The description of this book caught my eye and reminded me of Frostblood which I absolutely loved so I had high hopes going into it.

I think going in with high hopes may have been a bad idea. While the general idea is somewhat similar the comparisons stop there. I loved the chemistry between Xayvn and Vala but was really disappointed with the rest of the character and world building. Because of the lack of the world building and character definition I struggled to make it through. The book did eventually start to pick up around chapter 21 and I was happy with the remainder of the book.

I think this series has great potential and I'm interested to see where the rest of the series goes because there is so much to be explored.

If I had checked the fact, that this book was part of a series, the ending wouldn’t have come as a surprise. Fallen Flame is a fast paced fantasy book, with definitely not a happy ending, but a very open ending.

And since there is no release date mentioned yet of part 2 (or 3). I will have to hold my breath until… well, I don’t know until when…

And that’s kind of a shame, because Fallen Flame is an excellent read. You are immediately drawn into the story as we meet Vala taken her weekly bath. Keep your mind out of the gutter and realize that this is a weekly torture for Vala, because her charred skin comes off then and this will hurt like a mother…

Afterwards she has orange skin, which returns into the charred state within the next few hours. So, definitely not the start of your average book. And the story keeps continue to surprise and twist and turn.

Vala is tolerated, because of her capability to burn the people she touches. As guard of prince Caulden, she is determined to rescue Caulden from all dangers lurking about. But one day, she fails and Caulden gets attacked. She is able to stop the attack and have a look at the attacker. It is a man, with a skin like hers!

Having grown up next to the prince, she doesn’t know where her loyalties lie, when the bald attacker turns up at her doorstep. Xavyn, the mysterious attacker, tells her that there is a lot she doesn’t know and that the kingdom is in danger. And he tells her he knows more about her heritage and her scarred skin.

Torn between her feelings for Caulden, who she can never have, and the need to know where she is from, she decides to trust Xavyn. But was this the best decision? What is his reason for spying the kingdom? And why won’t he tell her where she is from?

Find out more in Fallen Flame. I can’t wait for the next part! So four out of five stars from me, mostly because I don’t like waiting and keeping my breath. Well done J.M. Miller and a thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

I picked up FALLEN FLAME from Netgalley on a complete whim and I'm so glad I did. The story was easy to follow, the pace was nice and the characters and their development kept me reading.

I loved Vala. She is a mystery to those in Gala and even to herself, but she has made a good life for herself and lives to protect the prince. I found Vala to be strong, loyal and willing to get her hands dirty to protect those that needed protecting.

There are a two love interests in FALLEN FLAME. I liked prince Caulden when he was introduced and was rooting for things to work out between Vala and him, but I slowly lost respect for him as the book went on and by the end knew that even if they could have been something, they weren't right for each other. Xavyn was a huge mystery when he was introduced, but was very open with Vala and really opened her eyes to the world outside of Garlin and how she could fit into it. Although nothing happened romantically between them in FALLEN FLAME, I look forward to the time when something does.

The plot was interesting. Some things were predictable, but I still very much enjoyed the way things were revealed. The mystery surrounding Vala and her birth was very intriguing and made the plot even more exciting. Vala is a true fighter and I enjoyed the action throughout FALLEN FLAME. There is zero doubt in my mind that I will be grabbing a copy of book two when it is out. In fact, I am stalking the author's pages in hope that there will be information about it soon.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Vala has skin as thick as rock, she looks like the female version of The Thing from the fantastic four. Luckily that doesn't stop her from smooching her way through the book lol.

Anyway the plot is kinda interesting, she lives in a world were magic disappeared around the time she was born (oh shocker). Her duties are to guard the prince, but things get complicated when a princess and her mother get to the island with the purpose of eventually tying the knot and making kingdoms stronger. She then has to deal this her feelings, find out what she is, and fight fight fight!

My problem was that I could've easily not read the first 60% and finish it with total understating. Meaning: NOTHING HAPPENED. So boring! Her convos were like reading ash, so dry and without personality.

