I enjoy the New Orleans setting which is what drew me to want to read this story. I love New Orleans and to have the setting there with magical element is what I enjoyed in parts of the book.. The drama of the story is also what I enjoyed, I love a messy family drama. I also loved the representation throughout the story and the themes of racism, loss, and suspense are elements that I enjoyed..

While there were elements that did work for me, there were some that did not which is what made this one not fully work for me. It seemed a bit too YA for me at times, but other times the language used brought me back to the age of the characters.. It seems as though the kids were very immature. There were also several characters placed throughout the story that made it seem a bit all over the place for me. It may be that this is the first book in the series, and may play out and work more once the story is continued.

This book did not disappoint! From the amazing setting of New Orleans to the realistic sibling relationship. I could not get enough of it or the magic system!!!

Well written and incredibly interesting!

I loved the magical system in this book! It was incredibly well developed and I deeply enjoyed not only the characters relationships to it but also just the way it was all portrayed. I enjoyed the clarity with which it was all conveyed and the various functionings of it.

Both Clem and Cris were really interesting and distinct characters to read -- they are the protagonists of the story, although we do get a few other POVs thrown in, which I also appreciated as it gave the book a lively pace and a lot more moral greyness, which I do not think we get to see particularly often. The twins are both deeply complex characters and I really, really want to see who they become in the aftermath of this book.

I enjoyed the various relationships within the book! Family is obviously very key and I loved the way everyone was deeply fleshed out, It was a pleasure to see basically competent adults in a YA fantasy novel. The twins love interests and the way it all played out was very captivating -- Clem's story seemed a tiny bit insta-lovey but I am nonetheless invested in what happens next. Cris's story is deeply empowering and, without spoilers, you are in for a rather heavy discussion with her.

The plot was wonderful -- whenever I felt my interest dwindling a tiny bit, a new twist would occur and they were always so drastic that I would immediately get sucked back into the book.

The only thing is that I am no longer quite the target audience for the character journeys that our protagonists go on, so at times their sentiments were a bit difficult to fully feel for me but I am very, very invested and I do recommend it immensely for anyone who is interested,

thank you for the arc unfortunately couldn't really get into it until i listened to the audiobook

Magically twins in New Orleans, sign me up! Clem and Cris dealing with the untimely death of their father and their mothers illness delve into a world of mystery's to save their family from a generational evil.

Things I loved
- the atmosphere, the New Orleans setting will never fail
- the family and their realistic arguments they have with each other
- amazing cover helloooo

Things I didn't like
- i need more communication, the lack of communication between characters was one of the things that dragged this book
- i need a sensible adult, i understand people can be petty and childish but i need a break all of the characters being set in their ways drives me up a wall
- the amount of povs, i get why but i didnt like Valentina's pov at all, i could not stand her and made me put the book down multiple times

Thanks to netgalley and tor for approving this eARC in exchange for an honest review!!

I’m so happy I finally got around to reading this book, it was incredible and I’m super excited to check out the next one!

I highly recommend reading this!!

My Reaction: BRAVO! What a great series opener and first book.

I really enjoyed everything about Blood Debts:

YA Novel ✔️
BIPOC ✔️
Black tween main characters ✔️
LGBTQIAP+ ✔️
Major references to magic ✔️
Breaking generational curses ✔️
Thirty-year time span sequence shifts ✔️
Strong plot ✔️
Very well written and executed ✔️

It truly reminds me of why I love Young Adult fiction. Sure, you have to deal with characters that may work your nerves from time to time...but have we forgotten what being a teen is like? I'm looking forward to diving into the second installment! If you like suspense and family driven plots, go grab your copy NOW!

This book was definitely good, and it's perfect for YA fantasy lovers!
It was unfortunately a miss for me. I did enjoy it, no doubt about that, but I had a hard time getting into it, and it took me a long time to actually finish the book.
But I will still recommend it to people since I know a lot of people who would love it!
I'm giving it 4 stars because I can see it's a good read, just not perfect for me.

I love it! I love it! I love it! Black kids in magic in a settling like New Orleans is definitely what I need! I'm so ready for part 2!

Will recommend this read to everyone! Great YA story! Enjoyed all the representation elements! I think everyone of middle school age and up should take the time to read this series!

I enjoyed this read, but I think if I hadn't done the audiobook I would have DNFd. Just because the beginning was hard to get invested in the characters, and the overall plot. I did enjoy the family coming together, but even that was very surface level. Everything felt surface level. This book would be better as a TV series, it has that kind of writing. The narrators also helped me stay engaged, they were VERY good in their pace and intonation.

This was so good. It gave the best spooky vibes. Read this in the fall. Or in sweltering summer. I loved that this took place in New Orleans. The story was so fun and I really liked the characters. I can’t wait to read book two.

"Blood Debts" offers a contemporary fantasy packed with powerful magic, family drama, and a touch of New Orleans mystique. Terry J. Benton-Walker's debut weaves a gripping tale of revenge, betrayal, and redemption that keeps readers hooked from start to finish. While the intricate plot and rich world-building shine, the complex relationship between siblings Clement and Cristina adds depth to the story. Despite occasional pacing issues, the novel's blend of mystery, magic, and social commentary makes it a captivating read for fans of urban fantasy.

