BETWEEN THE BLADE AND THE HEART By Amanda Hocking

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Between the Blade and the Heart by Amanda Hocking
Series: Valkyrie #1
Published by Wednesday Books on 1/2/18
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Mythology, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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When the fate of the world is at stake
Loyalties will be tested

As one of Odin's Valkyries, Malin's greatest responsibility is to slay immortals and return them to the underworld. But when she unearths a secret that could unravel the balance of all she knows, Malin along with her best friend and her ex-girlfriend must decide where their loyalties lie. And if helping the blue-eyed boy Asher enact his revenge is worth the risk―to the world and her heart.

Short and Sweet

Malin is a valkyrie and her responsibility is to send immortals back to the underworld when it’s their time to go. Everything changes for Malin when a mysterious boy she’s never met shows up at her front door claiming that her mother didn’t send an immortal back. With this new revelation Malin must now try to find the immortal herself, send him to the underworld, and make things right.

Characters

Malin: Our main character and she’s a valkyrie. I liked Malin she was a strong female character and was determined to do her job as a valkyrie. Mal is independent and when she learns about her mothers mistake she takes it upon herself to try to fix it.

Oona: Malins best friend. Oona is a mortal but she is also a sorceress in training. Oona is caring and she always tries to look out for Malin’s well-being.

Asher: The son of the valkyrie. Asher’s mother was killed by the immortal Marlow let live. Now Asher is looking for justice for his mother.

Quinn: Another valkyrie and Malin’s ex-girlfriend. Quinn still cares about Malin and she shows it with her actions.

Marlow: Malin’s mother, who is also a valkyrie. This isn’t a normal mother and daughter relationship, they’re on a first name basis and there isn’t much affection between the two.

Romance

Asher and Malin: I feel like this was more of a physical attraction more then anything else. But they seemed to like each other and their feelings for each other grew as the book went on and in the end Malin truly cared for Asher.

Quinn and Malin: So this one is strange mainly because these two were already broken up. There were a lot of awkward encounters mainly because Quinn still has feelings for Malin but Malin doesn’t feel the same and she just kept pushing Quinn away but at other times she would give into Quinn. I didn’t like this at all.

My Thoughts

~ It took me a while to get into this book as I felt like there wasn’t much action going on in the beginning of the book.

~ I loved when all the action began to take place which was halfway through the book when I got to that point I couldn’t put the book down I was so interested to see what would happen next.

~ The plot was well played out, I liked that Malin had to try to find Tamerlane (the immortal) and find out that he wasn’t going to be as easy to send back as she thought.

~ My favorite part of the book was when all the characters banded together to help Malin find Tamerlane and send him to the underworld.

~ There were a lot of twist in this book that kept me wondering what would happen next.

~ I felt that there was a lot of character growth with Malin, she’s still just a valkyrie in training she doesn’t have her license yet, but she has to endure things she probably didn’t think she would have to deal with so soon.

~ I enjoyed reading this book, I don’t think I’ve read any other books that have valkyries involved and I liked the mythology aspect of the book.

Overall

I liked this book a lot more then I expected I would! It definitely helped get me out of my reading slump, my only regret was that I didn’t finish it sooner! This is a duology and the second book comes out next month, and I plan on reading it to find out how this series ends! I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun book that has mythology and a strong female lead.