There was a lot of information crammed into the first few chapters but pacing overall was alright. I really enjoyed Within These Wicked Walls but this one fell somewhat flat for me. It just didn’t hold my interest in the same way. That being said, it’s a good book and should go over well with our readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

Wildblood | Lauren Blackwood
Publication Date: 02/2023

Favorite Quote: “If peace were a melody, it would be this.”

Do I Recommend This Book: Yes

What I Enjoyed About It:
The Setting of the Story (Time Period)
Writing Style
The MC (Victoria)
Thorn
Victoria's Boys (Bunny and Sam)
The Mystical Jungle
The Spirits and entities that occupied the Jungle
Mumma (River Goddess)
The Redemption of some of the characters
The Gore
The realistic characters and how they evolved
African Mythology 🦋
The WILDBLOODS power
The descriptive imagery
Trigger Warning: SA , mutilation, gore, death

Thank You @netgalley and @ for the EARC in exchange for my honest review 📚

#POCReviewer #BIPOC #Netgalley #EArc #Kindle #Books #FallVibes #POCAuthor #Jungle #redemption #SASurvivor #Mumma #bornofthejungle #riverspirit #pickneys #bull #chosingyourself #gold #slavery #freedom

Blackwood's sophomore novel delivers on her lyrical storytelling. She's crafted a deadly world filled with magic. Themes of colonialism and trauma enmeshed in a fantasy world, includes some romance with solid pacing. A great read for YA readers but will appeal to a broader audience.

Content warning: rape

The concept of “Wildblood” was too original and interesting for me to refuse despite my misgivings after reading Blackwood’s debut. Unfortunately, I’ve realized her style is not for me.

The concept of indigenous people being enslaved into ecotourism via blood magic in a sentient jungle is intriguing, but it’s not explored throughout the novel. Wildbloods wield their sanguine powers carefully or carelessly without consequence, and no explanation is given for how it works or why it affects some people and not others.

The language is repetitive and uninspired. Other reviewers have mentioned the incessant “I kiss my teeth” phrase which appears at least thirteen times over the course of the book.

The narrative and characterization felt incredibly uneven—especially the way it ended. I never got a read on Victoria, Dean, or the other characters because they acted inconsistently.

I’m sad this didn’t work for me. If you were a fan of “Within These Wicked Walls,” you’ll probably love “Wildwood” too. And gosh, that cover is lovely!

I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed are clearly my own.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the Publisher for allowing me to review this book. Wildblood is a unique story where we followed our main character Victoria who is an wildblood and powerful one at that. Victoria was kidnapped and forced to work at the age of six up to the age of 18. Wildbloods are not respected in her society. Her boss is cruel and denies her of a promotion, she decided to convince him by teaming up with her ex/best friend who is set to inheriting the company and who is less powerful then her. The book picks up when they go in the jungle which has dangerous creatures, also the jungle will do anything to keep you out. I did not like the insta love between Thorn and Victoria. I was expecting some big plot twist that did not happen. Overall. It was a okay book and will buy it when it comes out

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC! There was a lot to enjoy about this one - the premise was intriguing and the execution was startling and led to a lot of thrilling tense situations. Colorism and anti-colonialism were big themes in this one - the notion of a group of magically-prepped teenagers basically drafted to lead expedition groups in dangerous locations was a very interesting one, particularly through the lens of everything the various white empires got up to in the 1800s (Everest, comes to mind, as do the various natural wonders of South America and Africa).

What I knocked off a star or two for was insta-love. It haunts me! My least favorite trope. The romance in this one was just not developed at all, and both characters suffered for it.

If you don't mind insta-love as much as I do, the books ultimate themes and lush locations are worthwhile. Be sure to mind the trigger warnings for this one - there is a LOT of abuse and SA in it that I'd hate someone to be unprepared for.

At six years old, Victoria was kidnapped and forced to work for a company as a tour guide in the jungles of Jamaica. She is a Wildblood, someone who can use their blood science like magic. Wildbloods are both feared and shunned by others. Victoria wants nothing more than to protect the ones she loves and see them free from their virtual slavery. She is the most powerful among her kind and even those like her are afraid to get close. She is paired up with Dean, her ex that gravely betrayed her, to lead a large group into the heart of the jungle in search of gold. The tour company’s client, Thorn, is a renowned gold miner, and not at all what Victoria expects. But the wilds are more than they seem, teeming with monsters and creatures of legend. There’s a reason no one has ever made it back alive. The wild jungle protects itself and none of them may make it back from this perilous expedition.

