The Cartographers

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First Lines: In the dim light of her desk’s single bulb lamp, the map nearly glowed.

Occasionally, I like to walk around the library and take home with me whatever books strike my fancy that day. (This is in contrast to whatever books I may have put on hold and/or books that I see on the shelves that I have on my to-read list.) I went into the book knowing nothing about it, and sometimes that’s half the fun.

Nell Young’s life revolves around her love of cartography, a love she shares with her father, the legendary Dr. Daniel Young. But ever since Dr. Young fired Nell and destroyed her reputation over an old, cheap gas station highway map, she’s refused to see him. That is, until he’s found dead in his office with that career-destroying and seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk. And Nell doesn’t know why he kept it. To her surprise after a little investigating, she discovers this map is incredibly valuable and rare–she may have the only copy left because a collector seems to be hunting down every other copy for the sole purpose of destroying it and everyone who stands in their way. But why? The only way to answer that question is to keep digging and discovering the true power that lies in maps.

Now, I love a good mystery. I always have. When I picked this up, I thought this was going to be some kind of straightforward, maybe thriller-esque mystery. I mean, you have a dead father, a collector willing to kill, and a daughter looking for answers. That’s a pretty textbook mystery.

Oh, but how wrong I was. However you think this story is going to unfold, it’s not. There were so many different things thrown in here that I never saw coming. Different genres, incredibly twists that left me gasping, and great characters. This was so much more than I was hoping for.

I mean, this knocked my socks off. I was immediately drawn into Nell’s search for answers. And the plot kept me coming back every time I put the book down. Everything about this book was engaging.

This story, I guess simply put, is layered. When you’re talking about something like maps (and making it realistic), you’re going to have a mix of history and academia in the discussion. This book definitely takes maps seriously–you can tell the author really wanted to honor them. So you have that history angle, the mystery, the emotions of a daughter losing her father and trying to understand why he hurt her so badly years before, and another hint of a different genre I don’t want to mention for fear of ruining your enjoyment of this book if you go into it cold like I did. Honestly, that little twist was a huge part of what made this book so spectacular for me.

I’m sorry for being cryptic, but I truly do feel like not knowing is part of the fun here. Just know it’s a well written, fabulous genre-bending story with truly awesome characters. I read this in October 2022 and I still think about this book from time to time.

The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash, #3)

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**POTENTIAL SERIES SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT! You’ve been warned!**

First Lines: “Lower your swords,” Queen Eloana commanded, her hair shining a glossy onyx in the sun as she sank to one knee. The raw emotion pouring out of her seeped into the temple floors of the Chamber of Nyktos, bitter and hot, tasting of anguish and a helpless sort of anger.

I believe when I got into this series back in 2022, these first three books were the only ones out at the time (or maybe the only 3 I had easy access to at the library). I binged them. I was here for it.

Poppy never thought she would find love, but Prince Casteel is everything she’s ever wanted. She wants nothing more than to enjoy it for a time, but they can’t until they free his brother and find hers. And it turns out Poppy carries the blood of the King of Gods within her, so she’s technically the true ruler of Atlantia. Poppy never wanted that kind of power, but now she must choose between her birthright to become the Queen of Flesh and Fire or basically tell everyone to kick rocks. But as centuries of dark secrets come to light, a long-forgotten power rises and becomes a genuine threat to Poppy and everyone she holds dear. Worse, the Queen of Ash and Blood has her own plans to hold on to power, plans she’s been waiting centuries to enact. Impossibly, the only way to stop her may be for Casteel and Poppy to enter the Land of Gods and wake the King himself. It makes them ask–how far are they willing to go to protect their people?

As usual, let’s start with my 2022 thoughts.

I loved how gutsy this one is. Poppy faces challenges she’s never had to deal with before, including some she didn’t know she’d ever have to face. She’s put through the ringer on this one, but what I loved was that she always comes out of every challenge stronger. I loved her integrity as well as her physical strength. A lot of heroines, by this point in a fantasy series, are starting to lose themselves a bit. They compromise their morals in one way or another. They become unrecognizable from the first book in the series. While Poppy has certainly had her transformations, I love that she’s still true to herself.

But what really makes this story is the love between Poppy and Cas. It’s superb. It’s funny and real and delightful, even when they are forced to make the toughest decisions of their lives. They’re always making their decisions together and I love that. It’s beautiful in a way I don’t often see fantasy love stories written. Cas and Poppy are, truly, equals.

