Review: Of Wicked Blood (The Quatrefoil Chronicles #1)

Author: Olivia Wildenstein & Katie Hayoz

Started reading: March 15th 2021

Finished the book: April 15th 2021

Pages: 434 / 14:41:00

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Published: February 2nd 2021

Source: Netgalley

Goodreads score: 4.18

My score:

Synopsis

No rest for the wicked... or the cursed.

SLATE
I didn’t mean to steal the Bloodstone from the De Morel’s crypt. Scratch that, I did mean to steal it. Until I realized it was a curse-magnet that only comes off if I, along with a jolly trio, successfully defeat four curses. If any of us fail, I’m dead. I’ve never been a glass half-empty sort of person, but my glass looks in dire need of a refill right about now. The only highlight of this wicked treasure hunt: feisty, entitled Cadence de Morel.

CADENCE
I was raised on tales of magic, in a small town reputed to be the birthplace of French witchcraft. Did I believe all the stories I heard? Absolutely not. I mean, if magic existed, Maman wouldn’t have died, and Papa wouldn’t be stuck in a wheelchair, right? Wrong. The night Slate Ardoin waltzes into my life, wearing a ring he stole from my mother’s grave, I call him a monster. But then I meet real ones, and Slate, well . . . he becomes something else to me. Something frustrating to live with but impossible to live without. Something I will fight for, no matter the cost. *Warning: profuse cursing (and not just the magical kind).

My thoughts

This was a lovely audiobook to listen to. It was easy to understand and the story was fun, interesting and adventurous. What I liked was that Slate and Cadence had their own telling voice. Slate was spoken by a male and Cadence by a female. I'm really excited about the second book and can't wait to listen to it!

Pros

• Characters: There is a nice cast of characters to like or dislike. I'm sure anyone can find a favorite character in this book. The personalities are clear and it all felt very believable. The characters had their own voice and their own accent in this book as well and I just love that about audiobooks: the voice acting! It made the characters come alive and I enjoyed that the most.
• Adventurous: It's clear after a few chapters that the main characters have quite the quest to solve. That's when their adventure starts. It was very clear how it all worked and everything was explained thoroughly, so that was all easy to follow. I loved the different types of danger they faced and how that all matched their quatrefoil leaf.
• Chapter choice: The chapters weren't too long or too short, but I loved the choices the authors made at the end of the book. The storylines get separated for a bit and the chapters became shorter based on the amount of thrilling and exciting stuff that was happening. So you kept hopping from one to the other and that gave me such an awesome rush! I loved it.

Cons

• End: The end was there so fast and I had so many questions that I was left with. I would've loved maybe 2 chapters more, to get some answers and to not leave me with a feeling that it was a bit rushed...

Overall

I have read two books in Olivia Wildensteins Boulder Wolves Series, and loved it. I was really excited to read this book, where she combines her writing-powers with another author. I had not heard of Katie Hayoz, but I'm a fan after this book and I can't wait what they write together for the second book in this series!

Other opinions on this book

"Magical curses, ingriguing mystery and a slow burn romance set against a gorgeous French backdrop, Of Wicked Blood is deliciously wicked!"

- Lani Forbes, bestelling author of The Seventh Sun

"Absolutely enchanting! Within the first chapter, I was hooked, and before long, I'd fallen completely in love with the story and its rich characters."

- Lucía Ashta, bestelling author of Magical Creatures Academy

Thanks for reading!

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