Things were getting interesting while I had like 20% of the book left, and guess what? Now you have to read book 2 to find out why she has skin like the moon!!! What a waste of my time :( this could've been so much better

1.5⭐️

"I lowered the one in my hands and tossed it onto another, watching my flame catch and spread over the ground, like a wave of fire, lighting it all"

* * * *
4 / 5

Nineteen years ago, many years after a veil of fog went up across the ocean and magic vanished from the human lands, a girl with charred skin was born. A girl who looked like she'd been rolled in the dying embers of a fire. Vala is the Captain of the Prince's Guard and when assassin's and courtiers land on Garlin Island the action and intrigue in Fallen Flame really shine.

"I stepped out of the tank, newly shed and exposed. The air kissed my red-orange skin with spiked lips as I watched the old charred flakes settle to the bottom of the tank"

What I loved most about this book is Vala. She such a rarely wonderfully mature character; she wears a hooded cloak to cover her scarred, charcoal face but she is not bitter. She wonders what she is and why she was born, she thinks wistfully about who she might have been, but there are no long self-pitying monologues that I have come to expect from YA characters. The height of Vala's arc is not her putting on a dress and realising that, after all, she's beautiful (a trope I really despise). Neither is she sassy, pushing authority and flouting rules willy-nilly.

"A distant ache panged somewhere inside, the longing to stay with Caulden twisting into something different, something new. A raw need to know more about myself, to see more than this island, to learn more about everything"

Vala is thoughtful and she is, in one word, dutiful. She protects the Prince, she does what she genuinely thinks is best after careful thought. I love my rebellious girls, my Katniss Everdeen's, my girls on fire, but I also love the ones that think, that swallow their pride, that do what is best rather than what they want. Vala is such a refreshing YA character and I loved her. Also she's literally on fire in that when she bathes she goes all ember-y, and she's definitely on fire on the battlefield.

She's even got a romance I like. And. It involves two guys. And I liked it! Let's set the scene: Vala has served Caulden since she was a child. He stands up for her and does not flinch at her skin and Vala is pretty sure that he loves her. She definitely loves him. As I started reading this I admit I rolled my eyes; here we go, I thought, the midnight trysts, the "oh I can't love you but Vala you're so special you're not like other girls I'll give up my crown for you lets run away together. That's not what we get. Instead we get a young woman realising that there are some things you just can't have and a transition is affections that is not so much a love triangle but a realistic progression.

"My world was crumbling, all my years falling around me like heaps of inconsequential rubble. I had been nothing but loyal, honest. Dutiful."

What I didn't like quite so much was the world building, mostly because I didn't really get it. There is a foreign, otherworldly assassin. There's a fog wall across the ocean which humans can't pass through. There's myths and legends and faeries that are all woven throughout the book but never really explained. I could have done with a little more clarity. To offset this, the plot is simple enough: a neighbouring island's Queen and Princess visit hoping to arrange a marriage but there's suspicious goings-on. It's a good, classic plot and Miller's first person writing style is just lovely.

Overall, Fallen Flame is a great fantasy read with a fantastic main character. The secondary characters are a bit lacking, but there's lots of political intrigue, assassins, magic, and sword fights to spice things up.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for this book.
I downloaded this from NetGalley and wasn't sure what to expect. This was really great and I can't wait for the next one.
The author does a great job of developing interesting well crafted characters and a rich setting and plot. The story hooks you from page one and keeps you there until the end, with twits and turns along the way.

I really liked it and would definitely recommend it and will be sure to keep an eye out for the next one in the series.

This book had an interesting concept, but I feel that the execution was lacking a little.
I would have loved some more world building - I found it difficult to picture the island in my mind whilst reading.
Also the characters felt flat to me.
In saying this, I still enjoyed the book. It was better towards the end when the pace picked up.

DNF at 36% for now.
I might pick this up again solely because of all the great reviews I've read on Goodreads. But for now I'm going to be the black sheep.

