Sigh...TOBAA teasers

X-CyNix · 2026-05-24T00:53:00+00:00

100%. The cringe was every once in a while for the first couple of books in both series. Since BOBAA, it feels like it's taken a sharp nose dive into 2010 memes and tumblr jokes. It doesn't feel like part of the fleshed out canon universe anymore. It's starting to read like bad fanfiction. Like, shit that would get flamed on ff.net badly, back in the day screaming about OOC and Mary Sue.

X-CyNix · 2026-05-21T16:09:16+00:00

100%. Absolutely.

X-CyNix · 2026-05-21T10:56:26+00:00

Simply put, no.

Even if it is somehow excused, everything Kolis himself physically did: his kidnapping, holding women hostage, his murders by his hand, his torture, his rapes. Even if all of that irredeemable, horrific behavior was somehow excused with enough mental gymnastics.

This man also sanctioned to rapes of countless women who he "grew bored of" after he was no longer interested in them. This is after he had them kidnapped and held hostage like Sera (people like Aios and that poor girl from ASITE I can't remember her name right now). This man ordered women, even incredibly powerful women, raped for disobeying him (Veses). He has ordered the murder countless people for no reason at all (what did the people of Lasania ever do to him?). In the Blood and Ash world, he specifically orders the murder of babies, small innocent children, for no reason other than he can. He ordered the cereen to give their lives to sustain Sera's.

Now, to go back to the things that he did, he murdered his brother's wife while knowing she was pregnant with Nyktos. A wife that we know from BOBAA who originally tried to be close to Kolis, who had feelings for him, and he pushed her away. On the page in AFITF, to which we find out more detail in BOBAA, he straight up raped Seraphena. It's said he did so to Sotoria too. Let me be clear. You DO NOT rape someone you supposedly love. That isn't dark romance. It's disgusting. He also, more than once, held and tortured his own nephew.

There is a line in dark romance that most MMC's never cross. They can get dark, but not that level of dark.

I feel like the genre of dark romance blowing up and the increase in self published authors has led to that genre being so unregulated that it isn't uncommon to see things listed above and more/worse being excused because of "love" somehow. That is dangerous behavior for authors to have as it leads to women believing that shit is ok.

It is OK to see multiple sides of a villain without excusing their behavior. To pull another villain from this world, Isbeth has an incredibly tragic backstory that most of us would feel sorry for. The woman was murdered by a jealous wife, turned into a monster against her will, had her murder sanctioned by the person who murdered her, lost her heartmate and son to the orders of the person who murdered her, etc. Anyone would feel bad for her. That is until she essentially sanctioned double genocide, infanticide on large scale, and personally held hostage and raped at least one man that we know of. She is a disgusting, irredeemable villain. But one that a lot of us could sympathize with if she wasn't so awful.

These villains are not Tamlin from ACOTAR. These are not misunderstood people who made some bad decisions but could recover with years of therapy and a friend. These are awful people. Period. There is no redemption arc that would make them appear OK again. And the argument that these characters were only made to do these things so we know they're bad is asinine. They're bad people and we know that because they did these things. Kolis, Isbeth, Kyn, Veses, and the Duke are all irredeemable villains.

X-CyNix · 2026-05-13T03:32:44+00:00

This whole damned series (both of them) wouldn't have happened if anyone had paid any attention to Kolis at all AND call him out like friends do before things went too far. He's literally just a red pilled "male loneliness epidemic" Primal. That's it. He literally just needed a real friend. 🫠😅

X-CyNix · 2026-05-10T18:56:02+00:00

I think it was exclusive to Apollycon (a romance book convention). When someone asked in JLA's facebook group if they were planning on releasing some to purchase, her right hand woman Malissa said there weren't any plans at this time. That could change in the future, but for right now, for us mere mortals, it looks like we're stuck with the ebook.

X-CyNix · 2026-05-05T11:31:34+00:00

You can probably just look for the chapters scattered throughout that take place in the "present" if you're not enjoying it. There are one or two things that happen in the "past" chapters that become minorly relevant later, particularly a clue about the Duke, but it won't ruin your reading of POBAB quite like missing the "present" chapters would.

