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About A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane

A generation past, the western realms were embroiled in endless war. Then the Destroyer came. From the blood and ashes he left behind, a tenuous alliance rose between the barbarian riders of Parsathe and the walled kingdoms of the south. That alliance is all that stands against the return of an ancient evil—until the barbarian king and queen are slain in an act of bloody betrayal.

Though forbidden by the alliance council to kill the corrupt king responsible for his parents’ murders, Maddek vows to avenge them, even if it costs him the Parsathean crown. But when he learns it was the king’s daughter who lured his parents to their deaths, the barbarian warrior is determined to make her pay.

Yet the woman Maddek captures is not what he expected. Though the last in a line of legendary warrior-queens, Yvenne is small and weak, and the sharpest weapons she wields are her mind and her tongue. Even more surprising is the marriage she proposes to unite them in their goals and to claim their thrones—because her desire for vengeance against her father burns even hotter than his own…

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Review of A Heart of Blood and Ashes

I’d like to make a prediction.  A Heart of Blood and Ashes is the going to be on my best of 2020 list.  You may say it is too soon to call, being only February 6th.  But wow!

Milla Vane is the alter-ego of Meljean Brook.  So I kind of knew what I was getting.  A complex, yet lush story line.  Sharply defined characters – flawed primary characters that are somehow still perfect and secondary characters that add depth and perspective to the tale. And a world intricately built just for them.  And me.  I immersed myself in A Heart of Blood and Ashes.

Maddek’s and Yvenne’s entwined stories are salient, agonizing and exhilarating.  I was amused as often as I was saddened.  These two have issues that keep them apart because there is a major communication issue.  But there is much to draw them together also.  Including a sizzling hot sexual attraction.  Speaking as someone who tends to skim those passages, I recommend you read them all.  Far from the usual, the sex scenes were creative, blazing and, dare I say, satisfying.

Maddek and Yvenne are still hanging out in my reader’s mind.  I will be more than ready when the next installment is ready.  The romantic fantasy world will never be the same for me!

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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