The lush atmosphere of the story sweeps you up into its humid, unforgiving climate. The trees and rivers of the jungle have their own sentience and will for the security and safety of all the ones who reside within it. The mythical and fascinating creatures will capture your heart. It’s an imaginative creation of setting and world-building that embraces nature. It is a hauntingly beautiful story world.

Victoria’s isolated life has led her to be distrusting of people, but Thorn’s respectful, generous, and affectionate manner warms her to him. I love her respect, reverence, and connection with nature. I love that Thorn is not the usual fantasy protagonist (broody, alpha male) but rather most remarkable because of his kindness, honesty, and gentleness. It is a refreshing love interest within this genre and a nice departure from the norm.

The story is rife with the injustices and exploitations of colonization. It speaks to themes of preservation of wildlife and habitats, which I believe is an incredibly important topic in today’s society and not one I see often used in fantasy books. This book touches on darker moments as well, such as recovery from abuse and learning forgiveness and understanding. The trauma is emotional and journey to healing is inspiring.

This book encourages us to consider the ways that love can be a tumultuous, confusing, and often an irrational experience. It’s about loving people despite, or even especially, for the flaws that make them undeniably and uniquely them. It’s about having the courage to stand up for what is right and good, even when everything you believe in is difficult to uphold. It’s a story about finding your own path in life, even if that means making hard choices and sacrificing for it. And it all leads to a conclusion that is heart-breaking and yet wonderfully liberating and I can’t imagine it happening any other way.

I highly recommend this book! I truly enjoyed reading it and the author is one I will definitely be watching for their next book.

Lauren Blackwood's sophomore novel tops her first with a new lush, immersive and deadly world! If you're looking for something that feels like an anti-colonial Jungle Cruise with a dark and dangerous magical jungle where everything is out to kill you where a girl discovers self-empowerment, then this book is definitely for you. The setup and opening chapters are truly gorgeous, introducing a world and characters so real, they leap off the page. As Victoria's journey intensifies, she has to face so many obstacles. By the end, after rooting for her to own her own power every step of the way, the story reaches an epic conclusion that might surprise even seasoned readers. Deadly settings, rich magic, and a beautiful character journey are at the heart of this book.

2 stars.

I so desperately wanted to adore this book, but it ultimately fell flat for me. While the intrigue, magic, and danger of the jungle kept me reading, the characterisation and plot struck me as underdeveloped and generally lacking. All-in-all: great concept, weak execution, and a lackluster main romance that frustrated me to no end. The characters felt like pantomimes of human beings; not a single decision felt informed, rational, emotional, or /anything./ This was especially baffling because the plot was largely directionless and only one character (the antagonist) had any inkling if a clear motive, which only made itself clear in the last third. So the characters ended up just wandering through deadly jungle without aim or reason, falling in and out of love at a moment's notice.

The ending felt like it could have been a much bigger and more heartrending moment if the characters had only been better developed. As it stands, it was more like a relief, given the trajectory of the main romance.

First, I just want to say that the book had an interesting premise. Teens and young adults basically imprisoned by a rich white guy and forced to use their blood magic to help travelers navigate the jungle in Jamaica safely? Plus a trip off the beaten path deep into the untouched parts of the jungle helping some rather foolhardy Americans? Along with coming to terms with inner turmoil and trauma? All of this seemed very promising.

However, while I could sympathize with the main character and the book had important statements to make about racism, othering, trauma, colonialism, and respecting the world around us, as well as figuring out where one's true home lies, the story still felt a bit...flat. I didn't really feel much when reading it. It feels like something was missing, but it's hard to describe exactly what. I usually wholeheartedly enjoy fantasy, but this one left me feeling a bit disappointed.

Fresh, original fantasy. I didn't always understand where the author was going with the "science" behind wildblood but I did enjoy this. The ghosts, memories and jungle inhabitants are the strongest parts of the story.
Thank to the author,publisher and NetGalley for the chance to review the book

This was so good for the first 35% or so. The jungle is such an interesting setting and the dynamics between the characters were fun and engaging. The world building is excellent throughout, but especially in the beginning. We learn about the world as Victoria shares things, there’s never really much infodumping so I appreciate that.

Around the 40% mark was where I started to feel unsure. The instalove is annoying and makes that relationship feel ingenuine. As the story goes on, things that should feel tragic and dramatic feel pretty lame because Victoria moves on so fast.

