The Blood We Spill

The Blood We Spill #1

by Jo Havens

ASIN moved from less recent edition

What would make the most ruthless ice-queen assassin in the Kingdom hesitate?

Bound to the Kingdom for life, Cie serves a cruel King, her knives pledged to his word, her life at his mercy. She is also one of the Kingdom’s most privileged slaves – one of the Praetoria: five of the best, sworn to protect the Prince and, one day, to rule at his side. It’s not a bad life – luxurious parties in any of the eighteen worlds, beautiful women falling over themselves to land in her bed, her orders to be obeyed by over forty-eight billion citizens.

But when a routine job goes spectacularly wrong, Cie discovers there is a witness to her failure – a witness to a political assassination the King would never want revealed. It’s Cie’s intense misfortune that the witness is a beauty – a woman with sweet, warm skin that Cie longs to sink into, with deep, brown eyes that hold promises that Cie has only ever dreamt of, a woman whose embrace offers a gentleness and a kindness Cie craves above all else.

Jemma thought she’d been in love before, but when she falls for the King’s assassin, she falls hard. Cie burns her up – the assassin plays fast and loves harder, and Jemma’s head is whirling even as her body is thrilled. Jemma watches as a growing terrorist threat pushes the King to madness and Cie’s orders become more and more violent. The woman she thinks she loves is steeped in red. Is it even possible for a girl from the suburbs to love a person so drenched in blood?

Genres: Fantasy, Lesbian, Romance, LGBT, Queer, Science Fiction, High Fantasy

646 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2022

About the author

Jo Havens is a Golden Crown Literary Society award-winning author.

Not every romance is sugar-sweet. Sometimes the path to happily-ever-after is narrow, scary, and full of doubts and heartbreak. But it is the grit that makes the pearl. Though it takes time, effort and patience, in Jo Havens' books, love is always the softly glowing beauty on the final page.

In her lesbian romance novels, Jo's characters struggle with their shortcomings, deal with the trials of life and, ultimately, listen to their hearts and do what is right. Love always wins.

Jo lives in Australia with her daughter, and a cat named Howl. She loves to hear from readers. Her debut novel, The Blood We Spill, is a sumptuous sapphic romance with an ice queen assassin, the gorgeous girl-next-door and a journey to true-love that asks both women to challenge their deepest hopes and fears, risk all and, finally, rest lovingly in each other's arms.

Get a free novella set in the same world by signing up to Jo's newsletter at http://www.johavens.com

Reviews

[Alexis Hall]

Source of book: KU
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.

Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if I have good things to say. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book and then write a GR review about it would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.

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Content guidance for discussion of abuse, child abuse, and sexual assault.

I am honestly not sure what to think about this book. I mean, first off, it’s a self-published debut (and gay AF) so all the props for that. And I hope my interest in the book, and my comments here, can be assumed to be good faith, rather than punching down – although, of course, if it comes across as the latter that’s on me.

Basically, I think there’s a whole lot of potential here that, for me, didn’t quite come together, mostly—as far as I can tell—for reasons of ambition outstripping experience (and possibly editing). The setup here is that we’re, like, way, way in the future at the heart of a galaxy-spanning empire known only as the Kingdom. The protagonist, Cie, “works” for the crown i.e. is a slave a crown, as a sort of assassin/fixer/protector of the prince. In the course of her murdering duties, she runs into Jeema, an “ordinary” citizen. It’s technically her responsibility to take Jemma out for witnessing murder stuff, but she ends up banging her instead. This, in turn, leads to a relationship of sorts. Meanwhile, there’s political shenanigans going on with a planet resisting Kingdom rule, a traitor in the prince’s personal guard and the king having basically lost his mind. If this sound rather vague for a plot summary that’s because well … the plot kind of is? It manages to be both a lot and somewhat thin at the same time, which is bewildering, especially because the book is about six hundred pages long.

I was not expecting this book to be about six hundred pages long. And, honestly, I don’t think it needed to be six hundred pages long. While there are some really impressively tense set pieces here—and I abstractly appreciated how willing the author was to just let us spend time with her characters—I personally felt there was a lack of narrative urgency. Partly, I think, this was connected to the disempowerment of the various characters (Cie is a slave, she does what she’s told, the prince obeys the king, even though the king is bananas, and Jeema is just a rando) but it often ends up feeling like less like a deliberate statement on their helplessness and more that the threat to the kingdom goes away conveniently every time there’s kissing to be done or a fancy event to attend. By the time everyone is actually taking action to, you know, deal with what has happening it feels less like the culmination of what has gone before than an arbitrary decision to bring about something they could have brought about at any time if they’d stopped partying for five seconds.

I also recognise that there were emotional dynamics underlying some the actions or non-actions involved the plot. Saying the king is doolally is treasonous and treason is punishable by death (but equally everyone hates the king and the prince has six extremely armed bastards on his side, the king have killed most of his own extremely armed bastards). Nobody believes that the traitorous person is traitorous because there’s underlying beef between them and Cie, but then once Cie actually bothers she’s able to acquire visual evidence of their wrongdoing immediately. Meanwhile the prince is supposed to be reluctant to take action against The One Who Is Blatantly Traitor (to the extent that he’s unable to fight said traitor at the end) because he cares for them so deeply … except we never see that on page? We never see The One Who Is Blatantly Traitor being anything utter than an utter prickweed. I mean, I’m not an expert but if I was playing to betray all my friends, and the man who loved me, I’d be super nice to them all first? That one has been nailed since Judas.

