Yes, From Blood and Ash is spicy. Reader guides place its open-door scenes in roughly chapters 30, 33, 38 and 39, after a long slow burn that includes a kiss under a willow tree and a risky night at the Red Pearl. This guide to Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Blood and Ash universe separates tension, kissing and explicit scenes, keeps every description spoiler-light and non-graphic, and covers The Primal of Blood and Bone too. Chapter numbers are reader-reported and can shift between editions, so treat them as a map and check your own copy.
On this page: Quick answer · Is it spicy? · Spicy chapters in order · The Primal of Blood and Bone · Series spice levels · Poppy and Hawke · Spoilers · Tropes · Content warnings · Reading order · Vs. other romantasy · Audiobook and GraphicAudio ·
Quick answer: What chapters are spicy in From Blood and Ash?
| Scene | Where it sits | Type | Heat | Spoiler risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Red Pearl | Early in the book | Sexual tension in a suggestive setting | Low | Low |
| The willow tree | Before the explicit chapters | Kissing that escalates, then stops | Medium | Low |
| Around chapter 30 | About chapter 30 | Reported as the first fully explicit scene | High | Medium |
| Around chapter 33 | About chapter 33 | Reported explicit scene | High | Medium |
| Chapters 38–39 | About chapters 38–39 | Reported explicit scene next to a major plot turn | High | High |
How to read the chapter numbers
Treat every number as “around,” not “exactly.” They come from reader-made guides, and chapter breaks can differ between ebook, paperback, hardcover and audiobook editions. If a number is off in your copy, look a chapter or two either side. A few reader lists also name different chapters, which is one more reason to check your own edition.
Is From Blood and Ash spicy?
Yes. From Blood and Ash has explicit, open-door sex scenes and is published as adult fantasy romance. It is also a slow burn. Poppy, the Maiden, is meant to stay untouched, and Hawke, her new guard, is the temptation the whole plot leans on. Most of the first half runs on banter, tension and stolen moments. Reader guides say the first fully explicit scene lands after the midpoint, and that the heat then bunches into a short run of chapters instead of spreading evenly.
My editorial spice rating: 3.5 out of 5. Another reader site rates it 4 out of 5. I land a little lower because the explicit chapters are few and clustered late. Neither number is a fact about the book; it is a judgment, and the scale below shows how I make it.
Tension, kissing and explicit scenes: what’s the difference?
- Sexual tension: charged moments, flirting, near-misses. Nothing physical beyond a touch.
- Kissing and making out: on-page physical contact that stops before sex.
- Explicit (open-door): sex written on the page rather than skipped with a scene break. The opposite is fade-to-black.
How the spice rating works
| Rating | What it means |
|---|---|
| 0 | No romance on the page |
| 1 | Kisses and tension only |
| 2 | Sensual scenes that fade to black |
| 3 | A few open-door scenes |
| 4 | Several explicit scenes central to the plot |
| 5 | Frequent, graphic scenes throughout |
I weigh four things: how many explicit scenes there are, how explicit they get, how central they are to the story, and whether they happen on the page.
From Blood and Ash spicy chapters list in order
| Scene | Where | What to expect (non-graphic) | Heat | Spoilers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Red Pearl | Early, chapter unconfirmed | Poppy slips out in disguise to a notorious establishment. Atmosphere and tension, no sex. | Low | Low |
| The willow tree | Chapter unconfirmed | A kiss Poppy asks for goes further than a kiss before it is stopped. | Medium | Low |
| Around chapter 30 | About 30 | Reported first explicit scene. Details unconfirmed. | High | Medium |
| Around chapter 33 | About 33 | Reported explicit scene. Details unconfirmed. | High | Medium |
| Chapters 38–39 | About 38–39 | Reported heat that sits close to one of the book’s biggest turns. | High | High |
All chapter references are approximate and edition-dependent.
The Red Pearl
Early on, Poppy sneaks out of Castle Teerman wearing a mask and ends up at the Red Pearl, where she watches the nightlife and plays cards. It is more about danger and curiosity than sex, but it sets the tone for how far Poppy is willing to step outside the life of the Maiden. The Red Pearl also has a short bonus scene told from another point of view. That one is spoiler territory, so it is covered in the reading order section.
The willow tree
Hawke leads Poppy to the benches under a willow tree. She asks him to kiss her, and it goes further than a kiss before Hawke calls a stop, partly because of what the Maiden’s role demands. The scene ends with Vikter, Poppy’s guard, catching on and a tense argument with Hawke. If you only want romance and no explicit content, this is about as far as the early book goes.
