Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
In this story, we meet an 18 year old girl named Victoria who is a Wildblood in the Exotic Lands Touring company. The Exotic Touring company is located in a Jamaican jungle and the Wildbloods take turns using their science to protect the travelers of the dangers of this magical, but highly dangerous jungle. The Boss denies Victoria of a promotion and is teamed up with her ex, Dean. Victoria will do anything to prove herself to the Boss.

First, I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this arc and the opportunity to review this book.

You all can find this book in stores on February 7, 2023!

Now, when it comes to this review, I have to say, I am struggling with how I should rate and review this book.

I'll start with the good. The writing is definetly well done and does well to describe the jungle and the dangers of it. When it comes to the ending, I am content with it and am very supportive of the choice Victoria chose. Then, this cover is pretty.

Okay, now the negative. With the writing being descriptive and easy to go with the flow of the story, the writing definitely lacks in going into the societal issues of sexual assault, colonialism, racism, men having more power and authority compared to women, environmentalism, classism, abuse, and human trafficking. I wanted this book to go more in depth on these to give an emotional impact instead of skimming the surface.

There is a theme of found family in this book, but when it came to Victoria, Bunny, and Sam, there was not much development in this trope. Additionally, this book touches on the tropes of insta-love and a bit of a love triangle. Thirteen year old me would love these tropes, but twenty-seven year old me is not a fan.

This book uses the repetitiveness of having characters “kissing their teeth” and it drove me nuts to keep seeing it a lot through this 336 page book.

I found myself accumulating questions as I read of: why are Wildbloods hated, why is their magic called "science,” how is their science used, does their magic look similar to one another or are there different types of science, is this island the only place that has Wildbloods, why and how is Victoria the most powerful Wildblood, is there a specific race considered a Wildblood or can multiple races have this magic, how does one know someone in society is a Wildblood, and how did this company come to be?

I love the synopses of Lauren's books, but unfortunately her writing style just doesn't mesh with me. I found Within these Wicked Walls forgettable and un-engaging, but I wanted to try this one because I loved the concept so much. I had the same problem here - there's nothing wrong with the book, per se, I just never really got into it and left it feeling as though I had already forgotten it.

Victoria has a unique power: she can control blood. Because of this she was kidnapped from her home in the Jungle to work for a touring company. Her job is to keep the tourist safe as they explore through the jungle that is riddled with monsters and ghosts.

She was promised that on her 18th birthday she would receive a promotion, but her abusive boss denies her and gives it to her ex-best friend Dean instead. Her boss tells her she can receive her promotion on one condition. She must go along with Dean on a tour farther into the jungle than anyone (except for Victoria) has gone before, and she better make Dean look good, or else.

I very much enjoyed this book! I thought the concept was so cool and the characters had so many realistic layers. I loved Victoria and was so invested in her story and struggles.

I thought the relationships and backstories between the characters were so interesting! I also, really liked the flashbacks. They provided just enough information without taking over the story.

The world building was beautifully done as well! I really felt like I was in the haunted jungle. The creatures and ghosts were so interesting and unique! The descriptions really helped me conjure them up in my mind so easily!

I was a little worried going into this one since it is described as having horror elements and that is not a genre I really enjoy reading, but I would definitely place this one in the fantasy/sci-fi genre, just with lots of blood (obviously lol). So even if you’re not a horror person like me, I would still try this one out!

The only thing I will say that I didn’t really love about this one is I wasn’t super surprised by the twists. The whole story kind of stayed on the same track for most of it and I could predict a lot of what was going to happen. I won’t say that is necessarily a bad thing, but a few more surprises would’ve been nice.

Overall this book was wonderful! It has so many different elements, fantasy, sci-fi, adventure, romance, etc. I would 100% recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and statements are my own.

The idea behind this story was really creative to me. You essentially follow teenagers who are forced to use their magical abilities to help guide travelers through the jungle.