Basically, there’s probably quite sophisticated tale of intrigue and interpersonal dynamics at the heart of this story but unfortunately—for me—it just got lost. I often felt that some things were over-focused on, and others were not: for example, as I noted above, we don’t see the fight between the prince and his lover when it feels like a really emotionally significant moment, and there’s even a sequence where Jeema gets kidnapped where she just wakes up in a weird room with no context, and by contrast we spend multiple thousands of words at slightly repetitive social gatherings and don’t even get me started on the fair. Don’t get me wrong, it was a lovely scene, and that showcased some excellent character development for Cie, but I’ve been to actual fairs in real life that have taken me less time to get through than the one in this book.

What it comes down, is that the first 60% of the story is mostly just Cie and Jeema living the high life and bonking which, to be fair, I was here for but it made the whole threat-to-the-kingdom/there-is-a-traitor-amongst-us/the-king-is-a-monster stuff lose its edge: not because it wasn’t happening (the king has abused Cie all her life and continues to do so) but because everyone was so blasé about it? To some degree, this worked from a character perspective: Cie is conditioned to accept abuse, even from her loved ones as we come to see, and having her be so matter-of-fact about it kind of increases the horror of it without the need for anything too graphically on-page (which I was grateful for). Unfortunately, though, the fact everyone else is mostly okay with this, or blankly accepting, just made me really … upset? Like I don’t know how to deal with an entire group of characters I think I’m supposed to care about being so fucking chill.

Which, I guess, leads me onto my broader issue with the book as a whole. I think I was perhaps ideologically if not … directly in conflict with it, then not on the same page, and not sure how to get on the same page. Most charitably I think the Kingdom is supposed to be analogous to ancient Rome: they have legit Fights for public entertainment, the prince’s personal guards are called the Praetoria, and the Kingdom’s goals are ultimately cultural assimilation. Not always consensual cultural assimilation. And, I mean, this is out of my lane but I don’t know at what point a far-future, part-sci, part fantasy flavoured reinterpretation of ancient Rome, which is presented broadly as positive by the text and which emphasises the happiness of its citizens, goes from just historically-inspired fictional setting to … um. A pro-colonialism manifesto? Because the bad guys in this book are people who do not want to join the Kingdom. And we’re told that, actually, most people *do* want to join the kingdom, because healthcare, education etc., and that the people fighting back are actually funded by self-serving billionaires. But still? I’m uncomfortable? Maybe wrongly. I don’t know. Also I’m a big fan of education, but education isn’t a single unified thing. One group of people bringing their concept of education to another group of people isn’t universal education: it’s forcing your values and worldview on someone else, usually to profoundly harmful effect.

On top of this, there’s slavery in this world. And the book doesn’t seem to have a consistent point of view about whether that’s, um, bad or not? Clearly slavery has permitted untold abuses to be enacted on Cie, so that’s not good. On the other hand, Jeema’s best friend, Fixee, was raised in indentured servitude and it’s cool? It’s not cool. It is the opposite of cool. At one point a character remarks cheerfully (of the world that is resisting Kingdom rule): “How much longer until we just annex them? Seven billion new slaves wouldn’t exactly hurt the system.” And I think I would be okay if were inhabiting a world that was explicitly a dystopia but I never got the feeling we were. The Kingdom’s problems, such as we are given to understand them, stem from the king being a paedophilic sadist who has lost his mind and are broadly fixed when the prince (supposedly a good person?) takes over. The ending we get—which I genuinely think is meant to be non-controversially happy—does not remotely address the fact the people we’ve been asked to root for and care about, and are now enjoying a picnic together, are responsible for the propagation of an aggressively colonialist, pro-slavery, anti-free speech, intergalactic empire.

I do not know how to feel about that. And I honestly don’t know how to feel about the prince either. He’s supposed to be worth Cie’s loyalty (even disregarding the fact she’s been trained and programmed and conditioned to be loyal to him) to the extent that she throws an entire future of freedom with Jeema to stay with him. But he inflicts physical violence on her, and they’ve had a sexual relationship in the past and, I mean, I’m sorry but you can’t have consensual sex with someone you literally own. So we get these scenes where Cie’s, you know, Cie’s rapist is telling Jeema that he’ll hold her responsible if she ever hurts Cie and I think we’re meant to take them at face value?

And obviously you can interpret this as a dark romance in a complex setting that asks you difficult questions. But it honestly just felt incoherent to me. The villain of the piece (not counting the cartoonishly evil king) is basically just the one character who doesn’t want to be a slave: that seems wholly legitimate behaviour to me?

All of which said, while I could not come to a sensible conclusion for myself about the book was trying to achieve with its world-building or what it was trying to say with its themes, I still kinda loved Cie? She was a complicated, contradictory, highly damaged person who was given endless scope to be glamorous, to be vulnerable, to be hopeful, to be messy. I mean her inept attempts to woo Jeema are kind of touching, confusing, and utterly hinged in this way I felt I should have been less okay with than I was? But you’d have to be stronger person than me not to be on board for the ol’ “secretly love starved mass murderer falls for the sweetness of girl-next-door” dynamic. Honestly, despite complaining about the six hundred pages of this book, I could probably have taken six hundred pages of that.

tl;dr loved the sapphism. Struggled with the slavery.

[XR · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was everything, and it was bloody awesome. I'm surprised that it's Jo Havens' debut novel.

The conflict of emotions for both Cie and Jemma. The drama, the betrayals, the endearing scenes between the blood and killing. Again, it was everything. I found myself annoyed, laughing, crying... laughing and crying at the same time. The shock and awe. All of the emotions. I fucking loved it.

