“Blood Beneath the Snow,” by Alexandra Kennington

I adored this book. I loved the main characters; they were the best part of the book. them together was everything to me while reading. I loved the plot with the snowy setting, and gods and such. There was a bunch of diverse characters in the book with M/M and trans side characters. I loved how strong and brave she was and joined the front line as a warrior to get the things done, she needed to do despite women being considered less than in this world. This is one of the best books I’ve read this month and will be a definite re-read. 5 out of 5 stars.

-Magic
-Gods
-Enemies To Lovers

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

This was a lot of fun! I’d say it was a very typical romantasy story, but it was quite good. It had all the best elements all gathered in one story to capture the audience throughout the book. We were rooting for Rev the whole time, and all characters were likable if they good. It wasn’t anything revolutionary but I enjoyed it all the same. Would def recommend to others!

4.75 stars
I'm sorry... how am I supposed to move on with my life? I need people to read this asap so we can scream together, please and thank you!

A few things:
1. this isn't a Reylo book, but if you like Reylo, pick it up IMMEDIATELY! The vibes are there and immaculate.
2. yes there are is a "trial" BUT it's a small portion of the book
3. you will leave book 1 with questions. But if there was nothing left to wonder, why bother with two?

Something about this book sucked me in after I got past the first few pages and I had such a fantastic time reading it! It was such a rollercoaster of emotions and I'm simply obsessed. I was recommending it before finishing it and will continue doing so.

Also, HELLO new book boyfriend alert!! The character development/unraveling of both main characters and a few of the side characters were so raw and beautiful.

As always, check the trigger warnings just in case!

It's a fairly good story with a plot that hooks you in the beginning for sure.
"What's the greatest sin: loving a monster or being one?"
"Because I think I've done both now. "

WARNING
**Humoursly phrased review to keep you engaged**


To break it down, this is about a society that segregates based on magic versus nonmagic (Lurae vs Nilurae).
And there's a group of priests that kind of enforce wild punishments, rituals, spying, etc. Very GoT faith of the Seven, or ACOTAR acolyte-ish.
So...
The 🫅king and queen's👸 children fight to the death at some point in a Roman gladiator style showdown they call the💥 Bloodshed Trials 💥(never gives an exact, like when the king is...or when the kids are...). Very unique concept!!
The twist?
Our main character, Revna, is without magic. She is used as a political pawn and forced into an arranged marriage.
🛑 Except... she doesn't want it. 🛑
She wants to fight her brothers and liberate her country from her tyrant father. She tells her family and her suitors family and poof, daddy tyrant decides FINE. To the Frontlines of Battle you brat. 👋🗣
⁉️BATTLE YOU SAY?!⁉️
YEAH, SO...
Meanwhile, their country has been fighting this long AF war (7 years?!), Against a queen who has a soldier they call the Hellbringer. He's like a walking Thanos. SNAP. Dead. 🤌☠️
Anyone. Wild to think that she hasn't just... ended the war right? 💫👀

So, anywhOOoo....
INTROOI The Hellbringer. He's always been seen wearing a scary wolf/skull mask, full armor, gloves, cloak. Basically, a Batman in Pryth... oh wait. Sorry. Wrong country. Kryllian
The Hellbringer kidnaps Revna on orders by HIS queen, after stalking her like any broody, slightly attractive baddy book boyfriend would . 👁👄👁
He's ordered to train her for the Bloodshed Trials because his queen wants her to win.
BECAUSE Queen are it! 💅
So, we know what happens when authors write mysterious, strong hero/villan/magical man meets damsel/princess/whatever? 😍❤️‍🔥
YEAH so....
Revna and the Hellbring spend the bulk of the story bickering, bantering, sparring, and a little 🌶🌶 happens.
What happens in the end? What kind of friend should I be if I told you that? 🤪
I will say sometimes the dialog is a little boring, the storyline a little repetitive.
Sometimes the writing seems a little... immature? Not sure what exactly it is, but here and there it just needs a bit of love and reworking. 💗

‼️(Probably from page 100-230 I got a little bored and kept putting it down.)‼️

🌶🌶
Spice: Around 240-260? Not much before or after.

Overall though, a pretty dang good little book.

