This was my first audiobook, but I wasn't that impressed with the reader. The book was great! The story drew me in and I could almost visualize it! But that's where the reader lost me. I loved the take on magic and how it was created by Jewish men being lazy with their communion with God. There are so many threads that correspond with what is happening today. The book has racism, but against the magical community. There are sympathizers to the magical cause and even celebrated milestones for the magical community. Add to it all a menace that is sucking the life out powerful magicals, and the only female private investigator in Vancouver who is a mundane (ordinary human), and you have a great book! I can't wait for the follow up!

Thank you NG for having this audiobook available and ready to listen.

Going to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this.. but I really enjoyed this story! It kept me entertained the whole way through and the narrator did a great job both the voices! The story line kept me guessing and I can’t wait to learn more about Ash’s magic. Levi was 🔥 also 😏

Looking forward to book 2!

A solid beginning to a new urban fantasy series. I love this genre but am also very picky when it comes to it. Blood & Ash was a fun ride with an interesting mystery and cool magic.
The world building could do with some expanding but I'm hoping we'll get to it in the following books. Ash, our heroine has a huge chip on her shoulder but is generally a likeable character and I could totally root for her. Could do without the frequent cursing - says she who curses like a sailor - but only because it felt a bit repetitive. The snark could also get too much at times - again, it is something I usually enjoy but only if it feels effortless. And in this case, it didn't always hit the spot. However, I could get over this small blunders, since the story itself flowed nicely and kept me completely engaged. I absolutely plan on continuing the series.
I listened to the audiobook, and if you like the format, I would highly recommend checking out this one. Narrators always make or break the audio experience, and Holly Jackson did an awesome job, so kudos to her! Overall, it was a really enjoyable experience.

I found this audio book on netgalley and then discovered that there are 2 more books in this series already out! Its also free on kindle unlimited. This is a great YA supernatural mystery series. The main character Ashira is a snarky jewish detective in a world of mundane and magical people. People with magic must be registered with a house and her mother is in politics fighting for more regulation against magical people. After a routine stakeout Ashira is injured and starts to see weird things and finds a tattoo on the back of her head she didn't know was there.

Filled with Jewish mysticism, romance and witty banter this is a fun read. I am definitely going to be downloading the rest of this series.

Oh my. This book is an absolute riot. I was laughing so incredibly hard through most of this novel. The story is great and the characters are all quite amazing!

This book has so many elements that I love: a snarky female lead, a magical society, characters of various races, religions and ethnicities, and an enemies-to-lovers romance. The main character, Ashira, is a snarky, sassy, and vivacious private investigator. Her longtime nemesis hires her to investigate a string of missing persons, all magical people under his governance. Along the way, she finds out more about the magical society, who she is, and magical powers that were thought to just be myth.

The strength of this book is that it is steeped in Jewish culture and lore and the characters are a diverse group of individuals. It was nice to see an urban fantasy novel that is so inclusive. Once I got into the story, I found the magical mystery compelling and was invested in the main character's discovery of who she really is. However, it took me a while for the plot and characters to "click" for me - about halfway through. While there is some world building (as this is the first book of a series), it took a good while to get to the heart of the story. Once there, it just didn't grab me the way I thought it would. I should have loved this book - but everything seemed to fall a little short. The romantic story line fell flat - I wasn't intrigued by the romantic interest. Ashira was snarky, but sometimes abrasive. Weaving in the Queen of Hearts was confusing and seemed out of place. Again, I realize this is the start of a series and there is much more to learn about this world. I just don't think I'll be continuing this series,

** I received a copy of the audiobook from NetGalley. This is my unbiased review and all opinions are my own **

This is the first book in a running series and it was FUN. The snark is great- so many great one-liners and zingers that I was chuckling throughout the book. Ashira is such a great character- strong and smart (and full of snark and attitude). She discovers secret magical powers that have now made her an important part of a key investigation to discover who is hurting magical community. Levi, the leader of the magical community, is her partner and he's really cool too- a bit of push and pull but I loved the anticipation between the two characters. I really enjoyed the world setting and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

The narration was totally on point- the narrator, Hollie Jackson, infused the perfect amount of emotion and dare I say, snark, in her voice. She did a good job playing multiple characters and overall, elevated the story. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook.

