4.5 stars. This book was SO MUCH FUN!! I was completely hooked. Who doesn't love a story about sleeping magic, a small french town, a new bad boy to shake up said small town, and 4 tasks to acquire mystical objects that restore said sleeping magic?!! I loved that the magic of this world (so far) is rather dark, it makes it so much more interesting. I thought the pacing of this book was perfect. There was enough action, mystery solving, and character development that I never found myself getting bored. The relationship between the characters was really well done and I can't wait to be back with this group in book 2. The only reason I docked .5 stars from this books was 2 character "flaws" that are my own opinion. I love me a tall, dark haired, rough, bad boy but I felt like Slate was a little over the top, especially in the beginning. Then I thought Cadence was a little TOO innocent/immature throughout the book to match with Slate's over-the-top bad boy-ness. Towards the end though, I was more convinced of their relationship. I have a feeling in book 2 it will balance out!

I enjoy a good magical story. This one didn't disappoint. We fallow Slate on a adventure like nothing you have read before. If you haven't learned the lesson about not touching what isn't yours then this book might have you think twice before taking something ever again. There is so much Mystery and lies in this book. But, there's a building romance and maybe a mystery you are going to want to fallow. Oh, and a few bad guys show up to make you think about how the story is going to play out. All this AND MAGIC how could you not want to read it This book started a little slow but once it got going it was not easy to put down. The audible is also good with good narration. I listened to some of the book with my 12 year old in the room and he seemed to enjoy it also.

Of wicked blood is a suspense paranormal romance. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and turning the page to find out what happens next.

A world without magic doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Unlocking the secrets to where it’s gone could get you killed.

Slate didn’t know his parents. He had a tough up bringing and it’s hardened his soul. When he has the chance to find out who he really is and a possibility of inheritance he finds his way to trouble. Now he’s fight against the clock to save his live.

Cadence only has her papa. When she learns the truth about her mother a spark of emotions rise in her. Magic needs to be unlocked to stop a deadly curse, but she’s onto Slate. He isn’t the typical good guy

This is a suspense thriller which is full of mystery and action. It’s a slow burn romance and a paranormal series.

Great read. Interesting characters with an engaging plot. 4 out of 5 stars. *I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I’m a fan of Olivia Wildenstein’s books.

I'd give this a solid 3.5 stars. The story gripped me for a good 3/4 of the book. I enjoyed Slate's character, the author's vivid descriptions of the magical town of Brume, and the French words sprinkled throughout. The plot was interesting and had been executed well for most of the book. My only issue was the final part of the story, which seemed a bit confusing. The ending felt rushed and didn't make any sense. It was almost as if the author needed to get the manuscript in ASAP and created an abrupt ending with no real explanation or closure. It's a shame because most of the book was really interesting and well written. Overall I enjoyed the story - I just wish the final portion was different.

I really enjoyed this book,

An urban fantasy, the story offers plot twists, secrets, high stakes, and a swoon-worthy romance that I wanted more of.

In the beginning, I was a little skeptical because I worried the plot would be the familiar “boy who steals magical objects and dooms everyone”. While some elements were similar to that storyline, this book was so much more!

The story begins in a small village in France where magic has been dormant for the past century. Soon, Slate Ardion comes to Brume in seek of answers he can’t get anywhere else. He makes the drastic mistake of stealing a magical item, which sets the whole book in motion. The book involves old/dark magic that was created and used by the Diwallers. The Diwallers are the founding families of Brume, and each family is tied to certain elements of magic. There are four deadly challenges, one for each one of the Diwallers heirs. Each challenge is increasingly dangerous. There are sirens, ghosts, demons, and deadly objects.

Of Wicked Blood introduced me to an unusual fantasy world, to which I cannot wait to return. The characters are well-drawn and developed and they all work well together. Their banter had me laughing out loud. The authors did a terrific job and I am looking forward to Book Two. I hope you all give it a read.