It was fucking amazing!

[lauraღ · Rating 2 out of 5]

“I think, maybe, you’re not so good for me after all, Jemma. You’ve made me greedy. I want you too much.”

2.5 stars. Here's the thing: I'm definitely going to read from this author again, because I really enjoyed the writing in this novel, and the plot and characters showed so much promise. There was a story here that I thought I was going to love, and a romance that had SO much of what I love, but sadly, the more the book progressed, the more disappointed I got. I think the most succinct way to put it is that it was like watching someone set up a bunch of practice bullseyes in a field, then veer wildly and shoot aimlessly off into the trees. If you're interested, please still give this a try, because I'm picky and I know it. But, gosh, this really kinda let me down. 

This is a scifi romance (or scifi with a heavy romance subplot) about Cie, an assassin who's a slave to the crown of a planet-spanning kingdom, and Jemma, the girl-next-door who she becomes obsessed with after Jemma sees something she shouldn't. I REALLY liked Cie; Jemma had a quite of bit of growing on me to do. In Cie, we get the story of a deeply compelling, deeply abused woman who's used to doing as she's told, and scraping by on whatever pleasures she's allowed. She compartmentalises like no tomorrow, and when she meets and starts falling for Jemma, she pursues her in a way that's slightly unhinged. I genuinely enjoy that kind of dynamic, so that was a great start for me. I also really enjoyed the setup of the pot, which involves a new, reluctant world that the kingdom is trying to absorb into its empire. 

Here are some places where I think the book erred. 

- Very very weird and weak plot progression. Characters would learn a piece of information and do NOTHING with it. This was especially true of Jemma, especially in earlier chapters.  I would be like, "why isn't she asking about this, or seeking clarification on that?" A lot of the time it felt like the characters were just sitting around doing nothing, waiting for the story to come to them.
- On a related note, we found out who the bad guy was pretty early on in the book, and I hated that, because we just did nothing with that information. One of the main characters knew, and just... nothing came of it. There's sort of a game of cat-and-mouse going on, but it's mostly off page. And we do get a reason why the main character doesn't just confront the villain, but it read as really flimsy and manufactured to me.
- SO many things happened off page, actually, and it's boggling that this book is still 600+ pages long. It's not that I wanted it to be shorter; I picked this up specifically because I wanted a longer scifi read. But that page time was not used wisely.
- I appreciated the abuse/survivor narrative, but it got so overwhelming. I just wanted Cie to catch a break, and the story sometimes felt so bleak. Her suffering felt gratuitous,  
- Someone messed up, and let's just say, she did NOT grovel enough. I'm still so mad about it, lol.
- In general, the book struggled to find its tone. It's dark, yes, but sort of kept zigzagging? It's a romance, so there's an HEA, but I'm still not sure how I feel about that ending, as it pertains to the worldbuilding and structure and some of the secondary characters, particularly some of them close to Cie.

This was just kind of a mess, and I'm a little heartbroken, because the writing really is solid. I wish this could have had better wrangling and editing, because it would have benefited from it greatly. I might come back to this review with more thoughts, but for now: sadly disappointing.

Content warnings: rape, beatings, physical abuse, brainwashing, murder, gore.

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm wellllll I got really mixed feelings abt this one. On one hand, I was invested in the characters and their arcs and the world, and on the other hand… I was really annoyed with both.

So, spoilers abound bc I don’t know how to talk abt it without spoiling a ton.

Firstly, major trigger warnings for sexual assault, slavery, mentions of child sexual assault and slavery throughout the novel. Nothing is rlly explicit on page for the most part, but it’s one of the major plot arcs. So, go in ready for that. The dynamics here are all unhealthy and fucked up.

I think, ultimately the thing that is getting me is that… it feels like the ending is supposed to be “happy” but I can’t get over that this is essentially a story where we are forced to root for colonizers and slavers? Like… the Prince is not much better than the King? He’s kinder, sure. He wants to actually care for his people, sure. But also… he’s a king and a colonizer and a slaver and he is not in anyway seem like he wants to dismantle that system. He uses the Compliance on Cie and the other slaves. He jokingly (and seriously) refers to them simply as “slave(s)” a lot throughout the book. He punishes them. He considers them his family AND they have no choice/are brainwashed into loyalty. Like… is Van an asshole throughout the novel? Yes. Is he correct? Also, yes!!! They should all want their freedom. This is a horrible corrupt system and they are actively trying to colonize a whole planet the entire arc of the plot. Nedra is a democratic planet from what we see, that’s… lol GOOD, MY DUDE!! I wouldn’t want some asshole king from literally millions of light years away to be in charge either!! I think that’s my main problem with the novel. It’s engaging in REALLY big, complex topics and it’s not… rlly saying much abt them.

Cie is a slave, an unwilling sex worker, a murderer, and has essentially no autonomy, AND she’s powerful within this weird fucked up world and ultimately, we don’t move forward from that? The epilogue made me rlly angry? Like, the Prince is not a good guy? The Prince is upholding this system and the rest of the slaves seem… happy with that? And I’m not lol.