This was so much fun! I tend to be picky about the young adult works I pick up nowadays because I'm not the target audience. But the genre blend here was intriguing. Benton-Walker created an alternate contemporary New Orleans full of magic and family drama and a 30 year old murder case.

I tried to pick this up last summer and made it like 3 or 4 chapters before I dropped it partly because I wasn't intrigued by what I had read and partly because other life events got in the way. I knew I was going to try to come back to it at some point though and I'm glad I did! This felt very much like a teen drama show. The beginning is a bit slow to try to build up the characters and the world Benton-Walker created but once the twists start coming they don't stop. I love the tension Benton-Walker was able to build between the characters and the politics he built in this magical NOLA. There's magic and gods among us and drama galore. And the ending! I need the sequel as soon as possible.

rating: 4.5 stars

Clement and Cristina Trudeau used to be close. As twins, they have shared so much of their lives together, but when their father died, Cristina began to pull away both from Clem and from magic, and Clem has no idea why. The coolness between them isn’t helped by Clem’s disdain and outright dislike for Cristina’s white boyfriend, Oz, and his fascination with gen magic— the generational magic of black slaves passed down from parent to child — or Cristina’s equal disdain for Clem’s own haphazard collection of boyfriends. Now, though, the two of them have something more important to do than snipe at one another, because their mother is dying.

However, it turns out that it’s not cancer killing their mother; someone is actually trying to kill her. Someone used gen magic to put a curse on their mother and drain her life away. If Clem hasn’t accidentally found the doll, their mother would be dead within weeks. Now, they have time; now, more than ever, they need their family to join together and work some protection magic, but their mother’s sisters have long since gone their own ways, and getting them to come back for a working is easier said than done.

Clem and Cristina will have to put aside their own grudges and find some way to bring their family back together, and in doing so will uncover secrets thirty years dead.

Blood Debts is the first book in Terry J. Benton-Walker’s new Blood Debts series and it’s a fun, mean little book. Life has kicked Cristina’s family one too many times, taken one too many people from her, and Cristina — with the help of her family — is going to start fighting back. This book has mentions of a car accident, gun violence, and character death, along with mentions of forced sex work, attempted rape, drugging, and both attempted and successful murders. If you’re uncomfortable with tales of vengeance and violence, this might not be the book for you.

This is also a book that deals heavily with generational trauma, as the younger generation — Clem, Chris, Yves, Zac, and Valentina — is bearing up under the weight of their parents’ traumas, and often their grandparents’ pain and suffering, as well. The cycles of violence and behavior, how children learn from their parents and pass on those lessons to their own children is brought up several times. Valentina idolizes her grandmother and holds her own mother (whose marriage is violent and deteriorating) in contempt. She only knows how to hurt other people and use other people, because her grandmother uses and manipulates her daughter-in-law much as she manipulates Valentina herself. Zac tries to both care for and follow in the footsteps of the father who he views as a hero — but who is suffering from the PTSD he gained in the military with violent, rage-filled outbursts — and sees having a gun as having power, as being manly, as being able to avenge all of his slights and hurts. And then there’s Yves, a gentle spirit whose sister, at 18, became parent and guardian to her brother when her parents were killed in an accident. Tricked into sex work, she has since clawed her way to freedom and has taught her brother through example kindness and compassion, the same kindness and compassion she gives to the sex workers who work in her brothel. Yves is a romantic who sees sex as something that gives pleasure, and love as something that brings him joy. A joy he shares with Clem.

Clem loved his father, and his father’s death hit him hard. With his mother sick and his sister turning away from him, Clem became more desperate, more clingy. Ursula, his favorite aunt, the one he was closest to, hurt him terribly when she left, and when there’s a chance to have her back, he grabs on and holds tight with everything he has so she can’t leave him again. It’s that same need to be loved, to be seen, to be wanted that has him falling for Yves’ bright and sunny warmth. Yves is a balance to all the shadows that have attached themselves to Clem, his light and joy a balm to Clem’s fractured self. Their romance is fast, their declarations of love instant and intense … but they’re both 16 and filled with hormones. Clem falling in love with the first boy he sleeps with, with someone who makes him happy — especially given what he’s been through and what he’s going through — makes perfect sense to me. The two boys click together well, with a natural chemistry and ease.

Cristina is one of the most talented gen magic users in her family. Or at least, she was. When Valentina stopped being her friend and instead turned against her, Cristina cast a spell to balance out the evil. To give Valentina back what she was giving; no more, no less. And then her father died, and Cristina has no way of knowing if her spell, if her moment of hatred and her desire to hurt someone may have caused it. Ever since, she’s refrained from using magic, the thing that brought her the most joy, that granted her a large part of her identity. And now that she has cause to use it, Cristina keeps finding reasons not to.