Vala is born different from those around her, and every day she has to deal with people’s fear and their stares. Born with charred skin that burns at touch, she is said to be cursed. Vala works as a guard and is appointed the job to protect the Prince, a boy she grew up alongside with and considers to be a friend. When there is an attempt at the prince’s life, Vala gets demoted and while trying to get to the truth about the attempted assassination, Vala discovers thins about herself that has been kept hidden from her.

Fallen Flame is a wonderfully crafted fantasy novel that takes the reader into a unique world with well developed characters and a storyline that keeps you turning the pages. I did find the story a bit slow to get into, but at around 20% in, I couldn’t stop reading. The world is very interesting, and I find the characters to be diverse and much different from one another. I like this a lot and it made the story feel more real.

I do, however, find that the backstory at times was “info dumped” on the reader, making it difficult to take it all in and understand world’s complex history. I see the need for this information and I can’t say that I have a better solution for how to present it to the reader, but it was still all a bit too much to handle. Also, after reading the info dump on the history of the world, I could already predict what the plot twist was going to be. It did take away a bit of the “oohh”-effect that the plot twist could have had, but I still very much enjoyed it.

The writing is good and the world nicely crafted, and I will most certainly recommend this book for anyone who likes YA Fantasy. I’m also eagerly awaiting the second book in this series getting published since I want to see more of Vala and this world.

A solid four stars out of five for this one.

The beginning tends to be a little confusing since we're just thrown into a new world and I don't feel there was enough detail given to really make me feel immersed in it. I also wish there was more description and background information given detailing the whole "charred skin" and what it means and looks like. Just small details could be fixed like when we learn that her skin is "red" when she sheds but it's that fire engine red, scarlet red, or red that was used to describe Native Americanism. Just an added adjective could make our break your descriptions. Other than that this was a great read!

When I first requested this book from NetGalley, I really didn't know what to think. I was intrigued by the main character's charred skin, and that was it. But as I read the book, the more involved I became with the storyline.

I had my own amount of yelling at characters, trying to talk sense into others, cheering for some, and cursing others. There were some predictable and unpredictable turn of events along with pretty decent cliff hangers. Yes, I made that plural on purpose.

In some ways, I wish I had not read the ARC so that I could have waited till book 2 to read more of the story. But alas, I had to go and fall in love now!

This book was a pleasant surprise. It's hard these days to find gripping, well-written fantasy for young adults. Vala, living on a secluded island as a Guard to the prince, only knows that she was found as a baby with mysterious skin that can burn others. Miller shoves the reader right into the action as Vala tries to protect the prince, all while finding out more about her own birth and life. The characters were interesting and well-developed, the plot was continuously moving, and everything remained absorbing. I would def. recommend to any YA fantasy readers!

Musings:

This book is a hidden gem. I really really loved it. It hit all my sappy must read points and ran with them and ran with them well, a badass heroine, an intriguing fantasy world, the allure of lost magic, and some swoonworthy characters that definitely know who they are (yes, I’m talking about you shadow).

One thing that had my heart soaring was that despite being ostracized for ages for have charred skin I never felt like Vala (our incredible mc) felt that she was anything less then beautiful. Weather her skin was charred or turned red thanks to a cleansing she always showed confidence in herself and she never once believed that because she was different she couldn’t be loved and I think that’s a whole other strength that should be applauded and shouted out to the heavens! Vala is simply all around amazing and when she shows her vulnerable side you finally get to see the real her.

Overall this book was an adventure that cannot be missed. Fallen Flame was fun, full of action, and with lots of mystery to keep you wanting more. I can’t wait for the sequel! I loved this book!

This would be my first book I have read by the wonderful J.M. Miller, where you are thrust into a world full of mystery, magic, and adventure. The era of kings and queens, young Vala is the kings guard. Her duty is to protect the prince at all costs. She was strong willed and fought for what she believed in. When there is an attempt to end the princes life, everything she thought she knew was a lie....

Fallen Flame was an action packed novel that I couldn't put down! I have no idea what is next to come for Vala, but I can't wait to find out.

