I loved the premise...but it felt like a lot of build-up to just have the trial aspenct wrap up in the last 12% of the book. I will continue on with the series though because I am invested an curious to see where the author takes the Hellbringer and Revna!

This Enemies-to-lovers Romantacy starts with a bang!

A princess, Revna from a family of powerful magic welders who doesn’t have any magic herself, is fighting in a secret rebellion. Her father the King has been ashamed of her behavior and doesn’t hide the fact he wants her dead.

In order to save her friends and protect her people, Revna is forced to compete for her crown against her powerful brothers in a deadly competition.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and Revna is forced to ally with her enemy the masked Hellbringer for training on how to defeat her brothers.

There’s political corruption, bullying within her family, people fighting starvation, and war!

A lot happens the last 10% of the book and I finished with many questions. It’s the first book of a duology so hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for answers!

Good job as a debut novel!

Romance content: 2 Open-door scenes with some language



First of a duology by a debut author!
Pub. Date: March 11, 2025

This had everything you want in a romantasy. It was so well written. I am beyond thrilled to get a physical copy on release day.

This book was pretty good! I enjoyed the premise of it as well as the writing style. I was mostly connected to the main characters but the FMC was my favorite. I really enjoyed the way that this book ended: strong and powerful!

What a great debut! The world building was rich and unique, and I kept turning pages to find out what was going to happen next. The writing was evocative and immersive, rich in details without bogging down the story. You really feel for the plight of the godforsaken and root for Revna to save the day. The romance with a forbidden enemy was well executed. I think romantasy readers will love this one.

Fun world building with a good plot, although it was a bit disjointed at times. The first 70% of the book felt a little too YA for an adult novel, and the MMC was giving Edward Cullen in the broodiest of ways. But that ending! Phenomenal. Some twists I'd seen coming, but there were still multiple surprises in the last 30%, most of them heartbreaking. I wasn't a huge fan of the main character for the majority of the book, but I'm intrigued by the changes she goes through in the last few chapters. I'll be reading the sequel when it comes!

Alexandra Kennington is a brand new author to me, so I was very excited to dive into this. I think a lot of romantasy lovers will enjoy this. There's a lot of popular topes in here but it's not overdone. The tension and plot were engaging enough that I never felt bored. The ending was great, so overall I enjoyed this!

Okay, I LOVED this. This is what I had wanted Quicksilver to be!

Revna is one of my favorite FMCs in the modern romantasy era. She's a princess, but she's also godforsaken--meaning she doesn't have magic, and her family despises her for it. She's angry and full of rage (my favorite!!), wanting to bring down her own family in a fight to the death just to make change. When she's kidnapped by the Hellbringer--the most deadly warrior on the opposite side of the war, able to kill hundreds with a thought--everyone rejoices. Little did they know, their problems are just getting started.

This being marketed as being centered around deadly trials is a bit of a misnomer--there is a set of deadly trials, but it happens in in the last 15% of the book for less than 50 pages. This is really a book centered around the training and preparation for said trials with extensive world building and character development. But I ATE. IT. UP. The foreshadowing of the twist at the end is a little heavy handed (or maybe I just read too much fantasy?) but I found that I really didn't care, I was so invested in seeing HOW it came to fruition, I didn't care that I already knew WHAT was coming.

If you love found family and are just in general tired of men--this is going to be incredibly satisfying. Not to mention no one in this book has plot armor, so if you're tired of reading fantasy books where main side characters somehow never die because they're main characters, you'll be very pleased with this one!

I can't believe this is only a duology, because I definitely would read a whole trilogy or cycle of this series! I can't wait to see what happens next, and I'm so bummed I have to wait even longer for it now.

Oh man, where do I even start here? I don't normally rate or review my DNFs, but after finishing 50% of this I feel like I can give some of my thoughts on it.

To start with what I liked - we started off with a bang, rebellion and a chase that showed us a snarky and headstrong main character, and a bunch of interesting side characters that I was excited to get to know. Her brothers were interesting, and the idea that they will all eventually fight to the death for the crown made me wonder how invested in everyone I would end up being.

