b) how surprised I am by how obsessed I am with this book

For those of you who don’t know me as well, I do not read romance and I do not read *spicy* things. Exactly one (1) romance has EVER managed to engage me and keep my attention in the past (lookin’ at you, Casey McQuiston) so I generally don’t even bother picking them up. The most romance I will get is in a fantasy novel subplot or a YA fade-to-black kind of situation. Not much on page and certainly not as a primary storyline. But King of Battle and Blood was getting a ton of hype from fellow readers I trust and finally I was convinced to pick it up.

And I could not POSSIBLY have enjoyed it any more than I did! I was drawn in right from the start and carried that momentum through the ENTIRE book. I cannot remember the last time I tore through a book so quickly and eagerly.

There was just SO MUCH to love within these pages. The characters are vibrant and painfully human, which came as an honest surprise to this non-romance reader. I expected a lot of irrational decision-making driven by lust and maybe characters that felt a bit flatter? But to my pleasant surprise that is far from the case! The characters act rationally, are multi-dimensional, and come together to form a very engaging cast. (Okay, Isolde might be a tiny bit *not like other girls*, but I found her so enjoyable as a character that I didn’t even mind much.) And even my cold, dead heart has to admit that she and Adrian are very swoon. I enjoyed their development very much. I also appreciate that St. Clair gave many of the side characters their own storylines and wasn’t afraid to make some page time for them to grow as well.

There’s also a surprising amount of worldbuilding within this book. It’s light enough that it never bogs down the story with excessive details or lengthy history lessons, but enough that I felt really connected to the lore and the societal constructs within this story. St. Clair really takes her time developing a very rich background, which ends up playing into the primary storyline much more than I anticipated.

One of the things that surprised me is that this book felt as much a fantasy novel as it did a romance. One doesn’t really take priority over the other and it’s interesting to see how the author balances scenes where the two play together versus when each genre is given its own space to breathe. It truly feels like a work where the best of these two genres come together to craft a really strong piece of fiction.

I come away from this book eager to read it again and also seriously considering exploring the intersection of fantasy and romance fiction more. I feel like fans of both genres could come away from this book happy, with the obvious caveat that the reader be comfortable with on-page sexual content as this book does contain plenty. I’d highly recommend this read, especially for other readers like myself who are firmly rooted in non-romance fantasy fiction and are maybe looking to explore something more.

I’m ready to risk it all for an ARC of the sequel.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Bloom Books for a copy of this book in exchange for review.

A new, steamy romance coming from the author of A Touch of Darkness! This book is perfect for lovers of all things vampire, knife-to-throat enemies to lovers, epic fight scenes and a treacherous court of vampires. The main character definitely not your usual Damsel in Distress type, she knows how to defend herself well and the enemy she's forced in a strategic marriage with knows so all to well.....

Wow! Talk about addicting! I fell in love with A Tocuh of Darkness so I knew this would be good. It is so wonderful to see an author grow and become even better with each book written. I love the authors strong female leads and I've loved all the books I've read from Scarlet. I can't wait for the next book is this series!

I read this book in a day!! I really loved it. There were almost all my fav tropes- hot vampire, arranged marriage, forced proximity, guy falls first, touch her and ill kill you, hurt/comfort, enemies to lovers, strong female protagonist, found family... i could go on. it was very hot and also a good moving plot. i was very satisified. i rated it 4.5 because the plot twist at the ending was kinda predictable but made no sense at all and felt really forced. however, that also means that i am waiting (not patiently) for the next book!!!!

My most perfect 5 star, thigh clinching, puddle turning, vampire loving, bad ass female desiring, stars!

SO MUCH WOW.
I LOVED a touch of darkness series. Thought it was wonderful.

BUT THIS??? THHIISSSS???
Y’all this is some next level shit. KOBAB was absolutely stupid incredible.
I fell in love with ISODLE before I ever fell for Adrian; but do not fear. I’m madly obsessed with Adrian now too. The two of them together are EVERYTHING. the ultimate bad ass super sexy team.
I am absolutely DYING for book 2 & I can not recommend this book anymore. Preorder this baby NOW!

If you enjoy:
Enemies to lovers
Monsters
Vampires
Bad ass heroines
Secret pasts
Royalty
Unique worlds
Steamy scenes

Than this is the book for you; Get ready to fall in love with this new series!

King of Battle and Blood (Adrian X Isolde #1)
Scarlett St Clair @authorscarlettstclair

Having read the Hades X Persephone series not that long ago I was delighted to find this book available on @NetGalley as an eARC to be reviewed. I’m excited to dive in.

I love the artwork at the beginning of each chapter.

Sorin, Isac and Miha – I am getting serious ACOTAR vibes from this crew!

I loved this, cannot wait for the next in the series. It was gripping, well written and the characters have depth and they are deeply, deeply loveable.

Another great book from Scarlett St Clair

5 stars

It must be noted that this is the perfect fantasy/romance novel for anyone, who loves spending the afternoon waiting for the once proclaimed enemies to slowly become lovers; that read marriage of convenience and immediately squeal. For anyone, who is looking for a book to distract them until the next Sarah J. Maas book comes out. This book checks all those boxes and provides a book with an intriguing plot.

Part of what draws me into this novel is the setting. It draws on the foreboding castles of Dracula and follows the human houses that struggle against the vampiric conquest of their lands. The novel seems to draw heavily on 'Castlevania' but from the perspective of a royal princess instead of a vampire hunter. Yes, there was a part of me that couldn't stop imagining Adrian as Alucard so feel free to ignore that comparison.

While the novel does suggest a high fantasy setting, the focus is primarily on romance. There is world-building, but it is secondary to the relationship budding between Adrian and Isolde. In other words, the plot developed as Isolde and Adrian's feelings depend on one another and Isolde seeks answers to her predicaments. Unlike other stories, their relationship is hot and heavy from the start but grows into something more as the emotions start to form. I found this realistic and enjoyed the growth as it emerged.