Of Wicked Blood

Slate didn't mean to steal the Bloodstone from the De Morel's crypt. Well, ok, he did, but that was before he knew that it was cursed and will only come off of his finger if he and a group of three others manage to successfully defeat four curses. Each of the four have to defeat a specific curse, and if any of them fail, Slate dies a horrible, painful death. When they defeat the curses, they'll bring magic back into the world. Cadence was raised on stories of magic, in a small town that is rumored to have been the birthplace of French witchcraft and magic. But, she never really believed the stories. After all, if magic was real, her Maman wouldn't have died and her Papa wouldn't be spending his life in a wheelchair, right? Then, Slate Ardoin waltzed right into her life, wearing a ring he stole from her mother's grave. And, all of a sudden, she has to help him defeat a curse and bring magic back into the world.
Olivia Wildenstein has absolutely knocked one out of the park with Of Wicked Blood. The story flows smoothly all the way from beginning to end. There are so many secrets to uncover and deceptions to untangle. Miscommunications abound as the four try to defeat curses that are tailor made to each one of them. At any step, any one of them can be killed or worse. And they have to find the key to their own curses while keeping the innocent town's people from being hurt in the process. Olivia has a knack for writing fully dimensional, vibrant characters and she's done it again in this book. Every single characters stands out, even the peripheral people.

Loved this book so much! Great setting, the descriptions put you right in to the setting without being overly descriptive if that makes sense to anyone but me lol. I couldn't put this book down nothing about it gets boring you just have to keep reading. The characters are great and you fall I'm live with Slate pretty quickly. Definitely a must read. Can't wait for the next book!

I really wished I loved this story, but I just didn’t. It had most of what I like; romance, magic, mystery and best of all a character living on the wrong side of the law. This saddens me because with all of this the story could and should have been amazing and addictive, but I’m sorry to say that it wasn’t.

My main problem with Of Wicked Blood and what made the story fall short in my eyes was the characterization. Now, I wouldn’t go so far as to say the characters lacked personality. Everyone had defining personalities one way or another and I actually really liked some of the characters, like Slate with his charm, thieving ways and his flaws, and Rainier (for reasons I wont enclose here due to spoilers). However the characterization ran only surface deep compared to the rest in the story. The focus was so deep into the magic, history and descriptions of Brume and its different locations that the character development and depth became rushed and lacking in comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the depth of the world for the most part and the passion the authors showed in creating it, but due to it being so much of it and so little of the characterization the story became kind of drawn out and harder to follow.

This also in turn hurt the romance. I liked Slate enough to enjoy the developing relationship and I liked the tidbits of drama between him, Adrien and Cadence and then him and her papa (also with Charlotte and Jasmine however small parts they played). However due to the focus being were it was it almost became love at first sight which I am not a super big fan of. Especially when Slate and Cadence weren’t given room to develop feelings or a strong bond but just had them for each other from the beginning. Because of the drama and back and forth I still liked the romance but it could have been ten times better if the characters were given equal depth and room in the story as the whole Quartrefoil business.

I do however have to give big props the the authors for the ending of the story and the new kind of light starting to shine on Rainier. That was probably the best part of the book and took me a bit of guard in the best way. That along with Slate and the romance I will actually give the next book a go. I did after all see a lot of potential that hopefully will come to fruit in Of Tainted Heart.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. The writing was good with excellent dialog and world building. I docked a star because the prose did drag at times, but I would definitely read more by this author.

I’ve read several books by Wildenstein and have loved them all so I knew I had to check this bad boy out! This was my first co-authored read by her and I first give major props to both authors because the writing blended super well together! I loved the Slate and Cadence, the unique story, the slow burn romance, and ahhh that ending has me needing book 2! Can you say book hangover!

Olivia Wildenstein is back again with her amazing world building skills! This book was written with the amazing Katie Hayoz. I loved the dual POV this book offered. You won't be disappointed!

An adventurous and harrowing YA urban fantasy. Magic has long disappeared from the world and to bring it back, descendants from the four founding families of a university must each find their quatrefoil piece, but not without a challenge. Each family is tied to an element and only that person can touch it. Anyone else who does has a curse laid on them and dies.

While the book is well written and the concept is unique, I didn't connect with any of the characters. I find it strange that the main POVs, Slate and Cadance, can read each others body language as if they had known each other for years (they only just met) on what they really mean or if they are lying, but are ridiculous and have no clue when it comes to feelings for one another. I also found it off putting for another character, who's 23-24 to have a physical attraction to a 17 year old girl despite seeing her as his sister.

The history and background of the plot is interesting and enjoyable, but that's about it for me. Typical, predictable villain and cliffhanger ending. I doubt I'll be picking up the 2nd book.

At first, I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this book, early on I was thinking to myself it's not bad but probably a 3 star. I'm not going to get drawn into this one. I was wrong, I most definitely got drawn in. The story was fun and quick-paced. There was action, some romance, magical history, small-town lore, and a lot to be enjoyed. If you enjoy enemies to loves from opposite sides of the tracks, history and magical lore or books where the place is just as important as who then give this book a shot.

This book is told from the alternating perspective of our two lead characters Slate and Candence. I like Slate he definitely is book boyfriend material with his tough yet charming exterior and strong conviction that he will never love while also immediately falling in love and doing all he can to protect those he loves.

Cadence, on the other hand, I found a bit annoying and naive, with time she grew on me but I preferred Slate's perspective. I was glad in the end she got her chance to fight her own battle on her own without help from the boys.

Brume was a fun and interesting place and a good setting, I enjoyed the frozen small school town vibe the bits of delicious food mixed in, and would be intrigued to visit a place such as this.

My biggest issue with the book came down to the narration. Overall I enjoyed both narrators when they narrated characters of the same sex as them but when either of them did the voice for the character of the opposing sex I hated it, in particular the male narrator's version of Cadence. But I loved his Slate voice. With time or during longer listening sessions I would get used to it but it did irritate me throughout and I am curious to get a physical copy to read and see how it changes the experience.

All said and done I enjoyed listening to this book and will definitely check out the next one in the series.