Disclaimer: I received the e-arc from the publisher and the arc copy from a local bookstore (not bought, they had it set out to take). Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Blood Like Magic

Author: Liselle Sambury

Book Series: Blood Like Magic Book 1

Diversity: Big family, step parents and a trans cousin (male to female), Black MC and main/side characters, Trans (female to male) love interest, Not skinny MC (she has big hips and butt), Pronouns used and normalized, Hispanic love interest, LGBT+ characters, Demiromantic character

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: ya readers, LGBT+, fantasy, witchcraft, sci-fi, urban fantasy

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Publication Date: June 15, 2021

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Pages: 496

Recommended Age: 15+ (Discussion of slavery, Gore, Violence, Language, Alcohol mentioned, Discrimination, Microaggressions, Mentions of police brutality, Media protrayal of Black people as violent)

Explanation of CWs: Slavery and the trauma of it in the family is discussed. Damn is the only curse I saw used. Alcohol is mentioned in the context of the adults drink and one of the teens tries to sneak some, at a family function the MC had some shandy, and the MC drinks rum to watch a very gorey scene. Police brutality a thing of the past and officers now from convicted, but still happens. This is very brief in the book. Media protrayal of Black people as violent is still happening and is frowned upon by MC and by the tone of the book in general.

Synopsis: After years of waiting for her Calling—a trial every witch must pass in order to come into their powers—the one thing Voya Thomas didn’t expect was to fail. When Voya’s ancestor gives her an unprecedented second chance to complete her Calling, she agrees—and then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic.

Voya is determined to save her family’s magic no matter the cost. The problem is, Voya has never been in love, so for her to succeed, she’ll first have to find the perfect guy—and fast. Fortunately, a genetic matchmaking program has just hit the market. Her plan is to join the program, fall in love, and complete her task before the deadline. What she doesn’t count on is being paired with the infuriating Luc—how can she fall in love with a guy who seemingly wants nothing to do with her?

With mounting pressure from her family, Voya is caught between her morality and her duty to her bloodline. If she wants to save their heritage and Luc, she’ll have to find something her ancestor wants more than blood. And in witchcraft, blood is everything.

Review: Okay so in the running for my favorite book of 2021, no other book really stands a chance against this one now I think LOL. This book absolutely blew me away and it's so unique and phenomenal I cannot not rave about it. The book is like this weird love child of a Sci-Fi mixed with techno mixed with murder mystery elements and witchcraft. And it works! I really love all of the characters and there is so much diversity in this book. All the characters, even down at the miniscule small ones are so well developed. The world building is absolutely amazing. The plot, though a little complex, immediately draws you in and refuses to let you leave. And the pacing is very consistent throughout the book. And bonus points because the cover is in like one of my favorite colors LOL. And I also want to talk about how the main character, who is painted to be in that "not like other girls" trope in the beginning is totally not like that at the end of the book and the book does really well to show that that character comes into their own. I also want to highly commend the book for involving periods as a coming of age rituals and making the male characters also experience a version of this lol. I have to say that this was one of the most unique books I have read in a long time and I am stoked to see the other books in the series and where this author goes from here because this author is going to be someone that you want to keep on your radar.

The only little bit of criticism that I had in this book is that there was a lot going on, especially in the beginning, and it forced me to slow down in my reading. But I think that was completely intentional by the author and while my brain was rushing to memorize a lot of facts, I love how the author wrote the book.

Verdict: Absolutely amazing and I highly recommend!