Well, that was a fun ride! If you're looking for a hate-to-love romance set in a fascinating fantastical and almost Medieval world then this is for you.

I'm not going to lie, Fireblood has a ton of issues and is SO cliche in many ways (evil king, young warrior with closed off emotions, stubborn heroine, death of a parent, spy in the castle), and yet I really enjoyed it. Ruby's fierceness and fiery personality and her ability to care for others really saved this book for me. It's through her eyes that we experience this world and because of that this world became a real place. Her kindness for others is something I related to strongly and it made me root for her. I also liked that she wasn't one of those heroines were her talents come easily; she struggled and she worked hard to hone her powers.

Arcus is a character that's been done before: a cold warrior who taunts Ruby for no reason, BUT I really grew to like him and the teasing between him and Ruby. He cares about people, he's flawed, and he has real fears. Honestly, his story became even more of a cliche at the end, but I don't even care because I ship him and Ruby so much.

Marella is an interesting ally for Ruby and I want to know more about her and what she experienced growing up in the castle. It kind of felt like her presence and goals were too convenient for Ruby and the story, despite Ruby not trusting her at first. I almost wanted to jot trust her more if that makes sense. But she's smart and I hope we see more of her.

Despite this book's issues, I really did enjoy it! The world of fire and frost is absolutely enchanting and believable and just so cool! The folk tales, the powers, the darkness, the warring nations, and the royalty. I enjoyed all of those aspects so much and I look forward to seeing more of that in the next book!

Ruby has had everything taken away from her by the Frostblood king and his followers- her mother, her home, her freedom,...all gone. The only thing she has left is her rare Fireblood power- which at this point is just as dangerous to herself as it is to an enemy. With nothing but revenge on her mind, she will align herself with allies she is not sure she can trust as she risks everything to stop the ruler who is responsible for her pain. With a nice blend of action and romance, solid world building, and an ending that satisfies at the same time as it ensures the reader will want more, this is a winning fantasy.

Frostblood by Elly Blake is an action-packed, exciting read! Following the story of Ruby, a young Fireblood living in the Frost King’s territory, Frostblood is full of deception, revenge, and rebellion. Personally once I started the story, I couldn’t set it down. Despite having an ARC copy, I wound up buying an audio copy as well so I could take my reading on the go.

Ruby is an easy character to emphasize with and easy to follow her story. She has lived her life in the shadows, hiding her true nature as a Fireblood. In the kingdom of Frost, her ability is outlawed. She must live, never using her abilities, which as she ages becomes increasingly harder to control. When soldiers come to take her, knowing what she is, her mother is killed and her village razed. Her semi-peaceful life of hiding is over and an ember of revenge burns in its place. She now lives to kill the general and king who killed her mother, that is if she survives the prison.

A mysterious pair of powerful Frostbloods come to her rescue, breaking her out of the prison. Arcus is cloaked in mystery. He tells her little of his past, he always wears a cloak shielding his face, and he can be a little cruel during his training with Ruby. Frost and Fire are truly at odds with one another and it comes out in the characters Ruby and Arcus. Their banter brings levity to the story. They get under one another’s skin. Yet they become friends though shared grief. The other Frostblood is Brother Thistle, who was once a powerful general in the Frost King’s armies. I like him. He’s like a wise Yoda!

The plot slowly builds and the book is clearly split into two parts. During part one, Ruby is training and learning to use her gift, plotting her revenge. Then she is captured by the Frost King and forced to fight in his gladiator-style arena, putting her gift to good use. While the first part of the book is slow without much excitement, the second part is violent and gory. Ruby is pitted against Frostbloods, Frost animals, and people the king deemed as traitors. King Rasmus is an interesting villain. While his character is absent most of the book, he is still feared. When Ruby finally confronts him, she sees something in him that makes her pause.