The plot of this one does get a bit slow in the middle, but the beginning and the end are fire. It’s intense. It’s gutsy. There are things that happen in this that had me continually shocked, on the edge of my seat, unable to truly process what just happened. I love that. I love feeling that into a book and its actions. So I’m truly impatient to see where the next book goes because if it’s already this wild, it’s only going to get crazier.

Now for my 2026 thoughts. Knowing what I know of the next 2 books in this series and the entire spin-off series (don’t worry, we’ll review that too), I kind of have a hard time still taking this series seriously. When I saw this review was next, I rolled my eyes. I just want to be done talking about this series. But reading through my review and notes, I’m reminded that this book actually was good. It won a Goodreads Choice Award for Fantasy (before Romantasy became a category on their list) and it was for a decent reason. This early in the series, the romance is still compelling and the plot seems to take all of these insane risks that don’t seem like they’re going to be worth it, but they are.

But I can tell you, just reading over the first couple of paragraphs to do the first lines, I’m so sick of Armentrout’s writing style at this point. It was a realization I didn’t know I had until like 2 of her books ago, or I wouldn’t have stuck with this series and its spin-off. I don’t want to call it flowery because that’s insulting to excellent romance writers. It’s frill, like she’s throwing a million descriptions at the wall to see what sticks. Most of them don’t matter and I’m not missing anything by skim-reading whole pages. It’s not great.

In the case of being honest, I’m going to give this the rating I gave the book back in 2022. Just know that my rating now would be lower.

The Light in Hidden Places

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First Lines: Someone is out there. In the dark. I open my eyes. And the dark is the same as always. A blank page.

We’re going to take a break from all the tortured love stories and fantasy that we’ve looked at so far and at a historical fiction centered on the Holocaust. (I know, it’s not really a happier topic, but January always brings it to mind for me, as Auschwitz was liberated near the end of the month.)

It is 1943 and 16-year-old Stefania’s life is nearly just how she wants it. She has spent the last four years working for the Diamant family in their grocery store in Przemsyl, Poland, and falling in love with one of their sons, Izio. The only thing that isn’t quite working out is that Stefania and Izio must keep their betrothal a secret because she’s Catholic and he’s Jewish. But when Germany invades Przemsyl, the Diamants are relocated to a ghetto and Stefania is alone in an occupied city. The only person left is her six-year-old sister Helena. A knock at the door changes everything when Max, Izio’s brother, arrives in the dead of night looking for help. He escaped a train headed to a death camp. Stefania and Helena decide to hide Max, and eventually take in twelve more Jews. Now, any knock at the door could mean death. When that knock finally comes, it’s two Nazi officers looking to make Stefania’s home a sort of boarding house for the German army. With Nazis below and Jews above and a little sister by her side, Stefania has one painful choice left to make.

Sharon Cameron, the author of this, is great. This is the first book of many that she’s started writing about the Holocaust and, while I think some of the others are better, this one is certainly not bad.

This is based on a true story and Cameron does a nice job of incorporating the real details into a narrative that is dramatic. Admittedly, I did think the writing style had moments that were a little boring. It could be related to the details, but it was hardest at the beginning to get into it. The plot alone (and knowing it was true) was enough to keep me coming back, but I wish the writing had made it a little easier to connect with Stefania (known as Fusia in the story, so I’ll start referring to her that way). I thought the writing came off clinical at times, but I think it could be either because Cameron didn’t want to insert herself into the true story or she was basing so much off of interviews and memoirs that it kind of reads that way. I’m not entirely sure.

I was just really interested in this from a historical perspective. We have so many WWII and Holocaust books out there that it can be a little overwhelming and, sometimes, feel like you’re reading the same story over and over. I felt like this perspective was a little different, as Fusia was so close to a Jewish family, then was left alone, started hiding a quite large number of Jews, and then having to play nice with the Germans in her home. I certainly learned things I didn’t know before through this. And there was even more in the author’s note at the end with more information that didn’t make its way into the book. I found all of that fascinating.

Fusia is a good lead. She’s absolutely stunned by the hatred that is suddenly pointed at her friends and neighbors practically overnight. And she’s determined enough to try to protect who she can. It takes a really strong person to do this. Forget about how confident she has to be to sneak all of this under the noses of Nazis living with her. I mean, she’s just so strong and stubborn and righteous that she’s kind of fascinating.

