ANTC's Reviews > A Soul of Ash and Blood

Great review!

Yessssss!!! I agree with everything you just said! I dnf'd this series for Kieran being a plot device rather than an actual character with feelings and opinions. He's just there for Poppy and Cas to use. This author needed to commit to either a full reverse harem situation or an MMF, but she didn't. Tbh making her black male character an overglorified sex toy is a *choice*.

When I read the blurb for this book I lol'd so hard. It's not even a new book or it doesn't add anything new to the plot. It's basically Cas telling Poppy how amazing and girl bossy she is! Who knows maybe Kieran might show up for like 2 sec just to add how great and faultless and girl bossy Poppy is. Maybe he might even be allowed to give Poppy and Cas an orgasm if he's lucky. (insert sarcastic shrug)

Clarice wrote: "Yessssss!!! I agree with everything you just said! I dnf'd this series for Kieran being a plot device rather than an actual character with feelings and opinions. He's just there for Poppy and Cas t..."

Agree completely! The fact that we're this far into a romance series and still don't know what type of relationship they have irkssss me beyond belief. And yeah, I know Poppy is the heroine and everything, but the level of Mary Sue is getting ridiculous

She's continuing the series with a few more books after saying that it was finished? And there's also hardly any new information? It sounds like she's the same thing as the authors of Zodiac academy lol.

I strongly agree with how Kieran isn’t an equal in this “throuple” and it bothers me a lot. It’s more like the poppy and casteel show and kieran is their little pet at their beck and call. I would enjoy the throuple a lot more if kieran was an equal participant.

I do watch a video that said that his name is insensitive because Kieran means tawny so he's basically named after his skin colour. I still haven't read this series though.

Emma wrote: "She's continuing the series with a few more books after saying that it was finished? And there's also hardly any new information? It sounds like she's the same thing as the authors of Zodiac academ..."

That's exactly why I haven't read that series! Way too many books and I can see the average rating just fall off

Helen wrote: "I strongly agree with how Kieran isn’t an equal in this “throuple” and it bothers me a lot. It’s more like the poppy and casteel show and kieran is their little pet at their beck and call. I would ..."

That's a fair point of view! I don't prefer him in the throuple because I think it's too late for it to make sense and work for me, but either way, we should definitely know by now! She won't commit to any which way and that shouldn't be the case in a romance series. It's worse than a long-drawn out love triangle.

Emma wrote: "I do watch a video that said that his name is insensitive because Kieran means tawny so he's basically named after his skin colour. I still haven't read this series though."

Oh wow! I didn't even know that 😔

Yeah there definitely shouldn't be as many books as there are. I'm reading 8.5 and oh my god it's just so unnecessary. I'm just reading for the characters at this point. Books 3, 4 and 5 are so good though (they're my favorites in the series).

Totally agree on the Kieran bit. He just exists now as either Cas’s wingman or Poppy’s backup boyfriend (when he should have just stayed a bestie for both). He deserves his own love interest and definitely deserves a storyline that is independent of these 2. He’s such a great character, but the throuple thing kind of erased all of the character building JLA had done for him.

The fangirling is so tiring. This is not a 4 or a 5 star book. This book is trash.

Love that! I can only agree!

I just wanna say THANK YOU ❤️ for your honset interview for this book 📕 I have been ruined after the….threes***e thing and a 3 person relationship thingy that did not make any sense and by the way not a big fan so l’ll think about reading it maybe big maybe

I definitely agree you. I am slick over people fan girling over this series. For once, I just want people to realize that JLA really gave us a whole novel that has content that a novella would have, and she also made every body pay FULL price for that garbage. It’s not even a continuation of the story, just a cash grab.

@ Jessica stop going in the comments of people who disliked the book. We understand that you enjoyed the book, but also, let’s not go hard for a book that barely has anything in it.

Kieran means little dark one or dark haired I’ve also seen it defined as a lords son or son of a lord. I haven’t come across the definition of it meaning Tawny. Where ??

I liked this book from another POV it was interesting. There were some other new nuggets tossed in there to keep me going. Yes this book probably could’ve been an extended epilogue in one of the other books. I still have questions now about what is the deal with Shea he has to wait for Poppy to be awake to tell her?
Are Ires and Jadis heart mates or a were they a couple. I refuse to believe Jadis is dead after all this time. Now that ires and Malek are no longer in the mortal world what happens to them? They were in a bad way but not dead. So there is hope. What about Malik and Millicent? Please I don’t want another extended book about them or about Ires and Jadis. I just want a cut and dry explanation of what happened with them all before they were captured. The story leading up to it with the quick details.
Hard to believe that the storyline for Nyktos and Sera will end in next book. That’s a lot of ends to tie off. Here’s to hoping it’s a big fat book full of details and explanations.