Around chapter 30
Reader guides report this as the first fully explicit scene, arriving after the book’s midpoint. I have not confirmed the setting or details, so I’m not going to describe them.
Around chapter 33
Reported as a second explicit scene. Same caveat: the number is reader-reported and the details are unconfirmed.
Chapters 38 and 39
These are reported as explicit and as running right into a major plot reveal. If you plan to skip scenes, read ahead carefully: skipping past this stretch can mean missing something the rest of the book depends on. High spoiler risk.
The Primal of Blood and Bone spicy chapters
The Primal of Blood and Bone (TPOBAB) is the sixth book in the main Blood and Ash series. It is a continuation, so it assumes you have read the earlier books and are not discovering the romance, you are following an established couple.
Is The Primal of Blood and Bone spicy?
Reader guides treat it as spicy, and I give it a provisional 4 out of 5 as an editorial rating. That rating is unconfirmed: I could not check it against the text. It fits the series pattern, where reader lists flag more chapters in the later books than in Book 1.
How it compares with From Blood and Ash
If the six chapters hold, the scenes are spread from early to late in the book, which differs from Book 1’s late cluster. That spread, plus a couple in a row around chapters 30 to 33, is why I expect it to read as spicier than From Blood and Ash. Treat that as a hypothesis until the chapters are checked.
From Blood and Ash series spice levels
These are provisional editorial ratings on the 0 to 5 scale above. I only rate books where I have some evidence. Open-door status is stated only where reader guides agree.
| Book | Suggested spice | Romance intensity | Open-door? | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Blood and Ash | 3.5–4 | Slow burn, then explicit | Open-door (reader guides) | Heat clusters late |
| A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire | About 4 (provisional) | High | Unverified | Reader lists flag more chapters than Book 1 |
| The Crown of Gilded Bones | Not rated | Unverified | Unverified | Not enough evidence |
| The War of Two Queens | Not rated | Unverified | Unverified | Not enough evidence |
| A Soul of Ash and Blood | Not rated | Unverified | Unverified | Reader lists flag several chapters; not verified |
| The Primal of Blood and Bone | About 4 (provisional) | High | Unverified | Six reader-reported chapters |
| A Shadow in the Ember | Not rated | Unverified | Unverified | Flesh and Fire prequel series |
| A Light in the Flame | Not rated | Unverified | Unverified | Flesh and Fire prequel series |
| A Fire in the Flesh | Not rated | Unverified | Unverified | Flesh and Fire prequel series |
| Born of Blood and Ash | Not rated | Unverified | Unverified | Flesh and Fire prequel series |
Flesh and Fire is a prequel series set in the same world, thousands of years before Poppy’s story, so it is a separate set of characters. If you want its spicy chapters, check each book individually instead of assuming it matches the main series.
Poppy and Hawke’s romance and spicy scenes
Spoiler-free section.
Poppy is the Maiden, chosen by the gods at birth to live a sheltered, restricted life in the kingdom of Solis. She is not supposed to be touched, spoken to freely, or known. Then Hawke arrives as her new guard, with a charm and a set of secrets that make him dangerous to her carefully managed existence.
The romance is a slow burn built on forbidden love and forced proximity. They spend almost all their time together, which turns early bickering into trust and then into something the Maiden’s role strictly forbids. The relationship moves in stages: banter, a few close calls, the Red Pearl and the willow tree, and then the explicit chapters covered above. What keeps it interesting is that every step is a risk for Poppy, not just for her heart.
Spoilers: Poppy, Hawke, and Casteel
SPOILER WARNING: this section reveals the book’s central identity twist. Skip to “Romance tropes” if you haven’t read From Blood and Ash.
Hawke is Casteel Da’Neer, an Atlantian prince, and his arrival at Castle Teerman was never a coincidence. That reveal turns the romance into something more complicated. The relationship Poppy thought she was building with a guard was, from his side, tangled up with deception and a mission, and from hers, with a kingdom’s lies about who the enemy really is. It is why readers search for “Poppy and Casteel” as well as “Poppy and Hawke”: the same person, seen before and after the truth comes out.
The effect on the spicy scenes is real. Chapters you read as pure romance later read as something heavier, and chapters 38–39 are reported to sit right beside the reveal. The Red Pearl also has a bonus scene told from Casteel’s side, which fills in what he was doing there. I’m deliberately leaving out every other twist.