I also… both enjoyed and disliked greatly the dynamic between Jemma and Cie. Like, it didn’t seem healthy to me, and a lot of the fault lying on Jemma’s shoulders for not “understanding” Cie’s lifestyle and intentions reallllllly rubbed me the wrong way. Cie was frequently really fucked up to Jemma in their interactions. Did it make sense? Yes. Was it okay? No, not really. If I was Jemma I would have run for the fucking hills. Cie was ready to murder her dad for an innocent comment at a private dinner for speaking out against the king WHO SHE HATES AND IS CONSTANTLY ABUSED BY. She gets mad and possessive when Jemma breaks things off and goes on a murder spree temper tantrum! She’s consistently possessive and cruel in ways that make sense with her awful upbringing and life, AND ALSO that’s not okay! Could Jemma have communicated much better and gotten more understanding of where Cie was coming from? Absolutely, but the way the third half of the book when they’re broken up basically leaves it as: Jemma fucked up and should apologize/get back with Cie/all the slaves and the Prince and the people at the palace basically threatening her into it? I WAS ANNOYED!! Let’s just, say that!

I WAS invested. I wanted better for Cie. I wanted Jemma to be happy, I wanted Nedra to tell this colonizing kingdom to fuck off. I wanted the slaves to want to be free in a tangible way that maybe would lead to a dismantling of the system by the end. At the VERY LEAST I wanted the Prince to seem like he might try to change things once he got into power. But, doesn’t seem like it. So… I’m conflicted. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great. There’s good and complex and interesting stuff in here and some great characters, I just felt gross that the crux of it was rooting for the slavers and colonizers and keeping the status quo. I’ll def check out more from this author though, they’ve got interesting ideas, I just don’t know so far about the execution, yet.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

That this is a debut novel just made this book all the more impressive. I was totally transported to this future world and kingdom, the real world just faded away in the light of the expert sotrytelling. I was peeved at a couple scenes and almost didn't forgive some of the characters also totally fell in love with others, but it was such a long novel that I had time for several highs and lows. Lovely journey, thank you Jo Havens.
5 stars!

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was unfortunately really, really disappointed by this. i was SO excited by the premise when it popped up on my goodreads, and i am literally always on the lookout for new lesbian sci fi/fantasy romance, so i started reading it pretty much as soon as i heard about it.

however, i think that this suffers from one main problem that manifests in many different ways, and that is: there is no one to root for.

first, through the lens of the worldbuilding. there were many reviews praising the 'inventive' worldbuilding, but it felt very run-of-the-mill sci fi. it also felt confused about the level of technology - steam trains were two thousand years ago but they still have ferris wheels? and use knives and swords as their primary weapons? (i know the praetoria doesn't represent everyone but you'd think they'd at least have like...fancier future knives/swords. it just seemed like an odd clash of technology and timelines).

in terms of not being able to root for anyone on the worldbuilding level, i didn't particularly want to root for nedra separationists, as they were the wealthy elite who apparently were in a child sex slavery ring, but i sure as fuck wasn't going to support the kingdom!! i know they had universal basic income and healthcare and education, and that's cool, but they were also the ultimate space colonizers who didn't allow free speech, and were headed by an abusive child r*pist as well (also we found out they also use a fuck ton of slaves in a throwaway comment made by a character). the prince really wasn't much better, even though it seemed like we were supposed to be on his side.

the fact that we didn't really support the planet being colonized or the colonizers (even though they had some positive impact!) could've been something really interesting if it was actually explored with any depth or nuance! however, it really felt like we were just supposed to support the kingdom, especially the idea of the kingdom with the prince at the helm, and i just couldnt get there.

now, through the lens of the characters. out of our two MCs, cie was definitely the more symathetic one, but i still couldn't really root for her, because i just couldn't support her relationship with jemma! jemma was. a piece of shit lmao. so first off, it was absolutley insta love to the MAX, which i felt really did not work with the premise. and then jemma was just repeatedly a dick to cie, and all of the realizations that she had that cie is actually a person with feelings came WAY too late in the book. and cie, poor cie, does not get a moment of respite throughout the entire book. she only gets shit on for the entire 600 or whatever pages and it just draggggggggs. by the end i was honestly rooting for them to NOT get together. also - cie's daughter? absolutely no point and honestly just made for pointless and confusing characterization of cie. also also, gross that the prince was the father. i HATED the fact that the praetoria all fucked each other - definitely ruined any feelings of found family there. just let them be friends!!!

as for all of the secondary characters, there were way too many of them to even keep track of. in a book this long, you could definitely build up a strong ensemble, but it needed a more skilled hand to do so. i can't even talk about any of them specifically because they blurred together way too much.

i think the author just tried to tackle way too much, and you could really feel that it was a debut. the romance was not satisfying or even really developed at all, the plot was weak, the worldbuilding was trite and confused, and there were too many serious topics thrown in for shock value instead of being treated with the nuance they deserved (school shootings, child r*pe and sex slavery, sexual assault in general, colonization, slavery in general, etc). it was too long and seriously suffered from a lack of editing (typos, grammar errors, words clearly missing from sentences, sentences that just didn't make sense, etc). i'm glad so many people seemed to enjoy it, but i personally struggled to find anything redeeming.

[Netgyrl (Laura) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. I loved it until I hated it.

This book is right up my alley. Sci-fi action. A female assassin with a tragic past. A love that will heal her heart.

The book starts out strong. We learn a bit about the kind of person Cie is. She is deadly and can be extremely cold blooded. When she meets Jemma we start to see how broken she is. Desperate to love and be loved but feeling completely unworthy. At first Jemma is great and I fell completely in love with the two of them. I got that reading anxiety that you get when you’re afraid something terrible is going to happen to your favorite couple.

Well, something did happen. Jemma.

