Kim Wilkins writes great young female heroes. I liked the characters and the urgency of the story, and I felt Wilkins built up her writing style a lot in this book. I think I'd recommend to teens who like love, romance, self-sufficiency, and great writing.

The bottom line is if you like stories featuring strong women, sisters with complex relationships, fights, and love, dragons, and multiple perspectives, you have to read the Blood and Gold series. From the beginning I was hooked all over again on these fabulous women. They each have such a strong personality and you never lose track of who they are. Fierce, strong, intelligent, and cunning.
Characters

We are immersed back into their worlds, their histories, their mistakes, and their ambitions. While I certainly have my favorites of this book, what I loved was that in Sisters of the Fire we know these women so much better. We can genuinely appreciate their choices. The ways they have their types, their flaws, and their sacrifices. While Bluebell certainly ties this book together, with her quest to save everyone, and better the kingdom, I never felt like she took over my other favorites.

I received this ARC of Kim Wilkin's book Sister's of the Fire, the second book in the Blood and Gold Series in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.
I have to say, as much as I enjoyed the first book I LOVED the 2nd one! The story seems to flow effortlessly between two of the sisters, Ash and Bluebell. The other sisters have parts to play but the story seems to focus more on these than the other sisters. Bluebell has placed Rose's daughter, Rowan, from an illicit relationship with her lover, Snowy, who lives a remote life in the woods caring for the king's lands. We find out that Rowan has her own magic and the First Folk want to claim her as their own queen. Ash has been traveling for years with an undermagician who relies on her blood to transform into other creatures to look for their elusive prize, a dragon. This is the dragon that Ash fears will bring on her unbecoming.
Everyone's stories converge as an army of raiders led by Bluebell's nemisis and her sister Willow attack the city and the fates of everyone rest on the shoulders of Bluebell and Ash and the decisions they make.

I am pretty sure this is the only Historical Fantasy series that I read. All five of the Princess Sisters are back, but alas, not together.

Each has her own path to follow and gifts to learn to control before they meet again in a fight that will pit sister against sister.

Bluebell is watching over Rowan and fighting the good fight for her father, but when she finds out there is a sword out there forged for the sole purpose of killing her, she sets out to find it. Along the way she will meet her sister Ash, searching for a dragon, Ivy, being Ivy, Rose, who is living so many lies sometimes I can't keep up, and Willow. 

Willow who has embraced the Trimartyr faith, believing the voices in her head are the mighty Maava. She has hooked up with Hakon now and is causing all kinds of trouble! 

It took me a bit to get into the first book, but when this one came to me I was hooked from the beginning. Luckily this is a fast paced read and even the evil characters are interesting.

Sisters of the Fire is Book 2 in the Blood and Gold trilogy. This book started a little slow for me, and it took me a little while to get back into the story. But then it grabbed my attention and held it until the very end. This is a great sequel, and a great story of very diverse sisters, daughters of the king. We get to see a more vulnerable side of the warrior and heir apparent Bluebell, but also more of her commanding presence. Ash’s somewhat tragic story is more fleshed out. Willow is still a nutcase and pretty unlikeable, but her actions help drive the story. And little Rowan has grown into an interesting and important character. Throw in some magic, dragons, and some surprising plot twists and you have a pretty intriguing tale! Can’t wait to see what happens next. Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine/Del Rey for the e-arc. 4+ stars!

Sisters of the Fire by Kim Wilkins was a good story, full of a compelling and fast paced plot with great characters.

An excellent continuation of the Daughters of the Storm trilogy---a bit darker and more complex, as the sisters evolve and grow. Bluebell continues to be an intriguing lead character, with so much to admire; but the growth of little Rowan, an infant in the first book, promises to make the third installment even more enjoyable. Truly such a fun and compelling series, with much to dig into in terms of women's roles and choices. Although it's clear that this is the second in a third book, Wilkins manages to avoid the flatness of many middle books. Highly recommend!

I was so excited to get my hands on book 2, and it did not disappoint! I think it may even be better than the first, and I absolutely loved the first book. Wilkins is such a great storyteller, and it's so easy to become immersed in the world she's created. One of my favorite things about this series is the way she jumps from character to character and how each of the sisters is so different. I was never once bored while reading. I would easily get caught up in each of their stories, which made it a lot of fun to read. I don't understand how Wilkins does this so seamlessly, but she does, and it's awesome. This book is filled with magic, some pretty awesome fight scenes, relatable characters, and dragons!! I can't wait for book 3!!!


A big thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Great sequel! Hoping there will be a third book, because I really want more on that ending touched on. Willow is driving me crazy, though, and there's definitely it's heartbreaking moments. Especially when you realize how Ash's fears unfold. My only complaint is the seeing eye necklace didn't seem consistent with the previous book, so either I misread the books somewhere and was confused or the writing was inconsistent, but either is plausible. Either way, it wasn't worth dwelling on as I really enjoyed the book.

Oh, this is one of those times when I’m going to try hard not to do one of those irritatingly gushy reviews. You know…the ones where the exclamation points outnumber the vowels and every other word is written TOTALLY in CAPS?

But seriously, I love this series and loved this book.

Now, I caution you that you should read book 1 first. There’s so much world building and character building in that book. You can still get into this one, but I think you’ll miss out on a lot that deals directly with our plot here.

In book 2, Bluebell is at her bitey best. I adore the fact that this woman is all fire, familial loyalty, and will use a sword (or an axe) on a perceived enemy without stopping to breathe. However, in book 2, the author also brings the other sisters to life – sometimes to their benefit…sometimes not. (Oh, Ivy! I started out thinking she had grown so much and ended up wanting to slap her.)

Expect epic battles, lots of heartbreak, some sweetness, and so much betrayal. (And maybe a dragon or two.)

This was a breathless read for me and I can’t wait for the next book!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley (and yes, a couple of exclamation points snuck in there.)

Sisters of the Fire was excellent - no less engaging than the first book in the series. I did have trouble, initially, getting into it - I read the first book some time ago, and my brain couldn't seem to go back to the sisters and remember where I left them. For the first 20% or so, I struggled, and went back to Daughters to refresh my memory. But once I was all refreshed, I devoured this.

As in Daughters, the sisters are very real, in that they have qualities you may dislike, and qualities you admire - some more than others. But all of them are strong, passionate, independent, and believe they know what's best, even if it clashes with one of their other sisters.

The story had me drawn in all the way through - the world is so well built, the plot thrilling and twisty, and when I set it down I immediately looked to see when I could find the next one. Very happy to have received this as an ARC from Netgalley.

A solid sequel that answered many questions. Female lead characters thar are amazing and fascinating world building. Read book 1 first!