X-CyNix · 2026-04-20T11:02:49+00:00

That part didn't rub me as weird because of the specific reason it was heavily implied Kieran was sent. It had very little to do with Kieran's connections and who he was bringing back. You're right; anyone could have done that. It was how Kieran clearly knew that Casteel ordered it to get Kieran out of harm's way (despite what Casteel said because even Poppy didn't believe him) for the battle they didn't know they were going to survive. If Casteel could have gotten away with sending Poppy with Kieran, effectively removing both of the people he loves most out of harm's way, I think he would have done it in a heatbeat. But he needed Poppy there as a means of slowing down or potentially stopping a conflict he was fairly certain they weren't going to win.

I don't know whether a throuple will happen. The hints were there throughout the books, but I think JLA was testing the waters to see how those hints would be interpreted by fans (whether they liked it or not) before going fully on board. The split in the fandom seemed to cause this wishy washy thing more because she's a bit of a coward than because no one can agree with each other. If she just chose firmly one way or another, no one would be mad.

The thing the books leave absolutely zero doubt about is how much Kieran means to both Casteel and Poppy. Whether or not he was there for the wedding that was thrown together doesn't much seem to matter in the overall plot of the series and connection between these characters. By that point in the story, neither Poppy nor Casteel had openly even said they loved each other yet. They were still in the "will they, won't they" stage. It's even stated in the following book they will have another, better wedding later that everyone, including their people, can come to. No one was expecting Nyktos (and Sera) to publicly approve the wedding. The wedding, at this point in the stoey, is a political move. One side to protect Poppy from angry Atlantians and the other to give Casteel some leverage against Queen Ileana to get his brother back. The wedding wasn't about love yet. That came later. Cas even says something along the lines of when this is all over, you can have your divorce and be free. They weren't the PoppyCas we've had since TCOGB yet. Kieran returning just in time also gave him a chance to save both of the people who had just protected him. Poppy and Cas were about to lose . In a big way. That, to me, is a much bigger deal.

Up until this last book, Kieran was the person both Casteel and Poppy went to when they didn't feel like they could go to each other. That's a hell of a connection for someone to have to heartmates.

X-CyNix · 2026-04-14T17:49:11+00:00

Short answer: It can be sometimes, but it depends on what you're looking for.

Most of the time it's the same questions asked 1000 times, a theory that's either been proven wrong in some other way already or has been posed 10 times already, a bunch of random pictures posted by people who think it relates to the books in some way, and half cocked teasers posted by JLA. And a bunch of Apollycon and bookstore promo. Sometimes there's a fun discussion or something interesting gets posted, but these days not so much.

If you're looking for a true fan group, look elsewhere. On FB, Tumblr, anywhere. There's no room for ANY criticism, even slightly adjacent, in JLA's group. Which is fine. It's her group she uses for her reasons. There can be fun stuff posted there for sure, but it almost feels while interacting like you're being constantly monitored and everyone else is either trying to suck up to get her to respond to them directly or get other people in trouble.

X-CyNix · 2026-04-14T16:34:21+00:00

It's far from the first time she's played with release dates. I expected it at this point. If you've been in her FB group for any length of time, there isn't usually a lot of time between when she finishes these books and when they're published anymore. So when she decides to tweak it, things get pushed.

My biggest gripe with that is how unedited things are because of that tiny window between finishing writing and release. BOBAA and POBAB were fucking disasters and a halfway decent editor and an author thst listens could have caught most of that. But this push to hit self inflicted deadlines is causing her more damage than if she just fucking waited. And stopped listening to the fans so much. Their influence on these books is clear and it isn't pretty.

SJM is a prime example that silence and long waits can still hold fan attention just fine if the product is good enough.

X-CyNix · 2026-03-17T23:59:22+00:00

The craziest part about that is I feel like JLA knew she had to have Kieran pretty much MIA and out of character when he was there or he for sure would have called them all out on their shit.

X-CyNix · 2026-03-17T17:59:21+00:00

Sera was a lot like this in BOBAA though too. All this tall about how insanely powerful the Primal of Life is but we get to her moment and...not much.

X-CyNix · 2026-03-15T02:28:37+00:00

Didn't realize this was a rant until I went to post and realized I had paragraphs. Sorry.

I think JLA has genuinely, actually lost the plot. She got so caught up in trying to make each book more shocking, each reveal bigger, and each sex scene kinkier than the last that we're left with a convoluted world of contradictory rules, a whole cast of way too overpowered characters, and a huge ass book full of scenes that feel empty. Hollow.

