I love this series, I loved this story but I scanned large parts of the sexual interactions since they did little to help the story and if you read one you read enough. The story is another matter, it was wonderful and you were let on to the goal finally but were kept in the dark just long enough to peak your interest. It took me awhile to even like our heroine since it seemed more like at the start to be a male part just written for a female but that did not last long and the self flagellating drunk persona was also gone right before I was going to get really tired of the self pity. So we finally get on with the story and as another reviewer mentioned you have a large cast of characters and keeping everyone straight is near impossible but it did not interfere with my enjoyment very much. We have some serious adventures along the way to the final battles and other than some meaningless sex (wash, rinse and repeat) it was great so why 4 Stars and not 3? I loved the story and I LOVE the fact that the books so far are not cliffhangers, you know there is a ultimate battle with a ultimate enemy but each book has had a very well done ending for the particular couple and hope it keeps up. So for a great story in spite of any distractions and a great ending I give it 4 Stars.

One thing I can say about this author that seems to be harder and harder to find these days… She can make me feel. I connected to these characters, particularly the heroine almost immediately and didn’t climb out of my feelings until after the book was over.

If you enjoyed the first book in the series, you will love this one too. Be warned, this is not another story about Maddek and Yvenne. This book features an entirely new couple, Lizzan and Aerax. And it is a second chance at love story which will rake your heart over the coals.

Lizzan is the kind of woman who is brave and honorable and fierce. Her only goals were to protect the island where she grew up and make a life with her childhood sweetheart. But she was betrayed in the worst way, by her own people and by the man she loved. Oh, how I hated Aerax... because what he and the king did to her broke her completely. When we meet Lizzan, she is a drunk. She takes on jobs protecting people along the road, but the world has beaten her down so thoroughly that the only thing she has to live for is lifting the shame she has brought on her family through no fault of her own. She’s willing to risk her life... no, <i>forfeit</i> her life in order to do it. And I believed it totally.

Aerax grew up a bastard son of the king, but circumstances changed his fortune and he had to take a place among the royal family. Early on in their friendship, Lizzan thumbed her nose at the expectations of their people to open her heart to him, but when the chips fell and she became a pariah, he did not follow her. Now, he has left the island on a mission to form alliances to protect his people. But he’s also got a hidden agenda. And an explanation. I won’t spoil it, but I will say I did not hate him forever.

The reunion is awful, then bittersweet because there’s a clock ticking over it. They both have so much they need to do, but in their hearts what they really want for themselves is to be with each other. And I wanted it to, so much.

There is amazing world building here and an amazing story. My only complaint was that there were so many characters, particularly in the beginning. I was lost. And I read the first book. It didn’t matter. I reread the early chapters a couple of times and still could not place everyone. of course, this got better as the story progressed, but casual readers may not stick around. Which would be a shame, because this book has so much to offer.

I totally recommend for fans of fantasy romance, but be warned, you might want to take some notes along the way.

Absolutely stunning. You definitely, 100% want this book in your possession. Brutal, edgy, passionate, just freaking phenomenal! Also, I'm always here for giant cats.

Wowwww this was really good.

We following Lizzan who is an exiled solider and Aerax, the bastard prince she loves. They are being kept apart by duty and circumstance despite their intense loyalty and devotion to each other. I loved reading about their journey and everything they went through to finally be together. It was so angsty and steamy and I just loved them so much. There were also so many amazing side characters. Some from the first book and some that I am hoping to see in future books! Caeb was my favorite for sure.

I think the world-building is done really well, but since this world is so huge and fleshed out, we could have used a map or glossary. It could have been a me problem, but I found that the writing was a bit confusing or clunky in some places, and a map or glossary would have really helped to clear that up. Despite that though, I really loved the politics and thought that mythological elements were really interesting.

Overall, I really loved this book and the way it sets up the next book and its couple. I can’t wait to read the next one!

This book was even better than the first one!!!!

Lizzan was exiled from Koth, because she was the only survivor of a massacre. Bitter, half drunk 24/7, she is most hurt by the betrayal of the man the loved. With The Destroyer on his way back, Aerax has been sent from Koth as a representative of the royal family, seeking an alliance. When Lizzan mocks a goddess she pays for it by being assigned to protect Aerax. The close proximity, as the two struggle to reconcile who they were and who they are, is compounded by the people of Koth who need them both to survive if there is any hope of alliance. Because The Destroyer's forerunners are here and they want blood.

I adored this book, this series. The plot is excellent, the world building superb. I would kill for a map though. I liked Lizzan and Aerax. They have chemistry and history and are the definition of "it's complicated". But both have hope and it makes me happy.