Romance tropes in From Blood and Ash
- Slow burn: the first explicit scene reportedly doesn’t arrive until after the midpoint, so most of the book is tension.
- Forbidden love: the Maiden may not be touched or known, so every moment with Hawke breaks a rule.
- Protector romance: Hawke is first Poppy’s guard, and his instinct to keep her safe drives much of what he does.
- Forced proximity: a guard and the person he guards share nearly every day, and later the story throws them into closer quarters.
- Hidden identity: Hawke is not who he says he is. See the spoiler section.
- Enemies to lovers: their loyalties sit on opposite sides of the kingdoms’ conflict, even before either fully knows it.
- Morally gray hero: Casteel does things a conventional hero wouldn’t, for reasons the book asks you to weigh.
- Touch her and die: he is fiercely protective of Poppy, and the story makes that clear.
- Chosen one: Poppy is the Maiden, chosen by the gods, and what that means turns out to be a bigger question than the title suggests.
- Captive romance: captivity and its power imbalance appear later in the book. This is a spoiler-adjacent tag, so I’m keeping it vague.
From Blood and Ash content warnings and trigger warnings
This table separates what I could support from what I could not. Don’t assume every warning applies to every book.
| Category | Book 1 status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Explicit sexual content | Applies | Multiple reader guides |
| Violence and blood | Applies | Flagged by StoryGraph reviewers; vampire premise |
| Blood drinking and blood feeding | Applies (premise) | Vampires are part of the world |
| Suicide, attempted (past, side character) | Reported | Crowd-sourced Book Trigger Warnings entry |
| Death, including major character death | Unconfirmed | Not verified per book |
| Torture, gore, body horror | Unconfirmed | Not verified per book |
| Kidnapping, captivity, deception | Unconfirmed | Captivity themes are plausible but not verified |
| Slavery | Unconfirmed | Not verified per book |
| Abuse, including child abuse | Unconfirmed | Not verified per book |
| Child death, animal death | Unconfirmed | Not verified per book |
| Self-harm | Unconfirmed | Not verified per book |
| Sexual assault | Unconfirmed | Not verified per book |
| War and grief | Unconfirmed | More likely in later books |
The unconfirmed rows come from a competitor list that doesn’t say which book each warning belongs to. If you have specific triggers, check a detailed resource such as StoryGraph’s content warnings, which are crowd-sourced and book-specific, before you start.
From Blood and Ash reading order
Publication order
The main Blood and Ash series in the order it was published:
- From Blood and Ash (2020)
- A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (2020)
- The Crown of Gilded Bones (2021)
- The War of Two Queens (2022)
- A Soul of Ash and Blood (2023)
- The Primal of Blood and Bone (2025)
A Crown of Ruin, a novella released on December 26, 2025 and numbered 6.5, fills the gap between The Primal of Blood and Bone and the next novel. The prequel series is Flesh and Fire: A Shadow in the Ember, A Light in the Flame, A Fire in the Flesh and Born of Blood and Ash (2024). There is also Visions of Flesh and Blood, a 2024 compendium co-written with Rayvn Salvador.
Related Post:
- ACOTAR Books in Order: Complete Reading Guide
- Throne of Glass Tandem Read Guide: Empire of Storms & Tower of Dawn
The author’s interleaved order
Armentrout’s own FAQ, as relayed by a library guide, recommends weaving the two series together: From Blood and Ash, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, The Crown of Gilded Bones, A Shadow in the Ember, The War of Two Queens, A Light in the Flame, A Soul of Ash and Blood, A Fire in the Flesh, Visions of Flesh and Blood, Born of Blood and Ash, then The Primal of Blood and Bone. Publication order and this interleaved order are not the same, so pick one on purpose. Reading Flesh and Fire too early can spoil mysteries in the main series.
The Red Pearl bonus scene is optional and told from Casteel’s point of view. Because it reveals his side, one reader suggests reading it after Book 3. Spoiler risk is high before that.
Current status of newer books
As of November 2026, The Primal of Blood and Bone and A Crown of Ruin are published. The Throne of Bone and Ash, the seventh novel, is confirmed as a title and described by the author as Poppy and Casteel’s final book, but I found no confirmed English release date; trackers say 2027. It is not out yet. Fall of Ruin and Wrath is part of a different Armentrout series, Awakening.
