Review: Blood Magic (Blood Magic Journals, #1) By: Tessa Gratton

Title: Blood Magic (Blood Magic Journals, #1)
Author: Tessa Gratton
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 405 Pages (May 24th 2011)
From: the Publisher and the Amazon Vine Program, Thank You!

Synopsis: This page-turning debut novel will entice fans who like their paranormal romances dark and disturbing. It's a natural next-read for fans of Stephanie Meyer, Carrie Jones, and Becca Fitzpatrick. 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.

Review: 4.5 Stars - Debut author Tessa Gratton’ first book in the Blood Journals series – Blood Magic, was so much more than I thought it would be and then some! With a thrilling story and extremely likeable characters, it was easy to see just how much they made me love this book! It was apparent from the first few pages. Blood Magic is one of those books I could have easily read in one sitting, so make sure you have time to devour this title whole.

Told from three different perspectives, two main characters and a journal, moving between the three voices gave not only insight, but back story. The back story revealed snippets to the past to further explain things as the story progresses. I loved how the pieces of the story from the journal fit into the present and continued right through to the end, letting us learn what was happening just as the characters did. I’m a huge fan of multiple points of view, so it was an added bonus.

Speaking of characters, let’s talk about them for a few. First off we have Silla, she’s been through a lot and is coping as best as she can. With Gratton’s writing it made it easy to feel what her characters were feeling, and I found I could better relate to what each was going through. Silla’s strong, caring and is trying to understand many different things in her life when she’s been mailed a book from a stranger that just happens to have belonged to her father. Mystery, magic and blood surround her and her family and tie her to past she could have never imagined existed.

Then we have Nick… he’s the new guy who lives next door to Silla. Well, with the woods and a cemetery between them. Nick is a city guy now living out in the sticks and is just trying to make it to graduation day so he can get away and move on. He has some issues as well so when Nick and Silly meet, the attraction is inevitable and maybe even has a bit of fate involved. While their relationship might have come on fast, there were things that happened up until the very end that somewhat explained this instant rapport.

I have to admit that for me, it was easy to speculate who was the evil doer, but there was enough in the rest of the story that I wasn’t too bothered in knowing who was who.

There was also a bit of a creep factor to the book, and one scene was hard to read. I didn’t agree with the scene, but felt more like it was there to prove a point, at least to me the point was made and I think it was made to the character involved as well.

Over all Gratton is a new shining star in the YA genre and an author I am excited to read more of in the future. If you’re looking for a great new author, fresh voice, entertaining story and characters be sure to pick up this one when you’re at your local book store or when you’re placing your next online order. You won’t be disappointed. Now, where’s the next book?

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.