Overall I really enjoyed this book! I fell in love with the world and characters. Ruby is a strong character, even when she is a bit naive, and I love the relationship that built between her and Arcus. If you enjoyed Red Queen or you like YA fantasy in general, I highly recommend you grab a copy of this book. And as a note of interest if you like audios, I LOVED the audio of this book. The narrator is fantastic!

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood. She lives in a world where she must hide her abilities because the Frostbloods are in power and they search out any Firebloods in the kingdom and kill them. Firebloods can create and control fire with their will and their fingertips while Frostbloods can do the same with ice.

But someone betrays Ruby and the soldiers come to her village and they kill her mother and take Ruby prisoner. Eventually, Ruby is freed from prison by a group of rebel Frostbloods who ask her to help them in a plot to overthrow the current Frostblood king. She agrees to help them since she would like nothing more than to revenge her mother’s death.

Ruby trains with the rebels who insist that she is a very powerful Fireblood who needs to learn to control and maximize her powers. But before her training is complete she is captured again and is taken to the king’s castle where she is forced to show her strength or die. And now she has a chance to avenge her mother’s death if only she felt more prepared.

This YA fantasy takes place in a well-designed world that is governed by the power of the elements of wind, fire and ice. This fantasy world of course is affected by the good and evil in each of these elements. The characters in the book embody those traits. Ruby and Arcos are the good in the world and King Rasmus is the evil. Therefore, the plot is an intriguing battle between good and evil. Ruby is a strong bold character that needs bolstering now and then. Arcus is strong and powerful but is also moody and kind. Many other characters even though minor are well defined. As readers advance through the story, they also learn that characters are not always what we perceive them to be.

The book should appeal to both teen girls and boys. There is a slight bit of romance to lure the female teen reader and there are many battle scenes for the male reader’s enjoyment. Even though there are other books on the market that have similar fantastical elements, YA readers always seem to be open to reading another new fantasy series.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book.

I'm not usually a fan of fantasy novels, but this book was fantastic! A must read.

What an awesome YA fantasy. The world building for the firebloods was very solid and the magic system was great. I also really enjoyed the relationship between Ruby and Arcus! The only downfall was that I would have liked to of seen more of Elly and a little more character development..
I would recommend this to more middle grade than to young adults and maybe for people looking to branch out into the YA and fantasy scene.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest opinion. My thanks to Elly Blake and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the opportunity.

Loved this book! Just when you think you know what's going to happen, the plot will threir you for a loop. Don't want to give too much away. I'm just glad that I don't have to edit an entire year for the next book.

*First, I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free copy of this book for review.*

I appreciate the chance to read and review this book, however it was just not something I could get into. The concept seems great -- a girl with fire-y powers in a tyranny run by those with frosty powers. Unfortunately, the concept alone was not enough to carry this book for me and I did DNF it at 51%.

My major issues with this story, and the ultimate reason I decided to stop reading it was because I did. not. care. I wasn't invested in the characters, the world, the plot or the romance.

To elaborate, I found the characters to be full of tropes and not very fleshed out. They seemed one-dimensional and the few things that brought dimension to them were full of tropes.

The world was lackluster and didn't provide enough world-building for me to think of this as some great and interesting place for a story to take place.

The romance was so awkward but also full of miscommunication (really?) and moments that just had me eye-rolling. I know at a certain point this book is going to thrust the romance at us and our protagonist is going to be *gasp* shocked that <i>he</i> feels that way, and I just don't have the energy or interest in reading that story again.

The writing was also not one of my favorite aspects of the story. This is a debut, so no judgement here on that front. It was just a lack of fleshing things out (characters, world) and a dependence on tropes that really brought the writing down a peg for me.

Our protagonist is very weak willed and self conscious. She's apparently very strong but I see no proof of that. A peeve of mine is when you are told something about a character, but they don't exhibit that.

I definitely think this book is just not by taste, partially because of the sheer amount of similar YA books I've read to it. If you are interested, don't let me sway to do not pick up the book. If you haven't read a few YA dystopian-fantasies in the last few years, I think you might find something enjoyable in this book.

