Review to come! 
 Update 4/23/17: 
 See more reviews on my blog Novels and Necklaces 
 Actual rating: 3.5 stars 
 I went back and forth on what to give this book, was it worth 3 stars or could I round up to 4? But I finally decided that I would stick to a 3 because while the ending did make me want to read the next one in hopes that the story will get better from here on out, there was other things throughout the story that didn't make it worth that full 4 stars. I had 2 major problems with this book (which I'll warn you now, will make it seem like I didn't like this book at all): first, there wasn't anything that original with the story. If you've read any YA fantasy novel in the past year or two, you've likely read something resembling this book. Second, it was so much a set-up book that the story dragged on and on, and then suddenly the ending was all exciting. Which is annoying to me because now I'm intrigued enough to read the second and have another book to add to my never-ending TBR pile (not that I actually would ever complain about this but still). 
 So let me start with the things I didn't like. Everything was very unoriginal in my mind. Even though I did enjoy how the author incorporated the fire and frost elements into the story--and mind you, this was very well done--it was nothing new. Sure, it had all the elements from other fantasy stories that I love and enjoy, but I just kept wanting something different while reading. This could have easily been a 5 star book in my eyes if the author would have elevated the story just a little with some new magic or new spin on the cliche fantasy elements she included. As I said though, even though there were plenty of cliche fantasy elements, they were done extremely well. It's very obvious while reading, that Ms. Blake has a great talent for storytelling!! The writing was excellent and she truly weaves a fun fantasy story. But there wasn't much to connect with. 
 And I got bored after awhile. Which leads me into my second problem... 
 The characters. I did enjoy reading from Ruby's POV. But again, the lack of originality made me not connect with her character as much as I probably should have. Ruby was your typical heroine that didn't know or understand how great her powers were until she was trained, and that training obviously leads to a surprising new love. I will say that she did get stronger as the book progressed, which was nice, but the problem was she was just a mish-mash of several other fantasy female leads and I couldn't stop comparing. I did enjoy her character more towards the end when she starts becoming her own person, which again...makes me have higher hopes for the second book. Arcus, is your run-of-the-mill standoffish typical hero that has a dark, secret past (which let me tell you, was glaringly obvious to me by the end of Part 1 of the story). The main problem I had with his character is that he didn't blow me away. For most of the book he was rude and aggressive toward Ruby, which technically I can understand but at the same time, I didn't like it. And I wasn't really rooting for them to get together the entire book. However, I did like that he was willing to fight for others, including Ruby, when the time called for it. He put himself on the line time and time again for the sake of others. Arcus did change by the end of the story, and the care that he showed toward others was sincere and makes you love him a bit. He certainly won Ruby over, but did he win me over...only a little bit. I'll see how he is in the next one and then make up my mind. 
 The world building in this novel is very simple, but did it do it's job...yes. It certainly wasn't ever confusing or overly complicated, which was nice, but I would have liked a little more substance. I think that in time this will come, but with the amount of set up this book had, I wish more was included here. Also, Ruby's training was very boring to me...many of the same scenes over and over again. However, I liked seeing all that training put to good use in the conclusion. And this is one thing that I was blown away by. The ending of this book was fantastic!! There were many twists that I certainly did not see coming, and the scenes had me on the edge of my seat. To me, this shows me just how fabulous of a writer Ms. Blake truly is, and how epic these books can be! And purely because of the ending, I want to read the next book in this series. 
 Did I absolutely love this book? No. But did I like it enough to want to read more? Definitely! My best advice is to go into this book with an open mind. It's not super original, but it is worth reading for the end. I am excited to see where the story goes from here, and what Ms. Blake has in store for us next. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that she finds her own and incorporates more original elements into the story because this has the potential to be an amazing series! 
 Happy reading :)