Team Tandem recommends…House Of Earth And Blood by Sarah J Maas

5 Aug

You know those books that you fall in love with and have to recommend to all your friends? That is what House of Earth and Blood is for me. I first read it when it came out in March 2020, and I loved it! When I then got asked to run a massive global readalong for it in March 2021, I leapt at the chance. This readalong was incredible; maximising our reach by including readers from UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Greece and Canada..

After the initial success, Bloomsbury asked us to run a similar activation for the UK,in June 2021, so this has become my favourite readalong title to date.

“Not only do I love the book, but I got to reread it, and got members of Team Tandem involved too!”

— Jenny Ayre, Campaign Manager

Readalong image provided by @HowIMetABook

Readalong image provided by @BooksAndBeans2021

One of my favourite things about the book community is recommending a book to someone, and having them absolutely love it.. We had 9 non-fantasy readers taking part from the team, and all of them were blown away by the book.sSuccess - we have fantasy converts!

“House of Earth and Blood was my first foray into fantasy and it certainly won't be the last! I have had my head completely turned and this readalong has been a catalyst in opening my reading up to a whole host of books that I might have otherwise totally dismissed! Thank you Jenny and Tandem!” Sukhy - Team Tandem

“After being afraid to pick up a fantasy book of this size for so long, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was sucked into this book, and how much I enjoyed it. This experience has definitely opened my eyes to the genre and also to books by SJM. I enjoyed the experience so much, I have my eye on the next book!” Jaide- Team Tandem

“I really loved House of Earth and Blood. I used to be massively into fantasy when I was a YA, to the point it was all I read, but haven't picked anything up in years. This was the perfect reentry for me... the balance between the romantic and fantasy elements plus the character development made this such an easy read. That's definitely saying something as it's so chunky, I was intimidated at first! For anyone who wants to reignite their love for fantasy, or dive into the genre, pick this up!” El- Team Tandem

So have I piqued your interest, yet?
What is it all about?

This is the first book in Maas's adult series, Crescent City, and trust me House of Earth and Blood has something for everyone. There are plot lines from so many of your favourite genres: are you into romance? Perfect- this book is for you. Crime? Got you covered. Political thrillers? Yep, we've got that too! How about contemporary fans? Well, House of Earth and Blood is set in a modern city, the characters have mobile phones and computers, so yeah - I think we can tick that box too! That may sound chaotic, but it's woven together in an incredible novel about solving a heinous crime, falling in love and all while battling your own mental health demons.

Give it a go and see what you think! - then come back and let me know. I’m at Jenny Reads on IG.

If you want to hear some more of the Team’s thoughts throughout the readalong, you can check out our live series. Myself and Sukhy spoke about why fantasy is intimidating, I chatted with Naomi about how fantasy is a great genre to tackle real world issues, Char and I discussed the book in full and our thoughts in a spoiler filled chat and,finally, Ben and I discussed what films or TV shows to watch next.

The Readalong question cards are available to download here, and my Instagram DM’s are always open - especially for House of Earth and Blood chat! Check out the blog post here for using our readalong questions to create your own book club, and check out this post for more fantasy recommendations from me.

Happy Reading!