Bloodleaf was a retelling of the Goose girl that is a bit of the Red Queen, magic, spirits, a seance, blood spells and mystery. And probably made me think of the 6th Sense quite a bit. The goose girl is probably one of my favorite retellings, and the author did a good job staying true to the original enough but with a totally new approach to the fairy tale. There were definite twists I did not see coming, I thought it was creative and kept me turning the pages at it's non-stop action and "who done it" vibe. The author kept me guessing as to who was really pulling the strings of the villain. Great read. Good retelling.

This was an interesting book. I liked all the characters, although it was sometimes hard to focus on the story.

This book has all the elements of an intriguing story--an heroine in the making, true evil, romance and the pursuit of righteousness and justice. I loved seeing the main character develop and mature into a formidable opponent. The storyline unfolded with just enough exposed to keep me guessing what would happen next. I'll recommend Bloodleaf to my customers who enjoy fantasy and intrigue with a strong female lead.

A princess goes undercover in another kingdom after a failed assignation attempt in this young adult fantasy romance.

No way to break this easily – princess Aurelia is the dumbest princess I have ever met. This novel should be renamed to <i>Aurelia and Her Awful, No Good, Stupid Choices</i>. It seemed to me the author had the plot outlined, but she didn’t know how to make it move in that direction without sacrificing her main character. Over half of Aurelia’s problems is her poor choices and lack of awareness. It would be one thing if she started the novel with poor critical thinking skills, learning them as she developed her magic. However, Aurelia continued to make either poor decisions or rash decisions as the novel progressed.

On top of a problematic protagonist, the novel suffered from too many tropes and a data dump of world building. It was easy to guess the twists for everything from Aurelia’s love interest to the big bad of the novel. I liked some of the secondary characters, particularly Kate and Zan, but they are never used beyond propping up Aurelia’s story line. I will say the ending includes a satisfactory resolution to the plot as well as the characters. Perhaps there will be a sequel, although I have no interest in reading it.

<b>tl;dr A problematic protagonist, too many tropes, and unorganized world building left me not really enjoying this novel.</b>

The cover and the description of the story really intrigued me when I first heard about "Bloodleaf" but I tried three separate times to get into the story and I just couldn't. I re-read the first part of the book thinking maybe I just wasn't feeling it that day but the characters and the writing style just didn't do anything for me. I congratulate the author on publishing a book, which that alone is a huge achievement, but unfortunately it just wasn't working for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book. I enjoyed reading the book; it held my interest throughout and had some surprises along the way.

A fantastic retelling of the Brothers Grimm "The Goose Girl" tale and a great book for fans of Game of Thrones and Red Queen. Through an action driven plot riddled with twists and turns, readers are taken into the life of Aurelia, Princess of Renalt. Aurelia's strength, determination, bravery, and magical powers help her navigate political strife and intrigues. of two opposing kingdoms. What starts out as a journey to wed the Prince of Achelva (an arranged marriage) turns out to be a fight for her life, the lives of those she loves, and the future of the two kingdoms as a government official tries to dismantle it all. The twists and turns woven throughout the plot keep the interest of the reader as Aurelia battles evil.

I found this book to be an enjoyable and quick read. The main character is likeable, and the plot keeps a steady pace.

I did not know prior to reading this book that it is a retelling of a Grimm's fairytale. After reading the book, I looked up The Goose Girl and read a brief synopsis of the plot and primary characters. My opinion of the book actually went up half a star after doing so, because I thought that the author was very clever in how she incorporated the elements of the fairytale throughout the story. I also liked that the witch hunts and persecution of accused witches was pretty accurate to historical events. This made the story more believable, and gave it an interesting twist.

The reason this book was not quite four stars for me is because I think that the setting and some of the characters, namely Kellan, really needed to be fleshed out more. The plot was well-developed, but it was hard for me to picture events because descriptions of the cities and other locations were not very vivid. As for Kellan, I did not really understand the relationship between him and the main character, Aurelia. I assume his character will get more page time in the next two books, as this is slotted to be a trilogy, but I honestly felt that this book should have been a standalone. The ending provided a lot of closure; so much so that I was actually surprised to find out that the story is going to be extended into two more books.
Rating: 3.5 stars

#Bloodleaf #NetGalley
A dark, epic fantasy series that has a been compared to the Red Queen series. I loved the political aspect of the story line and felt that this series has strong possibilities going forward. I gave it three stars because the characters never really clicked for me.

This is absolutely one of the best debuts I've read this year! It has a magnificent world-building, excellent writing style, and unforgettable characters. I couldn't put it down! Crystal Smith is an author to watch for.

I highly recommend it!

Our teen patrons have been raving about the release of this book because of the fact it's focusing on a royal female that wants to break free of the rules of the throne. When I read the book, it immediately reminded me a lot of Aladdin except for the,fact that there is no sorcery and no three wishes from a,genie.

Bloodleaf focuses on Princess Aurelia that possesses a gift that her royal bounty has forbidden her to use her gift when it's needed the most. When someone tries to assassinate her, she flees the country to escape and this new land creates bonds she always,wanted, falls in love with the man of her dreams but when old spirits continue to haunt her she is trapped between two worlds and is forced to make a choice. Will she give up the throne or choose the new life that royalty would've never have given her?

When reading this book at first started to feel really similar to the plot of Aladdin but then when I further read into the story I started to really be invested in what will happen AuRelia and from one adventure to the next. The book ended with an open ending and I really hope this series goes on and see what adventures await Aurekia. This will really circulate well in our collection and that is why we are giving it 5 stars!

This book was beautifully written and kept me glued to the page like you would not believe. The characters are great and the story itself is amazing. I cannot wait to see what book 2 has in store.