I received an eARC from Netgalley, that doesn’t affect my opinion of the book, all my thoughts are my own and honest.

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

Slate is a very successful con man but when he steals the bloodstone from De Morel’s crypt, he gets more than he bargained for. Unless he can lift the curse that is placed on him, he will die. Painfully.

Cadence was raised in a small town that is said to be the birthplace of French witchcraft. When Slate walks into her life, wearing a ring he stole from her mothers grave, she burns with hate, but as she gets to know him, something else starts to burn inside her.

The book was intriguing, it was set in modern time but the town it was based in didn’t feel modern. The atmosphere made me appreciate the cold and the town sometimes felt a bit creepy walking through the night. The plot was different, refreshing and the book was easy to fly through once I got into it.

Slate is cocky, arrogant, sly and a con artist. He’s the type of person that hides his true self beneath a different persona but when he meets Cadence she starts pulling back the layers without Slate even realising. Throughout the book you discover that Slate isn’t as he first seemed, he just needed the right person to bring out himself.

Cadence worries about her Dad, works at a library and has an unrequited crush. At first glance, you would almost say she is pure and innocent. But again like Slate as you read on you peel back her layers and see that what we thought isn’t true.

The side characters were also well done and fleshed out, there were characters that made you question whether they were good or not.

One of the things I liked the most about the book was the romance between the two main characters. I felt like it was very well done. It was developed at the right pace for my liking.

Overall I really enjoyed my time reading this book, but the ending let it down for me a lot. Hence the rating. I felt like the ending was rushed and ended abruptly and I was left wondering what happened. It just didn’t feel like there was a build-up to the ending it just ended. I would recommend to fantasy romance with slow-burn.

3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Katie Hayoz and Olivia Wildenstein and the publishers for approving me a copy.

This was my first book from these authors and it won't be the last. This book was so good. Slate was so great character and I liked him righ away. I liked that he didn't hide who he was. When he arrived to Brume, he didn't plan to stay. But one ring changed everything. Candence was sweet heroine and I liked her too. There was some interesting side characters and one of them was Candence's best friend Alma. I really liked her.

Thank you to Twig Publishing for providing me with an eARC of "Of Wicked Blood" through Netgalley!

Real rating: 4.5/5

This book had me drawn in immediately from the start! Slate’s character is exceptionally captivating and entertaining as he finds himself stuck (literally) in Brume after stealing a ring from a crypt that belongs to the family of Cadence de Morel. After a whirlwind of revelations, he is forced to work with Cadence and two others to find the four pieces of what is known as the “Quatrefoil” that will restore magic to Brume and the world. This will also break the curse that has fallen onto Slate when he put on the stolen ring—that he will die if the four pieces are not put back together by the next new moon. The dynamic of all the characters involved is compelling, especially that of Slate and Cadence when mixed in with her protective father, Rainier de Morel. I found this book super fun and easy to read, too, which was really great to find in a book that is more mature and geared toward a more mature young adult audience. One thing that bothered me was the ending, which I found super abrupt and with little explanation or conclusion usually found in the first book in a series. That being said, I cannot wait to be able to read the next book and learn more about the after-effects of the events that took place in "Of Wicked Blood".

I liked this book. It's about an Orphan named Slate who steals a ring in Great Britain which activates a curse. He meets Cadence who was raised on magic and now they must work together to make sure the curse doesn't destroy them. I enjoyed the story plotline which was well structured and had an easy world-building. The writing was well done by both authors but I have to say that the pacing was off which knocked down a star for me. The beginning was slow which was fine but towards the middle, it picks up speed which is where all the action is happening. In my opinion, it should have been slower because I would have loved to learn and see more of those scenes that had me hooked. I loved how the book was written in two POVs, from both Slate and Cadence so you could get into their minds.

