A Bond of Blood and Fire by Karen Tomlinson

A Bond of Blood and Fire by Karen Tomlinson

Expected Publication: June 11th 2017 – Self Published

A love bathed in fire. A destiny sealed with blood.

In a world ravaged by war, half blood fae Diamond Gillon must fight to survive.
Becoming a magical weapon for the fae queen is the only way to save her friends from execution, and the people of Valentia from the Wraith Lord and his army of the dead.

Commander Hugo Casimir has been ordered to train her, but Diamond struggles to trust him, and master the force of her own powerful magic. To complicate matters, the two share a rare, magical connection, a bond that will shape their fates and their hearts.

Love and loyalty will be tested as Diamond battles giants, shifters and an army of monsters in her quest to save Valentia. But will she defeat the Wraith Lord to avenge those she has lost, and triumph to save those she loves? Or will the Eight Kingdoms descend into chaos?

Note: I received an ARC of this from the author in return for an honest review. This in no way influences my opinion.

… How am I even expected to open up this review?!? I absolutely LOVED this book! It had me even more hooked than the first book, and that is saying something because ABOVAM was a complete page turner!

I think my favourite aspect of this book was Diamonds character development. In the first book, she is extremely mild and naive because she was extremely sheltered from the world through her upbringing. I loved the change that training brought about in her and her resolve to remain strong, despite everything that happens to her. She has a certain stubbornness about her and, when she sets her mind to something, she doesn’t give up. I enjoyed watching her open up more and more to the people around her and becoming stronger, both physically and mentally. She is still naive in some areas, but that is another aspect of growing up that I am looking forward to reading more of later in the series!

I also loved the fact that we got to see Hugo’s POV. I loved getting into the mind behind the mask he was showing the rest of the characters because it made him and his reasons for what he was doing more realistic. I felt extremely sorry for him most of the time because he was constantly being put into these horrible situations and there was nothing he could do about it. There were times when I wanted to slap him, but thats because he’s a man and they do stupid and unnecessary things sometimes! Like not share his feelings…

Hugo and Diamond. I loved them, they bugged me, but all together I was completely rooting for them to get there stuff together. They bugged me in the sense that there was a lot of roll your eyes kinda moments, but I feel like they needed to be there because that is what love is all about right at the beginning with the uncertainty of the other person or whether they like you and what is going to happen next! I cannot wait to follow this ship even further… I do want Jack to find someone, though. Feeling kind of sorry for him at this point – but he was a great friend to both of them… even if he was in the middle a bit!

The plot had me all :-O … I feel like there was even more going on in this book compared to ABOVAM and it kept me completely hooked! I loved the fact that Tomlinson did not sugar coat Diamonds training and we as readers saw everything that happened to her and the bruises etc. This made it all the more realistic and I felt sorry for Diamond throughout that! Also… THE QUEEN!!! She needs to be killed dead in the most horrific way possible because she is just an awful (fictional) being and I just… ugh. Death. DEATH!!!

Also, can we mention that ending!! Now, I obviously don’t want to go into too much detail because spoilers … but WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK!!! :-O I was left completely on the edge of my seat, heart in my throat and I just HAD to know what was going to happen next… even though I already knew because I beta read the book before Christmas. I was left in tears all over again and I cannot even believe that I had to suffer that cliff hanger ending all over again because I just need the next book already. Can I have it now?? Pretty please…

All in all, I absolutely ADORED this book and I cannot even wait for the next instalment! I need more from all of these characters and I just NEED the next book right about now. I gave this book 5/5 stars