Blog Tour: Between the Blade and the Heart by Amanda Hocking *ARC #Bookreview

Title: Between the Blade and the Heart
Series: Valkyrie #1
Author: Amanda Hocking
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Published Date: January 2nd, 2018
Genre: Mythology, NA, Fantasy
Page Count: 319
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★.5

Goodreads Summary: 
Valkyries have one great responsibility: to return immortals to the afterlife by slaying them. As a Valkyrie, Malin has always known that the balance of the world rests on her ability to carry out orders. But when Malin discovers that her mother spared the life of an immortal who was destined to die, her world is thrown into chaos.

Malin not only wrestles with the knowledge that her mother might not be who she thought—she’s also thrust into the path of a gorgeous blue-eyed guy named Asher who needs her help slaying the rogue immortal who destroyed his family. The balance of the world is at stake. And, as Asher competes with Malin’s ex for her love and loyalty, so is her heart.

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 My Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Between the Blade and the Heart is Hockings new fantasy series. I have started her Kanin Chronicles and plan to finish it this year and so far have really enjoyed it. So when I got the chance to read/review and be apart of a blog tour for this one I was really excited.


This world is very different from her other series I believe as this one now deals with Mythology and Fantasy elements at the same time. As this is the first in a series we get a lot of information and it was a little confusing at times with a lot of new terms and a whole new world. Some things from the human world are still apart of this and humans are mentioned quite a bit as Valkyrie's are just humans with super strength and the ability to use certain weapons. There are also a lot of Immortals that are demons, etc. this means that the Valkyrie have to send these Immortals back to the underworld when they are supposed to die as they can otherwise life forever and take over the human world. The main character Malin is still in training and her mom is supposed to be helping her but they have a strained relationship and her mom hasn't always done what she's told which ends up being a whole mess that Malin has to take care of with some help from her friends. I don't want to go too much into the word because I think that's part of the excitement of starting a new duology and I don't want to give too much away. 

Overall I enjoyed this book. I could have done without the love triangle and so much emphasis being put on the romance when they really should have been focused on saving the world and dealing with all that after the fact. I did like that the main character was aware of the problems that she had, and that she was openly BI as that is something we're still not seeing much of in YA. I love Malin's friendship with her roommate and how a few of the other side characters ended up helping her out when she didn't feel like she could ask anyone in charge for help. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book after that cliff-hanger at the end. Why do you do this to me, Hocking? I need answers!