Firefrost by Camille Longley

Reviewed by Ginny!

*We received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book comes out on Sept 21st and you can get it here or at your local independent bookstore*

What I drank: white wine and cider. Sam and I were watching Disney movies and then ran out of wine while watching Letterkenny.

Goodreads Overview:

She’s a huntress:
Sol d’Hillerod is sent on a desperate mission through a treacherous winter pass. She carries with her the only hope of her village’s survival, and she will do whatever she must to keep her world from burning.

He’s a monster:
Lieutenant Kelan Birke has spent his whole life fighting for his freedom and his soul. As his control slips, and the war rages on, he knows it won’t be long before he loses himself entirely to the fire that flows through his veins.

Sol and Kelan are enemies in an age-old war, forced to depend on each other to survive a perilous journey through the mountains. As fire melts the ice in Sol’s heart, she questions everything she’s been taught to believe, and Kelan becomes more desperate to fight the flames that consume him. Together they discover that their struggle will have repercussions for both sides of this burning war.

Spoiler free summary: enemies to lovers at its essence. Sol is a huntress and Kelan has a demon that is trying to take over his body and gives him fire powers. You kbow, the common story. They end up being the only ones alive from their camps and getting close while heading towards civilization. When that doesnt go according to plan, they end up on the run.

Spoiler free thoughts: enemies to lovers can ve tough but this book nails it. The tensions around believing if they can trust each other is so real and I am here for theire growing realtionsgip and all the tension therein.

Characters: Sol is everything child me wanted to be: self sufficient in a crisis and, you know, other things. Kelan is beautifully torn between staying himself and the demon taking over which adds such depth to the romance. Most of the other characters were flat bc they didnt eeally exist outside of the narractivr. The whole sceme in her town didnt hace mich impact evem though its clear that was the aim.

World building: I’m giving this a gold star. If it came out that peoplr got superpowers by being possessed this feels like a world that would happen in. I do wish there was a little more depth between the countries, but, shrug, it still worked.

Writing style: still not a thing that matters more than character and plot

PLOT: this book did surprise me. The plot seemed like it could have been two books even if I was happy it was one. The halves, bc that’s how Im dividing it, felt so different. The first galf was super into the survival story/falling in love while the second half felt a bit more buildingsroman where the main vharacters had to grow to suit their journey.

Drink pairing: gin and ginger, something you can sip to keep a buzz up but has the excitement of bubbles and the tartness of the ginger.

Rating. 4/5

– Ginny