The Good and Bad about From Blood & Ash 🩸⚔️

Hi, !

It's taking some adjustment, going from writing and publishing six books a year... to one book a year - I'm taking a hiatus from the Timecaster world so I can work on the Jayne Thorne series, but that series releases a bit slower than I'm used to. So I'm keeping myself busy with lots of reading and planning my epic fantasy series (I'm so excited, you guys... I'll share the covers with you soon! And I'm planning on making this series New Adult with a few steamy scenes. What do you think? 😊)

I just finished Daughter of the Pirate King and Daughter of the Siren Queen. Highly recommend this duo. Such a great enemies to lovers story with a fierce, capable heroine who is morally grey. I also finished Children of Blood and Bone. That one was a bit darker for me, and I'm not sure I liked the ending, but the world was fascinating, and the magic and mythology were just beautiful.

And... I finished From Blood and Ash! This one has been on my list for a while. And since it's such a popular book in the fantasy book community, I wanted to touch on a few things I noticed about it.

First of all, it was so good. Yes, it's worth the hype. Lots of steam. Hawke is so sexy you'll want to fan yourself.

However, when I first read this story, it reeked of the blushing-virgin-girl-falls-for-sexy-older-man trope, and I wanted to barf. Like seriously, one of the first scenes is Poppy finding herself in a compromising situation with Hawke and talking about how innocent and inexperienced she is and he knows all the things about the bedroom and will show her everything, and... ick. Like, this was written in 2020, for crying out loud. Come on, authors! I thought we'd moved past this stupid trope. Give me two blushing virgins. Or a blushing virgin boy and a sexy, confident girl (*cough cough* The Demon's Kiss is totally this, if you want a story like that 😉). I'm tired of the innocent, pure, virgin girl concept, the idea that women must remain pure and untouched. And honestly, From Blood and Ash is all about this. Poppy is considered "The Maiden" and has to be untouched. People can't even look at her face. Now, it's possible Jennifer L. Armentrout was trying to make a point about this by creating an extreme patriarchal society - almost dystopian, in a way - but it missed the mark for me. Yes, Poppy was rebellious and she was a fighter who could handle herself in battle. But I want to read a story where the woman is capable and confident, even in the bedroom. Where she doesn't turn into a blushing puddle of nerves when the guy gets all sexy with her. I want to read a romance that is back and forth. She teases him, he teases back. (Daughter of the Pirate King is totally this, too. They're both confident and flirtatious and take turns making each other swoon).

Anyway. Off my soapbox. What do you think about this trope? Have you read the book? What are your thoughts?

On another note, I wrote this blog post about fantasy enemies to lovers recommendations. It is the most comprehensive list you'll ever find - everything from epic fantasy to urban fantasy, indie to mainstream books, low steam to lots of steam... Check it out!

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Timecaster Chronicles | Nightcaster Chronicles | Bloodcaster Chronicles

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This segment is for those of you who are writing and looking to improve! Please keep in mind I am not an expert by any means, but I do have a lot of experience that I would love to share with you! 🙂

This week's tip is on: Writing Action Scenes!

I've had a lot of experience writing action scenes. And I've gotten a ton of great feedback - from beta readers, critique partners, and editors - about how to improve them. I used to write out every single detail so the reader would feel like they were right there in the scene. But that often dragged, and during a high-stakes moment, you want it to feel fast-paced. The best advice I've gotten about writing action scenes is: less is more. Only describe the details the reader needs to know. Like if the protagonist gets stabbed, well, that's kind of important. But if they're blocking punches, you don't need to describe exactly where each body part is positioned. That slows down the scene.

I've also been told to shorten the sentences so they're punchier - just like the action! So like instead of saying, "When he threw a punch, my arm flew up to block it, and the heavy force of his blow slammed into my forearm." You could say something like "He threw a punch. My arm flew up to block it. The heavy force of his blow slammed into my forearm." See the difference?

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