In her own way, Jemma felt unworthy of the love and devotion Cie showered on her, and she slowly began to interpret everything Cie did or said in the worst possible light. She became extremely entitled, selfish and cruel. Saying things intentionally to hurt Cie. It started slow, but got worse and worse as the book went along. I cannot tell you the depths of my dislike of her. Of course Cie being who she is, didn’t see it. If Jemma thought she was disgusting and evil then she must be disgusting and evil. She just took it and kept trying to fix herself so Jemma would love her until Jemma finally told they were over and to get lost forever.

My sweet broken, fragile, strong, brave, abused, shattered, thoughtful, selfless Cie deserved so much more.

I pretty much hate read the rest of the book. Jemma finally gets her head out of her ass and realizes what a despicable idiot she’s been. And of course, Cie forgives her because she never stopped thinking Jemma was the center of her universe and perfect in every way. They do have a happily ever after finally. I am happy Cie got what she wanted. But I will hate Jemma till the end of my days.

Cie really deserved a love that would hold her precious heart and guard it with their life from the beginning. Instead of smashing it to 1 billion pieces before realizing the priceless treasure laid at her feet.

[MaxDisaster · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,25 stars
This was a very interesting blend of sci-fi and a medieval fantasy intrigue.
I had my reservations about the characters and some parts of the plot, but I enjoyed it overall.
To be clear, my issues with it weren't because it was badly written or insufficiently thought out. Some bits (mostly related to slavery) just made me highly uncomfortable.
Which was probably the point, but it dampened my enjoyment of the book enough to lose a star.
All in all it was definitely unique and I'm glad I've read it, I'm just not sure I'll need a repeat any time soon.

Side note: the power structure of the Kingdom kinda reminded me of God and his Lyctors in "Gideon the Ninth". It was also overall a similar blend of fantasy and space sci-fi. Only this one had no necromancers.

[Allem21 · Rating 5 out of 5]

<“I’m a bad South African,” I say to myself as I add yet another Australian writer to my list of absurdly artistic authors.>

Unconditional love, unconditional loyalty, unconditional freedom. Are any of these possible? If they are, what do you have to sacrifice to obtain them?

Lady Cie is one of the most powerful people in the kingdom, but her persona is a result of her close ties to the prince and what she is worth to the kingdom. In reality, she’s a nobody, has always been a nobody with no past and no future other than to serve her prince and the king. Jemma is an ordinary citizen who stumbles upon horror one night in a dark alley. She has friends, family and a stable job. There is little excitement in her life until she meets Cie.

Their tumultuous relationship develops against the backdrop of political unrest in the kingdom. Cie is instrumental in the kingdom’s struggle to ensure the safety of its citizens, which leaves Jemma confused as to her role in Cie’s life. As things heat up in the political arena, Jemma and Cie must decide what is the most important to them.

Ms Havens swept me up in her elaborate tale of danger, deceit and devotion. The story flowed easily for the most part – there were a couple of places where the story jumped a bit and it felt like an additional scene might have made it easier to follow. The world building was exceptional and the mixture of old and new gave especially the palace an authentic feel. The action sequences were fast-paced and well described. These gave me the best idea of how close the members of the Praetoria truly was.

This is not a pretty story. It is filled with a wide array of human behaviours and emotions and it exposes the ugly underbelly of humanity. The worlds might be fictional, but these things can happen in any country on earth right at this moment. No, it is not a pretty story, but it is beautifully written and does not shy away from its own ugliness. If Requiem for Immortals and Breaking Legacies had a lovechild, this would be it…

[Katarzyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was such a great book!! I have no idea why it's not much more popular. It is obvious how much effort the author put in this story. I really like the plot, the world created in this book and obviously the main couple and their struggle. Of course there were some shortcoming, one absolutely unnecessary plot (but short), some over-traumatization of main character, but overall it was an amazing book and I really look forward for next books by this author.
In addition, it's the first time when I was surprised by how low was a price for a good book on Amazon, it's sad how underappreciated the author's effort was.

[Celina · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something akin between Cie and Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius, formerly and also known as Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass series.


95% I hated Jeema. 100% loved Cie.

I almost cried..ME. that one scene almost had me tripping... The whole meaning to the name Cie, and then Cie not knowing who Lila's father was, just fucked with my head, really bad.
Most things were just fucking disgusting, I am sorry. Jo Havens had me in the first half of Part 1.

With dark scenes like the ones in this book, I always wonder what intrigued the author to write such painful and degrading stuff ABOUT WOMEN. But then, I am a bookworm, I got no time to waste thinking or I will not be able to disappear in all the other awaiting book fantasies.

But the whole time I was reading the things that Cie had to endure, I hated Jo a little bit harder. And then Jeema (or Jemma??) god, her whining and self-hate was brain-numbing.

[bookster · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 Stars

Feb 2024: 2nd read. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoyed the book as much as I did on my first read back in Nov 2022, so changing my rating from 5 Stars to 4.25 Stars.

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5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this book. The world building is amazing and the complexity of each character, especially Cie, who is of course my fav! Highly recommend!

[J.E. Leak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and spent way too many late nights because I couldn’t put it down. The world building is excellent, and in Jemma and Cie, the author gives us two characters we won’t soon forget. Cie is just, wow! Jemma had me talking out loud to her at times, but the characters are so well drawn that you will forgive them almost anything. This is a long book, but I didn't notice. It is fast paced and kept my attention throughout. This is the author’s debut novel and I can’t wait to read more of her work! Well done, Jo!

[Tuni · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had me HEATED. Last 100 pages? Great. Lots of political intrigue. Fast paced. Exciting. First 500 pages? THE MOST EXCRUCIATING TORTURE.

