Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Blood Magic is the first in a dark and intriguing series by Tessa Gratton. I picked up a copy through Amazon vine and have actually been going back and forth on reading it for awhile. I wasn’t sure if it would be too dark for me or if it would work. Here’s the description from Amazon:

“But instead of mythical creatures, blood magic has everything to do with primal human desires like power, wealth, and immortality. Everywhere Silla Kennicott turns she sees blood. She can't stop thinking about her parents alleged murder-suicide. She is consumed by a book filled with spells that arrives mysteriously in the mail. The spells share one common ingredient: blood, and Silla is more than willing to cast a few. What's a little spilled blood if she can uncover the truth? And then there's Nick—the new guy at school who makes her pulse race. He has a few secrets of his own and is all too familiar with the lure of blood magic. Drawn together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick must find out who else in their small Missouri town knows their secret and will do anything to take the book and magic from Silla.”

If you are looking for a light paranormal read this is not your book. It is very dark and has some definite twists to it. Which isn’t exactly my favorite type of paranormal book. However, I will try to be objective of the book without referencing my preference.

 I wasn’t thrilled with the characters in the story. I liked them but they really didn’t shine for me. I found them interesting but not necessarily believable. Nick talks about how he was a jerk but you never really see that side of him. You see some rude behavior on his part but never the extreme jerk he claims he was. Also I didn’t get the draw between him and Silla. (**Small Spoiler**)While they share the magic it doesn’t explain the magnetism between the two. I also didn’t feel as though the chemistry was enough to explain it.

I thought the concept of the blood magic was interesting. The concept of a price was interesting and a different take on magic. Instead of the person having the magic its their blood. This is a creative take on this sector of paranormal.

I did like the story line. In the end the villain is revealed a little too late as most readers will probably figure it out about half way through. However, there are plenty of other twists thrown into the mix to keep the reader interested. 

Overall, I really liked the story within the book. I was kept guessing about what would happen next and it definitely was not predictable. For me the characters weren’t great but they were mutli-dimensional and interesting. I give the book a 3/5.