Overall though, I was a bit confused at times and feel like things needed more explaining instead of leaving it to the reader to assume. I do like that this book touches on a variety of important topics such as sexual assault, racism, violence, graphic death, and emotional and physical abuse, I would recommend this book but would hope any sequels after would be more flushed out.

Victoria is a Wildblood who was kidnapped as a young child to work for a company that does tours in the Jamaica jungle. Creepy things lurk in the jungle and Wildbloods use their magic to protect tourists. When Victoria is passed up for a promotion she deserves, it was given to her ex and arch nemesis, she becomes more determined to prove her worth. When Thorn hires the tour company to take him deep into the jungle to mine for gold Victoria must use her magic to keep everyone safe. As she gets to know Thorn sparks begin to fly and Victoria must decide what she really wants.

I really loved Blackwood's last novel and while I did enjoy this one too I also felt like I had more questions than answers. I feel like the concept of Wildblood was never fully explained and if it was I didn't fully understand it. I love the idea of mythical creatures and monsters in the jungle and when characters grow and learn. At the same time I kept waiting for something really exciting to happen and it never did. When the story ended I thought "that's it?" I couldn't figure out if Dean (Her ex and arch nemesis) was truly an enemy or friend because it kept going back and forth in the story. Overall it was just ok for me.

The concept for this book is very unique and the idea of blood science definitely piqued my interest. I absolutely loved the cover as well.
However, the execution wasn’t great. I felt like there wasn’t enough set up with the blood science and why the Wildblood a were special and why Victoria was the most special. I just had to kind of go along with what the author said without much to back it up. I felt like this book could have been really good but I unfortunately came out of it with more questions than answers.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I picked this book for the jungle setting but much more me in. Victoria works with other guides to take travelers through the Jamaican jungle, full of magic, like her. The story follows one expedition that leaves the path behind to travel deep into the jungle. For this, Victoria is teamed with her childhood friend, Dean, now a spiteful rival. Victoria’s conflict and cooperation with Dean set this story apart more than anything else. Dean is a multidimensional villain who can’t be vanquished in an instant.
Between the encounters with strange forces in the jungle and the depth of characterization, this novel was not like anything I have read before.

First and foremost, this cover is STUNNING. After reading the synopsis and seeing the cover, I was immediately drawn to this book. It is honestly unlike anything I have read before - and I was happy to see such a new original plot point in fantasy books.

I enjoyed it, there was some issues in my opinion, but there were things I really enjoyed as well.

SUMMARY
Victoria, a wildblood, is a servant for the Exotic Lands Touring Company after she was kidnapped when she was a little girl. When a group of Americans come to locate gold in the depths of the jungle, Victoria is ecstatic because she was promised the position as a tour guide the year prior. When she goes to her boss to express her excitement on becoming a tour guide, she finds out the position has been offered to her childhood rival (and ex-lover). As is is the strongest Wildblood **basically a blood witch** she must make peace with him and deliver the group safely throughout the jungle. But the Jungle is not like other jungles, it is sentient, riddled with spirits and deadly insects.

What I liked
- The sentient forest and its inhabitants were amazing - they were my favorite part of the whole book, it gave me a bit of "A Deadly Education vibes where literally everything is trying to kill you.
- cool magic system, the Wildbloods "Science"
- Some pretty intense themes of rape, abuse, colonialism, forced labor, manipulation, ecotourism, environmental issues and finding your own freedom, even if its not what others think it should be.
- I enjoyed Victoria as a protagonist.
- River mumma and Biggsy :)
- THE ENDING

Where it fell short
- While I enjoyed some of the characters, I do wish there was more chemistry and development between characters.
- some repetitive writing
- Wasn't a fan of the instalove/love triangle
- I wish the magic was explained more in detail - I loved the idea of it, but I needed MORE. I was also a bit confused when she had lightning, I felt it was never explained? Why was Victoria the strongest?
- between genres: has obvious important themes and social commentary, but contrasted with love triangle and instalove, it missed its mark.