I swear that I have never hated a character as much as I hate Jemma. She was so cruel FOR NO REASON. Oh sure she’s insecure about what she has to offer Cie, but the sheer level of her nastiness did not match the “excuse” for her behavior.

I spent so much of this book pissed off. Would have been a DNF very early on if this wasn’t MY PICK for a buddy read.

I’m just so mad! The writing was great. The “good guys” being willing members of a dictatorship was an interesting perspective. There was a lot of potential here. But it was grossly overshadowed by THE CONSTANT cycle of “oh I am not good enough for her” and “oh but actually she is a terrible person.” There was no way I could ever forgive and forget and be satisfied with them getting together in the end.

[Zelia Sofianos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I’ve read in awhile

This is such an amazingly-written story, rich with descriptions of different worlds and cultures, and with great character development. At no point did I feel that the story dragged - despite it being a very long book - and I was completely immersed in no time.

The relationship between Cie and Jemma was great to watch, even if Jemma became very frustrating at times. I was sad that the book had to end, but feel that said ending was the perfect way to wrap up an incredible plot.

[shrig · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 / 5 ✰

The Blood We Spill takes on a lot of serious topics.. like A LOT: colonization, rape, slavery, freedom of speech, physical abuse, government systems, child sex trafficking and there is even a school shooting. Here is where the issue arises, because at best the book doesn't acknowledge these issues and at worst.. it, um, kind of seems like it's endorsing them.

The Prince, for example, is presented to us as being a 'good guy' and that him becoming king will solve all the problems, but the Prince sorta, idk, has slaves (who he very much treats like slaves), is physically abusive, is trying to forcefully colonize a planet, seems in favor of the oppressive government systems that take away freedom of speech and keeps him as a dictator and also has sex with his slaves which raises some questions about consent to me. Is this actually intentional from the author? Maybe, but it doesn't really always feel like it. Basically, be prepared for a book that has an incredibly fucked up world, but addresses none of it.

One of the main villains is a dick, of course, but asides from that their main motivation is just that they don't want to be a slave anymore! Yeah, who would want to be a slave? Well, apparently several other characters, but still, it feels weird to be cheering against someone who just wants basic freedom and human rights. Speaking of them though, Cie (and the reader) knows that they are doing bad stuff for a verrrry long time and she just sort of does nothing. There is a reason given for this, but it feels weak.

Don't let all of this talk about the all the serious issues, the Prince and villains mislead you into thinking that The Blood We Spill has a lot of plot, because sadly it doesn't. The start of the book had me thinking I would be reading about a complex political intrigue plot with romance, very unfortunately though, it is pretty much just romance and all the politics, etc. are just forgotten about. That's a shame because I really would have liked to read a version of this book that focused on the actual issues with colonization, the King, slavery and all the rest as well as the romance.

This all leads to a very confusing tone. I'd be giggling and kicking my feet one second only to remember, hang on, weren't we just talking about rape and seriously fucked up abuse about a paragraph ago? The Blood We Spill simultaneously felt like a light-hearted, I'll-just-let-some-things-(like insta-love)-slide-because-it's-just-for-fun type of book and a very dark, everything's-serious type of book, which was weird. To me at least, maybe I'm just weird.

It's also very important to mention this book definitely drags a bit in the middle. I didn't mind too much as I kinda liked getting to know the characters a bit better, but realistically it wasn't good. Plot was thrown out the window and it was basically just filler.

Onto our two main characters, first up is Jemma: I think everyone will find Jemma incredibly frustrating, she is just sometimes straight up mean for no reason. The worst part is sometimes she genuinely has reasons to be upset at Cie, but it doesn't even matter because she's already busy being annoyed at her over nothing (I love that her Dad literally said she was insecure). As for Cie: yeah, she's great, I like her. She really does deserve better in literally every aspect of her life. Cie pretty much accounts for all the joy I got out of this book. ♡

Chapter 8 specifically I did not like. Not a fan of how it was written. Felt very "tell don't show", and also like I was missing out on vital parts of their newly developing relationship.

Other Things: (not really criticism)
- the word "Gods" was used a lot, I found this sort of humorous as, to me, "gods" feels very old-british and ASOIAF-y.
- just the british language in general was amusing, that's not criticism, I just found it funny when occasionally, out of the blue a british word or phrase would pop up in an otherwise not british feeling world.

All in all, The Blood We Spill had a lot of potential to construct a compelling and complex plot and unfortunately it just wasted it, while simultaneously feeling like it was promoting ideologies I just do not agree with. If you look past that, the romance was at times good, and at other times painful because wtf is up with Jemma! Realistically I should probably give this less than 3.25 stars, but weirdly I did enjoy it somewhat (I think I just liked Cie). I would say give this book a shot, a lot of people do seem to like it, the page count makes me a little hesitant though.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I fucking loved that book!

First of all, I can't believe this is a debut novel! Where has this author been? I obsessively read this book, thought about it all day, stayed in bed to keep my grubby hands on it. The plot is fantastic, the writing style is engrossing, easy to read yet poetic. I found myself rereading several passages because I enjoyed how they were written so much, I just couldn't quite move on!

The characters! Cie is just perfection, I was obsessed with her by the middle of the book and just, damn. Love her character. Jemma, you almost had me hating you mid book girl but you redeemed yourself, I guess. You're lucky you're hot!

I really really loved this book. Well rounded, complex characters to dream about, a romance to drool over , and a plot I could really get into!

I cant wait to see what this author puts out next, im so excited!!

[Hot Mess Sommelière ~ Caro · Rating 1 out of 5]

There can only be one Babe and she's a very cute piglet.

