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Synopsis:

OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient, rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

My heart pulsed in my veins as the fear pressed down on me, making me feel heavier. It was terrifying—that feeling—like there was something tying me to him. Because if one of us fell into the darkness, the other would too.

Ugh, Guyssss, I keep writing other reviews before this one!!! WHAT. IS. MY. DEAL. Has to be the weather-that’s the only plausible excuse, honestly. Lol. But, really, how can I put into words all the wonderfully conflicted feelings I..ahem..felt while reading this book?

I tried to summon her to me—that Eelyn who would choose her people over anything else. I searched for her within myself, but she was different now. I was different. And it was something that was already done. Something I couldn’t change.

I’ll admit that it took me a minute to truly give myself over, to really immerse, because I didn’t really know what to expect. I’ll say up front that I hate the animal sacrifice shit. I HATE THAT. No matter how small the part, it always twinges my heart-it’s not okay, it’ll never be okay. But, as you can see, I gave this a 5, so I’ll shut up now.

It was what we’d been taught our entire lives—vegr yfir fjor—honor above life.

So why a 5? Easy. Enemies to lovers. Perilous. Hero saves heroine (damsel in distress woot woot!) multiple times. Family bonds. EPIC FINAL BATTLE SCENE OMG (how do so many authors screw this up?). And…I’m sorry…that slow burn romance. I AM TRASH FOR IT, OKAY?! It all added up into a symphony of chaos of epic proportions, and, at some point, I was hooked.

I sat down on the cot, curling up on my side and tried to stay quiet as I wept. But the thing writhing inside me was too angry to be calmed. It was too hurt to be hushed. It was a living, breathing thing and it was trying to swallow me whole. And maybe it would. I cried until I couldn’t cry anymore and only the sound of the fire remained.

I also have always loved books that have that day to day activity stuff. I really have. Especially recently: This. Outlander. The Wall of Winnipeg and Me. KIND OF Diviners. I just have really taken to it. Back a few years ago I’d have been sooooo booooored with all these books where not enough happens and we have to rely on character fueled story-lines. Now, if I find a fantasy where there’s action and then day to day stuff? I am SO SO SO addicted and done for. It’s the weirdest freaking thing.

Something sounded deep inside my chest. Something grinding, breaking against me, like the crack of an avalanche. Something so desperate and angry that it could tear me open.

I don’t think I’m doing this book justice, but I just have so many feelings, yet I can’t explain them. I want to be clear that it had its issues (see above), but just shined too bright for me to not fall hard for it. Like, okay, the brother situation. She needs to grow up a little-after a certain point, it is what it is-take the opportunity and run with it-or pout and lose him in a different way. I think people would disagree with me, but it got repetitive and it was a bit much at times. Then, also, the way she talked about being loyal to her God, like it’s even her choice? At some point, again, I got tired of hearing about how she would be forsaken because she was forced into doing things she didn’t want to do. I couldn’t relate to that. And, at times, the writing, when it was descriptive…lost me. I can’t explain it-I just didn’t always flow with it correctly, and I do that sometimes. It’s a reader error, and I know that, I just have a specific type of writing I love. And, while this bordered on close to perfect to what I like, it lacked the flow I love most.

I stared at the floor. “Is there anything Fiske wouldn’t do for Iri?”
“He loves Iri more than he loves himself, but this isn’t about Iri anymore.”

But, TRULY, these were my only complaints, because everything else was so epic. Fitz was so wonderfully loyal to his family. So kind-hearted. Fierce. Devoted. Heroic. Vengeful on her part-he seeks justice in a way that…ugh, be still my heart. He saved her even when he hated her and feared she’d take a member of his family. The amount of love I have for him is immeasurable, even as I’m too tired to write this review-I’m doing him a great injustice, and it breaks my heart. But, just know, the way he falls for her and does everything in his power to protect her from those who mean her harm-even people he has known his whole life-it makes my heart swell.

He was right. But I wanted to say no. To ask why. I wanted to run as far from Fela as I could. As far from the deep whisper inside of me that spoke when Fiske looked at me the way he looked at me now. The way he did at the river. Like he knew something I didn’t.

And, finally, that last battle scene. Not only was it super well-written, but the way the heroine and hero try to watch out for each other, as they fight separate sides on the battle-I can’t even. Hands down one of my top favorite scenes in this book. I won’t mention the ones that make me sound masochistic, but I will say-one scene, where we (Haha SHE-we knew, a while ago) find out he is in love with her, is one of the most heart-stopping and beautiful scenes I’ve ever read. The vivid imagery and the breathlessness of the moment make your heart yearn and ache, and the vulnerability-both of the heart and of the ice they stand on-it’s indescribable, the feeling you get. So you just have to read it.

And that was the way of it. Things belonging where they didn’t. Like two night skies on a frozen lake. One looking down from above and one looking up from the deep.

It took me forever to read it, but I’m so glad I did. Epic beyond words with a wonderfully dense, yet not overdone, story-line, I’d be happy to read another of this author’s books in the future. I just hope the next hero can be like Fitz, too! And, ya know, enemies to lovers again!

*********************

Action-packed, slow-burn, enemies-lovers romance, and a story where even the strongest heroine can be a damsel in distress (like, fav thing EVER)…this book won me over whole-heartedly.

RTC!

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