Your Blood, My Bones: A twisted, slow burn rivals-to-lovers romance from the author of THE WHISPERING DARK

by Kelly Andrew

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF TIKTOK SENSATION THE WHISPERING DARK

Readers love Your Blood, My Bones:
🍃 'The writing: wowowowowoow!! wow!!!'
🍃 'This. Book. Was absolutely phenomenal'
🍃 'I've been thinking about it NON-STOP for days'
🍃 '*screams into the void*'
🍃 'Blew me away'

__________________

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.

This rich, dark, compelling novel blends horror and romance into a story that will grip you like no other... getting right into your blood, and your bones.

• ISBN10: 1473234913
• ISBN13: 9781473234918
• Publish Date: 30 January 2025 (first published 2 April 2024)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Book Summary:

Wyatt Westlock is the last of her line. For the most part, that’s never felt like a big deal. It meant she got to spend her summers at the family farmhouse, enjoying her time with her two best friends.

Until the day everything changed. Something horrible happened, resulting in Wyatt getting banished from her own home. Decades later, she’s back, and she wants to burn the place to the ground. But something’s stopping her.

My Review:

Apparently, 2024 was the year for blindsiding me with novels connected to worlds I loved. Your Blood, My Bones shares the same world as The Whispering Dark. Maybe I just missed the memo, but I was not expecting that (not that I’m complaining).

Your Blood, My Bones is split into two primary perspectives - Wyatt and Peter. The two couldn’t be more different if they tried. It’s a bit of an opposites attract romance, but in a twisted and dark way.

Where Wyatt is the fumbling yet powerful character, Peter is the tortured soul. If readers enjoy those tropes, be sure to check out Kelly Andrew’s latest novel! The story also has dark secrets, twisted revelations, and a few surprise cameos.

Admittedly, I don’t think I loved Your Blood, My Bones the way I cherished The Whispering Dark, though it’s still a solid read. It just didn’t sweep me off my feet. I think it was something about how the story unfolded, but I’m not certain.

Now I’m left wondering - will there be another addition to the world, or is this surprise release (to me, at least) the conclusion?

Highlights:
Paranormal Fantasy
Loyalty & Magic
Twisted Romance
Same world as The Whispering Dark

Trigger Warnings:
Graphic Injuries/Trauma
Animal Death

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[Risa Nichols]

arc disclosure
I received an advanced copy of this book to give my honest review. Everything in this review is written in my own words for no other compensation than the e-copy of this book. For more information on my review policy, click here.

intro
This was my first read by Kelly Andrew. I have to admit, the cover immediately drew me in, and then I read the blurb and knew I had to read it. Fantasy? Check. Creepy aesthetic? Check. Friends-to-enemies-to-lovers vibes? Check, check, check!

So, did this book live up to the hype I built up in my head?

thoughts
This book was [mostly] a pleasant surprise. It was wonderfully written with some lovely prose that I greatly enjoyed reading. I love fantasy and paranormal, so the premise of this story was right up my alley.

I’m not really sure what my final thoughts are on this book. I enjoyed it, but it had a few issues. For one, just like some other reviewers have said, I felt like it was too long for the amount of story that was included. I also wish the past and present timelines were a little more clear, because jumping between the two was incredibly confusing.

Peter’s story line was super intriguing, but I wish it’d been more fleshed out. The only answers we got for sure were that he was an immortal and it was because of a deal his dad made. And he was somehow from among the stars, but we have no context of his homeland nor do we understand why his dad made this deal in the first place other than they were starving. But why were they starving? What happened to this “home among the stars?” I think this may be alluding to a super loose inspiration from Peter Pan, but I wish we had a little more answers and some more details so we could understand the motivation better.

 

bullet points

•  the monsters in this book were genuinely creepy and a couple times what I was reading gave me a chill I wasn’t expecting!
•  Peter was a walking red flag and I loved it.
•  since I didn’t read the first book Kelly wrote, I had no prior attachments to or expectations for Wyatt’s friends and the way they were introduced to this book was kind of jarring. They were just all of the sudden there. Maybe if I’d read the other book, it wouldn’t have felt so out of the blue, I’m not sure.
•  this has no merit to the story whatsoever, but this is absolutely one of my favorite covers ever. It’s gorgeous!

 

final thoughts
Overall, I enjoyed this book as a whole, but I’ve gotta admit…the ending almost ruined it for me. Oftentimes the ending will either make or break a book, and this one kind of broke the book in my opinion. This will not be a re-read. Honestly, if I’d known how the book was going to end, I probably wouldn’t have ever picked it up to begin with. If you have book ending anxiety, I have a spoiler tag below that you can click on. Otherwise, that’s all I’m going to say about it. (I took the spoilers out of this review. If you want to read them, feel free to visit my blog)

The first half of this book was absolutely worth the read and I don’t regret it. The angst, the first love, the will-they/won’t-they, the sort of love-to-hate-back-to-love emotions, the creepy atmosphere, the crazy powers…all of that was great and based on that, I would have thought this book was going to become one of my favorite reads of the year.

Unfortunately…

I keep going between 3 stars or a little higher…because if I were basing my rating purely on the ending, I would’ve given it a 1. This is the kind of ending I hate and avoid like the plague. However, in the end I decided to rate this book as 3 stars, maybe even 3.5, because I did think it was beautifully written, the story as a whole was great, and I hope the author continues to write many more books in the future.

And as always, if this book sounds appealing to you, please do not hesitate to pick it up and read it for yourself. This is simply my own authentic opinion 🙂

 

Thank you, NetGalley and Kelly Andrew for the e-ARC of this book!

final rating
3/5

 

Read my original review here: Alated Bibliophile's review of Your Blood, My Bones