Mild spoilers ahead
All in all - I did enjoy how the book ended. Victoria, rather then giving up everything she had ever loved to be with Thorn, she choose herself and her happiness. I feel like the ending made up for some of the middle parts that dragged on.

Regardless, I do think people will enjoy this book - if you love YA fantasy with some mild social commentary - this may be for you!

Thank you very much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

I really enjoyed Blackwood's first book, Within These Wicked Walls, and I feel like she has written something just as fascinating and magical. If you're into monsters, folklore, and jungles that are alive, this is the book for you.

Blackwood has a way of writing characters with these incredibly complex relationships and messy (traumatic) pasts who stand in their power so completely. In Wildblood, that character is Victoria. I really enjoyed following Victoria's story; her love, her rage, and everything in between. She's connected to the jungle in a way no one else is, and it's both a strength and something that puts a target on her back by the people around her.

Although the first half is mostly about character relationships, the second half of the book unleashes lots of interesting surprises about what's lurking in the jungle. It could get fairly gory for a YA novel, but Blackwood never lingers long on those scenes. It's exciting and fast-paced and I absolutely adored it.

My biggest wish for this book is that it had taken some more time to flesh out the relationship between Victoria and [redacted]. While I really enjoyed them together, it happened fairly quickly. I think just a little bit more detail in their early conversations would have been amazing.

I also found that it took quite a while to really get a full description of what exactly a Wildblood can do, and while I caught on to it eventually, I think an earlier demonstration/description would have made it easier to get into the world of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fascinating fantasy read that pulls from both myth and culture. The angst of the main character was believable, and the relationships were textured and real. I didn’t enjoy the writing as much as the author’s last work, but it was still enjoyable!

A treasure hunt in a sentient jungle that tries to kill people? Sure I’ll give it a try.

Wildblood
By Lauren Blackwood
3.5⭐️
Out February 7th

Brief summary: Victoria is one of many kids with a special power who have been kidnapped and forced into slavery for a tour company that uses their blood science to protect the wealthy tourists from a murderous jungle. She has tried her best to protect her fellow Wildbloods and work her way up in the company. She has a chance to earn a promotion, but she has to go on a very risky expedition first.

I enjoyed reading this book, I wanted a little more out of it but overall it was a fun read. The setting was really well done and intriguing. I enjoyed the MC.

Just a few minor writing icks and wanting a little more out of the plot in the second half of the book kept me from giving it 4.

Huge thanks to Wednesday books and Netgalley for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book as the synopsis sounded very intriguing. It just fell a little flat for me. The magic system was not explained at all and I found myself wanting more; especially because the magic system was unique. How do they become Wildbloods? It was never explained in the book. The atmosphere in the jungle was great and I think the author did a great job with that. The romance was not believable to me, very instant love and I didn't fully invest in it. If you enjoy very atmospheric reads with soft magic systems, than this book is for you. 3 stars.

**Thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

This book was absolutely thrilling from start to end! I’m not a horror/ thriller girlie but this book has a good balance of thrill, plot, romance and character development. I enjoyed this book so much I read it twice and then pre ordered a physical copy for my bookshelf !

Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood is a YA Fantasy Romance set in the Jamaican jungle.

Exotic Lands Touring Company offers exclusive tours of the Jamaican jungle. They also kidnap children and force them to work for them.

Victoria, the most powerful Wildblood in the company, is one of these kidnapped children. Disappointed for not receiving the promotion promised to her, Victoria joins an ultra-risky jungle expedition with their new handsome and wealthy client Thorn. Thorn is a gold miner looking to reach some untapped gold deep in the jungle.

Victoria’s boss allows her to go on the condition that she makes her less-skilled ex-boyfriend look good on this trip.

Even though Victoria has strong ties to the jungle, it will be a dangerous expedition for everyone involved.