I really, really enjoyed this book but there are some pacing issues. The first half of the book is focused on building the family relationships, showing through Clem and Cristina’s eys hints of the troubles and traumas the older generation endured, hinting but never answering anything … until halfway through the book and suddenly everything is being answered all at once. There are points where it got a little contrived and some moments and characters were given short shrift because there simply wasn’t time to give them the same care other characters got. Hopefully, we’ll see more of those characters and their storylines in the next book.

There are also moments where I felt that the writing got away from the story, where the language became too formal or too overwrought and florid for a given scene — particularly when the rest of the scene and the sentences before had been relaxed and natural. Some scenes felt disjointed with stiff or jarring transitions when style took over the storytelling, but there aren’t many of them.

It was nice to see a book with almost entirely black characters, with it mentioned often and lovingly the color of their skin, the texture and shape of their hair, the shades of their eyes and their clothing. The world building was a little flat, for me. The story takes place in New Orleans, but I didn’t really get a feel for the city as a character in this book. The magic system, though, is the best part of this book for me, and I’d recommend it for that, alone. The generational magic, based very loosely on Voodoo (as the author notes in the Acknowledgements), is beautifully realized. There is emphasis on ancestors and on the cycles of mother to child, from one generation to the next. How an ancestor filled with magic, prayed to by descendants, empowered by those prayers, can rise to become something mythic, to become a god.

I can’t wait to see more magic, and more of Cristina and Clem. Especially Cristina, who is, I think, my favorite character, though I also enjoyed Cristina’s mother, who — through everything she’s endured and everything done to her — will not bend to anyone. Her morals are her armor and her shield, and heaven help the people who try to touch her family. I highly recommend this book, if you couldn’t tell.

This was a really interesting portrayal of the magical scene in New Orleans.

There was almost too much going on for me to keep straight but I really enjoyed the characters and their quest to solve a mysterious murder that was falsely accused onto the magical queen and her grandchildren unraveling the clues to rightfully claim their families destiny back.

Didn't really connect with the characters, and struggled through the first 20%. I may eventually come back to it, but it was a DNF for right now.

An atmospheric magical jaunt through New Orleans.

Packed full of Family secrets, drama, and long held grudges, this felt like a soap opera at times! Webs of secrets are spread just as easily as spells.

The twins, who're our main protagonists are easy to love even when they make messy decisions. The guilt they feel is an oppressive blanket.

Although I felt frustrated by the lack of communication that was the main driving force behind the plot, I can forgive it because the characters are truly interesting and the book is well written.

An immersive and culturally dense YA book that gives me faith that I can still enjoy YA books

4 stars

4.5 Stars: I loved it

Genre: YA, Urban/Contemporary Fantasy, Horror

TW: Death, SA, Violence, Homophobia

You may like this book if you like:
American Horror Story: Coven
The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
The Craft (I’ve actually never seen this movie but based on vibes it seems similar)
Revenge

Summary: On the anniversary of their ancestors’ bloody dethronement, twin heirs Cristina and Clement, mourn the loss of their father while caring for their sick mother. After their mother is given days to live the two find out that their mother isn’t sick, she’s been cursed. Hellbent on finding the person who cursed their mother, Cristina and Clement undergo an investigation of the magical (literally) community of New Orleans and call in debts that are owed to them.

Thoughts: I devoured this book. I loved the family dynamics in this story. When the story begins, we’re told that the family used to be close but they’re not anymore. The way the book is written I could feel that and I was longing for them to resolve their issues. It’s one thing to be able to write about something present but it’s another to be able to write about the absence of a thing.

This book brings up a myriad of social issues sometimes using magic as a metaphor and sometimes not. I thought the way the author handled these topics was cleverly done. They were subtle and obvious when necessary.

I’m looking forward to the sequel in April!

Was captured by the cover but stayed for the plot. Can we talk about that cover for a moment though - a beautiful, haunting, and eye catching cover. A perfect wrap for the contents of a wonderfully captivating story.

The story is well written and interesting. Both Clem and Cris are strong and well thought out characters on a quest to break their mothers curse. A wonderfully combined story of magic, mystery, and family ties. I can't recommend this one enough.

The best aspect of this book for me was the full throated use of "voodoo" inspired, ancestor based magic from a Black (particularly Black southern) tradition and perspective. I feel like I've seen many books promise this or make an attempt to integrate that style of magic and not succeed, so I'm glad this one came through. I also loved the messy, MESSY family drama in this one, it did not let up for even one second and promises to continue in the second book. I did get frustrated with how many secrets these people are keeping from each other for absolutely No Good reason, but it really played into the soap opera energy every character was giving. Clem at the end of the book though, seriously...JUST TELL THEM.

My one major con is the story majorly leaning on a literal deus ex machina in the third act. It was terribly convenient for the "good" guys to basically just get the go ahead from the literal god of magic to do whatever they wanted. But I did enjoy the gray morality of it all. There's always a narrative debate of whether exacting revenge makes you "good" or "bad" and main characters are always given a cop out option. Not so here! I wonder if our main family here will have to contend with the fact that, however justified, they basically violently seized power with an eye for an eye. Very curious to see what happens next with Valentina with this in mind.

Very excited and interested to see what happens next with Clem too! Cris got her time to shine, now I want to see where Clem goes.