Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
Published by DoubleDay Children's Books
Series: The Blood Journals #1
Challenge: DAC
Source: Review Copy
For Nick Pardee and Silla Kennicot, the cemetery is the center of everything.
Nick is a city boy angry at being forced to move back to the nowhere town of Yaleylah, Missouri where he grew up. He can’t help remembering his mom and the blood magic she practiced – memories he’s tried for five years to escape. Silla, though, doesn’t want to forget; her parents’ apparent murder-suicide left her numb and needing answers. When a book of magic spells in her dad’s handwriting appears on her doorstep, she sees her chance to unravel the mystery of their deaths.
Together they plunge into the world of dark magic, but when a hundred-year-old blood witch comes hunting for the bones of Silla’s parents and the spell book, Nick and Silla will have to let go of everything they believe about who they are, the nature of life and death, and the deadly secrets that hide in blood
Blood Magic is the first of the Blood Journals Series, a series which I think those people who love their paranormal romance will devour.
The best part about this book for me was the main characters and loved following their intertwined story. Silla is someone you really feel for because of all she has been through and Nick is just a little bit gorgeous. I loved how even their backstory was linked (even though they didn't know it) and enjoyed seeing how their relationship changed and developed as the story progress. I can't wait to see more of them in the next installment. I also loved Silla's brother Reese and really enjoyed seeing the relationship he had with his sister.
From a story point of view I found tht intially I struggled to keep interest in what was going on as a lot of back story was covered to set up the series. However this changed once the plot started to thicken and the action really started to pick up. The final 100 pages are pretty much breakneck speed all the way through and it got to the point where I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. The scenes were very creepy and action packed.
I liked how the author broke up the main story by adding diary extracts from an initally unknown character written well before the book takes place. These extraacts finally start to link to the main story and tied in really well. I liked how it was used by the author to both tie in and explain the backstory.
As a bit of a warning for you squeamish girlies, some of the scenes with the blood letting much me cringe and I'm usually quite hardened to any gore.
The book leaves you with quite a few questions with a lot of potentially awesome plotlines having been set in place for future novels. I am looking forward to seeing what the author does with them in the next installment.
Thank you Random House Children's Books for the review copy
Published by DoubleDay Children's Books
Series: The Blood Journals #1
Challenge: DAC
Source: Review Copy
For Nick Pardee and Silla Kennicot, the cemetery is the center of everything.
Nick is a city boy angry at being forced to move back to the nowhere town of Yaleylah, Missouri where he grew up. He can’t help remembering his mom and the blood magic she practiced – memories he’s tried for five years to escape. Silla, though, doesn’t want to forget; her parents’ apparent murder-suicide left her numb and needing answers. When a book of magic spells in her dad’s handwriting appears on her doorstep, she sees her chance to unravel the mystery of their deaths.
Together they plunge into the world of dark magic, but when a hundred-year-old blood witch comes hunting for the bones of Silla’s parents and the spell book, Nick and Silla will have to let go of everything they believe about who they are, the nature of life and death, and the deadly secrets that hide in blood
***
The best part about this book for me was the main characters and loved following their intertwined story. Silla is someone you really feel for because of all she has been through and Nick is just a little bit gorgeous. I loved how even their backstory was linked (even though they didn't know it) and enjoyed seeing how their relationship changed and developed as the story progress. I can't wait to see more of them in the next installment. I also loved Silla's brother Reese and really enjoyed seeing the relationship he had with his sister.
From a story point of view I found tht intially I struggled to keep interest in what was going on as a lot of back story was covered to set up the series. However this changed once the plot started to thicken and the action really started to pick up. The final 100 pages are pretty much breakneck speed all the way through and it got to the point where I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. The scenes were very creepy and action packed.
I liked how the author broke up the main story by adding diary extracts from an initally unknown character written well before the book takes place. These extraacts finally start to link to the main story and tied in really well. I liked how it was used by the author to both tie in and explain the backstory.
As a bit of a warning for you squeamish girlies, some of the scenes with the blood letting much me cringe and I'm usually quite hardened to any gore.
The book leaves you with quite a few questions with a lot of potentially awesome plotlines having been set in place for future novels. I am looking forward to seeing what the author does with them in the next installment.
Thank you Random House Children's Books for the review copy
Comments
Looking forward to hearing back from you,
Cory @ Anti-Drug Reads