Hello to everyone and welcome to the sixth stop of Rhiannon Hart's Blood Storm blog tour! It's a real pleasure to be apart of this blog tour and my many thanks goes straight to the author of this wonderful series for inviting me to do a post for her. Anyway please feel free to read my book review and be sure to visit the other blogs participating in this blog tour as well as visiting the author's blog, twitter, goodreads and facebook pages with the links that I've provided below!
Release Date: Out now!
Publisher: Random House Australia
Pages: 384pgs
The Story
In the Second Book of Lharmell, Zeraphina and Rodden must travel across the sea to find the elusive ingredients that will help them to win the coming battle against the Lharmellin - but shadows from Rodden's dark past may come back to haunt him. And while she learns to harness her new abilities, Zeraphina still fights the hunger that makes her crave the north - not to mention avoiding her mother, who wants to see her wayward daughter married to a prince at all costs.
The Review
A big thanks to the author for sending me a signed - yes a signed! - review copy of this book!
From the last time we saw our heroine and hero, Zeraphina and Rodden, the death that they were responsible for, the Lharmellin leader that is, has now caused uproar amongst those living within the lands of Lharmell and for this second installment, BLOOD STORM, there are many deadly consequences lying in their wake and upcoming trials that are beyond their own control. As Lharmellin's people seek a new leader, across the the lands, the deserts and the many seas, Zeraphina and her beloved Rodden must travel together on a journey and in search of a lethal weapon that can and will put a stop to the Lharmellin's plans but nothing is what it seems and sacrifices must be made.
Last year I absolutely fell in love with Rhiannon Hart's debut novel, Blood Song, and there was just something so refreshing in her new fantasy series. Something beautiful, unique and addictive. Comparing this book to her first, I have to say Hart has bypassed the wicked curse of sequels and has blown everything I know about her seductive world right out of the water - changing the game entirely. From the ships filled with pirate-sailor-ish men, deserts flocking with gigantic birds and unraveling secrets bit by bit, it's no wonder why so many adore this series and it's such a pleasure to read!
Princess Zeraphina. That mere title doesn't even begin to justify what she truly represents in this book - a fiesty, a passionate, a proudly-stubborn and a perfectly refined young heroine - and there's so much to her character arc than first meets the eye, revealing nothing more than a heart full of gold and will to survive. Oh and she's half-Lharmellin too! Yup, told you there was more to her. When I first met Zeraphina there was so much lying upon her shoulders but now, with the stakes even higher than before, she's beginning to find herself and learning how to harness her new-found abilities. But as much as I love Zeraphina and her little quirks, there's still another character we hold a torch for . . . Rodden!
Rodden Lothskorn. Let's face it here ladies that name alone is totally swoon-worthy and swoon-worthy he definitely IS! In the first book Blood Song where we first met Rodden, he was a bit of a mystery to me and quite hard to figure out but now we finally get to unravel those many layers of that mystery, ones behind his dangerous past, and on the bonus side of things, we also get to see a romantic side of him too so that's right ladies prepare to be swooned once more. Both honorable, fierce, intelligent, sweet and equally as stubborn as his leading lady is, Rodden always does right by his love interest and unlike those sexy, frustrating, cliche, egoistic young heroes . . . Rodden actually treats Zeraphina as his equal and their relationship shiny because of the faith in puts in her. Together, Rodden and Zeraphina are an unstoppable force and while they may still bicker in the fun and most amusing way but they are still there for each other, and in the end this wonderful attraction develops into something so beautiful and raw. Yes, clearly I have a 'thing' for them. And you should too!
After what I've been through with this awesome sequel, what had really stopped me in my tracks this time round was its major cliffhanger! CLIFFHANGERS . . . gosh how I've come to hate them and those authors for writing them (I don't really hate you, I secretly love you for killing me truly)! When it comes to a series I always try to calm myself towards an ending of a book, but with everything going swell the author, Rhiannon Hart, just had to twist the knife harder in my heart and make me fall back into that deep black hole all over again. Gosh! BLOOD STORM's cliffhanger was such a powerful one and now I'm left to question every single thing that happened, making me wanting - no DYING - to know what the hell is going to happen next. Please . . . please . . . please . . . let everything be alright in the end. I'm truly dying over here! Truly! *flails*
Beautifully written, dark, romantic, empowering and lapped with such a great sense humour between its characters and the pages within, Rhiannon Hart's BLOOD STORM is by far one of the best sequels I've read in a very long while and it's only gearing me up in high anticipation for the last and final installment coming out next year!
The Rating
5/5 stars
5/5 stars
Rest of the tour schedule:
SEPTEMBER 20 Inkcrush
SEPTEMBER 21 Refracted Light
SEPTEMBER 22 Little Book Owl (Blood Song)
SEPTEMBER 23 Intrepid Reader (Blood Song)
SEPTEMBER 24 The Rest is Still Unwritten
SEPTEMBER 25 Tales of the Inner Book Fanatic
SEPTEMBER 26 The Tales Compendium
SEPTEMBER 27 Larissa Book Girl (Blood Song)
SEPTEMBER 28 The Eclectic Reader
SEPTEMBER 28 Beauty & Lace (Guest post)
SEPTEMBER 29 Treasured Tales for Young Adults (Blood Song)
SEPTEMBER 30 Ticket to Anywhere (Guest post)
Also be sure to follow this amazing Australian author!
Oh my gosh. I read your review and...I still haven't read the first book. I wasn't able to resist. *tears* This is bad because when you gave that 5/5 rating at the end? It made me want to cry out to the world "Why did my review copy of the 1st book got lost????" I liked how you described Princess Zeraphina. Oh, and that swoon worthy Rodden. I want to meet him soon! Great review, Erin! ;)
ReplyDeleteOMG ERIN ERIN ERIN ERIN ERIN THE ENDING! AHHHHHH! EVIL RHIANNON, EVIL RHIANNON, EVIL RHIANNON!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was a cliffhanger alright. Dying to see what she's going to do with it all in the third book!! Like you said, Zeraphina and Rodden are an unstoppable force and I love that there's layers to it. That they can fight and bicker and have fun with each other and infuriate us with secrests... and then REVEAL those secrets and ahhh, poor Rodden! </3
Anyway, SO glad you loved this. Brilliant review, Erin!
Oh hey... *points to chest* we have matching stab wounds to our hearts! Rhiannon apparently likes uniting her readers :P
Wow, Zeraphina sounds really impressive. It's fun to have such strong characters.
ReplyDeleteAww, Erin. You poor, dying girl. I haven't read Blood Song yet but I've read so many awesome reviews about it. I was seriously considering reading book 1 after the one I'm currently reading until you mentioned the cliffhanger. Is there also a cliffhanger in the first book? I hate those vile things too!
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, what I think would make me love this book more is the lead characters! I like it when they both treat each others as equals. I find it sweeter that way. Thanks for the review, Erin! :)
Yayy! I'm so glad you enjoyed this one! I need to pick it up ASAP because I NEED MORE RODDEN! ;) It sounds SO good although that cliffhanger makes me want to cringe. *sigh* It'll be awhile though before I can find this in the US, so maybe that'll be closer to the release date of the third book? Either way, I can't wait because RODDEN! Did I already mention that? It deserved repeating! ;) Fantastic review, Erin! :D
ReplyDelete~Keertana
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