A review by bright_eyed_and_bookish
First Comes Blood by Lilith Vincent

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I would describe this as a thrilling political drama that happens to involve a reverse harem romance. At the beginning I was really curious about all of the love interests, and who could be trusted. They're all pretty powerful and even more so as a group. The mayor's political strategy is to divide and conquer, to split up the brotherhood of these four men using his daughter so that he can undermine that power.

The friendship dynamic between the love interests is quite messed up in some ways, but it also shows how much they trust each other and seeing that is my weakness. I also think the high stakes plot, goes very well with a reverse harem. It makes the negotiation of relationships, whether it is friendship or a romantic relationship, a lot more complex. I am really excited for the next book, Second Comes War! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

Medical content:

Something that troubled me a bit was that there was a character who operates on the heroine in questionable ways. He claims to be a doctor and to have all the knowledge also that he did not bother to take med school exams. The heroine does not end up with complications, and maybe the "doctor" lied about the lack of certification just to scare the heroine, but I was a bit scared too.