From Blood and Ash vs. other romantasy books
These are editorial comparisons, not measurements. I’m only comparing what readers broadly agree on and flagging the rest.
| Book | Open-door? | Slow burn? | How it compares on spice | Reader suitability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Blood and Ash | Yes | Yes, strongly | Reference point (3.5–4) | Adults |
| A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire | Unverified | Slower to start, then more romance | Provisionally spicier | Adults |
| Fourth Wing | Widely described as open-door | Moderate | Adults | |
| A Court of Thorns and Roses | Widely described as open-door | Moderate | Adults | |
| Quicksilver | Widely described as spicy | Adults |
I don’t have verified evidence to rank these precisely, so the “spice comparison” cells are left for you to fill after reading. Don’t publish a ranking you can’t defend.
From Blood and Ash audiobook and GraphicAudio spicy scenes
A standard audiobook is a single narrator or a small narration team reading the text as written. GraphicAudio is a dramatized production with a full cast and sound design, and it can structure the book differently. The GraphicAudio listing of From Blood and Ash is split into two parts, so listening time and part breaks won’t match print chapters.
I haven’t verified any audio timestamps, and I won’t guess. Use chapter numbers and, if you’re listening, the chapter list in your app. Chapter divisions and timestamps can differ between print, standard audio and dramatized editions, so chapter references are more dependable than timestamps. I also can’t say how a given scene sounds in either format.
FAQs
What chapter is the spicy scene in From Blood and Ash?
Reader guides place the first fully explicit scene around chapter 30. Numbers vary by edition.
What chapters are spicy in From Blood and Ash?
About chapters 30, 33, 38 and 39, according to reader guides. The earlier Red Pearl and willow tree moments are romantic but not explicit.
How many spicy scenes are in From Blood and Ash?
Readers point to roughly four chapters. That counts chapters, not individual scenes, and I haven’t verified the total.
Is From Blood and Ash explicit?
Yes. It has open-door sex scenes, though kept to a short stretch.
Is From Blood and Ash open door?
Yes, according to reader guides. The scenes happen on the page.
Is From Blood and Ash spicier than Fourth Wing?
Both are widely described as open-door. Which is spicier is subjective, and I can’t back up a ranking.
Is From Blood and Ash spicier than ACOTAR?
Same answer: both are open-door, and the ranking is a matter of taste. Check a detailed guide for each.
Is The Primal of Blood and Bone spicy?
Yes, by reader reports. My provisional rating is about 4 out of 5.
What are the spicy chapters in The Primal of Blood and Bone?
A reader guide lists chapters 11, 17, 30, 32, 33 and 46. That is one source and is unconfirmed.
Is A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire spicier than From Blood and Ash?
Probably. Reader lists flag more chapters in Book 2, but I haven’t verified it.
Do Poppy and Hawke get together?
Yes, though the reveal about Hawke changes what that means. (Spoiler.)
Is Hawke actually Casteel?
Yes. Hawke is Casteel Da’Neer. (Spoiler.)
Is From Blood and Ash dark?
Yes. Reviewers tag it dark and tense, and it includes violence and blood.
What are the trigger warnings for From Blood and Ash?
Explicit sexual content, violence and blood, and a past attempted suicide of a side character are supported. Others are unconfirmed. See the warnings table.
What order should I read the Blood and Ash series?
Publication order is simplest. The author suggests an interleaved order with Flesh and Fire. Both are above.
Is there a Blood and Ash TV show?
Not yet. Sony Pictures Television announced in December 2024 that it is developing a series covering the first five books. As of the sources I found, no premiere date, writer or network had been confirmed. Amazon previously held the rights, and the option lapsed. Some low-quality sites claim otherwise; ignore them.
Do Kieran and Poppy sleep together?
Not in From Blood and Ash. Later books develop a more complicated dynamic involving Kieran, but I haven’t verified specifics, so I’m not stating them.
Can a 13-year-old read From Blood and Ash?
It’s published as adult fantasy romance and contains explicit sex, violence and mature themes. I found no official age rating, and I won’t invent one. It isn’t aimed at 13-year-olds; parents should decide with the content warnings in hand.
Hi, I’m Nisbah – a blogger with over 2 years of experience creating content and a fantasy enthusiast who loves exploring magical worlds, fantasy books, captivating stories, and unforgettable characters. I share book recommendations, reviews, fantasy insights, and story discussions and creating guides to help readers discover their next great adventure.
