King of Battle and Blood: 1 (Adrian X Isolde)

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To avoid war and protect his kingdom, Isolde’s father, the King of Lara, surrenders to Adrian; the notorious and powerful vampire “Blood King” who is known for unmercifully conquering kingdoms. As part of the terms of the surrender, Adrian abruptly demands that the mortal Princess Isolde become his bride (and Queen) and live with him among the vampires. Despite their undeniable chemistry right from the get-go, under the influence of her father and the people of Lara, Isolde believes that she must find a way to kill Adrian to protect her people. But, as Isolde spends more time with Adrian and the vampires in his court, Isolde starts to question what she’s been told about the history of the kingdom (including the disappearance of magic, the burning of witches, and the creation of vampires) and starts to wonder if Adrian is really the villain or monster that he’s made out to be. Honestly, the “plot” twist was obvious from the first hint. “Your blood is truly a homecoming,” says Adrien, cryptically. There were so many obvious clues that Isolde was secretly a reincarnated witch from Adrien’s past. There is a difference between foreshadowing and lazy writing, Scarlett.

If you love this book, I am happy for you! I wish Scarlett all success with this release and future books. I think I’ll definitely be continuing the series (I even have a couple exclusive editions coming that I am excited for!), it just missed its mark for me in too many areas. THE MAIN THING that bothered me about Isolde was her nonstop horniness. Seriously, she was either leaking or aching for like 80% of the damn book

I’m not above some good vampire smut books in the right mood but dear god… this was SO BAD. Even with the vampire/forced marriage tropes, there ARE ways to write them and pull it off, but this decidedly failed in every regard. Let me describe this book poorly: woman gets new boyfriend, old boyfriend is jealous, woman is jealous of new boyfriend’s female acquaintance because he goes to her for his fix, but woman doesn’t want to help him, she just gets mad at the other woman. Oh and turns out new boyfriend was interested in woman because she reminds him of his ex. Oh and there’s vampires and witches and magic and stuff. A Touch of Darkness” by Scarlett St. Clair introduces PersephonE, a goddess of spring that seems to have lost her powers. She lives in New Athens and is in college where she is a senior student interning at a news agency as she waits to graduate with her degree in journalism. Away from her overbearing mother, she thinks that she finally found something she is great at. But her freedom is threatened by the nymphs that her mother sent to spy on her. They are just waiting and hoping that she will make a mistake so that they can swoop in and take her to the greenhouse prison. When she goes on a night out in town, she meets Hades and they come to an understanding. From then on, she goes on a journey of discovery of love, her powers and the place of people like her in the world of the gods and mortals. The good thing about Persephone is that even when she is without her powers, she is not your classic damsel in distress. Instead, she stands up for herself when pushed and calls out anyone including herself for their bullshit. How is Commander Killian able to talk so boldly to Isolde and her father, the king, and get away with it? There's no way any royal would allow this because at the end of the day his opinion on their personal life doesn't matter. Scarlett St. Clair is a horror, paranormal, and young adult novelist from Oklahoma best known for the “Hades & Persephone” series of novels. As a teenager, St. Clair went to the University of Oklahoma, where she graduated with an undergraduate degree in English Writing. She also has a masters in Information Services and Library Science from the same institution. St Clair has always been obsessed with the after life, Greek mythology, love stories and murder mysteries. As such it was not surprising that she made her debut with Greek retelling work “When Stars Come Out” that she published in 2018. She has since then gone on to publish several other bestselling works in different genres. As for her influences, she has cited “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy which is the inspiration for her settings in her Greek mythology retellings. As for authors, some of her favorites include Sarah MacLean, Tessa Dare and Leigh Bardugo.

I am so excited to introduce King of Battle and Blood! It is an enemies-to-lovers romance set in a dark fantasy world filled with all kinds of blood-craving monsters.I see Isolde as a true morally gray character,” she says. “But you have to take it in the context of her world, like what she’s willing to do to survive. Where’s the balance? What lines are you willing to cross?”