Blood Magic

This is the second book I've ever read where I feel like I need to change ALL my other five stars to 4 or 4.5 to give justice to this one!

All I can say is WOW, I love Silla and Nick, Reese and Judy. What a wonderfully tangled story, with such believable characaters, who are both strong and weak, wonderful and awful, brave and scared. The magic part was truly magic, and the way both Silla, Nick and Reese had to deal with so many things left me without breath for most of the book.

So many things happened, and the plot was really well thought out - I could not guess in advance what was going to happen next.

This is one of the few wonderfully dark, but still hopefull YA novels I have read in a very long time.

And I recommend this book to ALL people I know who like reading - there is suspense, magic, romance, teenage angst, hope for the future, all the ingredients needed for a wonderfully twisted tale that left me hungry for a lot more. ( )

Everyone in town believes that Silla's dad kills her mom and then himself, except Silla, who cannot match the evidence to her own memories of him. And when she receives a mysterious package from someone called the Deacon with a book of spells written by her dad, Silla becomes even more convinced. This sends her on a journey into magic as she tries to reconnect with him through the spells.

Meanwhile, Nick has just moved to town with his dad and new stepmom. He witnesses Silla's first spell attempt and it dredges up memories from his own past.

This is an imperfect book. The beginning launched so quickly into things that I didn't have enough sense of the characters to care when something went wrong. Also some of the fancy fonts used to simulate people's handwriting can be hard to read.

However, there was a lot I loved about this book. One of the biggest things is the variety of relationships in the book beyond just love (so many YA books focus solely on the romance). Silla's relationship with her brother Reece, who is also torn up by their parent's death, is a vital component of the tale. The magic brings them together and helps them heal. And Nick's relationship with his absent mother is another component that not only shows the development of the character, but also the plot.

Then there's the romance between Silla and Nick. While it grows quickly, it isn't love at first sight. Nick's I goal interest is in the magic and he falls for her as he learns more about her. Her affections also develop as be draws her out of the depths of her own sorrow. They both have their secrets and they make mistakes, but I like how they learn to love each other and how mutual trust must be earned between them.

I also really liked the magics itself, which has rules and requires work (apparently Gratton is fond of this kind o magic). Circles and salt and specific ingredients and a bit of blood and a lot of focus is what it takes. Its messy and imperfect and powerful and I love it. I like that, while some people may have stronger blood than others, anyone can potentially learn it.

Woven in between Silla and Nick's tale is pages from Josephine Darley's journal, a women from the past who promises to obtain immortality for herself. And that too is an interesting tale. It's a challenge to make wicked characters sympathetic and Gratton does that.

I even loved how the book delved into the realms of horror (lots of blood), giving me chills as the story progressed.

Like I said l, this book is imperfect, but I judge a book by how I respond to it and by the end I loved it. I can't wait to read more. ( )

I didn't finish this. It was slow, jumped around too much, and the characters seemed to believe crazy stuff without too much thought. Apparently there's a twist at the end, but I didn't get that far. Students at school might like it, though nobody has asked for the sequel. For stories about witches, I prefer Tiernan's Sweep/Wicca series or LJ Smith's The secret circle. ( )

RATING: 3.5 stars"Blood Magic" is an annoying (and frustrating - I seem to be using these words a lot in my reviews lately) mix of teen paranormal romance cliches and interesting story. As with "A Touch Mortal" (read review) I felt exasperated by certain aspects of this book, because I knew that if the author had written them differently I'd have liked the book a lot more.Drusilla Kennicot is a troubled girl who's been in the center of one of the biggest tragedies the small town of Yaleylah has ever seen: a murder-suicide. While everyone believes that her father was crazy, Drusilla (or Silla, as she is more commonly known) still has faith in the man she knew and doesn't think her father could have done it. When a mysterious man who calls himself "the Deacon" sends her a small book filled with magic spells written in her father's handwriting Silla begins a strange journey into a world she never thought existed. Who was her father really? And who is Nicholas the new boy in school who seems perfectly at ease with her, even when everyone else thinks she is crazy?The premise of this book sounded so, so good. The Magic seemed somehow realistic, arcane and messy and didn't need any "wand-waving" or pixie dust. And some parts of the story were actually good. I really liked reading about Silla's discovery and first uses of the book, having to use her magic blood to make things happen. It kind of reminded me of that movie Practical Magic, because the magic was so ambiguous and only the user could decide what to do with it... there was no "light" spells or "dark" spells. I thought Gratton did an amazing job with her magic system and gave it an authentic feel. What I didn't like so much? The aforementioned cliches. Like the "insta-romance" between Nicholas and Silla. It just didn't seem credible and it reminded me a lot of "Beautiful Creatures".That, coupled with the switching POV's (Nicholas and Silla) spoiled much of the book for me because I felt like Nicholas and Silla were sometimes just one person. As the POV switched from one to the other there weren't enough original elements or thoughts to distinguish them.I did like, however, the chapters with Josephine's diary.As for the story, it was... well, predictable. Once Silla starts dabbling with the magic it's pretty clear her parents' death weren't what they seemed and it was pretty easy to figure out Josephine's identity. There were one or two twists I confess I wasn't expecting, but most of the time the plot was pretty easy to figure out. So, basically you have an average story, an interesting world and some stereotypical characters (even Josephine was your typical "mwahaha" villain). This book is saved, in my opinion, by the author's world building and imagination concerning the magic system.Overall, while I liked reading it and recommend it for fans of YA Urban Fantasy featuring witches (who don't mind the overused lightning-quick romance between the main characters), I was a little disappointed with some aspects of the book. ( )

Burn this book somebody ?! ( )