Completely agree! Kieran deserves more & Cas & Poppy are HEARTMATES and therefore there should not be a 3rd wheel! I spent 3 books thinking Heartmates was pretty sacred. I quit after TWOTQ

This series wasn’t really all it was cut out to be in the first place. It’s always needed content editing and a sensitivity reader.
I agree with the cash grab sentiment.
It’s all fan girling because the author loves to remove negative reviews/ comments and reviewers from her fan base.

Ugh I used to be a JLA fan but her feral yes man “circle” of fans and her poor writing has gotten to be too much for me.

I love her books but she literally wrote the same book twice...not impressed, I wished there was more NEW stuff in this book but there was very little.

This book was marketed as Blood and Ash from Cas’ point of view so I’m not sure why so many of the comments seem surprised by this. I’m honestly surprised there was any new chapters at all in this.

I couldn’t agree more! Such a disappointment!

My thoughts exactly! We are already 5 books in and she decided to just give us this book that had literally ONE new plot. And that even happened at the very last page of the book. I’m so pissed

100%

Thanks for this review! Now I don’t feel bad I read the first chapter and last.. I just was not in the mood to read the story again with a new POV.

SPEAK ON IT! Especially about Kieran!

I don’t view Kieran as a side piece at all. I feel like the connection between the three of them has always been present and obvious.

great review. I've been wondering about this author and this series in particular. Thank you so much for your honest review. I think I'll pass.

Agreed, was very disappointed with this book. Instead of coming out with this book claiming it as apart of the series it could’ve been a side book (novella). I would much rather wait for the next book to come than be Rick rolled into buying this one believing it to have new information, just to be severely dissatisfied. I understand those losing love for cas and poppy (I have never and will never lose my love for them) and she wanted to reignite that, but again this could be fueled into a novella or re emphasize it in the next one. Overall not worth the money, since I already have it might as well re read before the next book comes so I can have a bit of refresher.

Erin wrote: "I don’t view Kieran as a side piece at all. I feel like the connection between the three of them has always been present and obvious."

Yeah, and who do you think poppy would pick between cas and kieren and vice versa for cas aswell. They may care about him, but granting characters happy love stories while briefly mentioning the one love of Kieren's life that DIED and now someone he "cared" about also dying is terrible and impractical considering how attractive and loyal they pose him as. And you cannot tell me that you don't see how no mater how much they care about him, he will always be the side piece or second choice of their relationship

100% agree I dknt understand other review acting like its amazing this book.was garbage and I loved the series your definitely right I felt like thos book.was just a filler/ cash grab

I thought it was supposed to be a trilogy. Then, it was 4 books. Then, it turned into 6. I'm still mad that I bought the first 3 books in the series not knowing about a potential threesome. I asked if there was a love triangle since Jennifer does do love triangle but never thought to ask about a potential threesome since she never did that before. At least I found out there might be a threesome before I picked up the book. I was about to read the first book when I found out about the potential joining. I never read the books after finding out it actually happened. Money down the drain. I think she should have made it known from the start if there might be sharing but maybe even she didn't know. In the past, she had fans vote on what guy the h should end up with in the past (Dark Elements series). I can't trust the author after the whole threesome thing. :(

ANTC wrote: "Helen wrote: "I strongly agree with how Kieran isn’t an equal in this “throuple” and it bothers me a lot. It’s more like the poppy and casteel show and kieran is their little pet at their beck and ..."

I hate love triangle but this stuff seems worse than love triangles. Jeniffer does like to do love triangle. I asked about a love triangle when 2 books were out and was told there wasn't one. I was thinking great no triangle. I'd a triangle over the sound of this stuff. I think she could have maybe avoided some backlash if she would made it clear from the start. I never thought about a threesome being in the series since she never did that in her books. I worried about a triangle. I'm glad I found out and didn't read this series. I planned to go in mostly blind before seeing an update asking about a threesome. At least she didn't wait until the last book to do the threesome.

embright15 wrote: "This series wasn’t really all it was cut out to be in the first place. It’s always needed content editing and a sensitivity reader.
I agree with the cash grab sentiment.
It’s all fan girling becau..."

I'll still read her old books but I don't know about future books after this whole mess. I don't trust her not to throw in more threesome stuff in future books and can't trust her anymore. That's sad.