Then the main character gets kidnapped by the Hellbringer and we spend literally at least 30% of the book stuck in a cold, dreary location with just the two of them in repetitive training scenes where the main character refuses to learn and be anything other than annoying. But the love interest also refuses to give her any information about what's happening outside of their little bubble and so the world building that was so promising at the beginning (along with ALL THE SIDE CHARACTERS) ceased to exist. I'm not sure how long the training goes on for, but after 30% of it only like, a week had passed and she still had 6 more weeks to go until the trials, so I'm guessing probably a majority of the book is spent in a training montage.

Another sticking point for me was how generic the love interest was. He's dark and broody and of COURSE smells like pine and snow. There was ZERO chemistry between the two, and once she had her sex dream about this guy she just met and then instantly acted like she was in love with him I was out. After that her stomach was always ""swooping"" around him (literally, never any other descriptor than swoop/swooping), and I just totally lost interest in reading the rest of the book.

Sadly I was really excited about this one and I ended up really not liking it, and after reading other reviews I don't think that the issues I was having get any better in the second half of the book. This wasn't for me, but I do hope that it finds its readers!

The plots twists and surprises were great, along with the political intrigue but it didn’t quite hook me or have me emotionally invested. Might pick it up again at another time and try again. This had potential to be a great fantasy though.

3.5 stars overall

Revna has spent most of her life feeling like a nobody. As the only member of her royal family without magical abilities, she's been shunned by the majority of her community for as long as she can remember. And to add to the insult, she's now being used as a bartering chip for more troops and supplies in a war her father insists on waging. But she may just be the lucky one, as her four brothers are slated to a fight to the death for a chance to succeed her father and rule the kingdom.

When Revna decides enough is enough and decides to fight for her right to win the throne herself, she finds herself on the front lines of battle as training for her final showdown with her siblings. And when she is kidnapped by the most feared enemy, the Hellbringer, she faces likely death on two fronts. Now she must find the will and the skill to survive in two separate bids for her life.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this, but overall it was a decent read. The world building and magic system was a little difficult to follow at first but made much more sense the more I read. The chemistry between Revna and the Hellbringer was enjoyable, though I would have preferred a little more banter between them as they grew closer. While things mostly wrapped up in this first installment, I will be interested and watching for book two to see how things are brought to a close for the duology.

This definitely started a little slow for me, but I found it to pick up at the halfway mark.
I do think there is a LOT of repetition in this book and I don’t know if that was intentional or not but the world building was a little slow, though I think the magic and the twists make up for that (at least for me)

Honestly I think that it had SO much potential and how it was/is marketed honestly shows all the best parts of the story

Absolutely amazing, no notes.
If you love romantasy here it is in all its glory!!!
The magic system in this book is unlike anything I’ve read before and I ADORE it- I hope we get to see more in the next books.
Oh and also- the hellbringer can kidnap me ANY DAY!!!!
I cannot wait to figure out what the hellbringer and bloodsinger have in store for their entwined fate.

In the increasingly popular Romantasy genre, Blood Beneath the Snow is a stand out.
Debut author Alexandra Kennington has created a fast paced Romantasy featuring a strong female main character, Princess Revna. Revna has no magical powers unlike the rest of her family and is seen as an embarrassment to the royal family. The next sibling to take the throne is determined by a fight to the death and Revna is determined to be included in the Bloodline Trials so she can represent all the outcasts in the kingdom and overcome the tyranny of her father’s rule.

Revna encounters a few different love interests during the book with plenty of spice and romance. I loved the strong female role model who stands up to the men in her life, refuses to follow her family’s plan and questions the values of her society. Along with physically training to fight stronger, faster and smarter, Revna is a boss lady that fights to free her people from oppression. I can’t wait to read more about her story.

Kennington excels at world building and leaves the reader wanting more. The ending was completely unpredictable and thrilling. Sign me up for book 2!

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group, Ace and NetGalley for the advanced reader’s copy.

I really enjoyed this book and I'm gonna be intentionally vague in this review because I do not want to give anything away!

The story takes place in a territory ruled by a King, but his strings are pulled by the Priests. They bow to the Gods and only the population with magical powers (godblessed) are valued in their society. The godblessed are typically awful to the godcursed (people without magic), and the FMC, despite being the King's daughter, is godcursed and shunned.

We follow her adventures as she tries to undermine the current regime and free the godcursed from the Priest's tyranny.

There are 3 male interests in this novel, and I'm not gonna tell you which one ends up being the main one. You can expect a teenage hood sweetheart, a man she was promised in marriage to, and a masked asshole.