I enjoyed the characters in this book. I felt more connected with Cadence and enjoyed her character more than Slate. She is a brave and caring character that develops throughout the story. There is so much family history that she learns which I thought was interesting to read about. Slate is a handsome young fellow though I didn't enjoy his personality as much. He also had great character development and is a brave character that would do anything for his friends. There were many supporting characters in the book but I wished we got to read more about them. There is some steamy romance and the trope is enemies to lovers.

This book had a good ending that makes me want to read the second book. I enjoy the romance but would love to see more of the supporting characters involved in the book. I did have some problems with this book though I still enjoyed it. I will most likely be reading the second book just to find out what happens next. This book is perfect for fans of paranormal romance that enjoy witches and curses.

I’ve read and enjoyed Olivia Wildenstein’s books before, and the blurb for this one really caught my interest. It definitely lives up to it, as well! This is an enjoyable and high stakes young adult paranormal romance, all set in a small French town.

Slate, professional thief and survivor of the foster care system, has always figured he was abandoned by his parents. So he’s shocked and angry to receive a letter – and birth certificate – claiming that he’s the only surviving member of one of a small Breton town’s founding families. That anger propels him to Brume, supposed birthplace of magic, and into some questionable choices. A moment of drunk revenge leads to Slate being saddled with a curse: he and the descendants of the other three founding families must find and reassemble the Quatrefoil pieces by the next new moon, unleashing magic back into the world, or the chance to do so will be lost – and Slate will die.

“You don’t strike me as a librarian.”
“You don’t strike me as a student.”
His lips quirk. “What do I strike you as?”
“A criminal.”
“And criminals aren’t allowed to be educated?”


The story is told from the dual POVs of Cadence and Slate, our two young protagonists. From the start, Slate got on my nerves. Yes, he had a rough childhood in foster care, and yes, he has every reason to be angry that Rainier, Cadence’s father, seems to have known about his existence but never bothered contacting him before, but I had a hard time reconciling his “rich and accomplished thief” persona with his actions at the beginning of the book. As the book progressed and he dropped some of his bravado nonsense, he did grow on me, though. For her part, Cadence is struggling with the fact that her beloved Papa kept the truth about her mother’s death and his injuries from her, plus, you know, the whole “magic is real and you’re part of the bloodline that can bring it back” thing. Luckily, she’s been fascinated with the magical history of Brume since she was a child, and even works as a librarian in the town’s archives. She’s no-nonsense and brave, and I loved the heck out of her.

“There are two surefire ways to get a woman: wooing her and wearing her down. Since you keep objecting to being wooed, I’ve elected to wear you down.”


It’s clear that the relationship between Cadence and Slate is the main focus of the book. From the first moment they meet, they’re unreasonably attracted to each other, and before he knows it, Slate is experiencing all these weird *feelings.* Look, Cadence is the clichéd good girl – she’s a librarian at 17 for goodness’ sake – and Slate is the clichéd bad boy (only because of his tragic past, of course), so naturally they’re going to fall in love. It was a bit eyeroll worthy to me, but once I accepted it for what it was, it was pretty good fun. The banter between them was hilarious, even if it did sometimes border on the overly crass (thanks, Slate). And, of course, Slate’s the one who’s the farthest gone first, so he has to wait for Cadence to come to terms with her feelings for a, as she puts it, “thug.” Slate’s willingness to do this – to not push too hard – was one of the things that finally entered him to me.

“What a team we make—a preppy professor, a woman with a yarn fetish, and a girl way too pure of heart for all this bullshit. The ultimate underdogs.”


While Slate and Cadence are both young adults, their team is rounded out by Adrien, a 20’s-ish history professor and Cadence’s secret crush, and Gaëlle, a mother of twins. It’s not exactly your usual young adult fantasy team and, honestly, I appreciated the different perspectives. Cadence’s father, Rainier, is the only person who was around for the last attempt at reuniting the pieces, which means he’s their primary source for any Quatrefoil-related information, besides what any of them can rustle up from the archives. As for other side characters, each main character also has their best friends, Bastian and Alma. Sometimes it felt like they were there only so they had someone to talk to about their new and definitely unwanted crushes, but they were each interesting characters.