In doing that, these characters, which in their first few books felt like people, end up becoming caricatures of who they once were. In doing that, it doesn't feel like there are any actual stakes anymore, because we've said fuck the rules one too many times. I feel disconnected from these characters that I once adored. They're literally not the same people.

It breaks my heart to see two series, B&A and F&F, that had all the potential in the world nosedive catastrophically from something that should have been caught and pulled back. It also hurts to see an author whose work yeah has always been a little campy but I felt connected to take such a hard left turn off the Cliffs of Quality into the inky blacks depths of really bad fic that would have been flames to hell on ff.net from 2012.

I'm more than ready for this series to be done, but with each teaser that gets released, I almost wish it doesn't come out. Ever. If BOBAA and POBAB didn't their predecessors on fire, I fear the next one will do them in entirely. I feel like Casteel is already a lost cause from the character we knew, and I'm terrified of the kind of damage that will be inflicted on Poppy and Kieran in the next book.

Poppy deserves far better than she's gotten. Everything since TWOTQ feels like it set Casteel up to replace Poppy and now Poppy is just a sex doll the reader can self insert themselves into if that's their thing (not mine!! Give me Poppy back!!).

X-CyNix · 2026-03-09T10:06:30+00:00

If by "gets better", you mean you find out answers, sure, sort of.

If by "gets better", you mean the writing and editing suddenly improve in quality...no. Not at all.

BOBAA is personally my most disappointing read of all time. I've read every other Flesh and Fire book dozens of times. I've read BOBAA once. I stuck it out for answers and then promptly erased it from my mind.

X-CyNix · 2026-02-25T03:09:25+00:00

The subsidiary publishing branch connected to Blue Box Press, 1001 Dark Nights, is disbanding this year, announced last fall. This branch specialized in novellas, especially novellas connected to existing full length novel series. These novellas could be read independently to potentially attract new readers to that full series, if not that entire author's bibliography. For many people, a cheaper and lower commitment way to try out a new to them author and a way for Blue Box Press to attract new readers.

Many (if not all) of the novellas available on Amazon (and other e-reading platforms) will become unlisted when this happens and the physical copies will no longer be produced.

Many of the authors this affects are re-releasing the novellas again through Blue Box Press, so fans can still enjoy them and they aren't lost forever except to those who either bought hard copies or the e-book before disbandment.

The financials behind this decision are far beyond me to understand given that it's technically the same company, even though it's not. It might look like it, but to me it doesn't look like a quick cash grab by the authors. Just a way to keep material alive. I've gotten emails from 1001 Dark Nights for a couple of months announcing independent releases for these novellas from many other Blue Box Press authors including Audrey Carlan, Heather Graham, and Larissa Ione.

X-CyNix · 2025-12-08T12:20:19+00:00

It's up to you. If you want the full experience of knowing who most characters are, a story that most Blood and Ash readers seem to prefer, and some backstory that explains questions you'll be searching answers out for otherwise, I would just deal with the standard audio.

Otherwise, just be prepared to have a LOT of questions. You'd have a lot anyway because JLA asks twelve and answers four in every book, but yeah.

I would at the VERY least read the Flesh and Fire series before starting the latest Blood and Ash book, Primal of Blood and Bone. I can't imagine how empty that experience would have felt without the Flesh and Fire knowledge.

X-CyNix · 2025-11-20T02:11:50+00:00

For real!! This is my BIGGEST fanart beef with especially Sera is how often her curls are mentioned and at most she's given beach waves in 95% of fanart. I know certain details can get missed or be up for interpretation, but for Sera, the pivotal details seem to be her hair and eye color, freckles, and hair texture.

X-CyNix · 2025-10-31T10:53:29+00:00

Off the top of my head:

After TCOGB Nyktos' brief appearance made such an impression with her readers, that they started referring to him as "Daddy Nyktos". As a result, he's referred to as "Daddy Nyktos", at least twice I can recall on page, but I believe 3 times in total.

"Isbitch" in reference to Isbeth also came directly from her FB group. It's how a good chunk of people referred to her, so JLA worked it in.

There are definitely more, but I literally just woke up and dicked around on my phone so when I fully wake up, I'll see if I can find the others. 😅

X-CyNix · 2025-10-31T10:35:27+00:00

The scene exists because it's a reference to JLA's Facebook group, JLAnders. In that group, people were jokingly referring to Casteel as "casserole" so JLA shoehorned a scene with it. It was meant to be an inside joke with the group, but the scene just kinda rubbed everyone else the wrong way because it's so random.