It’s a good read. The writing style could have been a little better, but it’s solid. And we’ll talk about Cameron’s other Holocaust offerings in the future.

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash, #2)

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**Spoiler Warning! Anything from here on out could be a spoiler!**

First Lines: “We go home to marry, my Princess.” As in get married? To him?

Just like the previous book in this series, I read this back in 2022. When I got into this series, I got into it deep. I think I nearly read these back to back, if I remember correctly.

Everything in Poppy’s life has been a lie, from her role as the Maiden to the truth about her homeland. None of it is what she thought it was. The only thing Poppy knows to be true is that no one is more dangerous to her than The Dark One. The Prince of Atlantia. Casteel. He wants the challenge that comes with her fighting him and, for once, Poppy is happy to comply. Casteel has gone by many names and faces over the years. He needs Poppy alive and whole for his goals, and unfortunately working with him is the only way Poppy can discover the truth about her brother Ian. But unrest has grown in Atlantia while Casteel has been gone, and Poppy’s at the center of it. Many want her dead. And as her powers grow, many begin to fear her. Dangerous secrets are still being kept. Can Poppy and Casteel work together to settle the unrest before blood is shed and the sky falls?

I found that in this book, I really enjoyed the twists and turns. It also had wonderful, funny, brilliant, and colorful characters that I just kept wanting to read more about. I adored Poppy and Casteel for vastly different reasons.

While this was still really good, but it didn’t have the same punch the first book did for me. I felt like the plot was slower in this one. And it started to feel a bit repetitive after the first book because a lot of the trouble they get into is pretty similar to things that happened in the first book. Not always, for sure, but sometimes. Enough that I was like, “Oh, here they go again, getting into a fight.” (This is a note I have about literally every book in the series after the first one, but we’ll get into that more in future reviews.)

But the characters truly are so great, from old friends to newcomers. Poppy is so feisty and compassionate that it all balances in an interesting way. Casteel is powerful but vulnerable with her. Kieran is so freaking funny when he’s around Poppy and I love it. But I’m also incredibly drawn to trying to understand newbies like Alistir, Jasper, and Vonetta. I want to see more of them to come because they’re interesting.

The plot, while I thought it slow at times, was still good. The world building has continued in this book as we get to see more of the land of Solis and the various people who call it home. I enjoyed that, feeling like I had a better sense of the world. But the plot really picks up, especially with the Ascended and their…issues…so it was fun to always see what was going to happen next. But I was way more into the character development than I ever was to any of the fights.

It’s funny, but one of the notes I left myself back in 2022 was along the lines of, “We’ve covered this much ground in two books? How much more can there be to say to fill out a six book series?” And y’all, I stand by this. Again, we’ll talk about this more in future reviews. I’m looking at you, book 5.

Sweet Black Waves

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First Lines: Smoke and screams and love. Fractured images swirled in the back of Branwen’s mind, transporting her a thousand leagues away from Castle Rigani.

Admittedly, when I first heard this title, it immediately made me think of “The Highwayman,” a poem by Alfred Noyes that I used to teach. It cannot be a coincidence that this line is stolen straight from that poem. It intrigued me, as did the premise of a retelling of Tristan and Isolde.

Branwen’s life should be simple: hate the raiders who killed her parents and faithfully serve her princess. But all of that becomes complicated when Branwen saves the life of a man who turns out to be her enemy, an event that awakens Branwen’s healing magic and begins to open her heart. Slowly, Branwen begins to believe that peace could be in their reach, but the princess is not so easily swayed. As Branwen’s magic grows out of her control, fighting for what she believes in could set Branwen against the princess she serves and the only man she’s ever loved.

It took me forever to read this book. It very much reads like a tragedy (which I probably should have guessed, considering the tale of Tristan and Isolde is a tragedy), and I can honestly say I’m rarely in the mood to read tragedies. I guess I was thinking it would be more of a romance that it actually was.

Admittedly, I’m only passingly familiar with the tale of Tristan and Isolde. I think there was a movie version of the story that came out in the 2000s? I vaguely remember watching it in college. Anyway, the writing in this is not bad. It’s an interesting mix of historical fiction and fantasy. It truly felt like the author had researched ancient cultures and put a lot of that information into the story. I liked those unique touches.