I cannot wait for the next book. We got a glimpse of it in this book so bring it on.

The second book in the Gathering of Dragons series offers a welcome glimpse into the secondary characters introduced in A Heart of Blood and Ashes (2020). Lizzan is on a quest to earn back her family’s honor, and a place in the Koth’s Name book, which the Destroyer took from her in the first war. Aerax is looking for his place as the last of the Koth royal line, even though the royal subjects consider him a bastard. Lady Junica, Laina, Riansa, and the Krimatheans are still looking to gain more allies and build an army against a Demon Destroyer, Goranik, while they wait until he rises again. Soon they join up with what is left of the Parsathean war party—Tyzen, the silver-fingered Seri, Degg, Kelir, and the formidable Ardyl—and set out to the mountain monastery of Tolehi to seek the help of the Priest Preter. The pace of the book picks up when Lizzan meets back up with Aerax and the Krimatheans, and, in between the fighting and Lizzan and Aerax’s love story, there is plenty of humorous dialogue that draws the reader into the characters’ arcs. Vane is a pseudonym for paranormal-romance author Meljean Brook, and her fans will enjoy this one, as will readers of Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara series and Ricardo Victoria’s Tempest Blades novels.

— Tiffany Wittman

What an epic adventure! This was the perfect second chance romance with a side of fantasy and world building.

I really loved chatting with Milla about her book. We had a lot of fun talking about her source of inspiration, her go to books and how she became a published author.

A barbarian world of magic and violence is the backdrop of this gritty and completely absorbing fantasy romance, second in the Gathering of Dragons series. As in the first in the series, this one features a strong heroine, Lizzan, cast out of her home city when her tale of a battle lost through magical means went unbelieved. The man she thought would fight to keep her, the prince Aerax, instead helped plan her escape. Fighting as a mercenary, awaiting the return of The Destroyer to their realm, she never thinks to set eyes on Aerax again but fate has other plans as her life becomes intimately entwined with his and they get their second chance.

Blood soaked battles abound as the overall worldbuilding arc continues but amid the chaos is a heartfelt romance and steamy sex for Aerax and Lizzan. One of my favorite parts of the worldbuilding for this series involves the complex mythology of their gods and goddesses and how the characters' beliefs drive their actions. This one can be read as a standalone as it only marginally relates to the first story in the series, however the overall story arc builds on that one and some of the secondary characters overlap. It's a story I didn't want to put down, and will definitely be reading again!

Review has been submitted to BN and Amazon.

What can I say? I will pledge my sword to Milla Vane forever!

This book has everything I could ever hope for. aHoBaA was hard to top but A Touch of Stone and Snow managed it quite easily. This series has truly been a revelation. Excellent world building with vividly drawn characters and a romance that broke my heart in its beauty.

This will be hard to top but I have a feeling Milla Vane will be able to do it in the next book. Again.

A Touch of Stone and Snow is the second book in the Gathering of Dragons series.It's really good as the first, I love this world and the characters are fantastic!I really liked Lizzan and Aerax. Lizzan is such a strong heroine!I freaking loved her!Aerax is super sweet, sigh!

Y'all. This book was so good. Set two years after the events in the first book, A Touch of Stone and Snow could definitely be read as a stand-alone so if the alphahole nonsense of Maddek in the first book is going to be a deal-breaker, just skip straight into this one. We follow Lizzan, a disgraced and outcast soldier from Koth, who has developed an addiction to alcohol and is kind of aimless at the moment. She's dealing with some post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, I think, and self-medicating. She feels betrayed by the man she was essentially engaged to, who she views as having abandoned her. That man is Aerax, a bastard prince who has now been essentially legitimized but is still viewed as lesser. Lizzan was the first person to ever say Aerax's name and they came together as children but they have very disparate views of the relative importance of Koth as a country. Anyway, Aerax is actually close to where Lizzan is, which she realizes when she sees Caeb, the snow leopard pet she and Aerax essentially share, and she's like, "Absolutely not, let me get out of here RIGHT NOW."

Of course, Lizzan and Aerax catch up to one another and there's just so much. I don't want to spoil anything because watching things unfold is absolutely captivating. But Aerax is so... He loves Lizzan SO much and I just, I love the way the two of them wind up coming back together. It's just really beautiful.

Also, this quote: "If I have to become a monster to save you, that is what I will do."

Aerax has big Kaleb energy, if you know what I'm saying. But he's also just genuinely a better person than Kaleb. So basically... if you love Psy-Changeling by Nalini Singh for the Kaleb or Arrows content, you should 100% read this book.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the review copy of this book! I loved it so much and I hope you will too.

