This was an incredibly well written and detailed book, with beautiful world building and storytelling.

However, I was a bit disappointed with how heavily focused the plot was on the romance. While the rest of the book felt very adult, and focused on very adult themes, the romance was very immature and felt very YA in a book that was very much an adult novel. Sayer almost felt bisexual just for the sake of having a bisexual character, as we don't really get to explore his past relationship with Isaac.

I will say, it was incredibly fast paced and impossible to put down. It's a perfect length to crack open on a Saturday and spend all day reading.

I really did enjoy this author and her writing, and I'd be excited to read whatever she puts out next!

5/5 stars! The cover of this book is stunning and had me rushing to read it. This gripping fantasy was wildly dark and haunting, but also stunningly beautiful. This is one of my top reads of the year and I think it is going to be challenging to surpass it. Author Ann H. Fox creates such phenomenal backdrops and depths of emotion that I had to pause and process several times throughout the story. I will be anxiously awaiting this author's next book.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really wanted to love this book but it was just okay on my opinion. Although the book is less than 400 pages it felt so long and dragged on. It definitely could have ended sooner than it did, for me. I will state that Ever is one of my favorite female characters I've read lately. I completely connected with her. The Hunger Games vibe was my second favorite part of the story and kept me on the edge of my seat.

I appreciate @netgalley and @lakecountrypress for letting me read and review this ARC.

Great book! Could not put it down, the story is well written but I wouldn’t classify this as very Adult, it hinders on younger high school type stuff but I still enjoyed it anyway! Definitely recommend!

For the first 100 pages or so I could not put this book down - I'm talking up til 1am on a school night! I was immediately invested in Sayer's plight. And Ena.... 😢. Shortly after that tho I started losing interest. It's like all of a sudden the characters and story became flat.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I think this is a case of 'it's not you it's me'

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review- thank you to NetGalley and Lake Country Press!

This book was not for me, but fans of young adult fantasy will probably LOVE it. I wouldn't describe this book as "adult": there are some +18 (violence and sex) scenes but apart from that the plot is VERY "teenagey".

I believe it's a good book for those looking for a The Hunger Games x Grishaverse kind of story. Plus, the author has adapted the YA fantasy tropes very well to the current times: queer rep, healthy (ish) relationships, both men and women in the "good" and "evil" sides...

The main focus is on the romance and the couple interactions are quite similar to a teenage relationship (despite them being 21-24): a lot of teasing, infatuation and not daring to show your feelings.

Which is fine, honestly. Many people like, I just don't. But there's too much of it, it could be a book on it's own. And there's WAY too much flirting for a story that is supposed to happen in a cruel, threatening and hopeless scenario. Of course two people can fall in love in the middle of a slaughter festival, but I don't expect them to roll their eyes and raise their eyebrows every two pages while others are literally dying next to them.

That took me out from the story a lot. Because the whole first part, when Ever and Sayer were together in the woods, I felt that they could have been camping, I didn't feel the fear that the Blood Hours are supposed to make you feel.

I think my main issue is that I was expecting more violence and cruelty. I loved the action/fighting scenes, and I was actually kind of rooting for the villains because their scenes were the most interesting ones for me.

The worldbuilding part of the book was ok, although for me the political and moral part of the plot was underdeveloped. I think the author would do (will do?) a great job if she had the opportunity to continue building and describing this world in sequels. I believe she has the potential to become a popular author in the young adult (new adult?) fantasy bookish community, I'll recommend her to my friends - but I will move to reading horror because based on my thoughts about this book, apparently that's what I'm looking for now 😂😅

4/5

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review- thank you to NetGalley and Lake Country Press! It's always a pleasure to read indie authors.

This book was everything I have come to expect from a new adult romantasy novel. I will definitely keep my eyes out for anything Ann H. Fox writes, I enjoyed reading this.

Our main character Sayer is a young man living in a city that hates him. He has done unspeakable things in an attempt to protect his family, and wrestles with the lack of guilt he feels over his actions. He enters the Blood Hours (a 28-day-long period where magic users like him are hunted in the name of sacrifice) to protect his youngest sister, and things quickly go awry. During the Blood Hours he meets Ever, who is not all she seems and turns his whole world on its head. They have to work together to make it out of the Blood Hours alive, and even if they do so, their safety and happiness isn't guaranteed.

