Bloodspell

AMALIE HOWARD'S "BLOODSPELL" (A REVIEW)

Move over Stephenie Meyer! I must say that I enjoyed this book much better. The fact that the heroine is not so completely dependent on others to always save her was not only refreshing but much more exciting! Victoria is a young woman on the brink of losing everything when she finds out that her heritage is far more than it seems. She's tortured by the history of her grandmother and in complete denial until she learns from her familiar, a cat by the name of Leto that all is not lost.
Meeting Christian Devereux is just the tip of the iceberg as she starts to feel as though she's finally found someone that can fully understand her, only to realize that their relationship is ill-fated and definitely show more not condoned by either side of the vast spectrum of the supernatural world. It's a story that grabs you up and holds on tight giving you no choice but to stay the course and see what happens next.

The pain and anguish of being a teen on the verge of graduation and womanhood mixes triumphantly with the added angst of not knowing exactly who you are and finding out that you have vast power that is not always under your complete control. There is action in this book! Something I found sadly lacking in Stephenie Meyer's novels. Amalie is capable of writing great fight scenes that you have no choice but to envision perfectly in your mind's eye. This story is different and exciting and not your average run of the mill YA supernatural fiction. It has teeth that aren't afraid to bite! You don't feel as though the characters in this story are all vulnerable as they each have their own vivid qualities that make them unique and in some cases deadly!

Amalie Howard is definitely destined to become the next big thing in YA supernatural writing. I can't wait to see what she brings to the table next and after reading this story I hope to see far more of Christian and Victoria in the near future! show less

I am in love my friends. Not just with hot, hunky Christian, not just with Victoria's beautifully broken story, not even just with the amazing writing in this book, but honestly with the whole package. It has been a long time since a paranormal book has really taken my breath away. So long in fact, that I thought I was done with the concept of vampires, witches and the like. Bloodspell has officially changed my mind, and I'm smitten.

Let me start with the characters. For those of you out there who simply must fall in love with your characters in order to enjoy a book, welcome to your Eden. Victoria and Christian are gorgeously written, and perfectly flawed. See, there is no set line drawn between the "good" and "bad" sides of what the show more two of them are. Amalie Howard shows the inner battle of emotions that goes on in each of them. The all-consuming need to give in to their baser instincts. They make mistakes. They let the darkness within them take over at times. It's this flawed existence that makes them so amazing and so believable.

What I loved most of all was how Bloodspell takes everything that you know about witches and vampires, and blends it perfectly with brand new content. Lovers of both of these paranormal creatures will appreciate how Howard sticks to what we already know, and just adds in more fantastic back story for you to fall in love with. The blood that burns in Victoria's veins is well, rather vicious! Her powers have the potential to be dark and terrifying, or of course to be used for good. Add in the fact that her and Christian are not even supposed to be friends, much less more, and you have a recipe for a book that will keep you reading no matter what else you are supposed to be doing. Don't start this book if you need to be somewhere, or eat, or really anything else.

The action and fight scenes in this story are descriptive, and I liked how the violence that occurs with these two sets of paranormal creatures wasn't masked over. There is bloodlust. There is violence. Scenes happen where people die and their blood spills upon the Earth. It's not overly gory, but it's there. To me it was an essential part of the story to show that, no matter how composed they look on the outside, Victoria and Christian are constantly fighting that inner demon that is wanting to get out.

A delicious combination of older mythology, new powers, forbidden romance, and so much more, Bloodspell is a book that I cannot wait to read again. Luckily this is the first in a series. I cannot wait to see more from Amalie Howard and her vivid characters. Seriously, this has the highest seal of approval that little old me can give a book. LOVE! Go grab a copy and dive in. Let the darkness consume you. show less

I'll start with the obvious: the cover. I don't comment much on covers but I think this one has to be one of the most beautiful covers I have come across in a while. As soon as I saw it, I had instant cover-lust. The cover does something that some covers forget to do, it describes a bit of the mood inside of the story. So, bravo to the person who designed this cover - they did an incredible job.

Moving on. You not only have a beautiful cover but you also have an equally beautiful main character between the covers of the book. Victoria immediately pops out as one of those characters that you can relate to and also empathize with. She hasn't exactly had the greatest life, losing her family members and being bullied. She also struggles with show more who she is and what she has done and can do. Aside from that, you can see through her actions that she is a very strong character with a very vibrant personality.