As for the worldbuilding and adventure plot, I thought both were well-done. Brume felt suitably magical and terrifying and I found the history of the Quatrefoil engaging. Each of the attempts to recover the pieces builds on the previous ones, and the stakes kept building. The pacing was a little more rough for me. The book starts out slowly and while it does pick up pace, it seemed to move in uneven fits and starts. At points it was impossible to put down, and then then there were other sections where it took me a day to get through two chapters. The last quarter of the book, where it became clear that things were not quite as they seemed, was excellent, and definitely made me want to pick up the next book so I can see if my guesses are correct.

Overall, while the pacing wasn’t great, I enjoyed the book and will be looking forward to seeing what happens next!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Twig Publishing for providing me with the opportunity to read the e-arc of Of Wicked Blood by Katie Hayoz and Olivia Wildenstein, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Truthfully, I loved this book. It was a great read that totally pulled me in from the start and even through I had to grapple with French slang, that was actually a joy – especially with the included glossary. And yes, I did add a few of the phrases to my own repertoire! 😊
The world building and magic system were all tied up in the town of Brume, a magically cursed town that no longer has magic.
The characters were so 4D, Slate was such a multi-complex character…not just the pretty book-boyfriend, whilst Cadence was more than just your pretty girl who falls for the bad boy. She’s a girl with brains, common sense and the determination to see something through. I loved that this wasn’t just about the two of them, and that it included a whole gang – as per the norm, they don’t fit the standard friendships, but they do compliment each other – let’s just say Scooby gang came to mind a few times…in a good way!
The story starts with Slate, bad boy with mysterious background being summoned to the old and small town of Brume, where he gets drunk, breaks into the wrong crypt and steals from the wrong grave – getting cursed in the process. Having no choice but to team up with town descendants to break a curse and bring magic back to Brume or die as a consequence of the curse, Slate and the gang start their quest to recover magical items before the next new moon!
The gang themselves definitely come to life during their quests; Relationships and feelings come to the fore amidst their quest to save Slate and recover magic and in the background there are machinations and plots aplenty. All is not what it seems in Brume!
Whilst I understand that some readers will find the French vocabulary a little challenging, I found it fun, but then languages are my thing. For me the co-authoring brought an added edge to the writing, the teamwork shone through in this story and I really enjoyed reading it. In fact I was quite annoyed to be dragged away from it by the mundanity of life.
I’m definitely giving this one 4.5 stars…the twist at the end was well timed and definitely gave me that cliff-edge feeling, but I was a bit disgruntled at the number of ends left untied. I know that there’s going to be a sequel and I will definitely be reading it. I loved Slate, Cadence and the gang and can’t see where they go to next!

Of Wicked Blood by Olivia Wildenstein and Katie Hayoz is a fun YA novel set a beautiful French village where magic was once reality. When the four founding families saw the havoc magic could cause they locked it away in a quatrefoil. Now centuries later there's only one shot at bringing magic back into the world.

Of Wicked Blood was a fun fantasy novel. I was expecting something like A Discovery of Witches and while it certainly shares some aspects including learning about your family, I would say it leans more Twilight in terms of romance and maturity level needed to read it. I loved the picturesque setting and cannot wait for the next book because the cliff hanger ended which I loved but hate that I'll have to wait to so long to see what's next.

This book was phenomenal! I read it in one day, in one sitting, I couldn't stop. The characters are interesting and the story is engaging. I love that the story is told from two perspectives. That gives it such depth that would be lacking if it was told from only one side. I am already on the edge of my seat waiting for the next book in the series. Fantastic read, highly recommended!

