I’m kicking off a new year of the A to Z Challenge with A SOUL OF ASH AND BLOOD by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This almost feels like a cheat, as I’ve read this story before in FROM BLOOD AND ASH, but this iteration gives us Casteel’s point of view. Armentrout turns the story into a unique new book flush with additional scenes about Cas and Kieran’s time in Masadonia (and all the details about the vengeance Cas visited upon the Duke), and of course, all of Cas’s heartfelt and often very naughty thoughts.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one, but that’s a common occurrence when I read this author. The FROM BLOOD AND ASH series is one of my absolute favorites, and if you’re a lover of spicy Romantasy and adore authors like Sarah J. Maas, you need to dive into these. It’s a rare author who can take a cop-out of a premise like retelling the exact same story from another point of view and make you feel like you just read a fresh installment of the series from all you learned in the retelling. On top of that, Armentrout adds a very, VERY surprising twist of an ending that will leave you gasping and re-reading in a “hell yeah!” sort of shock. Five solid stars for another great installment to this series.