I truly enjoyed the journey and the characters. There were many unexpected moments and I even shed a few tears at one point. The end is an absolutely killer cliffhanger and I hope we won't have to wait too long for book 2.

Tropes:
-Kidnapping
-Forced Proximity / One Bed
-Morally Grey MMC
- Masked Villain
-Grumpy MMC
-Stabby FMC
-Death Trials
-Religious / Political Intrigue
-Secret Identity
-Training Sequences

Book Review: Blood Beneath the Snow by Alexandra Kennington

I had the absolute pleasure of reading an ARC of Blood Beneath the Snow by Alexandra Kennington, thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group, and while I really enjoyed parts of this story, it left me with mixed feelings overall.

Let’s start with the good: Revna, the FMC, absolutely stole the show for me. She might just be one of my favorite female protagonists ever. Fierce, rebellious, and unapologetically determined, Revna’s refusal to be a pawn in her royal family’s game was empowering to read. Born without elemental magic in a world where power defines your worth, she’s the underdog you can’t help but root for. Her decision to enter the brutal Bloodshed Trials—where royal siblings fight to the death for the throne—was both bold and riveting, setting the stage for a high-stakes plot.

The book also features some beloved tropes: enemies to lovers, trials, and the iconic one-bed scenario. If these are your jam, this book will check those boxes. The world-building, with its rigid caste system and elemental magic, added a rich layer of intrigue, and there were some plot twists that genuinely surprised me.

However, where Blood Beneath the Snow struggled was in delivering a truly satisfying “romantasy” experience. The romance between Revna and The Hellbringer—a fearsome enemy general assigned to train her for the Trials—felt underdeveloped. While Revna’s attraction to him was clear, it took far too long for any reciprocation to surface, leaving the dynamic feeling one-sided for most of the book. I love a good brooding, stoic love interest, but without glimpses of vulnerability or tension beneath the surface, Hellbringer read more as a distant mentor than an irresistible love interest. When the romance finally did shift, it felt abrupt and somewhat forced, lacking the slow-burn tension that makes enemies-to-lovers so compelling.

Additionally, much of the plot focused heavily on training and captivity scenes. While these could have been intense and character-defining, they often dragged without the emotional stakes that a more developed romance might have provided. I also found the political intrigue surrounding the enemy queen’s motives to be frustratingly vague, missing an opportunity to add depth and complexity to the larger conflict.

That said, Alexandra Kennington’s writing is strong, and the story has solid bones. The themes of rebellion, identity, and defying expectations shine through, and there are moments of gripping action and political tension that kept me turning the pages.

Blood Beneath the Snow releases in March 2025, and while it didn’t fully deliver the romantasy punch I was hoping for, it’s still worth checking out if you enjoy fantasy with trials, political conspiracies, and fierce heroines fighting against the odds. Just don’t expect the romance to be the star of the show.

Final Verdict: A compelling fantasy with strong world-building and a standout heroine, but the romance felt underdeveloped. Great for fans of trials, rebellion, and political intrigue—less so if you’re craving swoony, slow-burn tension.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Ace Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The vibes here are impeccable. Blood Beneath the Snow features an uprising of the marginalized others and a princess' privilege put to use for the greater good. A timely read if you are craving feminine rage, passion, and the toppling of an oppressive regime.

Revna presented a complex problem for me to figure out. She is royal and carries certain privileges that title permits her. But she is non-magical so she is lesser in the eyes of her family and her country's faith system. She lives as her authentic self amongst the non-magical community; creating her own found family unit of friends and mentors. Yet, when she and her friends are caught disrupting a ceremony for the magical set, it's her marginalized friends that take the brunt of the punishment - jailed or conscripted to the front lines of a brutal war. Revna's "punishment" is to remain as her family's pawn in an arranged political marriage.

So follow me while I convince you to keep reading. And don't worry I won't include spoilers.

What I found the most interesting is Revna having her world shaken at every moment. It's as if she thought her life was so bad, and she learns how worse it could be and is for others. She is forced to get real about her chances of surviving the battle royale death match to inherit her country's throne. There are hard life or death decisions to be made and we're seeing in real time Revna waking up to what's at stake.

This includes the risk/reward of her connection to the enemy's greatest weapon - the Hellbringer. There is a significant number of pages - forced proximity, training, stabbing, soul bearing delicious pages - devoted to the relationship and it's easy to be swept up in it's potential. The commonalities they share are just as important as how differently they react and move through the world.

