I enjoyed the story and wanted to know more about the world and the main characters.

I thought it was hard to put down, but I never did get the world building I wanted, unfortunately. I will also admit the story was heavily focused on the connection and romance instead of anything else.

The plot was fast paced and interesting, so I couldn’t knock any stars off, even it wasn’t perfect. (I think it’s probably 3.5 that I just rounded up to 4 stars.)

Thank you to NetGalley and L. Penelope for allowing me to read and review Song of Blood & Stone. I really enjoyed this book.

I have to say, I wanted to rate this one a lot higher than I'm about to. The cover is lovely, I like the diverse cast, the issues the story addressed, and the fact that the tension was well-built. However, I kept putting off reading it because I just couldn't get invested. I wasn't fully sure where or when the story was supposed to take place - the setting seemed high fantasy but also somewhat modern? - and Jasminda was relatively bland to me. I was also immediately turned off by the hardcore insta-love aspect. I don't buy that they would immediately be willing to save one another's lives when they're supposed to be enemies. I wanted to care about what was happening, but I just...didn't. It's too bad, because I really liked the premise of this novel, but for me the execution fell flat.

This novel took me a while to get into but after the 30% mark I couldn't put it down! The world is incredibly engaging and complex and once the characters start to hook you in, you're in it for the long run. I loved spending time with the characters as they discovered more about themselves and worked to figure out how to solve their problems. It's overall a really wonderful story!

Oooooh this was so much fun! Totally hit the perfect spot re: fantasy romance, which let me tell you, is NOT an easy thing to do. I think the romance was a leeeeettle too insta-lust for me, but honestly, this was just such a great, well-done read.

To be honest, when I first started to read this book a couple of months ago it didn't grip me. In fact, I have just finished reading it this week. But when I picked it up again on Friday - it had me hooked.

I think if months ago I have just read one more page that would have been it, I would have been in love. The reason I put it down to start with was that I really didn't like Jasminda, she was independent but not. Always hurting and isolated and that kind of dragged down my mood whenever I read it.

I think a few pages after I picked it up was the moment I realized she has a real fire in her soul and was going to fight for her life, not let some other person fight for her. This book is definitely a grower but once it has its hooks in you, you won't be able to put it down!

A lovely fantasy romance with great world building. The story covers some serious topics like racism, sexual assault, violence, diversity, and same sex relationships. Despite this, the story is mostly centered on the romance between the main characters, Jasminda and Jack. If you like more romance than fantasy you will enjoy this one.

Song Of Blood & Stone wasn’t quite the book for me. It was very much a New Adult romance book set in a fantasy world, as compared to the YA fantasy adventure/political intrigue story I expected. 

I’m not sure if it was the writing, the characters, or the haphazard world-building but something never clicked for me. I was confused for around the first 30% about which country each character came from. The world itself was also puzzling. At the beginning, I thought it was more of a historical setting. Then planes, trucks, and other modern things appeared. It felt very incongruous to me, like the world didn’t fit together quite right. 

The romance was love at first sight, a trope that I’m not usually a fan of. Additionally, I never really felt the connection between Jasminda and Jack. Since the book was centered around their romance, not being able to connect with their relationship made it difficult to become invested in the book. Also, there was a graphic attempted rape scene that turned me off the book, particularly because an attempted murder would have worked just as well in that instance. 

While Song of Blood & Stone wasn’t the book for me, I do think that many readers will enjoy this one. The plot was interesting but it was too focused on the romance for my taste.

I found this book really hard to get into. I think that the idea of it is great but I just wasn't able to enjoy this book as much as I had hoped. At the moment I can't put my finger on the exact reasoning as to why I didn't enjoy it so much, but that doesn't mean others won't.

4.5 Stars
For the month of June, I’m ranking A Song of Blood & Stone as my favourite. The ARC was provided to me by Netgalley and I’m so thrilled I chose it. We follow the story of Jasminda who is an outcast for being half Elsiraian , lighter skinned people with no magical powers and live in peace, and and half Lagamiri, dark skinned people with magic who live under a violent dictatorship. She doesn’t fit in either country because she has the dark skin and magical powers of the Lagarimi but has spent her whole life in Elsira.

On top of that, her maternal grandfather is plotting against her because she won’t renounced her birthright. She falls for a solider,Jack, with a weighty and privileged secret, and it is up to her to save both Elsira and Lagarimi from destruction at the hands of True Father in Lagarimi ,who is nothing more than a ruthless dictator.