To begin with the things I liked:
-I LOVED Sayer. While some of his actions were abominable, I never questioned that he was a good person. It was really easy to root for him. He felt like a real person making decisions that real people would make in his position.
-I love this trend that I'm seeing of writing non-toxic MMCs. Sayer was in touch with his emotions and wasn't afraid to show them. He struggled with vulnerability (don't we all) but was able to learn to trust. I wanted to cry with him, laugh with him, love with him, believe with him. We also got to witness a portion of his mental health struggles and journey, which he was open and honest about. Read the trigger warnings for this, but I felt like it was tastefully and realistically portrayed.
-The story felt familiar (I got strong Hunger Games vibes) but was unique enough that I wasn't bored.
-The writing wasn't lyrical or full of prose (which I don't think is a bad thing for this genre), and was really easy to read. I was able to get sucked into the story without being distracted by the writing style choices.

Things I did not love:
-Is this a series or standalone? I am confused about this. There aren't any indications that it's a series, but it certainly ended in a way that left the door open for more books to be written. It also seems pretty out of character for our main characters to leave things as they were in the city.
-I am still confused by the magic system. I would have loved if that could have been fleshed out a little bit more. I don't really understand what "ebbing" even is. What exactly is the energy they use? How exactly do they access it? These details were barely explained and kind of glossed over. I wanted more.
-I am also still confused about the deities. They are referred to constantly but their back story was explained in such a rushed way that I had to go back and re-read it to understand what their role is. I also would have liked this to be fleshed out a little more.
-The pacing in the second half of the book was way faster than the first half. SO MUCH happens in the second half. I was confused when what I thought was going to be the main climax happened and I was only 60% of the way through the book.
-I found the major twist of Ever's identity to be pretty predictable. As soon as she started being cagey about her past (which was right after she met Sayer) I guessed who she was. I would not be surprised if others did as well.

I don't know that I'll ever reach for this book again again, and I wasn't left with the "OH MY GOD THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD BOOK" feelings when I finished. However, overall I enjoyed this story and wouldn't hesitate to recommend to fans of the romantasy genre.

Sayer Terrin is an ebber--a person cursed with the ability to bend energy to his will. On the 28th day of their life, Ebbers are assigned a number of years that they are allowed to live before they're required to participate in the Blood Hours--a month long bloodbath where the holy people of Toeska hunt down ebbers in order to sacrifice them. The few ebbers who survive will be rewarded with a boon from the Blood King.

'The Blood Hours' is a fast-paced fantasy survival adventure. Ann H. Fox doesn't shy away from the gruesome realities of Sayer's situation, and describes fights, hunting, and injuries in ways that made me squirm. The magic of the ebbers is an interesting bit of world building, using the body as a conduit to process energies and emotions that float around environments in order to heal and fight. Despite being an ebber all twenty one years of his life, Toeska's oppression of the ebbers has prevented Sayer from experimenting much with his own magic, so his wonder of seeing it being used is a reflection of the audience.

I'll confess, I didn't care too much for the relationship between Sayer and Ever. There was a lot I appreciated in it--particularly that Sayer is openly bisexual and that Ever is a short stack, but I think seeing the relationship through Sayer's 'teen boy' vision made me roll my eyes a bit (and yes, I know he's twenty one and not a teen, which I'm sure will make people say that 'The Blood Hours' isn't a YA book, but the only thing that makes this book not explicitly YA would be the sex scene, which more than enough teenagers are okay with). I was also a little sad that Sayer's previous partner, Isaac, never got to exist in other scenes than his death.

The ending of the book drags on a bit too much, with a few too many twists coming into play at the last minute. If you're like me and find yourself skimming through some of the romantic scenes, you may find yourself thinking too much about some weird plot happenings (If Sayer has killed over fifty people prior to the story's start, why doesn't he seem too affected? That's, um, a lot of people. Toeska has a lot of magical rules keeping the city running--isn't anyone suspicious? There's a group of rebels mentioned towards the end--why don't we learn more about them?), however, the story's still solid, and the world created by Fox is both terrifying and intoxicating. I'd love to see what she writes in the future!.

“My name, like my little sister’s, came with a promise- a promise of death once all seventy-two lines were gone. I’ve carried these tallies with me since I was a month old, and done terrible horrific thing to maken them disappear. One by one, over the last few years, they have.”

I really liked the whole concept of this book, haven’t read anything like this before. It kept me reading, because I needed to know how it would end.

Personally I would have liked to read more about a certain character before they were killed off, because now it happend quite quickly. Also the ending, for me, was a bit unnecessary.

Overall I enjoyed the book, and would recommend. I think that fans of The Hunger Games and Scythe would really enjoy this. The pacing was good, so I didn’t get bored.