4.5⭐️

thank you ace publishing and berkley romance for the e-arc. all opinions in this review are my own.

blood beneath the snow was a thrilling fantasy romance with found family, forced proximity, trials, enemies to lovers, and it hooked me right at the start.

we have our fmc, revna who is godforsaken (which means she has no powers in her world) but she is one badass princess who will go to the ends of the earth to save her people and her chosen family. she ends up kidnapped by the hellbringer and both of their limits are tested, her trying to leave and him following orders by his queen (and revna’s enemy).

the tension between the two was delicious and so addictive! i loved their quips between each other and the enemies to lovers were deeeefinitely enemies to lover-ing 🙂‍↕️ i also really loved the setup of revna inserting herself into the bloodshed trials, how she turned down the arranged marriage because she knew she wouldn’t stand for it. revna was so badass and i love a woman who trains hard, is calculated, & stands for what she believes in. the way she wanted to save her chosen family was admirable! as for the hellbringer, he had me swooning as well with his strength and broodiness. the politics and elemental magic was also so intriguing and i cannot wait for the next book!

“She may have been a figment of a zealot’s imagination, made real only by the thousands who worshiped her, but she was a symbol of something real. Power.”

First off, thank you @acebookspub for the free/gifted copy of Blood Beneath the Snow! #berkleypartner

If you are looking for an easy to read romantasy book or are someone just dipping your toe into fantasy, this is a great book to pick up.

The character development of both the main character, secondary characters, and even side characters was good. The authors gives the reader a good understanding of what motivates them even if the characters do not understand this themselves.

Both the world building and political climate are easy to understand. It is simple but well done.

The plot moved at a relatively fast paced and kept the reader intrigued and invested from beginning to end.

I also really liked the LGBTQIA+ representation. I do wish that the diversity and social climate was a bit more developed than what we received. But the effort was 100% put in by the author and I have high hopes for the next book.

I do have some nit picky things that did annoy me throughout but they are a bit spoilery so I will keep those to myself.

Overall I think this is a fantastic debut by a new author and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Unfortunately this book was highly disappointing. The massive amount of info-dumping in the opening chapters, alongside the writing being riddled with showing language instead of telling language, made this incredibly difficult to get into the story. In addition to the cookie cutter romantasy tropes, this book truly just did not work for me.

This was very close to being a 5 ⭐️ read but there were just certain things that annoyed me and couldn't bring myself to round it up.

They all had to do with the FMC Revna.
I loved and understood her rage but sometimes it just came out as childish petulance because she couldn't control her emotions at all in the beginning. I loved the fact that even if she was training with a sword for many years she wasn't presented as an expert swordswoman but instead had a lot to learn and build on what she could do. But halfway through I started to really get frustrated with the way she thought about the war and the soldiers in her father's army. Like, you hate your father, you blame him for everything as you should, he started this war for no other reason than greed and ambition and letting the damned priests control the kingdom and yet you see the Hellbringer as "the monster killing innocents for sport", what?! How is the kingdom who started the war innocent?! These soldiers probably don't even wanna fight that's true but the Kryllians have no choice but defend themselves against Bhorglid, they are not just gonna roll over belly up and the Hellbringer isn't fighting for pleasure, either.
It's insane because she even acknowledged that she was being hypocritical at times and yet "there's nothing she could do" but place blame on him. He's a general in a war Bhorglid brought to them, I don't know what she thought happens during war. Her thought process was just ridiculous at times and it really frustrated me, like all of a sudden she was closing her eyes to whose fault this whole thing was. I don't know it was just weird, but that aside I loved her at the end. Everything that happened during the trials and after was just *chef's kiss*, especially that ending!!

The Hellbringer... all the stars for him. I absolutely loved him, no complaints at all. He was the best part of this book.
His tension with Revna—more than fantastic, his Lurae—thrilling, chilling and exciting. Just loved everything about him and still have so. many. questions. I'd recommend this series if for nothing else literally just for him.

The romance was great and one of my fav parts, had the same energy as this poem—
"When is a monster not a monster?
Oh, when you love it."
—it also gave me Heartless Hunter vibes at times, their tension was that good. I loved AK's writing, it was compelling and tugged at my heartstrings more than once. The world was brutal and cold and I loved how merciless it was.
There's a certain death that happened near the end that I don't know how to forgive and I'm not sure Revna can either so I'm super curious to see what AK is planning to do in the sequel.