The unhinged assassin protagonist Cie keeps calling the woman she intends to kill "babe", and she adds it to every single sentence, like a stand-in for "ma'am".

And Jemma, her love interest/potential collateral damage also refers to herself as "babe".

There is only one "babe" for me, though, and it's *HER*

[Silkvx · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride!

Hello Haven, will you consider giving us a book 2?
I am in love with these characters and world building. Although there weren’t any cliffhangers, it’s a solid book that wraps up nicely. Still, you can’t just not let us hear about them ever again! Not cool.

I highly recommend.

❤️

[Yura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angsty and action-packed, loved it!

Normally I like angst but this was a whole other level. I found Jemma very frustrating but glad she came around. The different planets, the cultures and the fight scenes were all very interesting. I also enjoyed that friendship and love among the Praetoria. But the main attraction of the book was Cie. She's got to be my favorite character.

[kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was the literary equivalent of crack cocaine

[Venuss · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very unfortunate 2.50 (read through and you’ll see why)

My language may be a bit colorful, I was in frustration tears lmao
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The description of this book and the set up on the first 30-40 pages really had me hyped for this read! Especially the amount of pages, like it had all the ingredients for exactly what want to find in stories of this nature.

But then as I kept reading, I realized how I kept telling myself things like this when certain aspects ticked me off..

“okay a 4 star read is just as good!”

“.. so a three star read.. maybe a close to 4 star!?”

“Am I really going to have to rate this a 2..?”


To start things off; the world, I’m confused by still and don’t think I was really thrown into it all the way (even thought it was written nicely). The logistics of it though, was like modern, futuristic, and historical (Middle Ages) all at once. I wish we were provided with some maps!

Also, besides the confusion of our setting. It seemed to be a bit of plot holes in the time frames of things and events. Other than that.

Anyways, that first fight was hot so I obviously stayed for the undeniable chemistry(speaking of fights, the fight scenes were good too). But then felt off because the romance started on around page 57. Like I wished the mutual attraction came a bit later. Especially the reveal of things since the story is 500 and something pages. Like Cie’s insta love makes sense once we are revealed more about her character, but Jemma craving for “thrill” in life, doesn’t make sense in this case.

BUT HEY! They were really cute it seemed in the in between of things. (Jotted this down earlier in the story too..)

Moving on. I did not expect this story to have such heavy themes such as rape, beating, SA, abuse, child trafficking . It really gave me whiplash and wished I was prepared for these themes with some beginning content warnings. I almost DNF around the late 200s because it’s just like Cie and even her daughter (fcking sad yet wasn’t even really regarded so not needed; felt she was plunged in on behalf of the author half way though) were used as a trauma bag that just gets kicked on. But I finished so I can write how fcked of a story this turned to be and how disappointed my high expectations fell upon me.

Knowing that, Jemma became weirder and weirder to me throughout the story and here’s some reasons why..

1. Jemma pissed me off every time she asked if Cie killed people. UH DUH! She’s an assassin and she almost killed YOU , hello?? Also it can be some fcked people she kills and she still has the nerve to act an ass.

2. Gets mad Cie ’buys’ her personal ASF gifts from different worlds

3. I do love Cie and Jemma (after finishing my read, I wish Cie got tf away— wrote I love them during the fair), don’t get me wrong. But it’s like Jemma never remembers what Cie’s life is and all she goes through and what she has to do FOR Jemma by the way she gets mad at her over trivial shit Especially how she was acting with her at the dinner like wtf was all that for, I’m not listening to any excuse to emotionally attack and embarrass your partner because Cie didn’t do anything Jemma accused her of doing. She was hot on her heels from the day before.

4. Cie’s abuse and— to me— age regression, while acknowledged, always seemed to be brushed off. It’s like I never feel it tolling on Jemma when it literally has me in tears each time it’s spoken about. She stills supports the kingdom while knowing what the kingdom does to her girlfriend and doesn’t question shit else about what’s right or wrong but assumes she’s right all the time.. And oh God,making Cie think of the Prince as a best friend after all he did is horrible. Why couldn’t it be a regular friendship

5. I hated everyone at the end but Cie and Aaran. Because, not only do the whole Prateoria fck on each other. They all suck! She thinks of these people as true friends when they half ass care about her and don’t help truly at all. And Jemma literally gave her shit all throughout WITH knowledge and just never made up for it all fully— also attempted to late asf—, and Cie being who she is, took her back in.

6. When we get Cie’ rare povs it’s so centered around Jemma and a lot of her story is very tell not show. While Jemma’s is constantly used when— sorry not— her story isn’t much but about her wanting spark to her boring life— that yet she contradicts ALOT .

7. Oh and then she basically cheats (multiple times) on her after verbally, emotionally (refers to her as a psychopath too during this), and sexually abused her! Literally applying her situation that no where correlates to a fcking club random. Also gets turned on that Cie catches her cheating and then they bang like WTF did this turn into, seriously just typing out my review makes me want to flirt with the 1 star. AND I WANT TO TELL THE DISGUSTING PRINCE TO STFU, why would she give that weirdo flowers after she’s given everything!

Maybe she would’ve been better with prologue girl cause lord did I want Cie to end her happy story WITHOUT Jemma.

During and after reading this I realized “Who are we supposed to root for?” I mean, both the rival worlds were both shitty asf with people and rulers that are disgusting and cruel. They both could’ve disintegrated in space for all I fcking care.