A Two-Day Whirlwind

I am a Wicked big fan of Olivia Wildenstein and have been for a very long time. The first book in her Masterful Series is one of the first books I was given to review on NetGalley when I first started and that was a fantastic read. If you have not read that series, I highly recommend it. Katie Hayoz is new to me but I plan to do some book research on her as well because this duo writing was amazing. The atmosphere set around Brume and the magical history of the area was exquisite. When you can picture a place in my mind and it has got its own personality and life then you know the author did a stunning job bringing the place to life. The characters were a group of interesting humans that all had their own personalities and dimensions. I loved Cadence and Slate as a couple and I loved the slow buildup that was their relationship because it made it feel real and not something that these two authors put together just to fill pages. What I really liked was the magic and the challenges that each character had to go through to get their leaf.

I am invested in the magic I am invested in the characters and I cannot wait to see what comes next in this story. January 11th, 2022 cannot come soon enough. I cannot wait to see what comes next for Cadence and Slate and all the other characters that made this read such a magical ride. I only stopped reading long enough to let my kindle charge and I enjoyed every minute. Thank you, NetGalley and these lovely women for giving me the chance to be part of this magical journey.

Brume, a small town engulfed in fog has a very intresting heritage. It is the place where magic was born and of course the Brumian legends. Brume has been deprived of magic for centuries. In order to get it back the quatrefoil must be assembled by the council of the most powerful families of Brume known as the diwallers or the guardians of the quatrefoil.

Slate our male protagonist had a very difficult childhood. Jumping from foster home to foster home made him tough and greedy. So when he receives a letter from the Dean of the university of Brume, Rainier de Morel, telling him about his lineage he gets furious and acts out by looting the de Morel's crypt and stealing a very important ring. The moment he puts that ring on the clock starts to tick. The time to assemble the quatrefoil is here once again and if it is not assmebled within the given time the repercussions of it are very grim.

Slate is definitely the bad boy with the heart of gold character. He held the spotlight really well. Throughout the book Slate had the most character development, he was the selfish thief who felt no remorse, but he cared, protected and provided for his foster brother. He is not righteous, he is still a little bit selfish but now he has a need to prove others wrong, he has the desire to do good by the people he cares about, which now includes Cadence.
Cadence, our female protagonist, is the caged princess, who doesn't really know she's caged. Her father kept her away from the truth of her past and the major roles she has to play in the future. Cadence held really strong throughout the book, even after finding the truth about the fatal tasks she has to endure during the hunt and finding out some of the secrets that her father had kept had taken a toll on her but she still stood tall through it all. Her devlopment was slow and steady, from the naive girl she was, she became the girl who fought a dragon and then single handedly defeated a huge terra cotta statue of Ares. She is determined and headstrong. I'm really looking forward to see more of her in the next book.
The chemistry between Slate and Cadence was really fun. Their attraction was instant even though Slate was all business at that time and Cadence was crushing on a young professor. Then again Cadence didn't really trust him that much in the beginning knowing that he was a thief. The banter between them is cute, Slate's flirty behaviour is charming. The build up is good and pleasing. I love them.

The story is told through Slate and Cadence's POVs. The plot was really interesting, with the legends, curses and lore, elemental magic with witches, wizards and warlocks, the dark, gothic and esoteric atmosphere just makes the world the authors have created so bewitching. The flow of the book was simple yet it pulled me in so easily. The slow build up of the plot inching towards the partial cliffhanger end was really good.
The last few chapters were so hard. I was there curled up in despair thinking that it's going to end so badly I didn't know if I could take it but then out of nowhere in the last chapter everything flips and I was sitting there jaw wide open, relieved and worried at the same it.

So at the beginning of this book I was intrigued, then in the middle I was really bugged and disenchanted, but the end brought me back a little more. There is a fun story going on and a cute little town. Pretty quickly you figure out it is going to be one of those journey books where the heroes need to accomplish certain tasks so it feels a little boring once that comes out. But even though you basically knew where things were going, it was still a fun ride. The story follows two main characters and it changes back and fourth between them every chapter.