DNF @ 7%

I'm not sure what happened since I devoured the first book, but I tried many times to get into this book with no luck. I want to say it's the book funk the pandemic has caused me to have multiple times over the last four months, but I can't say for sure since I've been able to read other books. Maybe this one was too heavy for me right now? I'm putting it aside for now and hope to come back to it soon.

If you are interested in a fantasy romance with a much darker vibe, look no further then this series. Vane is an excellent world builder, and her characters have depth, and a lot of rough edges. Also, the romance is more of a slow burn, since both of the main characters begin the book estranged from one another, and their relationship has a lot of baggage. However, when they do finally figure out their problems, it is well worth the wait.

I do recommend you read book 1 before this one, however, because you may be a bit lost when it comes to the overarching series story line, as well as who certain characters are.

The first book in the series had a harder edge to it and from what I’ve gathered about the genre, a sort of throwback alpha hero and seemingly weak heroine, however Vane plays with these tropes a bit. Meanwhile, in this second novel, I feel like she pushed these trope boundaries more by creating a heroine who at her core is a soldier who’s lost her way and a hero that’s completely devoted to her.

I like that the plot features a ‘second-chance’ at love in a very different way… because barbarians, and magic, and epic battles. I found that I appreciated the continued world building, understanding the different kingdoms that make of the western realm, and the cultural differences between these groups which feels fresh and a time prescient.

I read this novel in two days and I cant’ wait for the third book to release this fall! There are also two novellas out as well to hold you over until the next release! I think if you like fantasy or paranormal romances with badass characters that find love in tough times, you’ll enjoy this!

I was absolutely blown away by the first book in the series and its angry, hurting characters, and expected more of the same from this book. Instead, I got an achingly sweet second-chance romance with kindhearted characters surrounded by a whole lot of awfulness, and it’s certainly one of the best books I’ll read this year. It takes a talented author to take what on its surface is a content-warning-filled barbarian fantasy romance – something inherently depressive and gory – and turn it into a hopeful, uplifting story.

“For that was who Lizzan was. Who she would always be. The brightest, most beautiful jewel that Koth had ever produced, with the softest heart and the bravest soul. Aerax had not deserved the happiness of a single moment she’d spent with him, let alone the years she’d given, along with the joy of every kiss and every touch. And he did not deserve to see her again.
Yet as a prince, even a feral one, he often got what he didn’t deserve.”


Lizzan is just everything. Soft-hearted and caring as they come, her parents tried to push her to become a healer, but she always knew she wanted to be a soldier to have the ability to protect the ones she loves. Exiled from Koth after a disastrous attack, Lizzan’s become a mercenary whose only concern is earning enough to drink herself back into a stupor. Running from her problems turns even more literal when she finds out that her childhood friend and love, Aerax, is looking for her. Aerax is the bastard son of the king of Koth, despised and shunned until an illness killed the king’s legitimate offspring. Aerax knows – and accepts – that Lizzan hates him for letting her be exiled without saying a word, but he still wants her to be safe and happy, and the best way to accomplish that is forming a strong alliance and surrounding her with competent warriors that she can befriend. Years ago, the Destroyer ravaged the world before departing across the ocean as mysteriously as he came. Now, warned that he’s returning, the broken kingdoms must try to come together to mount a defense. Painfully aware of her family’s fate since she was banished, Lizzan’s only thought is to die gloriously in battle and redeem her name for them, so she asks the goddess Vela for a quest – which turns out to be protecting Aerax. Aerax, of course, is not on board with the plan, especially the dying part. If Lizzan has a soft heart for everyone, Aerax is a compete softy for her. The way they negotiate their past and present relationship is heart-wrenching and ultimately empowering, and I’m not sure I’ve ever rooted more for a couple than I did for them.

“But . . . for a little while, can we be as we were before? Before my exile, before you went to the palace, before the red fever—when we were the finest of friends.”
“I would always be that for you,” he told her. “Not only for a little while.”
“But a little while is all we have.”


There’s so much more going on than the achingly sweet love story. Intricately plotted, with seemingly minor details holding the keys to major plot points, the pacing is excellent. It’s a story of redemption – for Lizzan and Aerax, and also . The world is richly imagined, a continent full of disparate cultures and ideologies coexisting and clashing, with a cast of wonderful characters. Caeb, Aerax’s saber tooth tiger-like companion, steals the show in practically every scene he’s in. There’s some crossover from the previous book in terms of side characters, as well, and it was lovely to see how those characters have grown in the two years since the last book.

