A Soul of Ash and Blood

I'm screaming

First of all, how DARE it end like that?????? DOES POPPY REMEMBER WHO THEY ARE OR NOT???? AND WHEN WILL I FIND OUT????

Anyways, did i basically reread the entire first book, just from Casteels POV? Yes. Am I mad about it? No. It's probably my second favorite in the series. I loved every moment of this book

JLA did it again.

With every new book my love for this series grows. I mean I had a love hate relationship with the very first one, but look at me now begging for the next one in the series.

I loved it. The new pov made it quite intresting. I did however miss some things. For obvious reasons, some of the characters were way less in the story and I love Delano 🥺. This story was also set at a slower pace so I missed some of the action. Don't get me wrong, I always love the endings. But if feel like she always keeps the best for last so that you get a rush of adrenaline and literally get addicted to her books xD

I did discover that I need this series to be rewritten in a lot of different POVS. Cas, Delano, Kieran.....

I was not intrigued with this book. I only read it because it was supposed to be the fifth book in the series and advance the story. Retellings are a pet peeve of mine and I should have trusted my instincts.

Firstly, A soul of Ash and Blood should NOT be considered book 5 as only the last chapter moves a little of the story forward.
It might work bringing some of her lost fans back because of all the love for Cas, but it kind of did the opposite for me.

This was everything that was bad on From Blood and Ash, on steroids. I don't even think it does Cas any favor as it continues this tendency of removing his personality and turns the first book all about how Poppy is special and how he is in awe of her.

Although I knew it was a retelling of the first book from Cas perspective, I kept thinking it would be about their whole story and cover important moments from other books. If you want to ensure someone remembers you and your connection, why would you only tell them about the time you have betrayed them? It just feels like a bad decision and I hope I'm wrong about it. I surely would wake up in a bad mood!

Cas betrayal in the first book really bother me this time, when it didn't before. I could understand it the first time because of his brother, and because he didn't know Poppy that well. His perspective changes everything for me because he's aware the whole time it would be really wrong to get physically involved with her, that it would hurt her in a way she didn't deserve and that it could be difficult to recover. She never lived or had choices before and he just took one more thing from her - trust.

What is this talk about Shea again? Why does Jennifer keep adding noise to the story? We moved on from it, I don't care about her anymore. There's no need to add more issues to the romance, either if Jennifer chooses to go with Poppy and Cas or Poppy-Cas-Kieran. I'm ok with both ships, but I actually think the second one makes significantly more sense.

Regarding the new bits: There's nothing I hate more than overpowered characters. I was truly convinced they have achieved their full potential but I was wrong.

This series is off the rails, it needs to end.