Book Review: Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Silla Kennicott's world is destroyed when she comes home and finds both her parents murdered in the house. She knelt in their blood for an hour before her brother Reese found her. She's also the only one who believes that her father didn't murder her mother before killing himself - not even Gram Judy or Reese believe that Robert Kennicott is innocent.

And then the spellbook arrives. Ancient and smelling of blood, a letter from a mysterious man who calls himself only The Deacon tells Silla that the spellbook belonged to her father. When she opens it she finds it filled with magic spells, all in her father's distinctive handwriting. Each spell has one thing in common - blood.

Silla only believes in the magic when she takes the spellbook to her parents' graves in the cemetery behind her house and tries a regenration spell on a dead leaf. She is astounded when her own blood brings it to lush, green life. Silla also knows that the magic is proof that her dad didn't kill her mom. Proof that something else was at work and that her parents were murdered by someone, or something, and their deaths disguised as a murder-suicide. The first thing she wants to do is show Reese and make him believe - in the magic, and in her dad's innocence.

When Nicholas Pardee sees the girl in the cemetery cut her thumb open with a pocketknife, her blood bringing the leaf back to life, he is shocked. Not because of the blood magic, but because he didn't expect to see it again - not after his mom left. His first instinct is to hide what he knows - Nick doesn't want to mess around with any more crazy, not after everything that happened with his mom when he was little. But he can't stay away from Silla. He's fascinated with her, and not just because of the magic. Silla is a gorgeous, smart fighter, and he can't get enough of her. Together, Silla and Nick, along with Reese and Gram Judy, must figure out their parents' magic and unravel the dark secrets of their past to fight the dark force responsible for Silla's parents' death - and is still thirsty for more blood.

Tessa Gratton's debut novel is dark gothic horror at its finest. I've been excited for this one since I saw the author at an event with her critique partners Maggie Stiefvater (author of Shiver) and Brenna Yovanoff (author of The Replacment), and it was all the kinds of awesome it promised to be! Blood practically drips off the pages of this deeply atmospheric book - you'll be totally creeped out by the cemetery and forest that lurk menacingly between Silla and Nick's houses. With eerily unnatural crows stalking Silla and Nick through the pages, this is best read by flickering candlelight in the very darkest part of the night - unless, of course, you don't like to be totally freaked by your horror novels! For fans of Holly Black, The Replacement, and The Monstrumologist, this one's not to be missed - check it out @ the library!

Megan
(now reading Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, the final book of the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, and it's just the kind of magic I knew it would be!)

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