This book is action packed and full of shocking moments and beautiful writing. I was very surprised with how much I enjoyed this. The book follows Vala a girl seemingly scorched by magic and feared by many. She has scorched skin as rough as rock that burns anything that lives with just a touch. Recognised as an asset she is taken in by the royal family as part of their guard. 

“My thoughts, my dreams, they had been nothing in comparison. They were a single drop of water, and this, the whole sea.”

I enjoyed the characters and there progression. Some things seemed a little rushed in the beginning but I feel like the pace of the rest of the book was perfect. There was always something happening and the action in this was expertly written. Some of the more shocking moments towards the end really had me gasping and sitting on the edge of my seat.  I also feel like the relationships were very well developed in a way that didn't seem to slow or too fast. Even though I do prefer slow-burning romances, and the more character development the better in my opinion, I think that the author was able to convey this while also having a very fast paced plot.

"The feelings that had once lifted me, that I'd once ached for, were like embers in the night fog, drifting into nothing, extinguished."

I liked the simplicity of the writing and how the writing really flowed quickly. I zoomed through it and just wanted to keep reading and reading. I read it so quickly. I believe this is the first book in a trilogy so I will definitely be watching out for the other books because I really want to find out where J.M. Miller will take this. I have a few predictions but with the shocking things that happened at the end of this one, there is not much chance in the series going in the way in which I expect. I just didn't see any of it coming.

"After so many years, your life above ended. Your new life began here, in a beautiful fire unlike any I'd ever seen."

The main problems I had with this is the background information we did get of the world and the things that have happened in the past. I felt like it was similar to a lot of other YA fantasies. However I found the plot to be very original and exciting to read. There are several shocking moments that were very heart-breaking to read throughout the story and as I said before the writing really grips you and pulls you in. I adored how J.M Miller was able to really make me feel for the characters. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I have high expectations for the sequels. I definitely recommend if your looking for a quick fantasy read that has a world that is easy to get immersed in.

A special thank you to J.M. Miller and Netgalley for providing me with an early digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 Stars

I loved Fallen Flame, fantasy is one of my favorite genres and I loved that this one was fairly unique. I loved that it kept me interested from the first page until the last. The writing was excellent as was the pace of the story. I also like that this is a series and the book itself stands alone, there's no major cliffhanger, the book closes nicely with the promise of a new adventure in the next book. I'll definitely be back for book 2.

Now onto the book itself, Fallen Flame follows main character Vala, who is not like other people. Her skin is like that of cooling lava, hard on the outside, hot to the touch, and a burning ember underneath. Because of her "affliction", most of the townspeople are afraid of her and she has to hide her appearance, but Vala has found a place by dedicating her life as a guard for the royal family. She is the lead guard for the prince, and she and Prince Caulden have grown up together and have developed a close friendship. As the story progresses their friendship is challenged, and quite possibly broken as Vala begins to learn the secrets of where she came from and what she truly is. Vala’s story is wraught with magic and myth, and there are many secrets to be revealed. The story focuses on the suspicious events that occur with the arrival of Queen Meirin and Princess Anja on the island of Garlin. They are there to arrange a marriage with the prince in an attempt to strengthen relations between the island of Garlin and the main land of Islain. Prior to his impending engagement, Caulden’s friends take him out for Prince’s Night, a bachelor party style event with drinking, physical challenges, and mischief. During Caulden’s night of fun, there is an assassination attempt during which Vala meets another person who might be like her. This newcomer, Xavyn, turns out not to be a true enemy, however he knows about magic and that the Queen and Princess are up to something other than planning a wedding. As the plot unfolds, Vala isn’t quite sure who to trust, but she does decide that she is done hiding her true nature and that she is tired of hiding on Garlin when there is more out there that may tell her true story. As her lifelong friendships are challenged and secrets revealed, Vala learns a piece of her story, who she can really trust, and a lot about herself. I can’t wait to see where the next piece of her story takes us.

I received this ARC through Netgalley for a review covering my honest opinion. Thank you to both Netgalley and J.M. Miller for this opportunity.

OKAY, so just starting off, I just want to say this book was such a beautiful surprise. I am a bit picky when it comes to my fantasy novels and have lots of different elements I look for when reading them, so to say I was impressed with all that Fallen Flame brought to the table would be an understatement.