I...absolutely loved this book. The conflict between Frostbloods and Firebloods, the romance, Ruby's struggle to control her abilities, intrigue and allies in the palace: It makes for the kind of book you want to curl up with and read straight to the end. And the ending was satisfying but also left me excited for what's to come in book 2 (the best kind of ending).
I haven't had a chance to review this book on the WordNerds YouTube channel yet, but will be including it in a "New Releases to Check Out" video in a few weeks.

I like the idea of frost and fire being magical powers. The characters a entertaining and nicely developed. The story line is easy to follow. It has your good and evil elements, and it keeps you guessing as to who is which side. Enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed this book. I was enthralled within the first few pages and could not put it down. The contrast between the two "blooded" people was intriguing - especially with the hint of romantic angst! Would definitely recommend to my teenaged readers!

Wanted to thank netgally for the chance to read and review this book. I changed my rating after sitting on this a while. When it comes down to it, it's pretty simple ..... there is nothing special about this book, nothing to separate it from others. It's the same old premise with an expected outcome with a minor twist.
I did enjoy it a bit when we got about 3 quarters of the way in, it picked up a little had a little action, but that as far as it goes.
I find the characters boring, very little character build. Ruby is the epitome of every wanting YA heroine with a side of nothing special.
Sorry to disappoint I was hoping to make this a good one. This is by fair my favorite genre so I have read a lot of these YA books and for them pull any feeling from me they have to be more then just a story written down. I need those words to create any feeling heartbreak, tears, joy, anger anything for me to give any kind of positive review. Happy Reading everyone.

I’m so beyond excited I got this book! For one, the cover is amazing! I had wanted to read this before the cover change, so the new cover had me all kinds of excited.

Ruby is a Fireblood in hiding. The king has searched for all Firebloods and then sends them off to face Frostblood challengers, leading them to their deaths. Now, Ruby is possibly the only Fireblood out there and she doesn’t even know how to control the fire. When Ruby is discovered, she’s taken to a prison, but her stay doesn’t last because some Frostbloods rescue her in exchange for her help in taking down the king. With the Frostbloods help among some monks, Ruby starts to train. She even gets a lesson in sword fighting, thanks to Arcus, a handsome young man who for some reason, fears fire and sometimes Ruby herself.

I don’t read much Fantasy, usually because it takes me a while to get used to the world-building. Let me tell you that I was hooked right from the start and read this book very quickly! It was so addicting! The characters were what made the story even better. We have Ruby, who has a very sassy attitude that leads her to some trouble, but at the same time, she’s strong, brave, feisty, and eager to learn more about her control of fire. I loved that there’s a lot of character growth for her. She has quite the temper but along the way, she started to control it and focused her energy on more important things. Ruby really struggled a lot to keep control of her powers, which made her feel real to me.

Let’s all swoon over Arcus! Arcus is quiet, grumpy, mysterious and quite the handsome man! Arcus and Ruby first meet when he breaks her out of prison. From the start, these two can’t get along. Arcus doesn’t trust Ruby because she’s a Fireblood and Ruby doesn’t like Arcus because he’s rude towards her. Along the way, they start spending time together, mostly because Arcus is helping Ruby train, but during these times, Ruby starts to develop feelings for Arcus and vice versa. Their chemistry was so strong, especially with all the banter!

I really liked the mythology-like aspect of the story. It had lots of history of the how the Frostbloods and Firebloods came to exist, along with a dark and evil force that makes an appearance later in the book. At times, I would get lost over the history, but it was still quite intriguing and kept me wanting to learn more.

Overall, Frostblood is an addicting and satisfying Fantasy with great characters, quite a few twists that had my mind going crazy, and a fantastic swoon-worthy romance!

Absolutely loved the world that the author created! I found myself totally engrossed in every page. It was magical to say the least! I loved the concept and the details that the author has and I am looking forward to more!