Christian Devereux is everything you want in the male lead that you can swoon over. He's handsome, brave and follows his heart instead of the rules given to him. But, like all good swoon-worthy guys, he comes with some baggage - in the form of an evil twin. I have to say it: Lucian is the perfect villain. He's vile, uncaring and relentless, only thinking about what he wants and he doesn't give two cents about what may happen to the people in his path between him and his wants. He made the read even more interesting, giving the story elements of drama and suspense that could have been missed had he not been there.

Bloodspell is dark and brooding with the perfect story of forbidden love intertwined into it, along with feuding families and a never-ending power struggle for supremacy. It's an incredible read that will keep you flipping until the very end, with a promise of more from its sequel that we will have to wait for until 2012. All in all, this is a read that I would definitely recommend to my YA paranormal fans - especially those that are fond of vampires and witches. show less

I can’t. It’s no use, I just can’t finish this book. The characters, their contrived, useless conflicts, the intriguing world that is hopelessly undeveloped and, above all, the immense cliché abuse just defeat me, Not only can I not finish this book but, since I was tempted to DNF it after a mere 10%, going any further would be unfair to the other DNF books that I finally gave up on.

Now, saying you’re tempted to give up by 10% is pretty extreme – but this book begins with so many of the classic clichés, tropes and general fails that I was cringing.

Firstly, we have a prologue paragraph telling us there’s a law that forbids vampires and witches from consorting.

Right, folks, who can tell me what the plot is about? If you show more answered “it’s about a vampire and a witch falling in love” have a cookie. I have no idea why we have this new habit of giving away the plot in the opening prelude, especially when you have damn little plot, but it has to end.

Then we have a girl, bullied at school with dead parents (mark off two more points on your checklist). She has super special powers she just doesn’t want because she wants to be normal, wooooe! Yes, it’s another teenager with super powers who just wants to be like everyone else – like every teenager never. Mark another cliché off the checklist. Oh and she has a book that may guide her about her specialness but she just can’t bring herself to read it because it’s just too awful

She goes to a new school and meets a vampire (no he’s not labelled as such but after the opening prelude why even pretend this is supposed to be a secret). And ZOMG he’s hot and awesome and hot and sexy and hot and has an amazing voice and he’s hot – this goes on for a few paragraphs.

Then we switch to his POV - actually, brief interlude for a side rant: the book keeps doing this. There’s no chapter break or anything else, we’re suddenly in Christian’s head rather than Victoria’s – suddenly her thoughts are a mystery and his are an open book. Then we whiplash back again – no rhyme or reason, no necessity, just constantly switching back and forth clumsily to allow more exposition


And yes, it’s all about showing AND telling. If Victoria thinks Christian looks sad, she will describe his sadness, then we’ll go into Christian’s head to describe that yes, he is indeed sad. Interspaced with massive infodumping that is repeatedly shown or can easily be inferred but the author treats the audience like we’re a bunch of concussed kittens who can’t read any subtext at all. Which is probably why the opening paragraph appears just in case we didn’t get the not-so-subtle-clues on the way.

Anyway, I was distracted by the awful writing – back to the first 10%: so we then enter Christian’s head (and yes, he’s a several hundred year old vampire going to school because… no, no reason, just because. After all, of course your 200 year old Parisian vampire aristocrat is going to go to a private school in rural Washingto - errr, Maine!) and he finds her awesome/sexy/hot/pure/wonderful/compelling/amazing/etc etc etc.

At this point I think they passed each other in a corridor. They have had zero meaningful interaction but both think the other is the most amazing thing in the world ever.

But there’s more! Because not only are we going to have that old forbidden love thing coming to bite them on the arse, but it turns out that good/musty vampire Christian who never ever kills to feed because he’s a good vampire, can’t resist her! She smells so good, he can’t be near her or he will drain her dry, nomnomnomnomnom! She just smells SO GOOD TO Edward- sorry, Christian. Can’t imagine why I mixed them up.

