Book Review: A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Casteel can have my heart and some of my soul too. My main issue with the last book was that the world building was a little confusing. I still think you kind of need to let the reins go in this book and go with the flow, because many times you won't really understand the history. The joining? The worlds? The hidden people that survived the war? They are all a little confusing, yet as time passes and Poppy becomes more aware of her surroundings so do we. So I just gave up trying to map out the world in my brain and just let myself really enjoy the rawness of the characters and the chemistry, the dialogue and the plot itself. This made for a much more pleasant reading experience.

In this sequel Poppy knows how Hawke really is and now has to deal with her growing feelings for a man she should hate (love this, ugh). There is a lot of talk of her trying to save or see her brother Ian, but yet they honestly remain a big chunk of the book developing their relationship and stuck in the middle of where they're supposed to go which is the magical town of Atlantia. I didn't really care that there was almost no action until the very end, I kind of enjoyed the pace of the book (but it does get a bit repetitive to be in Poppy's head at times). One thing I really enjoyed this time around was seeing her growth and her understanding that she wasn't the maiden anymore. That and seeing her powers grow with her has been the biggest wow point in the book. Apart from Casteel and his beautiful eyes and sexy banter.

The relationship kicks up a notch in this one and I was all for it. We get more steam, but we also get more development. They start really understanding what they feel for each other and although harsh and complicated it was so damn beautiful.

“I don’t want to pretend,” I whispered. “I’m Poppy and you’re Casteel, and this is real.”

Another big point in the pro section is that I love the side characters. Give me more Kieran, I love him. He reminds me of Cassian from ACOTAR and every time he talks I am just eating all his words and if Armentrout kills him, I may start a riot.

And then the plot twist at the end. To this I will just say that I am on my way to Barnes and Nobles to buy book 3 because I finished it too late last night and couldn't buy it right away :) Armentrout just keeps you on your toes and she knows how to end the book and make you desire the next one right away.

Overall rating: 4.5 stars