The Blood Spell

Blue de la Cour has her life planned: hide the magic in her blood and continue trying to turn metal into gold so she can help her city’s homeless. But when her father is murdered and a cruel but powerful woman claims custody of Blue and her property, one wrong move could expose her—and doom her once and for all. The only one who can help? The boy she’s loathed since childhood: Prince Kellan.  Kellan Renard, crown prince of Balavata, is walking a thin line between political success and devastating violence. Newly returned from boarding school, he must find a bride among the kingdom’s head families and announce his betrothal—but escalating tension among the families makes the search nearly impossible. He’s surprised to discover that the one person who makes him feel like he can breathe is Blue, the girl who once ruined all his best adventures.  When mysterious forces lead to disappearances throughout Balavata, Blue and Kellan must work together to find the truth. What they discover will lead them to the darkest reaches of the kingdom, and to the most painful moments of their pasts. When romance is forbidden and evil is rising, can Blue save those she loves, even if it costs her everything?

The Blood Spell by C.J. Redwine - release date February 12, 2019

I. Love. Ravenspire novels.  This is the "fourth" book of the Ravenspire series, even though you could read it as a standalone and still completely understand it (though there are cameos of characters from previous novels you wouldn't get but other than that would be completely fine).  The Blood Spell is completely different from your average Cinderella story and it had me hooked from the first few chapters.  The magic and the concept of the blood wraith and even the small detail that the sea was golden colored made the story so intricate and cool.

Blue is our headstrong, caring, selfless Cinderella figure.  She will do what ever it takes to do the right thing.  Kellan is our Prince Charming, who's more than just the pretty face he that presents to the court.  Our Evil Stepmother is Dinah, who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.  Obviously since it's supposed to be like Cinderella you already know that Blue and Kellan are going to fall in love (so this isn't a spoiler) and their love is so beautiful.  I love them together so much.  It felt very natural which made it even better!
The plot has you hooked within the first few chapters.  Once I got into it I couldn't put it down all day!  Blue has to figure out the mysteries of 1) her father's death  2) Dinah suddenly having custody over her and turning Grand-mere's visits away  3) where the missing street children are going  4) the blood wraith and if it is kept safely in its forest cage  5) her and Kellan's developing feelings for each other in the season before he is supposed to be married off to one of the daughters of the head families.  Like all the other Ravenspire novels, it's action packed!

I really loved the scenery and the world-building on two levels.  The first one is just the setting of Balavata itself; absolutely beautiful.  The golden sea, the Palace gardens, Blue's farm cottage and alchemy shop- I really felt like I was there.  In the gardening scenes I could almost feel the dirt on my own hands.  The second is how Redwine interconnects her novels together by having them take place in separate kingdoms in the same world.  I really want to reread The Wish Granter and The Traitor Prince now!!  You can tell how drastically her writing has improved from the first Ravenspire novel, The Shadow Queen, to this book.  (Talk about a great glow-up!)  Other things I liked specifically- how Blue and Kellan were friends before they had the ball and the shoe.  It makes me that much more happy they are together.  I also loved Nessa, Kellan's sister, who can't speak but created her own version of sign language.  She is a sweetheart.  I also liked the cameos of Thad and Ari!! and Hansel and Gretel with the monsters for the Akram prison (so based on that, I'm assuming this story took place at the same time that Javan was in jail in "book three" which is why him never responding to Kellan's invitations makes sense).  Finally I love the cover.  It is SO pretty with the pumpkin and the glass stems that twist around and drip a liquid that kind of makes it look like the alchemy glass equipment thing.  (My ARC has more stems and the actual cover the single stem gets darker at the bottom, but it is more or less the same thing and is still extremely gorgeous.)  I don't think there's anything I didn't like about this book.  

5 STARS!!!  Of course I recommend, especially if you've read the other three!  (It's OK if you haven't because you'll still understand everything.)  I really hope Redwine writes more retellings from other kingdoms because I want more and there are a few more kingdoms she can use.  Maybe she'll write a conclusion book or novella or something where every character teams up for the biggest crossover in the series - that would be super cool.  Took me two days to read.

-Taylor

Reviewed on January 28, 2019