Aside from the romance parts, I loved seeing Jack use his privilege for a greater good and the parallels between the Lagarimi refugees and what is happening here in America in terms of xenophobic and racist narratives to deny people in need. If you like strong women leads, a little romance, and don’t mind themes of war check it out.

This is really rare for me but I was unable to finish this book. I just found the world building and characterization to be lacking. I'm stuck at about 50%. The book never hits true rising action. It feels aimless and is lacking the spark for me. I am truly sorry because I did have really high hopes. Every time I went to read I would painfully endure one chapter and  pick up 5 - 10 books to read in-between.

Song of Blood and Stone grabs readers right in the gut at the very beginning and doesn’t let go, not even at the end. L. Penelope’s strong voice and imaginative world are only two of a long list of excellent attributes of this novel. Song of Blood and Stone opens with Jasminda, our main character, as she’s asked to sign away her heritage and questioned about outstanding taxes. Then, threats of war send her on a long journey with mysterious stranger, Jack. There are several opportunities for the characters to prevent a lot of *big bad* from happening, but they’re foiled at every turning point. But don’t worry dear readers, Penelope delivers us right where we need to be by story’s end. At the beginning of each chapter there’s collected folktales that set the mood and add a level of emotional depth to the coming events. At least one twist involving Jack I didn’t see coming (no spoilers!), but it sure does pile on the tension between Jasminda and Jack, and well, just about everyone else. This is a book that is sure to delight fans of fantasy who like a side of just-the-right-amount of romance in the plot and shades of Sarah J. Mass and Anne Bishop for style.

Jasminda is an outcast, an Earthsinger, who has lived alone since the death of her mother. Soldiers come to her demanding refuge, they have a captive spy with them who is injured, who is captivated by Jasminda. 

Jack is a spy who barely survived the breaching of the mantle. He is on a mission and needs Jasminda's help to rebel against the True Father and save Elsira.

I tried to read this book, and held on for about 6 chapters, but this just wasn't a good fit of a book for me. It was confusing for me to understand the history of the Elsirians and the Lagamiri, as well as the characteristics of this fantasy world. The rape scene was more graphic than I typically read, which for me was pretty much the last straw. I kept reading a little further, but I just wasn't invested, and was still confused by some of the plot. 

I'm pretty sure the reason I didn't like this book is my fault. It's not my typical read. I found it difficult to orientate myself, which is often my problem with fantasy. Also I typically stick to clean reads, so this just wasn't my comfort level.

I was given access to this book galley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own.

I'm somewhere between 4-5 stars but this is definitely a favorite for me now and Jasminda is among my top 3 heroines with Shazi(The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh) and Vasya(The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden). It would have been a full 5 for sure if the author had balanced the romance more with more world-building and action but I do understand that she had a much more important topic, several actually, to tackle with some of the parallels to social injustices in our world today so for that I'm willing to give her a break with my rating because she touched on things most fantasy authors won't go near. I'm hoping she can better find that balance with book 2 though and give us more court intrigue and action, show us more of this beautiful world she has created. I can't recommend this one enough though! It was amazing!

Full review:

Song of Blood and Stone us now one of my favorite Fantasy books. I enjoyed the writing, world-building, and characters. If you loved Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas, you will love this one. If you always felt Nehemia deserved a larger part in TOG, you will love Song of Blood and Stone. Not saying Jasminda is like Nehemia because they are both black but I did always wish that such an amazing WOC character had had a better role in the series. My only minor complaint was that I wished the author had found more of a balance between romance and overall plot/world-building/action. Sarah J Maas did a great job of that in her two series, but at the same time SJM wasn't tackling serious topics like racism, diversity, acceptance, tolerance, interracial relationships, same sex relationships, rape(albeit attempted), sexual assault, and police brutality. 
The main character, Jasminda, is now among my top three heroines of all time. She's just that amazing! I love my heroines fierce yet with heart and Jasminda is one of the fiercest but no less and sweet and caring for it. I think it's important to show that women can be fierce without compromising their heart. The author did an excellent job with her character. And Jack- new book boyfriend Jack. With both of them I have a new OTP as well. 

