#Review - A Song of Ash and Moonlight by Claire Legrand #Fantasy #Romance

Series: The Middlemist Trilogy (#2)
Format: Hardcover, 592 pages
Release Date: September 17, 2024
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Romance

Second in the enchanting, sexy romantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Claire Legrand, perfect for readers of Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer Armentrout. The old war is over. A new one is just beginning.

The curse plaguing the Ashbourne and Bask families has finally been broken, but Farrin, the eldest Ashbourne daughter, still struggles to find peace. Unflappable and tireless, her composure masks a seething sorrow. Since her mother abandoned the family, Farrin has been their rock—managing her father’s temper, running the estate, keeping tight control over her dangerous musical power, and ignoring her own need for rest, distraction, and most of all, love.

In Ryder Bask, Farrin’s stubborn strength has met its match. The man infuriates her. He’s coarse, arrogant, annoyingly handsome. He’s as tired of their feuding parents as she is, and he brims with some secret anger that mirrors Farrin’s frustrated rage.

But Farrin must work with every ally she can—even the man she has been raised to hate. With every rising dawn, the Middlemist weakens further. Anointed magicians are disappearing. A fiery Olden creature is stalking Farrin. Strange visions haunt the High Queen Yvaine. And as Farrin and Ryder race to find stolen loved ones, they begin to realize a horrifying truth:

The gods are not dead. They’re waking up. And someone is hunting them.

A Song of Ash and Moonlight, by Claire Legrand, is the second installment in the authors Middlemist trilogy. This story takes place in a world known as Edyn. Three sisters (Farrin, Gemma, and Mara) in a noble magic family must fight to protect their home from invasion by the creatures of the Old Country—the realm of the gods and the birthplace of magic—before the weakening Middlemist, the boundary dividing the two worlds, disappears forever. This story revolves around Farrin Ashbourne, the older of three sisters, and Ryder Bask, the son of Lord Alastair Bask. The two families have been at war for many years. 

Farrin has a musical ability that can sway people to do as she pleases, or become obsessed with her and she has previously used that ability to sing and help her sister save her lover from the last book. Unfortunately she feels that her gift is a curse more than a blessing, and she tries to seclude herself in the running of the family estate but her father has become more and more derange and possibly harmful. The one person she finds she can turn to is actually someone who has been her families enemy for most of her life, Ryder. 

Ryder is tired of the feud that has kept their families apart for years and just wants to make things right between the two and overcome the dangers that are trying to effect the kingdom they live in. He finds he can relate to Farrin and that he wants to spend more and more time with her and as they both look to find what is harming the Middlemist and the queen herself they find themselves together more and more. Will Farrin let Ryder in fully, and does Ryder truly love her for who she is or is it the fact that he has heard her magical ability multiple times and that is what lures him in. 

In this world, there are people who were anointed with magical abilities from the Gods. Farrin's younger sister, Mara, was taken away from the family to become a member of the Order of the Rose. She guards against the old country and wild magic, but she can literally transform into something wild that gives her awesome abilities to be faster, stronger, more dangerous than her sisters. Farrin's father is anointed by the Gods as a Sentinel, but nothing can stop the pending death of the Mist, a magical entity that separates humans from Gods. Gemma and Talan have found love, but Talan is still weary of the return of Kilraith who has gone silent. 

Farrin was first introduced as the cold, unapproachable sister in the first book. As the oldest, she barely survived the burning of her home (Ivyhill) by her families enemies. Farrin is the one that keeps the family together. After what happened to their mother and what happened to her sister when she was taken away at 10-years old, she now has to face an enemy she doesn’t know anything about, with the help of a boy she doesn’t want as friends but soon enough will realize is so much more. Her insecurities and doubts and fears are real, and so is her love for her sisters.

I think that there are a whole lot of enemies to lovers readers out there, and this will definitely satisfy that hunger. In this book, readers will see even more of the Citadel, the Old Country, the Wardwell, and Moonhollow too. The good thing about taking notes while reading, is that you know who the important characters are, and where certain events take place. Otherwise, it can be tiring trying to figure out where they are and why it's important to the story. It is pretty obvious that Mara is going to be the next featured character since the first book was Gemma. I would encourage readers to try to read this as close to back to back as you can since everything is connected. 

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Kobo