I'm absolutely intrigued and desperate for the continuation of Revna's story. I want her world to burn. I want abusers to be brought to justice. I want her people to live free of oppression. And Revna? I'm eager to find out what she truly desires for her life. Her life of her own choosing.

What a wild ride! I thought it started off a bit slow but then the plot picked up and I enjoyed it a lot!

I can't wait to read another book by this author.

I love the characters, the magic systems, the world they exist within.

I will suggest we purchase this for our browsing collection.

Synopsis
In a world where the children of the Bhorglid royal family have to battle in the Bloodshed Trials and fight to the death for the crown, Princess Revna Thorunsdotter is at a disadvantage - her brothers are all blessed with powers "godtouched" whereas she's "godforsaken" (has no powers, much to the disappointment of her family). This doesn't deter Revna from trying to form a rebellion to protect the godforsaken, end the ongoing war between their people and the Kryllians, and to compete in Bloodshed Trials for the crown and end her ruthless father's rule.

When Revna gets kidnapped and imprisoned by the terrifying and masked Hellbringer (the most powerful Kryllian general, and her country's greatest enemy), she finds out that they actually want her on the throne and is willing to train her to increase her chances of surviving the Bloodshed Trials.

Review - let's start with the bad
This debut romantasy had a lot of potential but fell short in several areas, particularly in the following:

- Pacing - the first 40% of the book went off with a bang. It was fast-paced and interesting but things went downhill when Revna was imprisoned by the Hellbringer. The fast-paced novel turned into a slower-pace story of Revna training with the Hellbringer and secretly pining for him and wondering what he looks like under his mask. I think this was an attempt at a slow-burn but it didn't work for me and only served to drag the story and prevented the worldbuilding from being developed further. Then the final 30% of the book jumped back to the fast pacing (maybe too fast?) which rushed all the relationships that were underdeveloped to begin with.

- Romance - the story had all the ingredients for making a great romance. It had some of my favourite tropes (enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed), and the fact that the Hellbringer was constantly masked made him mysterious and potentially interesting. Unfortunately, the romance aspect of this novel was poorly executed. The romance felt one-sided for the most part (until it suddenly wasn't). The Hellbringer was perhaps a bit too mysterious as his personality, along with his face, was kept hidden most of the time. This made (minor spoiler alert) the betrayal feel less impactful since I wasn't convinced that Revna and the Hellbringer had any kind of romantic (or even platonic) chemistry.

- World Building - Given that the bulk of the novel consisted of Revna being held in captivity, it offered very little opportunities to expand on the world building, the political situation, the magic system (what other types of powers are there?), culture, and religion. It didn't offer much opportunity to develop Revna's relationships with any other other characters that were introduced in the beginning of the book since she was stuck with the Hellbringer. I think I would've much preferred a A Court of Mist and Fury kind of situation where the Hellbringer would whisk Revna away to Kryllian and see what the world is like from their perspective and to humanize the enemy while also allowing readers to immerse themselves in the fantasy world. Or better yet, I would've preferred if the Hellbringer and Revna trained in secret while Revna continues her day-to-day affairs of planning a rebellion and trying to undermine her family's rule.

To summarize, Revna's lengthy imprisonment was a plot point that just didn't work for me. It hindered the pacing, romance, and worldbuilding.

Other minor issues that bugged me:
- Revna went for nearly three weeks without showering. If there was any romantic tension between Revna and the Hellbringer during those three weeks, it must have been all in Revna's head because there's no way the Hellbringer would have entertained romantic thoughts with Revna likely smelling like shit.
- What was the washroom situation like during Revna's imprisonment? There was a brief mention of Revna needing to go outside to relieve herself but that's not possible while she was in the prison so...
- The repetitive reminders that the Hellbringer "smelled like pine and fresh snow" annoyed me somewhat (maybe because Rowan from A Throne of Glass series has been described the same way?)

Review - the good:
I will say that I did enjoy some aspects of the book including:
- some of the characters (Volkan and Frode being my favourites)
- the challenges that Revna has to face, particularly by the end of the book
- the setting (snowy mountains and viking vibes)
- the vibes (wintery dark fantasy)
- the action (fast-paced and entertaining)

This appears to be the first book in a duology. I'll still check out the second book when it comes out as I am still interested in finding out what happens next.