I received an ARC audiobook copy of this book to review, a rare kind of ARC but since I have been feeling sick the last couple days, a welcome one. For those who don't know, ARC stands for Advance Readers' Copy and is given to other authors, bloggers, people in the book community, to read and review before the book's actual release date. It helps garner some buzz for the book and I am always more than happy and honored when I'm asked to receive one. This book was already published back in January, but the author wished to get some attention on the audiobook version!


My overall thoughts of the audiobook are simple:

I was not a fan of the narrator, but her voice wasn't enough to keep me from being invested in the story. 3/5 on the audiobook recording.


However, my review of the book in general is:

Blood and Ash was F-U-N! Urban Fantasy, as we ALL know, is my favorite genre. There is never any shortage of reading material in the genre, which can either be a very good thing or a bad thing. Blood and Ash is what I like to call Mass Market Urban Fantasy, UF that the author pushes out three books a year and that you would normally only find in mass-market binding if self-publishing wasn't a glorious thing now. We all know that Kindle Unlimited is rife with thousands and thousands of UF books being published, mostly independently, and sometimes it is hard to settle on a new read without cringing in the first few chapters. My ratings for UF are two categories only: either superb or severely lacking--no in between. But at the end of the day, I still enjoy reading either end of the spectrum. I can really enjoy a book but know that it wasn't any prize winner (or Ilona Andrews in this case!). Now, as you can tell by my four-star rating, Blood and Ash sits firmly in my superb category, and here is why!

It has, literally, everything I love about this amazing genre:
--Token cheesy cover (Just look at it, it's glorious!)
--Snarky MC (Who takes no crap, but is also a mess!)
--BANTER (BANTER, LOTS OF IT!)
--Magic (Different magic castes and unique, yet familiar, political structure.)
--Mystery and detective shenanigans (Or MC is also a Sherlock fan so the references and jokes made me smile!)
--Enemies-to-lovers romance (Need I say more?)
--A dark, growing evil (Just enough revealed to keep us in the dark for the next books.)
--Lore / Mythology (The magic in this book revolves around Judaism, a rich culture and deep history rarely tapped into in books. Truly unique. AND our MCs are Jewish!)
--Action (Mild, but there.)

Sure, all these things above that I look for and want in a UF book that I read are usually in every UB book I pick up. But, they aren't always done well. Deborah Wilde writes a fun and fast-paced romp full of wit and humor, mixed with a sprinkle of dark and dangerous. While some parts of the book felt slightly rushed, or could have been expounded on a little longer, or even felt tropey, I greatly enjoyed this first installment into a new Urban Fantasy world. Ashira, our main character, best moments were when she dropped her tough act and actually felt human to read about. There were moments where true emotion shined through and I hope for more of that in the future, even if it comes with cheesy dialogue. I am all about heartfelt moments from a guarded character, it's a kink of mine.

If you enjoy quick, fun reads and Adult Urban Fantasy, I recommend you give this one a go!

Blood & Ash

I received this audio book through NetGalley for a free and fair review. All opinions are my own and in no way reflect the author, publisher or NetGalley.

Ash, a detective, while on a case finds herself in her own mystery. Lost magic, hidden tattoo, missing father, secretive mother and so much more. Balance it out with hot rival from her past in the with the name Levi and Ash has her hands full.

As an avid reader and audio listener, I found this book to be entertaining. This is my first Deborah Wilde book. Her use of description of everything to the most minute detail got slightly on my nerves, but the story line was interesting enough. As with all audio books I have to ramp up the speed because it is too slow, this one wasn’t that bad. The narrator Hollie Jackson did a good job.