The Beautiful Ashes
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Series: Broken Destiny #1
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Fantsay
Release Date: August 26, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Summary:
Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse — her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who’s bound by an ancient legacy to betray her.
Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn’t mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn’t: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…
First Sentence: I’m twenty, and already, I’ve got nothing left to lose.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
My Review:
I was beyond excited to get my hands on The Beautiful Ashes. It was one of my top priority books to get and when I actually got my hands on a copy, I squealed like a crazy person at home, resulting in family members thinking I’m crazy. I love, love, absolutely love Jeaniene Frost’s adult series, Night Huntress, which is also the adult series that made me start reading other adult books in the first place. Imagine my disappointment when I felt myself really struggling to finish The Beautiful Ashes and not loving it like how I love Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series.
I sadly couldn’t connect with any of the characters in The Beautiful Ashes. I felt nothing for them – I couldn’t even feel sorry for, or happy for, or even mad at any of the characters. I wasn’t invested in any of the characters either; they were all just flat and lack that character that makes me feel for them.
“Hi,” the stranger said, his deep voice tingled with an accent I couldn’t place. “Sorry to tell you, but you’re about to have a really bad night.” (ARC 11)
After reading Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series, I thought that I would always ship every couple she writes. However, I sadly didn’t feel the romance in The Beautiful Ashes. Everything just happened way too fast for me – Ivy is attracted to Adrian when she first sees him and every time they’re together, we’re reminded about their attraction over and over and over again. When the “I love you”s then came near the end of the book, I just couldn’t root for them at all. I just didn’t feel their attraction, their chemistry, or any kind of spark between them. The romance was forced and entirely based on insta-lust.
There’s a lot of world-building through explanations in The Beautiful Ashes, but the problem is, the world-building is not explained well. I sometimes had to read the world-building explanations not once, not twice, but three, four, or even five times to finally get the general concept of what the world was like. Despite that world-building problem, the world-building in The Beautiful Ashes was well developed.
And they kept on coming, until I was convinced that the whole realm had emptied in their attempt to kill us.
Or kill me, specifically. (ARC 112)
I really wanted to DNF The Beautiful Ashes when I was about one-third into the book. I just didn’t feel it. The Beautiful Ashes didn’t hold my attention anymore, nothing interested me, and I was just bored. At that point in the book, The Beautiful Ashes was full of walking back and forth, hiding, some world-building explanation, fighting, some world-building explanation, hiding, walking back and forth, and fighting. I felt like I was reading the same scenes over and over again, only gaining very little information with the setting changing a little bit each time. The only reason why I struggled with and finished The Beautiful Ashes was because I was hoping things will get better because hello, Jeaniene Frost wrote this book. It sadly didn’t get any better.
Overall, The Beautiful Ashes was a huge disappointment. I’m not even sure if I want to read the sequel since I barely even managed to finish The Beautiful Ashes. I’ll have to think about it.
Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy this one, the overall story sounded really great from the blurb, its a shame about the characters too – I always feel a book is just lost without well developed characters.
Safah @ Midnight Pageturners recently posted…4 Reasons Why Dorothy Must Die
It’s quite sad that you didn’t like this book, is it just me or does this happen to you a lot? You really like the author but then you are disappointed by their new book. Sorry you didn’t like it, hopefully you don’t loose your love for this author because of this one bad book.
I’m sorry you didn’t like this book. Its a shame, because I really loved it. Not every book is right for everyone. Sometimes we get a book that just didn’t work for us.
Grace
Grace Fonseca recently posted…Sunday Love Affair #61: DNF (Did Not Finish) Dark Sacrifice by Angie Sandro
Likewise, I am a hugeeee fan of Jeanine Frost, but I have heard disappointing things from this book from the die-hard fans of Frost and it is leaving me wary when I come to pick it up, because I know I will not be able to resist, I will have to.
Hopefully Frost will develop the series and the characters as they come along so we Frost fans learn to love them!
Liv_TheAbsentHistorian recently posted…Dilemma of Contemporary Romance
Good review. Too bad it was hard to connect with the characters. Frost writes good books though.
It looks like this book is not as good huh? I’ve seen another review of this and you both didn’t like it as much. Sadly, I won’t be considering to read this right now. But who knows, I may try it. :) Hope your next read would be better Kelly! :)
Jules recently posted…Movie Review: Lucy
It doesn’t seem like a good month for you with books. I hope you find a book you enjoy.
Congrats on getting an arc! I’m sorry to hear this book didn’t work for you. It’s strange how some authors I love everything they write and others I only like one series. Hopefully her next book will be better.
Molly Mortensen recently posted…Red Rising Netgalley
Oh noo that’s too bad that it just didn’t work! :( I was looking forward to this one, it sounded like it’d be good! I actually haven’t read her night huntress series but just recently got the first book! Looking forward to reading that one!
Wendy @ Book Scents recently posted…TTT: Top Ten Books I REALLY Want to Read…But Don’t Own Yet!
Too bad you didn’t like the book! I’ve never read anything by this author, but I guess if I decide to, I’ll start with the other series you mentioned.
Thais Pampado recently posted…O Aniversário de Anya
That’s a real shame you didn’t like that book all that much. It sounded like an interesting read base off the synopsis, but knowing it was sort of an insta-love kinda turns me off to the idea. I’d probably pick up the other books by Jeaniene Frost that you mentioned before I’d pick this book up.
Lyndsey @ Musing Fiction recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday #4
I really like the blurb. It’s a shame it didnt turn out as great as you xpected
I actually really love the idea behind this book (presented through the blurb). Parallel realms are actually really intriguing, and the whole fate idea, standing on one side and her on the other. I really want to try this book out, but i honestly cannot stand insta-love at all, and since it’s in this book, I don’t think i’ll be picking it up :/
Well, that is, unless the sequel is absolutely amazing. :D
Hope an amazing book comes your way! I don’t think i’ve seen a wonderfully positive review from you lately. :)
Sorry to hear the book was a disappointment! After reading the summary, I thought it would have been an amazing read. It was really gripping and interesting. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t live up to your expectations. If you ever decide to read the sequel, I hope you enjoy it more! Another great review.
Ohhhh sorry for this! I really want to read that book, because, just like you, I LOVED Night Huntress, so I was super excited for this one. But I have to say that I get less and less excited because the negative reviews :(
Oh well, who knows I give it a chance, anyway :)
Thanks for the review!
OH NO!! I am so looking forward to reading this one, I too just LOVE Jeaniene Frost and I have read all of her Night Huntress and Night Prince series and just loved them. When I saw that she was going to try out a YA series I just thought it would also be a series that I would LOVE. I still want to give this one a try, maybe I’ll get it on my Kindle. Thanks for an honest review, sometimes even though you don’t really like a book I find that a lot of reviewers kinda wash over how much they don’t like it because they don’t want to upset the author.
Great review :)
The book sounds great. Will have to check it out sometime.