Finish off with a pretentious hobby – am I the only one who sees a trend in poorly characterised YA protagonists having a pretentious hobby dropped on them to provide some rough attempt at character building and make them seem extra special and not like their shallow, lesser peers? It’s usually classical literature, classical music or long dead artists. In this case it’s classical music (we get to long dead artists later for a twofer).

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4.5/5 stars

Orphaned at an early age and unaccepted by her peers, Victoria Warrick is accustomed to hardship and has always felt removed from those around her. As she finishes out her junior year of high school she becomes more aware of a darker, hidden side of her personality – a side that terrifies her. When she becomes the target of bullying at school, that unknown side of her emerges resulting in disastrous consequences. Things only get worse when she inherits a box of family heirlooms on her seventeenth birthday, confirming Tori’s suspicions that she is far from a normal teenage girl. Instead, she discovers that she is descended from a bloodline of incredibly powerful witches, a power that demands much in return.

In a desperate show more attempt to retain some measure of normalcy, Tori enrolls at a new school at the start of her senior year, determined to reinvent herself and to forget about the family history she fears she’s doomed to repeat. However, when she meets the mysterious and maddening Christian Devereux, whose beverage of choice just happens to be of the bloody variety, her already strange life takes a decided turn for the completely abnormal. In the midst of an centuries-old feud, surrounded by betrayal, secrets and the inescapable curse that flows through her veins, will Tori overcome all that threatens to destroy her?

Wow. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting from this book, perhaps just a fun, but run-of-the-mill, witch or vampire story? What I ended up with far exceeded my expectations. It rocked my socks. Howard has taken two cliche and overdone paranormal sub-genres and has created something entirely new and exciting in Bloodspell. There are so many elements of the story that could have fallen into “been there, read that” territory; new girl at school meets boy, they are inexplicably drawn to one another, boy keeps pushing away girl because they “shouldn’t be together,” boy is “dangerous” and not who he seems, etc. However, Howard repeatedly puts her own little creative twists on these oft-used story foundations and turns what could have been “Eh.” into an unique page turner. And no, I’m not going to go into more detail about what makes it such a well-crafted story. I’m purposefully being cryptic so that I don’t spoil anything and that you, Dear Reader, will pick up this book and read it for yourself. Because you should. You really, really should.

Because most of my love for books is so character-driven, we’ll start with Victoria. She was so desperate to be normal, so afraid to accept her magical heritage, so afraid of the potential her power holds and what it might make her. She’s an easy character for me to relate to, and I could easily understand her fear and her reluctance to accept who and what she is. As she gets better acquainted with Christian, knowing him helps to awaken her own strength as she learns more about herself and how the curse applies to her. She’s insightful, intelligent, and despite her initial ostrich-like behavior, is quite daring and courageous. Howard develops her so well throughout the book and I really enjoyed reading Tori’s journey to who she becomes.

Also, in regards to the characters, I loved how both Victoria and Christian struggle with the reality of what they are and question if what they are makes them inherently evil. It’s interesting to watch both of them attempt to fight against what fate has made them, their successes and failures. And of course, it’s the fact that Howard allows these lapses in her characters that make them all the more interesting.

In addition to their individual struggles, Christian & Victoria’s romance is an added complication throughout the story. A little bit of a modern-day, paranormal Romeo and Juliet, their love is not supposed to be. Due to an ancient treaty between vampires and witches, it’s not only frowned upon by both their races, but is illegal as well, and the consequences to their races discovering such a relationship are, shall we say, extremely final. A variation on the love vs. duty romance, which I’ve already established in previous reviews that I adore, Christian and Victoria had me completely wrapped up and invested in their relationship all the way to the end. They could face real and frightening consequences for loving and standing by one another and knowing this as a reader, makes their relationship feel so genuine and rooted in something more than just the superficial. So…what happens to them? I don’t know! Well…I do, but I’m certainly not going to tell you.

Speaking of the forces and events that would see our two lovers torn apart, the world of Bloodspell feels very authentic, which always makes me a happy reader. I’m a history buff and therefore love when I can lose myself in a fictional world that is supported by much of its own history. A well-documented, well-presented past just lends a story so much depth and context, and for me, makes it a more enjoyable reading experience. This book has depth in spades. Howard has created a paranormal underworld that exists within in our own, and has given it legend and a mythology, created a believable framework as to how it works, supplied incredibly interesting back story for characters and events, and developed her own fascinating political systems.