“To all of Koth, I am a villain. And no villain was ever redeemed, except in death.”
“I know of many villains who were redeemed and lived.”


Returning to the island of Koth, Lizzan and Aerax’s homeland, is the focus of most of the plot. Koth is founded on the promise that anyone can, through hard work and talent, better themselves, like their founder who wrapped the island in protections so strong that it even protected the kingdom from the Destroyer. But that promise only holds true for its citizens, not illegitimate children like Aerax, and the cost of that protection is higher than any except the king and his heir know. I was not expecting to find a brutally honest takedown of the puritanical American Dream in a barbarian romance, but it was amazing, and the way it tied into Lizzan’s “villains can only be redeemed by their deaths” mentality was pure perfection.

Overall, I was absolutely blown away by this book and the way it sets up the next book and its couple. This will definitely be on my top-10 list of books for this year, and I cannot wait to see what happens next!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane is the second installment in her A Gathering of Dragons series, and I highly recommend reading the first before reading this book. However, if you must you can read this book as a standalone. But in my opinion, there is such a deep world that is built in these two books that it is best if the background knowledge is there prior to starting in on this installment.

I am a big fan of fantasy romances because you can really and truly get lost in a completely new world and escape the everyday earthly life for a bit, I think this is partly due to growing up on the Harry Potter novels. That being said, I rarely read fantasy romances because it takes so much to build the worlds and I find that a lot of books are hit or miss with this. This is why I have enjoyed both of the installments of this series so much.

Milla Vane really knows how to build the world with many elements and you really feel as if you are there walking along with the characters. The story is so action packed and there are many myths and characters that are slowly revealed along the way that just add to your understanding of the world and the story in general. I almost felt like I needed to write down every character and myth that came up just so I could keep track of where everyone was from and why they act the way they do.

The main characters in this installment are Lizzan and Aerax, who grew up together and were childhood sweethearts until Lizzan was exiled. When they meet up again years later, they both are very guarded and keeping their secrets about the past close to their hearts.

I love a good angst-y romance, and this was definitely that, there was a slow build to Lizzan and Aerax overcoming their obstacles to see what they both could have together. I also liked Lizzan and Aerax individually; they were both strong characters on their own. I really like how the women in this world are never just damsels in distress, waiting to be saved by the male lead, they are all strong in their own rights. Lizzan was a bit rough around the edges but I really liked how she was a warrior who was a bit fearless due to her lack of experience. Both of them are obviously lonely and trying to escape the feeling of hopelessness.

I highly recommend this book (and the one before it) for those who like an action packed story that is infused with lots of romantic angst and steamy moments.

~ Harshita

I loved the first book in this series for harder, bloodier, more intense reasons, but A Touch of Stone and Snow proved to be a much gentler follow-up with characters who have more of a shared history than Maddek and Yvenne. Lizzan is a mercenary for hire, a sellsword, and a drunkard, and she’s been shunned by her own people for almost as long as she can remember. But when she comes face-to-face with the bastard prince of Koth, Aerax — her childhood friend, the first love of her life, and the man responsible for her exile — her first instinct is to put as much distance between them as she can. Unfortunately for Lizzan, the goddess Vela has other plans in mind, and an unexpected quest binds her and Aerax together right when they least expect it. If you love childhood friends to lovers to enemies to… it’s complicated(?), you should definitely pick this one up. Bonus points for an intelligent and loyal animal companion who steals the show in plenty of scenes.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All Lizzan ever wanted was to become a soldier in Koth’s army, to protect her people, to help. When she’s given the opportunity to command her own battalion what should have been an easy task, ridding Koth of a group of bandits, goes horribly wrong leaving Lizzan the only soldier left standing and branded a coward. Exiled, Lizzan travels the Western realms offering herself as a sword-for-hire.

Aerax, a bastard prince of Koth—an isle kingdom in the Northern realm—has been sent west to secure aid in banishing a threat that plagues the outlying forests bordering Koth and is slowly taking over the island and all its inhabitants. When Aerax and his contingent of dignitaries come upon the group gathering to fight against the rumored return of the Destroyer—the megalomaniac who demolished the Western realms nearly a generation ago—he’s taken aback to discover his childhood friend and young love Lizzan amongst their ranks.

A Touch of Stone and Snow, in part, continues the overarching storyline that was started in A Heart of Blood and Ashes, building up to the seemingly inevitable return of the Destroyer. But it is also, again, a completely contained story for Lizzan and Aerax. The entire time I was reading this I couldn’t help but think “Avengers Assemble!” like Milla Vane is getting all these moving parts together and the final installment will be a combination of all these characters coming together to fight the Destroyer. At least I hope that’s how this is going to play out (and I can only image how huge that tome would be).