And while I know this is the Authors debut and I want to give her other books a chance as I can acknowledge how she has good writing— minus a plethora of mistakes— she’s careless with these subjects (slavery, abuse, SA, child trafficking, freedom of speech). It’s like she knows how to write of them and their heaviness but then it starts to feel— after a while of it not being cared for and recognized deeply by surrounding characters— it’s just there for plot device.

I mean she made the ending be oh happy go lucky about slavey because they’re “happy slaves” like what? This story doesn’t know if slavery is good or bad and it just grinds my gears. Every heavy topic just seems to get dangled for some “oh does she love me? I’m a wittle reporter on a throne and I hate her because she didn’t text me on her demanding job that always seems to take a lot from her”.

Anyways, author really needed an editor because the bones were there and we had hella pages to make it work but it just seem like too much was throw in and not enough tiny fingers to untie it all without leaving knots behind.

I hope her other books will redeem this one cause progression in this book felt like torture p*rn to an already broken character and world, along with just a whole bunch of bad tropes to make a grainy smoothie. *Newsflash* that’s not a dark romance, that’s some other shit!

Here’s some quotes I wanted to touch on

She reached into her hair and pulled a single strand from her head. It was long and black as night and barely visible by the light of the lamp, but she wrapped it once, twice, three times around Cie's wrist and tied it loosely amid the other bands. Then she kissed it gently.
Cie looked at her in puzzlement.
"Now you belong to me too."

- Would’ve been more cute and satisfying the other way around

Cie flinched. "What can I do to fix it, to make it better?" Jemma held her eyes angrily and felt a thrill when Cie blinked and dropped her gaze to the floor.”

- And you expect me to still ship after 300 pages of bs like this?

“Two could play at that game. If that's the way the empty-hearted bitch liked to play it, then Jemma could serve up some cold-hearted fun and games too...
Jemma gripped Cie's chin with her thumb and finger and tilted it sharply upwards. "You want to make this better? Lie on your back on the floor for me, babe."
Cie's eyes flashed for the merest instant then, with a small nod, she obeyed.”

- Yeah, just sexually abuse your girlfriend like everyone FCKING ELSE HAS. After asking if she fcked an old btch that uses her AND YOU KNOW ITS NEVER TRUE CONSENT.

“Every moment she scraped she gave to Jemma. She brought her gifts from across the Kingdom to share the things she found delightful – the rare, beautiful things she found between the politics and the killings, the fights and the beatings.”

- This where I debated to REALLY give up on this book. Another sob from me because it’s just starts to feel like a sick kink that Cie suffers over and over again

“Jemma spat. “Did you take her back to your bed or did you just fuck her right there in the palace gardens?”
Cie closed her eyes and seemed to be controlling her breathing.”

- Hypocrite alert. The audacity to be mad when you’ve been banging every Cie look alike is bonkers. And then she beats on her like wtf, doesn’t even let her talk, AGAIN

”Pon knelt down in front of her and kissed her on the forehead. “You must have guessed. He couldn’t have hidden it from you much longer. She looks more and more like him every day.”
Max wore a grin like a maniac. “I’m glad. We’re a proper little family.”

- No, Pon and Max. Y’all are not, it’s fcking weird and disgusting

[Zelda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent romance story that has some slow parts, but more than makes up for it by wrenching your heart in so many directions. Completely caught me off guard. Highly recommend for a first book debut.

Please give it a sequel or prequel in this universe. The setting and characters have so much potential.

[Jossie Alefounder · Rating 5 out of 5]

An assassin who falls hard for a woman knows she should kill. This is a great read set in a future world (familiar enough not to feel like hard-core sci-fi, different enough to be interesting and enticing) full of political intrigue, action and sword-fights, terrorists, a mad king, and lots of ice cream. I found the book to be very well-written - the author has a great turn of phrase, writes amusing, snappy dialogue, and is very good at setting deeply evocative moods and atmospheres. The two lead characters are both highly believable women, both flawed, both trying their best in sticky situations, the sexual tension runs damn hot and the sex scenes are lyrical rather than graphic. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s an excellent read for a first novel. I’m very keen to see what the author writes next. Totally recommended.

[Alexis Cheyenne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you ever sad when a story is over? You have to leave your favorite characters behind. Cie is my favorite character and I really truly loved her. As much as i disliked Jemma for the middle of the book, she did /sort of/ redeem herself by being there for Cie. Jemma really just disregarded the fact that Cie is a slave and had little to no choice in her actions. She made the best out of what she could. Cie showed her so much love, and she just thought of it as acting childish. I wish we could have seen more of Cie, she truly was my favorite and I hate leaving her behind and her story being over.

[Faith Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The world building is nice and vivid. I enjoyed the romance the most in the story. I did not like the casual disregard for slavery that everyone has in the book. The relationship between the slaves and the person that owns them is made to look more like a found family, instead of the gross power imbalance, in which four of the people physically cannot disobey one. The complacency that the people in power have while serving a terrible ,useless king makes the also book less appealing. But I read it with kindle unlimited so I’m not too upset.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun!

This is the first time I’ve ever read this author, and I’ll definitely be back for more! Fantastic story, it was well written and full of excitement. It’s on the longer side, but the pages absolutely flew by.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Brilliant

What an absolutely fantastic book. I loved it. The story and characters were great and I stayed up late reading for several days. I also cried buckets for poor Cie, absolutely heartbreaking and so well written.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing

Didn’t really know what I was getting into when I picked up this book. It’s filled with human emotions that make you swoon for all the characters. A page turner with action, romance and heart.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was this a perfect book? No. Did it have the word “babe” 278 times.? Yes. Did I fall in love with Cie? Absolutely.