Book Review: ‘Your Blood, My Bones’ by Kelly Andrew
Kelly Andrew’s debut, ‘The Whispering Dark’, was the first episode of season four of our podcast, ‘The Dark Academicals’, and was one of my favourite books of 2023. It was delicious dark and addictive, with a romance that felt like an elevated version of the ones that captured me in the heights of paranormal romance YA and I couldn’t get enough of it.
As soon as I heard that ‘Your Blood, My Bones’ would be coming out this Spring, I knew I needed it - I didn’t even check the synopsis. But when I finally did, I was even more sold.
Wyatt Westlock has one plan for the farmhouse she's just inherited -- to burn it to the ground. But during her final walkthrough of her childhood home, she makes a shocking discovery in the basement -- Peter, the boy she once considered her best friend, strung up in chains and left for dead.
Unbeknownst to Wyatt, Peter has suffered hundreds of ritualistic deaths on her family's property. Semi-immortal, Peter never remains dead for long, but he can't really live, either. Not while he's bound to the farm, locked in a cycle of grisly deaths and painful rebirths. There's only one way for him to break free. He needs to end the Westlock line.
He needs to kill Wyatt.
With Wyatt's parents gone, the spells protecting the property have begun to unravel, and dark, ancient forces gather in the nearby forest. The only way for Wyatt to repair the wards is to work with Peter -- the one person who knows how to harness her volatile magic. But how can she trust a boy who's sworn an oath to destroy her? When the past turns up to haunt them in the most unexpected way, they are forced to rely on one another to survive, or else tear each other apart.
With the promise of potential Eldritch-style horror, a slightly darker and aged up story than ‘The Whispering Dark’, and dark, ritualistic magic, I could not be more excited.
‘Your Blood, My Bones’s is very dark and twisty with a really mysterious start. It took me a little while to settle into the story and figure out the dynamics of Wyatt, her family and her connection to Peter/Pedyr, but once I was in, I was in. The tension and the atmosphere was something that I specifically loved in Kelly Andrew’s debut, but she took it up several notches here and I felt everything: the tension, the fear, the betrayal, the grief, the loss. Everything that the characters felt was only heightened by the threat of the surrounding forests and Wyatt’s property and the boundary wards started to flicker and Wyatt couldn’t get a grip on who and what to trust.
This is pitched as slow burn, and it’s the slowest burn - which isn’t a criticism in the slightest. It really adds to the conflict and tension as Wyatt and Peter navigate their past and the secrets being unveiled in their present, as well as their feelings for each other in an impossible situation. Slow burn done well is far superior to a quick fire romance, for me.
I’m not sure if this counts as a spoiler or not, but Colton and Lane from ‘The Whispering Dark’ made an appearance! I actually did a happy gasp out loud, I was so pleased to see them. I won’t give you any more information about the connection between the novels or characters in case you do view that as a spoiler, but it brought me JOY so I had to mention it.
‘Your Blood, My Bones’ is dark, twisty, tense and brimming with atmosphere. It’s a perfect read for those wanting a YA/NA fantasy horror with minimal romance, but all of the tension and emotion of a full-blown romance.
I didn’t love ‘Your Blood, My Bones’ in the same soul-deep way that I do ‘The Whispering Dark’, but Kelly Andrew remains an auto-buy author for me and I cannot wait to see what she does next.
Thank you to Gollancz and NetGalley for the review copy.
Written by Sophie