And the ending!!! No spoilers, but this is one the most frustrating endings I’ve ever read.

3 stars because it’s an interesting premise with a fun cast of characters in an interesting world. The structure and method of storytelling is unique and I think a lot of people will enjoy this. I just wished the end had been as good as the beginning.

My review will be posted on my social media pages 2 weeks before publication.

This was one of those books that felt longer than it was because there were so many layers to the story. I loved the idea of blood magic/science and the sentient jungle full
of untold dangers and I expected suspense and mystery, but I wasn’t prepared for the sheer amount of trauma that Victoria would be faced with. The amount of abuse and betrayal and loss was overwhelming.

I do highly suggest checking the trigger warnings if you are a sensitive reader. Racism, colorism, and colonialism are major themes in the book, as well as misogyny and abuse, including SA. I personally found the circumstances of the SA to be especially hard to read, and I think that greatly affected my feelings about the book.

Thank you so much to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an arc in exchange for my honest review, all thoughts and opinions are my own!


This was a RIDE. Dark, interesting, sad- and hopeful. I wish there were more character building, more explaining, and more backstory- Lauren has a beautiful writing style and I wouldn’t have minded double the pages!

I appreciated Wildblood for taking me places I don't usually go, with characters I don't often see. I was excited to find a fantasy tale set in an alternate Jamaica. I was delighted by the magical jungle setting, and it came to life powerfully in this tale. Victoria is a main character who has undergone an extreme amount of trauma including kidnapping, forced servitude, and assault yet while these horrors inform her character, she still is very much more than the abuses she has suffered. She is a powerful person capable of making difficult and informed decisions, and this isn't just because she can magically shape blood into weapons.

If (like me) you are "here for the monsters," hang in there. I was getting a bit worried in the first section of the book where we didn't see a lot of magical creatures and the monsters were mostly humans. Happily, as the story goes deeper into the jungle we see more and more supernatural creatures. The ghostly children are memorably creepy in the sections where they appear, pulling the book toward horror in one particular scene. And as someone whose favorite lesser-known fairy tale is "The Black Bull of Norroway" I adored the enormous, powerful bull and was very glad he got more time on the page than I expected from his initial appearance.

There is a lot of complexity going on in this tale. In my view it did a thoughtful job of exploring the ways that shared trauma can bring people together. The story shows how people can support each other and show love and find strength together even in the worst of situations. But it does not shy away from the damage that trauma does and how the bonds built under those circumstances may not be healthiest or the ones we would choose for ourselves in healthier situations. Characters are placed in terrible situations and their responses are at times understandably terrible. The book does a good job of making some of the shocking and hurtful actions undertaken by characters believable while underscoring the fact that understandable does not equal forgivable.

The story showed a great deal of respect for its main character in giving her an ending that she actively chooses (rather than the ending a reader might expect or want). SPOILER While this might make the book a stronger work of art, I personally found it a bit unsatisfying to have Victoria and Thorn end up apart when so much of the book dwelled on their romance. As someone who was reading the tale for the magic and adventure I didn't care as much for the romantic sections, but I did expect a different payoff if I was going to be spending so many pages on flirting and banter. END SPOILER

I also want to mention that exquisite cover and encourage everyone to spend some time just admiring it! I spend a lot of my shelf space collecting illustrated books and that cover made me wish that the whole novel had been illustrated.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this work in exchange for my honest review.

In this world, Wildbloods are the scum of the earth. The main character Victoria was taken at the age of 6 and forced to work for the Exotic Lands Touring Company. Everyone hates Wildbloods, but rich and curious travelers need their magic to protect them while they traverse through the Jamaican jungle full of monsters.

After being denied a promotion to team leader in favor of her backstabbing ex Dean, Victoria is determined to please the boss by making Dean look good as they protect their new client Thorn so he can obtain the gold deep in the jungle. By doing this, she hopes the boss will follow through with promoting her so she can get her close friend Bunny off the island.

Victoria is the most powerful Wildblood working for the company. Because of this, the other Wildbloods (besides Bunny and Sampson) don’t like her. Both her and Dean are considered rare beauties because they’re light skinned. Despite being pitted against each other since childhood, Victoria and Dean had each others back. Until…Dean allowed the unthinkable to happen to Victoria. From then on, she hated him and Dean treated her horribly.

Desperate to please the boss and become the heir of the tour company, Dean overlooks the dangers of the jungle. He doesn’t heed Victoria’s warnings and well Victoria was right.