The world these characters inhabit was every bit as fascinating and original as they are. L Penelope managed to do something I have yet to see another author accomplish. She flawlessly built a magical world and managed to combine contemporary technology. I've read where others have referred to it as Historical Fantasy and I agree with and love that description. Either way it's a magical world not unlike the one in SJMs Throne of Glass series with cars! And telephones! Imagine the possibilities! 

And the magic! I loved L Penelope's take on magic in this series. It was never confusing or boring. All in all, while I would have loved more of a balance between the romance and action, this was an amazing story with truly great characters, great and original world-building, serious topics tackled, and a beautiful romance. I highly recommend! 

*Thanks to St. Martins Press for the free ARC for review and NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the free eARC for review*

Incredible! I will be telling all my friends about this book -- L. Penelope is a real talent and I can't wait to read more from her.

After a chapter or two to really get into it, I began to enjoy this book. Jasminda was an interesting character who had to survive much hardship.  When Jack almost fell into her lap, the book really picked up steam, and I enjoyed the journey the two of them had to go on, from war captives to magical caves, etc.  Then, however, they made it back to "civilization" and Jack's military comrades.  And at that point the book became just not as good, in my opinion.  A lot of the "magic" was lost once they got to the big city, and the romance between Jack and Jasminda overwhelmed the story.  To go back to my earlier analogy, the book lost steam at that point.  I wasn't sure where the author was going and it seemed like some depth to the characters and story was missing.  When the book reached the climax, the author's descriptions seemed almost matter-of-fact and therefore everything was a bit anti-climactic.  While overall this was a good book, that was almost the problem with it--it was just "good" when it could have been great.

I requested this book because of the gorgeous cover and OMG it was amazing! An epic adventure and magical world with romance and political intrigue. The worldbuilding is fantastic. The characters are complex. And the themes of racism, alienation and class discrimination are handled in a realistic and nuanced way. I really loved reading this book and the author's voice. I hope there are more in this series in the future.

This is a love story with an interesting, very likeable heroine. The love interest is a little too perfect, but they had nice chemistry and some steamy scenes. As a romance, it's a great read. (Also? Thank goodness for no love triangle!)

However, as a fantasy, it never really gets off the ground. It's a bit predictable. There are some tantalizing hints of the wider world it's set in, but it never really came together cohesively. I think the author has some great ideas, and I'd love to see her flesh out the details around her characters and really go deeper into the world they inhabit. I'd very interested to see what she writes next!

I really enjoyed this one and felt it wasn't like anything I've read lately.  It was a very easy read, fast paced and intriguing.  I finished it within a day.  I definitely felt that this book was hitting on a lot of different major issues all at once.  It hits racism, refugees, interracial couples, f/f couples, sexual assault, political conflict, and moral dilemmas just to name a few.  Race/cultural differences between the opposing sides plays a huge role in this book.  I really enjoyed reading how there were good and bad on both sides and not singling one side out as good/evil.  One could definitely take this book with a political view but I read for entertainment so I leave politics out of it.  
I loved the characters.  I found myself rooting for both main characters and connected with them each in different ways.  I would loved to have read about Jasminda's life with her family before.  I loved her connection to them, but some added memories of her twin brothers or her parents would have really brought them to life.  I really liked how independent she was, how she was terrified and strong at the same time.  I loved Jack.  His identity wasn't a complete surprise by the time it is made known but it didn't detract from the story.  I really enjoyed Nash and Usher and hope they make more appearances and perhaps some more depth in the future.
I would not classify this as a YA but more NA.  It has some pretty descriptive sex scenes for YA, not too detailed, but way more than I would feel comfortable sharing with my teenager.  There are also scenes of attempted rape that are pretty descriptive.  There wasn't any language and in between these scenes, it was YA suitable.  
The fantasy in this one was light and easy.  It didn't get too complicated when speaking of magic, which makes it a fast read.  Sometimes too much fantasy can weigh a book down and make it work to get through.  This was not one of those.  I really loved how the magic is connected to each other, to the earth.  
This was a great and easy read and I am glad I was given the opportunity to review it.  I will definitely follow the author and I'm eager to read what comes next!

I was really excited about this book, especially after Jasminda meets Jack, however once they both arrive to his home, things slow down- not so much that nothing happens, because plenty of drama goes down, but hat it's written with such a passive voice that even though major events transpire, it doesn't read like it does.  I was left underwhelmed :(