I did not, however, like the magical elements of the story. I enjoyed the story less the more magic played a key role in the story. I don’t explicitly remember what role magic plays in the medieval tale, but I’m sure it was in there somewhere. It just took me out of the story the more I read.

I also struggled a bit with Essy’s character. I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to be empathizing with her or not because, honestly, she’s kind of horrible. And maybe that is the point. She’s a scared young girl who is being sent to an enemy land to marry the king and bring peace to her country. She lashes out at everyone around her. But she came across incredibly selfish, impulsive, and stupid rather than scared girl who needs our patience.

Branwen, similarly, is a complicated character. She’s Essy’s cousin and lady’s maid. She wants peace in the kingdom and she wants whatever is best for Essy. Being slightly older, Branny tends to make decisions for Essy’s wellbeing that maybe she shouldn’t. Branny has a good heart and she wants to help others, but sometimes she makes some pretty selfish decisions too. I guess that’s really what makes this story a tragedy, that everyone just keeps making horrible decisions, even if they are sometimes guided by good intentions.

Mostly, though, I felt this book was a lot of set-up for the next book and not a lot of anything interesting happening. The introduction of Tristan and scenes involving him were usually pretty interesting, but all the stuff with magic and Branny making tortured decisions was just a bit boring after a while.

From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash, #1)

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First lines: “They found Finley this eve, just outside the Blood Forest, dead.”

To jump back into my reviews, I thought I’d start by going back in time. I read this book back in 2022 and, since this series just ended in September 2025, I thought this might be a good place to begin.

Many would envy Poppy’s life. Living in a castle as the Maiden (the “chosen one” of her society), it would appear she lives in the lap of luxury. But Poppy is isolated. No one is allowed to talk to her, touch her, or even look at her. Her life’s purpose is to Ascend when the time comes and that’s all. That begins to change when her new guard, Hawke, sees in her the heart and soul that she’s longed to share. He makes her feel things, from anger to desire, that she’s never felt before. But if Poppy gives in to what Hawke offers, she risks being found unworthy and losing everything. As the blood begins to spill, Poppy begins to wonder if this path she’s on is actually the right one for her.

I want to balance this review between what I thought of it as a first time reader and what I think of it now. Let’s start with my first reactions.

I thought Poppy’s character was well-developed, but in a slightly unusual way. Poppy has been taught her entire life to be “pure”–so Poppy has become rebellious. She learns how to fight. She makes friends where she can. She uses her isolation and silence as a weapon when she can. It completely makes sense given her circumstances. I just thought it was an interesting read on her, as she does still walk the line she’s supposed to while finding ways to cross it when she has a good reason.

Hawke is…interesting. He’s described as so hot that women basically make tarts of themselves the moment they see him, which feels a little like lazy writing. But Hawke is also a complex character who is not always a good guy. You come to understand his motives, but maybe not the morality behind his choices. I do like Hawke, but not nearly as much as I like Poppy.

The world building in the beginning of the novel is quite good. It didn’t take me too long to get into the story and figure out what I needed to know like the social structures, the Maiden rules, the dangers of the Craven, etc. So that was all great. I will say that as the story continued on and the world building needed to become more complex, I did start kind of rolling my eyes a bit at some twists.

Speaking of, I will say is that the foreshadowing felt a little heavy-handed to me. There were some pretty big twists that I saw coming a literal mile away. I was about 100-200 pages into the book and called a massive twist. Did that ruin my enjoyment of the book? Not at all. I might have figured out some plot twists, but I didn’t figure out how exactly they would be revealed or what would happen after. But I think it’s worth mentioning that if you’re paying attention, there are clues all over the place.

Now, some of my 2026 thoughts: in my humble opinion, this is the best book in the series. This is the most straightforward the series ever is and the characters are at their simplest. From here on out, the saga becomes more about generating the biggest twists and adding layer upon layer of lore that isn’t always necessary. I believe this is also one of the first books that launched the romantasy genre into the mainstream and, while that alone is impressive, I’m not sure this is the best example of that genre. But we can explore that thought another time.

My thoughts on this series and its spinoff are complicated, but I can generally look back on this book out of all of them and claim that I enjoyed it. My current rating would be a little lower, but this was my rating when I read it.