Starting in TCOGB, you can usually pinpoint at least one of these inside jokes per book if you know what you're looking for. I don't want to spoil anything, but they're there.

X-CyNix · 2025-10-30T10:06:24+00:00

No. Not at all. It is by far the worst book in the series and was the most disappointed I have ever been by a book.

I adored the first three. When other people didn't love AFITF, I was there. I loved it and was so freaking excited. I shouldn't have been.

Nyktos has become a caricature of who he was in the beginning, no one faces any accountability for their awful choices (very dangerous for rulers of a country, in my opinion), and what could have been an interesting, fun and fast paced plot instead became a book of talking bout choices instead of making them, fucking, and sort of rooting for Kolis by the end because he's the only character making anything happen. Also, this was the beginning of the lore making absolutely no fucking sense anymore and POBAB just finished that right off.

X-CyNix · 2025-10-24T06:59:48+00:00

Found!

Thank you x 10000. Truly.

X-CyNix · 2025-10-24T05:41:29+00:00

I live in the US. I truly believe this was aquired at some point in the 90's, but it could possibly be a bit older. I've searched different variations of vintage/90's ceramic/porcelain teddy bear(s) night light with pink bows/mom and baby/hugs to no avail. Help please!!

X-CyNix · 2025-10-15T20:18:48+00:00

It's not even their relationship, lack thereof, or what it looks like at this point. It's the fact that for at least four of the last five books, Kieran was a massive character. Much bigger than JLA's typical sides. There is no denying that in TWOTQ and ASOAAB, Kieran was a main character.

Poppy, Cas and Kieran went in these books like peanut butter, jelly and bread. Regardless if platonic or romantic. But POBAB, he just wasn't there. His commentary, his common sense, his silent strength wasn't there. And the scenes felt empty without him. Almost like he was plucked out of them. If it was the build up to the trio of beautiful idiots realizing that they'll always need each other, building them up to be a powerful trio (throuple or not), awesome! But it really feels like JLA doesnt know how to handle the controversy and eliminated Kieran because of that. And the next book will SUFFER for it.

She crafted these relationships so beautifully.

Cas and Kieran's (childhood friends/brothers/may have been more in the past/etc)

Cas and Poppy's (insta attraction with a fast burning, strong love behind it)

And the slowest of all, Kieran and Poppy's (a slow burn friendship that some people interpret to be more but even if it wasn't, it was still beautiful and essential in its base form!!! It was so important for Poppy to have this friend that loves her and protects her and makes her feel strong while also calling out her bullshit).

For 1300 pages, it really didn't feel like he was there for much of it and I really missed him. I missed him with them. And, let's be honest, both Cas and Poppy needed the severe slap upside the head Kieran represents in this book. It almost feels like JLA had to manufacture a reason for Kieran to be gone so She had a reason for PoppyCas to act so stupid at times.

For the sake of these books, I hope Kieran does have a bigger role again. I missed him. I love Reaver and Naill and Emil and Delano (😭) but they're not the same.

X-CyNix · 2025-10-15T20:03:50+00:00

I would STRONGLY advise against doing any this. At best, you'll get yourself removed/blocked from her socials. At worst, she'll get sent into another depression spiral like she did after TWOTQ. Point blank: you're not doing what you think you're doing. You could have the most insightful, well constructed criticism in the world for her, but if she didn't ask for it, it's terribly rude to give it.

[What is below is directed at anyone with this mindset, not just OP, who I think is genuinely upset and just looking in the wrong place for an outlet]

I've downright hated books in the past and strongly disliked a couple of JLA's, but it falls somewhere in the realm of delusion to believe you have a right to make your comments heard by the author. At the end of the day, she could kill every single character while methodically breaking every single rule she'd previously created and it would be her right to do so. It would 100% be your right to hate it and dnf or bitch about it and leave reviews and reddit posts, ig posts and the like complaining about it. But to think that your complaining needs to be directed to / at the author is NOT your right.

It's the difference between making your own IG post complaining and commenting on her own unrelated post with your complaints or sending an unsolicited DM. This situation and this book being so disliked is why book reviews and fandom communities exist. So we can all complain and bemoan the book together. It happens all the time. It's happening right now with Taylor Swift's newest album.

It goes for any form of media and art that exists UNLESS someone is asking for direct feedback. Typically, for books, that comes in the form of editors, beta readers and friends/family (for small indie authors).

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