The first book, Blood Like Magic, was one of my favorite books of 2021. While one thing I remember a lot of in the first book was all the delicious sounding food, this one didn’t have as much of that. But it makes sense since Voya had to step away from her job at the restaurant as well as her grandmother being gone now, someone she did a lot of her cooking with. Now, even without that, I loved this book as well. As with the first one it was almost 500 pages again, but it didn’t feel like it as I read. Other than the fact I was reading from a hardback and it was heavier than the ARC I had with the first one.

The story was so good, had me on the edge of my seat as I read and wondered how in the world Voya could figure out what was going on, as well as how she would be able to become the matriarch her family needed. There were a lot of people that made you wonder how they were related to the troubles. Bits and pieces of the past and what led to how things were at the present moment in the book were woven in throughout the story in the perfect way. There was no info dumping to get caught up anywhere.

While some things were definitely surprises as they were revealed, others I had inklings about. For instance I had a feeling about Eli’s strangeness. Other things, I knew something was going on with some of the other witches, but not exactly what. All of the family dynamics of the story were so fitting as well. For Voya to learn to be her best matriarch, she had to learn exactly what that meant, and if she had to keep trying to be just like her grandmother and other matriarchs she knew, or if she could be her own type of leader.

Loved this so much! I was a bit confused at first as for some reason I was assuming this story would be from her cousin Keis’s side, but instead we got to finish the story with Voya as our MC.