When she did love triangle stuff, she usually wrote a spin off series with the guy the h didn't choose. She could have just kept the other guy strictly a friend and given him a spin off series.

Agree!

No truer words have been spoken.

So I was just curious, why does y’all’s choice to continue the series change if there’s a threesome? Is it triggering or offensive? I’m not here to debate personal feelings on the matter just curious what makes other readers tick.

My personal feelings about the series at this point are that I’m annoyed. I’m invested in the plot. I really read fantasy for the fantasy and not the romance. But I know that romance is most likely going to happen in most books these days so i put up with it. And my personal feeling about the romance in this series is that it’s overdone to the point that it overshadows what’s actually happening outside of their relationship (and not in an enjoyable way for me as a reader.)

‼️‼️Someone who please answer me. Are there more sexual episodes between Cas-Poppy and Kieran??? It's definitely not something I liked in the fourth book and I wouldn't like to read something like that again.‼️‼️

I'm 70% in and TOTALLY disagree. This book is AMAZING.

40% in and bored out of my mind. Why are we rehashing what we already read in book 1. And we can’t even get away from the gratuitous sex that has irritated me all along. Except now it’s masterbation.

I’m calling it. We know she prevails in the end. I’ve lost interest in how we get there.

I couldn’t even read it! It’s just a repeat of all the books and I’m so devastated I spent £15 on it!!!

Couldn’t agree more. It’s taken me weeks to get through this book because I found it so boring reliving it all again. I ended up skim reading the last 40% because I just wanted to find out what was going to happen when Poppy awoke. Little did I know that all I needed to do was read the final chapter, and then I would have discovered sooner that this series isn’t finished (more fool me for not doing thorough research beforehand). Had I known that the entire book was a retelling (and in my opinion, has no requirement taking up an entire book in this series) I would have just read the final chapter and then patiently waited for the next book to come out in June 2025. Instead, because of this book, I’ve completely lost interest and now on the fence about whether to continue with the final two books when they do come out. Sooo disappointing.

On a separate note. I get everyone’s feelings are different, and I respect that. My personal opinion on the Poppy, Cas, Kieran relationship is this… I need more.

I’m really into them as a throuple. I dig it. I feel like there were so many hints to the joining in the previous books, that now it’s happened, it seems ridiculous if their relationship doesn’t grow tenfold. I won’t be happy if Kieran ends up as there permanent side piece. I feel like Poppy and Kieran’s relationship blossomed whilst Cas was held prisoner, and surely this indicates that the dynamic of the relationship will change going forward.

I also think this book, the tiny sprinkle of something that it did offer, gave us a glimpse at Kieran and Cas’s sex life from the past. The scene where Cas returns to the Red Pearl to meet with Kieran, but walks in on him mid-hump and Kieran asks Cas to join in but Cas refuses. This surely indicates that they like to share their women, and have done so many times in the past.

The two men are so open and comfortable with each other, I also get the impression that they aren’t opposed to a bit of MM action… Especially after the scene at the beach where both Cas and Kieran enjoyed watching the other get down and dirty. So I’m 100% hoping for a MMF relationship by the end of the series, but one where they are all equals.

Which leads me onto one final point. In the back of my mind, something is telling me that Tawny is going to come into the mix. Poppy loves her almost as much as she loves Cas, and now Kieran. Could it be that they join with her too in the future!? I wonder.

I always thought of Kieran as the written in Black bull in a x rated film and I’m glad someone else realized this. This feels like a sleazy cuckhold interracial fanfic and I suspect it’s either going to end with Kieran dead by “sacrificing” himself for his kind white masters or getting together with the token lightskin bestie Tawny.

I don’t come to comments often but i had to see what others thoughts were here. I find it weird i’m reading book 1 allllll over again…

Totally agreed

Came here to say the same thing

I completely agree. I am halfway through this book and I am SO BORED I cannot pick it up again. I’ve decided I’ll wait till the next book comes out in June and then this will recap everything I’ve forgotten. Complete waste of a book, absolutely just a filler for money. And I agree, Kieran deserves more!

I just finished and I’m so annoyed. I don’t mind POV’s but I was waiting to know if she remembered and nada! It’s ridiculous !!!! There was only 1 new thing and that’s in the last chapter. What a waste of time. I’m so annoyed

I never knew this series was meant to be a trilogy! It makes totally sense, after the last book I was already feeling like this series would’ve been better if it was around 3-4 books. I still can’t believe there’s going to be 2 more books