Verdict? Read this. Yes, it has vampires. Yes, it has witches. And Amalie Howard has blended them together to create a paranormal romance debut that’s both fresh and riveting. show less

Reviewed by April
ebook provided by Langdon Street Press

Amalie Howard proves that there can be a new and unique twist to the ever-popular vampire/witch theme so prevalent in today’s Young Adult genre.

Strange things are beginning to happen to Victoria (Tori) Warrick and after a mysterious illness lands her in the hospital for a lengthy stay, she transfer to a new school to hopefully begin a new life. That life is beyond anything she could imagine and not in a good way.

On her 17th birthday, Tori is given a gift from her deceased Grandmother via her Aunt Holly. The gift contains an old journal as well as powerful amulet tucked within an intricately carved wooden box. The journal tells a dark and haunting story of a long ago ancestor. show more Within these aged pages, Tori will find answers, as well as more disturbing questions to discover who she really is and what her destiny holds.

Within Tori blood, boils a curse and all-consuming power that she must learn to control, before it overtakes and controls her. Add to this realization the appearance of a mysterious and darkly handsome stranger and Tori will be in for the physical and emotional fight of her life.

Christian is a vampire and any type of relationship with a witch is strictly forbidden. However, the powerful pull and chemistry between Tori and Christian is impossible to ignore. Once Christian discovers who Tori is and exactly what her blood is capable of, he knows that he will stop at nothing to keep her safe – just as her enemies will stop at nothing to take her blood for their own.

Bloodspell is an amazing paranormal ride that grabbed me from the beginning and filled me with surprises and eagerness to fly through the pages to discover what was going to happen next. I loved the characterization of both Tori and Christian. They are both remarkably strong, courageous and brilliant. The story truly never had a lull in action and was filled with twist and turns. What made Bloodspell different than many other stories within this genre? It was darker and though it had the “forbidden love” theme to it, it was not the main plot of the story. There were no mushy “woe is me” types of thoughts throughout and the characters are incredibly mature, which kicks the story up another notch. In addition, the idea that blood can hold such powerful magic is intriguing, as well as the fact that this curse (or blessing) is carried on through the maternal blood line.

Readers will find themselves swept away within the complex, intricate and massively incredible and enjoyable story, Bloodspell, crafted by an amazingly talented author. Amalie Howard will blow minds with her debut work, which plays out like a veteran author’s works. She definitely has an amazing future ahead of her and I can’t wait to read what she releases next! I highly recommend Bloodspell to lovers of the paranormal – young adult or not.

Favorite Quote: This is a special birthday for Warrick women. It marks both an end and a beginning, the end of what we know and the beginning of what we are to become. Don’t fear it. Embrace it. You are a Warrick. show less

I can’t even lie, I requested this book on Netgalley simply because the cover was pretty. I know, I know: don’t judge a book by its cover. Sue me. In this case, hwoever, I was actually thankful for my book judging because this book wound up being amazing!
Tori was my kind of girl: quiet and a loner, but still strong and capable of defending her self and doing what it takes to defend those she loves. Tori is almost sexually attacked by one of her classmates and the next thing she knows she is waking up in the hospital to her Aunt Holly holding her hand with no recollection of what happened. As Tori starts to realize what happened that day she realizes that not only is she special, she comes from a line of special women. As with most show more YA novels we have the handsome stranger, in this case Christian Devereux, who has secrets of his own. They instantly make a connection although Christian tries to deny the relationship and Gabriel, one of her best friend’s brothers, tries to catcher eye. (Yes, it sounds a bit like Twilight, but trust me-it’s much better.)

I didn’t simply read this novel-I consumed it. Don’t let the 400 pages fool you; I read this in one sitting. Despite containing some elements that are common today in YA paranormal novels, Mrs. Howards take on them was refreshing and attention-consuming. I recommend this novel to anyone who like me loves to hide in the world of the paranormal and yearns for a new perspective on it.

I also can’t wait to read her new novel from Strange Chemsitry, The Almost Girl, which I believe comes out next year. (Moment of fangirling over Strange Chemistry books and the fact that this awesome author is publishing with them) show less