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cuddlewithbooks 's review for:
The Blood Spell
by C.J. Redwine
*I received this review copy from HarperCollins Canada in exchange for an honest review.*
I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I’ve looked at CJ Redwine’s books before, contemplating buying them for the retellings (and the covers which are very gorgeous). I went into the book knowing bits of the premise and it blew me out of the water. Let me preface that Cinderella is not one of my favourite fairy tales, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this particular retelling, but man was I wrong. The characters were strong and I enjoyed the relationships that Blue and Kellan had with all of them.
Overall, I liked this book a lot. There were so many events and a lot of time passed within the narrative, but I didn’t feel like I was missing too much in their day-to-day lives. A few of the events felt too unresolved for my taste, but overall the climax fit well into the story and a lot of the threads came together in a very satisfying way (when the shoes and the dress came up, I was so excited!). There were a couple of convenient plot points, but it didn’t detract too much from my overall joy during this book.
Blue and Kellan = 😍
The dialogue was great and I loved the disabled representation, which is not often addressed and seen in fantasy, unless it is the result of some sort of battle. Blue and Kellan had a great relationship and I loved her dad and grand-mere incredibly. The dynamic between our two leads was so well done and I think is the main reason I like this book so much. There is some magic and our villain is not portrayed one-dimensionally. The villain is pretty great for most of the book and then I lost a little bit of interest when their machinations became too well know.
Blue is such a force of nature and I enjoyed that she wasn’t pushed into the action, but was active in her own life. All of her decisions were intended and I found that her inner monologue I could relate to in a lot of ways. I enjoyed that the tension of the romance had nothing to do with crazy misunderstandings and the love that blossomed felt real, albeit a little quick (it’s a fairytale so I give it a pass).
Kellan was such a bae and his character had depth, even though I found he was defined a little more ‘clunky’ than Blue was. But, his actions and his words made me root for him. I’ve been reading books lately where the male characters are all broody and moody, but Kellan was not those things and it was a refreshing take.
I enjoyed that we got to join the villain sometimes and that they were complex and the reveal I could see coming wasn’t too obvious. The plot winded sometimes in ways that didn’t make sense at the time, but now I see were potentially red herrings and was even used to highlight the precarious position Kellan was in with all of his responsibility or to highlight Blue and all of the tragedies that she has had to face.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly and will definitely be picking up her other books when I can!
I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I’ve looked at CJ Redwine’s books before, contemplating buying them for the retellings (and the covers which are very gorgeous). I went into the book knowing bits of the premise and it blew me out of the water. Let me preface that Cinderella is not one of my favourite fairy tales, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this particular retelling, but man was I wrong. The characters were strong and I enjoyed the relationships that Blue and Kellan had with all of them.
Overall, I liked this book a lot. There were so many events and a lot of time passed within the narrative, but I didn’t feel like I was missing too much in their day-to-day lives. A few of the events felt too unresolved for my taste, but overall the climax fit well into the story and a lot of the threads came together in a very satisfying way (when the shoes and the dress came up, I was so excited!). There were a couple of convenient plot points, but it didn’t detract too much from my overall joy during this book.
Blue and Kellan = 😍
The dialogue was great and I loved the disabled representation, which is not often addressed and seen in fantasy, unless it is the result of some sort of battle. Blue and Kellan had a great relationship and I loved her dad and grand-mere incredibly. The dynamic between our two leads was so well done and I think is the main reason I like this book so much. There is some magic and our villain is not portrayed one-dimensionally. The villain is pretty great for most of the book and then I lost a little bit of interest when their machinations became too well know.
Blue is such a force of nature and I enjoyed that she wasn’t pushed into the action, but was active in her own life. All of her decisions were intended and I found that her inner monologue I could relate to in a lot of ways. I enjoyed that the tension of the romance had nothing to do with crazy misunderstandings and the love that blossomed felt real, albeit a little quick (it’s a fairytale so I give it a pass).
Kellan was such a bae and his character had depth, even though I found he was defined a little more ‘clunky’ than Blue was. But, his actions and his words made me root for him. I’ve been reading books lately where the male characters are all broody and moody, but Kellan was not those things and it was a refreshing take.
I enjoyed that we got to join the villain sometimes and that they were complex and the reveal I could see coming wasn’t too obvious. The plot winded sometimes in ways that didn’t make sense at the time, but now I see were potentially red herrings and was even used to highlight the precarious position Kellan was in with all of his responsibility or to highlight Blue and all of the tragedies that she has had to face.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly and will definitely be picking up her other books when I can!