I admit it – ever since I read Dracula at the tender age of eight, I’ve had a thing for vampires and will read almost anything with them in it. This was a fast-paced and easy read. The author incorporated some decent worldbuilding and mysterious aspects (killer crimson mists and a mysterious red-haired woman who appears to Isolde sporadically in mirrors) that added to the depth of this read. However, the twist was obvious and wasn’t a big reveal.

this was a welcome relief after all the melancholy and deaths I have been encountering in more than half a dozen books that I read prior to this.King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair is about a young, cranky, and defiant woman named Isolde who lives in a castle where she is pampered by her maid and her father. Isolde’s father has recently surrendered the Kingdom to the Blood King to avoid a devastating war. Adrian was just...gah. I fell so hard for this man. This supposedly ruthless vampire who isn't at all what he appears to be. I loved discovering every new layer about this man through Isolde's eyes. The story is told in first POV only from Isolde's perspective. The pacing was perfection and I simply devoured this story. For ten years, I’ve lived in a gilded cage inside King Midas’s golden castle. But one night changed everything.

Romance makes billions of dollars!” St. Clair laughs. “It’s like you have all the science here, all the numbers that you should be dominating the markets with romance and you don’t do it because people think it’s ‘not literary’ or whatever.” That was why I hadn’t been able to grip my sword, why my body seemed to be at odds with my mind, why I suddenly felt desperate to be crushed beneath the weight of a warm body that could fill me better than anything I’d ever had before. I was out of control. Fantasy] is such a male-dominated genre traditionally,” St. Clair “But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with combining those two genres. I love fantasy and I love romance. Why would I not want to write something with both?” I was being unkind, but when I was angry, I wanted the recipient of my wrath to feel it, and I knew Killian did. It was a trait I’d adopted from my mother, given that my father rarely expressed his frustration.I think this was pretty solid. I haven’t read all of St. Clair's books, but her writing is one I would recognize. I liked this writing way better than in the Hades and Persephone series but I still didn’t love the writing in this one.

He knew there was no need in fighting because they would be demolished if they tried, so he sought a more peaceful approach to save his people – to surrender. Will they have as much respect for us when night falls?” he countered. The commander had not been shy about expressing his opinion about the Blood King and his invasion of Cordova. I understood his hatred. Scarlett St. Clair is a horror, paranormal, and young adult novelist from Oklahoma best known for the “Hades & Persephone” series of novels. As a teenager, St. Clair went to the University of Oklahoma, where she graduated with an undergraduate degree in English Writing. She also has a masters in Information Services and Library Science from the same institution. St Clair has always been obsessed with the after life, Greek mythology, love stories and murder mysteries. As such it was not surprising that she made her debut with Greek retelling work “When Stars Come Out” that she published in 2018. She has since then gone on to publish several other bestselling works in different genres. As for her influences, she has cited “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy which is the inspiration for her settings in her Greek mythology retellings. As for authors, some of her favorites include Sarah MacLean, Tessa Dare and Leigh Bardugo.King of Battle and Blood nos cuenta la historia de Isolde, la heredera de un reino, que se ve obligada a casarse con el rey de los vampiros, Aleksandr. Todo hace parte de una extraña negociación disfrazada de amenaza para proteger al reino de aquellos seres de la noche. Isolde, que siempre ha sido toda una guerra, acepta este trato con la idea de matar a esa criatura tan pronto como pueda, pero cuando sus intentos de matarlo fracasan, Aleksandr le dice que la convertirá en uno de ellos si sigue por ese camino. A pesar del odio que hay allí, Isolde y Aleksandr sienten una conexión innegable entre ellos y pronto le darán rienda suelta a sus pasiones, pero, claro, detrás de todo esto hay un secreto que tendrá que salir a la luz eventualmente.