My favorite part of this book is Victoria’s connection to the jungle. She was basically a fiercer, Black Snow White with magic.

The jungle creatures are interesting, but I didn’t feel a strong sense of urgency or danger for most of the book. At least not enough to sell the jungle as big, bad, and dangerous. She had time to leisurely swim in the river and have sex with Thorn in a scary jungle? Really?! While on the topic of Thorn, ugggghhh the insta love. Hated it so much! They’re together less than a day with strong feelings for each other and love on the brain. Please no.

The rest of my cons are as follows:

-I’m disappointed by the lack of explanation about the blood magic. We have no idea what determines who gets it or how the fellow Wildbloods got caught.

-We don’t get much of a backstory on Victoria and the parts we do get come so late in the story.

-So many things Dean says and does make no sense. He basically says he’s doing everything for her, but hurts her again and again.

- It really doesn’t make sense why it took the disastrous Thorn tour for Victoria to finally use her magic to get what she wanted from the boss

The only saving grace was at the end when Victoria finally decided to be selfish with her life. The insta love didn’t end all neat and wrapped in a bow. Thank goodness

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC

Rating: 3.5
I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked everything about the jungle and the idea of the story and it was entertaining, but I don't think the world or magic was well explained. I also didn't like the insta-love. I'm not sure how I feel about Dean (not the love-interest). I think he was supposed to be a complex character, but some of the things he did didn't make since with his reasoning. Everything happening seemed pointless just for it to end the way that it did.

Danger comes in all forms, each one deadlier than the last, in a fast-paced read, which doesn't let up until the end.

Victoria has been working for The Exotic Lands Touring Company since she was six, although not by choice. As a Wildblood, her talents gave the company reason enough to kidnap her and have her steer customers safely through the dangers of the jungle. Now eighteen, she hopes to finally get a promotion. When a group shows up, paying to be lead into the depths of the jungle and not along the usual path, Victoria knows death awaits them but also sees this as her chance to finally achieve her goals if she pulls it off. Unfortunately, that also means she'll have to make the group leader, her nemesis, shine. But when his bad decisions lead them from one danger to the next, and she hears the jungles promise of certain death, even she might not be able to steer them through. And maybe, not even herself.

This is a gripping read with one tense situation after the other. It's impossible to predict what they'll be facing next or even how they can overcome the dangers. While the idea of a jungle already means enough danger, this tale amps it up and adds fantastical creatures to the mix along with more than a little paranormal. Blood magic ensures a dark tone right along with greed, revenge, and hate. Violence and murder along with mentioned rape (mentioned without graphic as happening in past) and abuse ensure this is not one for sensitive readers. It also is not overly graphic or inappropriate for older YAers.

The plot does lure in and keep the reader hooked, and there are many mysteries, which do find resolution by the end. I enjoyed Victoria's tenacity and, yet, meek moments, and found many of the characters around her well done with their varying intentions (good and bad) and personalities. It flows together very well and even adds just enough comic relief, here and there, to keep things from weighing down too much. Although it's not a light story. My only criticisms land on the romance, which is instant and doesn't come across natural in the slightest, the missing emotions at some events, and a few logic stumbles. These kept the read from becoming the amazing tale it could have been, but didn't hold it back from being a good read and worth the peek. I had a hard time putting this one down and enjoyed it quite a bit. I received a DRC and found it to be a very good read.

I really wanted to like this book, but honestly I don’t know why I finished it. I’m not a fan of Insta-love, and this was far from believable! And extremely unhealthy, toxic relationships in every way. The only redeeming part was the ghost bull.

I loved this! I've been lucky enough to get ARCs of both of Lauren Blackwood's books, and both have been excellent reads. Wildblood follows Victoria, a girl with "blood science" and a deep connection to a dangerous and beautiful jungle. I loved Victoria's connection to the jungle, her kindness to the deadly creatures within it, and her struggles to protect the people she loves as she comes into her self. The book does have some dark topics and moments (thanks to the author for the content warnings), but overall this felt like a fun adventure. And I am SO happy with the way it ended. Not to mention how gorgeous the cover is!

A few questions I consistently had while reading: 1) I'm pretty sure this was supposed to be historical, but it did not FEEL historical, and I got lost on the time period; 2) I'm not sure why there was an insistence on calling the WIldbloods' power blood science when it was very clearly blood magic and there were other magical elements freely named in the book. Those things notwithstanding, I thoroughly enjoyed this and can't wait for more of Blackwood's books.