Someone needs to give me book 2 now because I need more of the Hellbringer desperately!! Also, obsessed to see what Revna's gonna to do after that heartbreaking realization at the end.

eternal gratitude to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

I really enjoyed this Norse inspired Romantasy, while it was a little light on the spicy scenes, the angsty enemies to lover vibes more than made up for it. This book follows Ravena who is part of the royal family but does not have a gift of the gods so is considered almost a lower class and referred to as god forsaken. When her father decides to pass on the throne the children must compete in The Bloodshed Trials, a trial to the death of all the children to find the next ruler. During this time the land is also at war and Ravena is kidnapped by the enemy but things aren’t quite what they seem. This plot for a fantasy novel was pretty fast paced and had many twists and turns that kept me entertained. I also loved the two main characters and their angsty romance. My only issue was I wish there was a little more world building but with the way this ended I could see that being expanded upon possibly in the next book. I look forward to reading the next book in the series. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

You ever finish a book and then just cry in "ARC READER"? 😭 Because that's me after reading BLOOD BENEATH THE SNOW by Alexandra Kennington Y’all, this book wrecked me in the best way.
BOOK REVIEW: BLOOD BENEATH THE SNOW
This was UNPUTDOWNABLE. The perfect read for International Women’s Month because Revna? Absolute QUEEN behavior. She was giving Aelin G. levels of feral energy—rebellious, determined, and ready to burn it all down for the people she loves. And Hellbringer? OH. MY. LAWD. The tension, the yearning, the SLOW-BURN, the forbidden romance of it all??? Yep. I AM OBSESSED.
The world-building wasn’t overwhelming, but it still felt atmospheric and brutal—Bhorglid was vicious, and I LOVED that. The magic system was easy to follow but still intriguing, bigger themes of power, survival, and justice take center stage.
And the slow build-up to the Bloodshed Trials?? INSANE. It made the stakes feel so much higher—the tension, the cutthroat intensity, the constant "oh crap, who's dying next" energy?? CHEF'S KISS. When the action finally hit, it HIT HARD.
I NEED BOOK TWO. Like, yesterday. This wait is going to be painful.
Mark your calendars—this book drops on MARCH 11TH!
Massive thanks to @NetGalley & @penguinrandomhouse for this ARC in exchange for my (very dramatic but VERY honest) review!

⭐ Rating: 5/5 stars | 2/5 spice
📚 If you love:
🔥 Enemies-to-lovers with banter that kills
⚔️ Deadly trials where survival is NOT guaranteed
👑 Rebellious heroines who refuse to be caged
💀 Masked, broody warriors with secrets
…then BLOOD BENEATH THE SNOW NEEDS to be on your TBR.

A harrowing debut for this duology, BBTS has the makings for a wonderful romantasy with plenty of political intrigue on the line. I felt that Revna was a very strong FMC, very riddled with the ample amount of feminine rage which I love, however I would say that I felt there were times where things were very repetitive and the pacing was a smidge stilted. Particularly when she's captured by Soren, I get the effect of a groundshog-day esque vibe since she is technically a prisoner but there was plenty left to be answered as well. I wasn't truly convinced that Soren has loved her even if within the confinement of her stay, and parts of her falling for him felt stilted as well. By the end when he commits a very heinous crime (murdering someone very important to Revna) I did feel conflicted about the gray area that Soren appears to be but again some of the dots weren't fully fleshed for me. I am curious about how this will go now that things have shifted to where she hoped from the beginning of the novel, but the stakes seem to be higher and I'm starting to see spots of grey for our "heroine" that may give vibes of an anti hero.

Review template

I received a free early copy of this book for review. This is my own opinion. Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley and Ace Books for the free book and the opportunity to review!

<b>Genre:</b> Fantasy with some romance (I hesitate to call this romantasy because the romance subplot is relatively short, though I imagine it will be more prominent in the next book)

<b>Tropes:</b> enemies to lovers, only one bed, magical us vs them, holy war

<b>Spice Level:</b> 2/5- one on page descriptive scene

<b>Content Warning:</b> abusive parents, war and violence, fictional religious themes/imagery

Can I give The Hellbringer all the stars?

This is a very solid fantasy debut! As a villain apologist, my favorite parts are obviously the parts with our Big Bad Evil Guy (but is he really?) but I am interested to see how everything will play out after THAT ending. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming, but also still 🤯

I’m really looking forward to the next book! I need more Hellbringer STAT.

Thanks so much to Berkley and Ace Books for the free book!

There were a lot of things in this book that is reminiscent of some YA books, such as the hunger games. There is also a divide between those with magic and those without, which is something I see in other books as well. But what is very different and had me hooked was Revna, our FMC. She is a badass princess trying to disrupt her world. If you enjoy romantasy, a fighting FMC, and plenty of death and violence, this might be exactly what you need.