This book moved at a quicker pace than its predecessor. I’m also a sucker for a second-chance romance and enjoyed the slow burn that Milla Vane teases out over the majority of the book. That’s also what kept me reading—I just wanted to see them together! Every interaction between them was like a spark.

And I loved that they both had different relationships with Koth. Aerax has no love for the isle. Growing up a bastard prince, his very being was not acknowledged until he needed to take his place with the family after a plague kills almost all the royals. And all Lizzan wants to do is defend and protect her people. Even when she’s been exiled, she has this caring nature that won’t allow her to turn the other cheek. It’s this very thing that potentially puts a wall up between them.

Overall, I loved A Touch of Stone and Snow more than the first book. While it took me a bit of time to connect some of the secondary characters that we’ve seen before with the previous story, Vane does a great job of rehashing everything without making it seem redundant. This time, I think there’s a clearer path to where the story is going next, and I cannot wait to continue the journey.

A quick note before diving into this review: one of the main characters is an alcoholic, and Vane does not hide this.

I really enjoyed this book, and think it does a great job of following up on the action in the first book of this series. That said, you don’t need to have read the first book to be able to understand what is happening, since this is set in a different part of the world from the first book, but the relations and events explained in the previous novel and novella will be helpful here. This book is also a glorious, gritty epic fantasy romance, with fantastical creatures–even the nonmagical kind, battles, and quests. The romance in this book is a second-chance kind of a romance, with a decent splash of I-hate-you-but-still-have-feelings-dammit! Thrown in. And before I forget, there is an intelligent big cat in this book, and I always enjoy a good animal appearance. When we first meet Lizzan, she is going through a very rough patch and not dealing with it in a super healthy manner, so we get to see her work her way through that as the book progresses. Aerax is not over Lizzan at all when we meet him, and we get to see him fall more deeply in love with her. However, this is not an easy romance.

Lizzan is a mercenary who is working to drink, more or less, when we meet her. She has had to leave her home and family after a terrible event, and she thinks Aerax has left her behind emotionally because he stayed in their home kingdom. When Aerax learns she is protecting travelers on the roads, he thinks this makes perfect sense, because she has always wanted to be a soldier and protect others. Lizzan doesn’t want anything to do with Aerax and tries her best to avoid him, but in the end, she can’t. It is not exactly a quest,but a goddess is involved. And slowly, we see Lizzan reconcile with the terrible event that led to her leaving her home, and learning how to love Aerax again. She also learns things about herself, her family and her world that shift how she understands much of how the world is supposed to work. For while she was always compassionate, she was not burn-the -world-down rebellious at the beginning–she is a soldier and was raised in a loving family. She is absolutely willing to throw herself between danger and whoever she is protecting, even if that means she is going to die; this is very upsetting to Aerax.

I don’t think Aerax ever stops loving Lizzan. However, he isn’t entirely truthful with Lizzan, and this affects their relationship. He loves her and wants to be near her but firmly believes that Lizzan will not forgive him for keeping big secrets from her. Aerax is moody and has a bit of a chip on his shoulder because of the way he grew up. And while Lizzan hesitates at burning the world down, Aerax is totally willing to go there. He doesn’t lack in compassion so much as in patience and a willingness to give bad systems the benefit of the doubt. Aerax is technically on a diplomatic mission, and while it is true that he is not diplomatic in language, it is his truths that earn him the alliances he is looking for. We get to see him lose some of that brittleness throughout the book as he realizes that Lizzan can accept his flaws.

The thing to understand about this world is that none of the secrets are small, and they all affect the world at large in one way or another. Also, this world is epic in both its level of violence and love. I feel like I’ve been looking for a series like this for years, because of how balanced the fantasy and romance elements feel here.
It definitely is not suffering the middle book problem, so stop reading this review and go read the book.

Grade: A-

A TOUCH OF STONE AND SNOW by Milla Vane is book Two in A Gathering of Dragons Series. This is the story of Aerax and Lizzan. When Aerax and Lizzan where young they were friends who are now enemies but find that they are being brought back together in this mystical story. Lizzan was left shunned after a battle so now she is left to wonder around being a hired mercenary. But then she comes upon Aerax again who at one time she loved and they bother where there for each other but he is the man that sent her into exile. But they find that they both need each other which begins the healing back to what they had and more. I enjoyed their story. I would recommend this book and this author's writing.