This story follows a girl named Vala who is the Prince’s guard. Vala differs from those around her because of her skin, which has been burnt and has been since she was a baby. Vala knows absolutely nothing about where she came from or what makes her so different from others. It isn’t until visitors from a different kingdom arrive to make plans and unite forces as well as an attack on the Prince that Vala starts questioning all that she has been told and decides to learn more about the secrets of the kingdom as well as herself.

Let’s start with what I really liked/loved about this book:
-THERE IS A MAP. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. I find that fantasy novels always benefit from having maps because, most of the time, readers are thrown into a completely new/made up world and following the different areas and divisions can be difficult.
-The writing was actually really really well done. I have never read anything by J.M. Miller before but I plan on reading her other novels because I felt so immersed in the writing. I never once felt bored or that the story lacked because of the way it was written. There were also lots of quotes that I think I need to keep written down somewhere, they were that good!

-The characters were very interesting and were developed in a plot that was easy to follow. I really cared for Vala and was intrigued to see where her story would lead, as well as what roles her counterparts would play in the novel.

Now onto what I think could be improved/looking forward to seeing in the next installment of this series:
-The plot did seem a bit generic at times, but then again, most fantasy stories have a basis that they revolve around. While I did find similarities through this book and with others in its genre, I would love to see a bit more of what makes this story so different and original to others. Just developing the characters a bit more as well as the world/magic will definitely add to this! (Also, this is the first in the series and obviously isn’t close to being fully developed, so I can understand why I don’t have all the answers yet)
-Not sure how I feel about the love interest yet, but I think that could be developed in later books!
Overall, I don’t have much to say other than how much I enjoyed this and cannot wait for the second installment. Check this book out if you enjoy stories by Sarah J. Maas and Maria V. Snyder.

Wonderful read. I was drawn in immediately by the sadness that is Vala's life and the hope she experienced through her connection with Xavyn. I look forward to the next book in the series and seeing what Vala discovers about herself.

Review (3.5 Stars)

I was lucky enough to get a ARC of this book in the last week and as you can read in my Waiting on Wednesday post I did recently I had high hopes for this book. I however have come away from reading it a bit disappointed.

So this story follows Vala as she protects the Prince of Garlin. Yet a series of events at the start of the novel result in her searching for who or what she is. This is coupled with a bit of political mystery as a neighbouring Princess and her mother arrive in hope of marrying the prince and joining there lands, but the Queen is looking for something more. So Vala as well as searching for her own answers she also must figure out what the foreign queen is after.

This is a very plot driven book, it is all about Vala searching for answers. I enjoyed the story there was a hint of romance and maybe even a love triangle to begin with but nothing much developed with these (although I think it is likely that the romance side of the plot might feature more in the sequels). I think the main things which let this book down for me has to be the lack of world building and the limited 3D-ness (technical term there!) of the characters. I also felt as though there was a lack of information on Vala's skin 'condition' at the start of the novel, it did become clearer as we got seem more of Vala but to begin with I found it confusing.

Regarding the world building, well in my opinion there just wasn't any, other than some at the Sacred Lake, I couldn't tell you where the royalty live (apart from it has a conservatory, bedrooms, dining hall, kitchen and prison cells) but I can't picture it. The fog aspect of this world came as a complete surprise to me about a quarter of the way through the book, I would have through that the fog would have featured more in the earlier scenes, as much as it did from that point on ward, it almost felt as thought it was a detail added by the author part way though the writing process! I also didn't feel the personalities of the different characters, as the reader you could glean some personality traits from peoples actions but I didn't 'get to know' them that well, I didn't feel as though I could predict how they would reaction or ally themselves in situations.

Although this sounds like a negative review, I did enjoy the book, it kept me reading. My favourite aspect has to be the way that withholding just one piece of information, grew into this web of secrets and lies for Vala. This book was overall an okay start to a trilogy but there is a lot of development I would hope to see in the sequel in both world building as well as character development.