I was really expecting to love this one. And at the beginning, it was promising. The magic system seemed intriguing, the setting was atmospheric, and Victoria seemed like an interesting character. It discussed some serious topics such as human trafficking, SA, racism, and colonialism.

But everything was overshadowed, in my opinion, by the insta-love romance. Thorn and Victoria went from calling each other by their names to “beloved” in the blink of an eye. And honestly, nearly all of the men in this book are red flags.

So although it had a good start, I wish it delved a little deeper into some of the themes, as well as the magic system.

I enjoyed the author’s debut Within These Wicked Walls, so it’s a bit disappointing to give this one a lower rating.

If you don’t mind insta-love and love triangles, this book may work well for you.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me an eARC of this novel, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was...fine? I guess. Okay, you're right. I didn't like it and I'm trying to cover up my disappointment with placating words to myself. I really enjoyed Blackwood's debut novel and was super excited to see what she would come up with next. When I read the synopsis of this and saw sentient jungle, blood magic, and ghostly monsters, I was there. However, all these really cool aspects ultimately fell flat.

Wildblood could have used a little more time to develop. The plot vanishes halfway through the book in a puff of romance. A romance that is very much instant attraction and gave me little to no feels, but then proceeded to take up the plots space. And honestly I'm sometimes fine with insta-love, but this even felt like 1-100 in three pages. Which considering I think that both Victoria and Thorn had promise, is sad. It needed a bit more time to stew.

Speaking of stewing the worldbuilding and the magic system. The glimpses of the jungle we did get were really interesting. Flesh eating vines, deadly butterflies, shadow creatures, cat/wolf things... all super interesting and completely underutilized. Considering most of the humans seemed to kill each other instead of being eaten by the jungle, but I guess you can make an argument for humans being the most deadly creatures on the planet and what we do to the environment is tragic and all that jazz. I just wanted more of the jungle. The magic system was also never fully explained and thus felt underutilized as well. I didn't understand why Victoria was the strongest, how their limits before they raged were determined, or even the boundaries of what they could and couldn't do with it.

However, I think the thing that bothered me the most about this book is killing characters off by a villain just to cement how evil they are and then also backtracking it. Villains kill characters. Sure. But the reasons here just felt super flimsy and it happened twice very close together. It honestly just felt like the author clearing out characters so she wouldn't have to keep track of them anymore. But also, for one of them the villain was like, "It was an accident." Yeah, just embrace it or don't do it in the first place. The author was generally walking back how evil he was to just make him damaged because of his traumatic childhood. Which, sure, that's valid, but it didn't feel like his actions were always consistent then.

There are some really dark themes in this book, with mentions of rape and physical abuse, blood, gore, trauma, and death. So, I would say not maybe for younger teen readers. Also, there is a sex scene. It's not particularly descriptive, but it does exist. It also takes place during a somewhat questionable emotional time (which is addressed, but not well in my opinion) and then a weird conversation about it happens between the main character and earlier mentioned villain character.

Overall, I would recommend this for people who don't care if the romance overshadows any other plot, or who like sentient jungles, or who don't mind dark themes. Oh, and if you don't care that someone "kisses their teeth" every five pages. Some readers may find it worth looking into for the way that it talks about race, colonization, and environmentalism. Ultimately this is a story of a woman fighting for herself and her future and learning that she is strong enough by herself. However, it just wasn't for me. I hope that other readers enjoy it, but I would say her debut is stronger.

3.5/5

Wildblood is an exciting, fast-paced adventure for lovers of YA fantasy with a hint of thriller/horror! I was very captivated by this story from the first page, although the last 25% had some pacing issues. Even so, it was hard for me to put this book down!

Overall, I really loved the fantastical world Blackwood created within the jungles of Jamaica, including all the interesting (and terrifying) creatures. Victoria was also a wonderful MC - I was very empathetic with her struggles and I really felt her connections with the other characters.