Okay! This was super fun and I really enjoyed it the whole way through. It was definitely giving powerless vibes but with its own twist of course. I really enjoyed the powers though I’d like some more explanation as to how people get magic and how some don’t. Which I know they kinda said no one knows how it works. I also want more background on the gods and what happened to get them where they are now. It’s a bit murky. I seriously had a lot of fun reading this book and I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens next!!!!

Dnf 38%

Thank you Berkley for the gifted ARC!

Gahhhh this one actually breaks my heart bc I was SO excited for this book. The premise is there but the execution is just lacking for me 😔

There’s something about the writing and dialogue that pulls me out of the story. The vernacular feels a bit too modern and the dialogue just doesn’t feel natural. The FMC is also very cringe at times 😭 and why is she so okay with getting kidnapped?? Like I want to see her hate his guts, not find him mildly annoying?

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Alexandraaaaaaaaaaaa! What did you do to me?? That ending was wild. I loved the buildup and character development. I also loved the magic system and how the Gods were interpreted.

This was a little slow at times, but I still really enjoyed it! I loved seeing all the queer representation, especially bisexual men! It was fantastic.

I think the dichotomy of the siblings also was very well done. And something about the trials had me Grinch grinning.

This is such a fun and interesting queer romantasy and I enjoyed it! I highly recommend checking it out on 3/11!

📖arc review: blood beneath the snow by alexandra kenningtom
⭐️rating: 3.5/5
🌿genre: fantasy romance

💌my thoughts: thank you so much to berkley & alexandra kennington for this ARC via netgalley!

so i went into this one pretty blind just knowing it was a romantasy and featured trials which is a fav of mine! idid overall enjoy it there were just some things that were a lil off the mark for me.

what i liked:
-badass mmc
-the magic system
-the political intrigue
-the plot twists
-volkan and frode

what i didn’t like:
-the pacing felt off, the middle 50% was so much slower than the beginning and end
-the book actually doesn’t focus on the trials as much (only the last 50 pages maybe)
-the romance felt lacking to me, not much discussion or angst and banter between the characters so it all seemed a bit insta-lusty and hard for me to buy into their connection


🏷️ #bookstagram #books #bookreview #booklover #bookaddict #booknerd #bookworm #readmorebooks #readersofig #read

This book is everything a Reylo fangirl could want. Enemies to lovers, magic, war, betrayal. Romantasy at its finest. The beginning presented an interesting world and premise, but unfortunately the middle dragged a bit for me. There was just not enough happening for me to be fully invested. Someone who enjoys romance more than me will probably not have nearly as many complaints. The ending, however, is intense and delivered in such an interesting way. While it wasn’t my favorite, the ending hooked me enough that I will probably read the second book. I have to find out how some of those plot points will play out! (Early review copy provided by netgalley)

I love a good feminine rage story, and this one did not disappoint. The world-building was solid, and there was great character development with Revna. I love how dedicated she was to fighting for her people (the non-magical aka the Godforsaken). I felt the queer rep and mental health rep were both done well which I appreciated. and our main MMC, the Hellbringer, turned out to be complicated, broody, and an all-around good guy even though he has the capabilities to kill people with just his thoughts.
Revna is one of my favorite recent fantasy FMC's because of how dedicated she is to her people and their fight. She is fierce, determined, kind of stubborn, and just an all-around bada$$.
I love fantasy books with trials and deadly competitions so I enjoyed the Bloodshed trials and the preparation that took place for those, as well as the fact that it pits siblings against each other (cause hers kinda suck). I would have loved a little more insight and background to both the magic systems and the way their political system was setup. The action was almost non-stop and there are lots of betrayals that will leave you angry on our MC's behalf.

Blood Beneath the Snow by Alexandra Kennington has a strong premise that immediately pulled me in—political intrigue, deadly trials, and a terrifyingly powerful enemy with a hint of humanity. Revna's struggle as the only member of the royal family without magic and her determination to save her friends by competing in the Bloodshed Trials were captivating plot points that promised a lot of drama and tension.

The book starts off with a bang, throwing us right into the action, and the trials were definitely one of my favorite parts. The concept of the Hellbringer, a general capable of rending souls, added an exciting layer of danger and intrigue. I was also intrigued by the morally grey characters and the twists surrounding who actually wants Revna on the throne.

However, as much as I enjoyed the plot, there were parts that felt a bit repetitive, giving it a YA vibe that didn't quite match the darker, more intense aspects of the story. I found myself wanting a bit more depth and complexity, especially in the dialogue and character motivations.

Overall, while it didn’t completely live up to its potential for me, I still enjoyed the action, the trials, and the morally complex characters. If you like political intrigue, morally grey enemies, and trials, then this book is worth the read.