I only had two main problems with the book. First, one of the main characters is rather vulgar. He curses a lot, which they do warn you about, so I do get that, but sometimes he just acted pessimistic and self deprecating. All of that combined made it rather annoying at times. However, after a while I liked him more, but I was never really absolutely loved him. That leads me to the second thing I disliked most and that would be the narrators (I listened to the audiobook). I mean, there was nothing wrong with them, but I just didn't like either voices. It really disrupted me sometimes and I would be jolted out of the story by their voices. So this might be a better one to read instead of listen too.

But now that the book is over I really wish I had the second one. The beautiful magical town the world is set in is so cute and cozy! I want to live there. It feels like Oxford, Harry Potter, and the French countryside combined. For some reason it also reminded me a bit of the Ruby Red series, which I loved!

This was my first Netgalley audiobook (also requested the ebook later because I wasn't sure how to spell a few words 😂) and what an amazing experience.

The writing was great and the dialogue even better. What really did it for me though was the setting. I loved this particular take on magic and fantasy - the world building was done well and explained better, the world of magic coming alive through Cadence and Slate's eyes.

Speaking of Cadence and Slate, the characters in the book slightly irritated me at times. All the men in Cadence's life sometimes went all alpha male and tried to prevent her from entering into certain situations. I understand that you only want to protect her but you gotta let the girl make her own choice.

Other than that, this was a great read! 4🌟

I received an ARC of Of Wicked Blood by Olivia Wildenstein and Katie Hayoz thanks to the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: child death, prior child abuse mentioned (no, these are not related)

I am obsessed with this book. After the first chapter, I preordered the sequel (August cannot come fast enough). I knew it was going to be a hit because Slate is incredible. The banter between Slate and his brother is priceless and that banter continues throughout with multiple characters. Slate is so much fun to read! Cadence is not quite as good of a character as Slate (morally grey characters just sing to me) but their chemistry together is wonderful.

Plot-wise the story was excellently crafted. There was the perfect amount of build up and the action-packed scenes were not piled in one spot. The way the history of Brume was told (which is an extremely important aspect of the story) was brilliant. I never felt lectured to, despite there being parts where it was literally be taught to Slate.

The descriptions were great. A picture was painted as the story was being told. I felt like I was walking through the events with them. I would have like a bit more detail to the environment, but the book is already 400+ words of perfection so I totally get why those details are not there and as you’re reading you don’t even notice.

I cannot recommend this story enough. It gives me flashbacks to all the good aspects of Endgame (which honestly aren’t that many looking back on it, but this gives off that same “adventure, save the world” vibe). Another book it reminds me of is Lore (minus the mythology). Definitely worth picking up and moving it up the TBR list!

This was a great start to a new series, and I really enjoyed most of it. I liked the characters for the most part, Slate, specifically, although Cadence has potential to grow on me more, once she discovers that she doesn’t need her Papa for everything, and that really sinks in.
The beginning of this took awhile for me to get into. Lots of information being doled out, which is necessary, of course, but it got to be that I felt inundated with it all.
However, once we got over the hump and things picked up, I was throughly invested. I’m excited to read the next in the series, because 8 can see many things on the horizon for this group.

As a side not, I read and listened to the audio, and the narrators were absolutely wonderful. I didn’t feel like I couldn’t listen to either of them, and felt they did justice to the characters.

Slate grew up in the foster care system and saying it was rough is an underestimate. After getting a mysterious letter regarding his birth family, he travels to find answers. Cadence lost her mother as a child and has grow up with magical tales while living with her papa. When Slate discovers a ring... and can’t get it off his finger... what unfurls is a dangerous journey he, Cadence and the rest of the gang will have to navigate or otherwise face death.
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I will read anything Ms Wildenstein writes - I haven’t found a single book I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed! Of Wicked Blood is no exception - real, relatable characters (people who grew up in foster care, an individual in a wheelchair), a lot of action, magic, mystery, lies and deceit... this book has it all. Hard to put down and highly recommended!