I was so excited by the premise of this book and very excited to be able to read an early copy. I loved the eco-tourism themes in this book and the lush worldbuilding — Wildblood is, in my opinion, strongest when it’s playing in the worldbuilding sandbox and expanding the mythology of the jungle.

Victoria was fun and spunky, and i appreciated having a character who was both headstrong and a caretaker for her found family. I didn’t quite buy the romance between her and Thorn, but I did enjoy watching Victoria navigate her changing priorities against a life or death backdrop.

Victoria works or better yet is mildly enslaved by Exotic Lands Touring Company where several other Wildbloods like herself are kept, under the threat of death if they tryto leave. Wildbloods hold a type of magic in their veins that they refer to as their science. Victoria was kidnapped at the age of 6 and began taking people on tours through the Jamaican jungle. A Wildbloods unique magic is used to keep the tourists safe. Victoria wants a promotion to be able to get her and her brother Bunny safe. This life is not the life for Bunny he will burn out from his science far too soon if she doesn't stop him. She always thought she would have Dean by her side but after a horrible turn of events one night worth the boss she hates everything about him.
When Thorn comes to the munchkin in search of rumored gold Victoria falls hard. It's her chance to make a name for herself and to wrestle the promotion away from Dean. The jungle is a dangerous place full of unknown monsters. Will Victoria achieve her goals or will the charming Thorn distract her from her goals, losing those she loves in the process,.

Thank you #netgalley and #Wednesdaybooks for the eArc of #Wildbloods!

Wildblood is an interesting complicated story that follows Victoria into the depths of the Jamaican jungle as a guide for some rich fools in search of gold. Victoria is not a normal girl, she is a wildblood and stronger than the others that she works with. And the jungle has a sentience of it's own, and suffers no fools.

This second novel by Lauren Blackwood has some of the same elements from Within These Wicked Walls, namely; a strong female, pseudo-historical fiction, something of the supernatural, and a little bit wild.

I enjoyed the novel, there were some bumps along the way that I thought dragged down the story; a complicated plot, a convoluted sub-plot, slightly repetitive - especially regarding wildblood, and what feels like a forced love-triangle.

I really loved the jungle, it truly is one of the main characters of the story, and I loved the ending of the book, I was really worried that Victoria would make a bad choice.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC, I'm leaving my honest review voluntarily.

In Wildblood, Lauren Blackwood constructs a compelling character analysis against the backdrop of a Jamaican jungle filled with spirits, ghosts, and monsters. The “Wildblood” people can use “blood science” as tools or weapons, shaping freshly drawn blood into whatever they need. Their ability naturally causes them to be feared and shunned in normal society, but one man finds a use for them- as tour guides in a deadly island jungle.

Our heroine Victoria was kidnapped by the evil boss at the age of 6 and forced into indentured servitude- paid a pittance for dangerous work with the lure of freedom dangled like a carrot. In the most dangerous tour guide job yet handled by the company, Victoria tries to find a way to freedom both for herself and her fellow Wildbloods.

The story uses the classic trope of throwing a large group of people into a dangerous situation together and watching what unfolds as character’s personalities and intentions play off each other. The question of who lives and dies quickly becomes inconsequential as Victoria discovers who she can trust and how much of her humanity she’s willing to sacrifice to gain her freedom.

There is a lot of death and mutilation in this book but it isn’t glorified or overly detailed, so it shouldn’t be an issue for readers looking to avoid gory descriptions. The supernatural elements were intriguing: spirits who eat souls, ghosts who never cease their wandering, and classic big-toothed monsters. The blood magic doesn’t specifically deal with witchcraft or voodoo, but feels adjacent to it. The jungle is truly alive, with the trees able to communicate to its inhabitants and the river as the manifested essence of a particular spirit.

The ending was perhaps unconventional, but I thought it was the only conclusion that made sense for Victoria. She had some remarkable character growth, spurred by her interactions with other characters, which made for a compelling case study of repression. I would certainly be willing to check out Blackwood’s first novel if it’s anything like this one, and keep an eye on her future works as well.