Very much in the tradition of Throne of Glass, Red Queen, and even the movie Frozen comes this YA telling of the battle between the Frostblood's (the ruling class) and the Firebloods. Nothing really new or fresh here, but not a terrible read.

Fire. Ice. Long ago, the two nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Frost Nation attacked…

Just kidding, although, not going to lie, parts of this book gave me some serious Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes – mostly because of the element bending battles and the male romantic interest having a burn scar on the upper half of one side of his face. Plus, the plot centers around an elemental nation ruled by a vicious, merciless leader whose strong elemental power makes him seem unstoppable and the only chance for a hopeful future lying in the hands of an untrained person with a different elemental power, possibly the last of her kind (in Tempesia at least, due to the Frost King systematically killing them off) who is prophesized to defeat him. So hey, if you’re a Last Airbender fan, you’re pretty much going to love this book, it’s kind of like Ruby: The Last Fireblood (In Tempesia).

Similarities aside, or perhaps because of, I really enjoyed this book. The world building is fantastic and pulls you in from the first page and I loved loved the mythological elements with the gods of the four winds (I’m such a huge mythology nerd). Ruby, the main character, is strong and willful, stubborn to a fault, and possesses an inner core of tempered steel – I loved her and can’t wait to read more of her journey. Although there is a romantic element in this book, “the icy young man she has come to love” from the book description, it wasn’t the main focus here. This is a story of a young woman coming into her own, discovering her own power, and learning along the way how to take back control as she finds herself again and again forced into situations that would break a weaker person.

Frostblood was a great read and so easy to get lost in and the Avatar: The Last Airbender meets Greek/Roman Mythology vibe of the book only made me love it more. Frostblood is the first book in the Frostblood Saga with Book 2: Fireblood slated to come out September 2017 – I’m super excited to be able to delve back into this world so soon!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After receiving copies of this book from the publisher as part of an early reader's program for students, I was hearing students rave about this first in a series and had to give it a try myself. With action, adventure, revenge, and a little bit of romance all set in a fantasy world of frost and fire, Frostblood does not disappoint! I devoured this book and can't wait until September when Fireblood comes out! The twists and turns of the story are unexpected, and one cannot easily predict how the story will end. There certainly is something for everyone in the genre-blending YA book!

Seventeen year old Ruby has hidden her fireblood talent from the frostblood king, but after his men kill her mother, she agrees to come out and have her revenge. She trains with a frostblood master to try and rein in her abilities, but is discovered, captured and made to fight for her life while trying to find a chance to destroy the awful ruler who has stripped her of everything she has ever loved.

This is a non stop action, thriller with so much suspense in it I thought I was going to fall off of my chair many times. It is so awesome I cheered and cried for Ruby, she rocks, no matter what, she gets up and keeps fighting, I so want to be just like her she is so cool.

There are two things I noticed right away while reading Frostblood. One, it jumped straight into the action and two, the story was very typical for a YA fantasy. This was both good and bad throughout Frostblood.

On the plus side, I never lost interest in what I was reading. I enjoyed the writing, and I liked the characters. (Ruby's love interest was probably the only thing I found unique to Frostblood.) I loved that we were given a full story within Frostblood. I was so petrified by the end that I was approaching a cliffhanger, but all was well with the ending!

On the down side, there wasn't much there in terms of plot that I hadn't already read and experienced in other books. It was certainly well crafted and I enjoyed it, but I felt like I had already been there before.

I'm curious why it's firebloods and frostbloods. It couldn't have been firebloods and icebloods? (Too obvious?) Or frostbloods and emberbloods? I'd be pissed if I was a frostblood. This is ICE, bitches.

At the end of the day, I wasn't quite the target audience for Frostblood. I expected more fantasy and less romance which was entirely my fault. I enjoyed it, but I think readers interested in YA romance will probably enjoy it much more than I did. Even though part of me feels like this wasn't a good fit for me, the other part of me feels pretty sure I'll read book two.