Set in the same universe as the author's 2022 debut, [book:The Whispering Dark|58760656], <i><u>Your Blood, My Bones</u></i> is an atmospheric tale centered around a dark family legacy. It's the author's tribute to times immemorial and the versions of ourselves we leave behind in those memories. It's also deeply haunting and romantic, the gothic/horror vibes even stronger than the author's debut. It is also about deep bonds and lasting friendships, of sacrifice and dark secrets, and a little bit about immortality.

The plot is interesting, although at times horrific, but I definitely stayed for the beautiful, descriptive prose.

So, if you're looking for a paranormal YA romance with gothic/horror vibes, look no further!

I'm looking forward to future works by Kelly Andrew - in her Owlcrate interview, she said that her next book is her most romantic to date yet and is also set in the same universe as [book:The Whispering Dark|58760656] and [book:Your Blood, My Bones|124932778].

This book was a really strong idea with a little bit of a mediocre execution. I loved the setting of Willow Heath and the interesting variety of monsters and hell beasts that crept into it. The magic system was also interesting, but felt very rushed in places. The addition of other magical human(oids) towards the end really threw things for a loop. In addition, Wyatt’s motivations were not always clear and often felt muddled and unrealistic. Overall, this was an ok book, but not one that really blew me away. I would love to see more in this world with a bit more editing and character development to really sell the story.

**Thank you so much Scholastic Press and Kelly Andrew for the arc! All words and thoughts in this review are my own honest opinion!**
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The Storygraph
Posted on: 27 April 2024

3.7 (rounded up to4) out of 5 stars.

Phew, okay this took me much too long to get to and even longer still to finish. I feel like if this book had been with me more consistently, I may have been less critical of it? And I say this lightly because it still got 4 stars based off my rating scale, but I have a lot of thoughts floating around about it.

To start, this isn’t my first Kelly Andrew book. I got a copy of ‘The Whispering Dark’ when it first released (I received it through Illumicrate and my sister through OwlCrate so we buddy read it). It was never finished though, and this was before I knew about DNF’ing, book slumps, reading slumps- all that jazz. So when I saw this title and read the bio, I was a little worried about trying another Kelly Andrew book since I hadn’t finished the first one. I’m really glad I read this though, because while I have my qualms about it, it was a really lovely read!

On a more critical note, the characters sometimes had annoying habits. There were also times where they fell a little flat to me or just lacked a little something that would’ve made their role in the story hit *more*.
Another thing was that I think I got lost a bit in the plot? Some things happened that kind of felt awkwardly placed or solutions just given for the sake of finding an out??
Again, it took me longer to read this book than usual, so I feel like I’ll have different opinions on this when I go back to read it and actually finish it in my usual reading time (a week, give or take. Not a whole month..)

What I *loved* about this book was the writing in some places. It was pretty, it was meaningful, it added a little depth to the flatness I found. I saved a lot of quotes from this because there was just *something* about the rotting, about the decay, and how Andrew describes it. The writing style wasn’t one of my favorites, but the things being written were- does that make sense?

Overall, it was a nice read! I did enjoy it, and I did decide to keep my OwlCrate copy of it. I think the magic used was also interesting to me, but at the heart of it, the struggles and the growth of the main cast had me.

I loved every single thing about this book. It was dark and creepy and kept me enthralled the entire time. I couldn't put it down. I'll definitely be reading more by this author asap

For readers who enjoy Gothic horror, written with great detail and atmosphere, this may be the book for you. Elements of the paranormal, romance, grief/loss are also included in this book for young adult readers, although I do feel adults are a more likely target audience.

Kelly Andrew's writing improves with each book. She really pushes the boundaries of the genre. This book pushed my reading comfort zone in a good way. in terms of genre That being said I probably would not have picked up the book if I knew what would be considered a pretty large spoiler about the romance, this is not a reflection of the book, rather of me as a reader.

Thank you to Scholastic Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

Wow. WOW. WOWZA. This book...
LOVE LOVE LOVE FOREVER LOVE god this story was AMAZING. SO well told.
ten out of ten, no notes. Loved it, can't say that enough. Great world building.

Big thanks to Scholastic YA & Colored Pages Tours for the eARC via Netgalley!

God, I forgot how much I loved this niche sub-genre of urban fantasy aka books with creepy forest Raven Cycle vibes,,,

Ugh this book just brought me BACK to my freaking roots (ha yes pun!) and I had the bestest time. truly. She just sucked me right in and I could not get enough.

I have to say I was not loving the first chapter or so, but once I was past that, I was HOOKED. I do not exaggerate when I say the creepy forest vibes are everything. Huh, no wonder I'm writing my own book almost exactly like that... lmao

Anyway, I'm getting side-tracked. The writing was eerie and atmospheric and I was IN THE STINKING FOREST LIVING MY BEST LIFE. The magic made next to no sense and I didn't care because it wasn't making sense in a good way. Like who was the beast? Idk but I could picture him anyway and it was amazing.

Omg and the characters!!! Ms Wyatt was a freaking queen and I loved her. We love soft and slightly damaged boys and Peter was definitely one of them. Don't even get me started on the angsty friends/enemies to lovers. Even Jamie, a weirdo but we loved.

If you're anything like me and have a likening to any of the above but mostly those eerie vibes then you've come to the absolute right place and either you'll devour this book or it'll devour you *wink wink*

I really really enjoyed this book! It drew me in immediately. At times the story felt slow and someone episodic but I devoured it. The ending left me feeling a little sad but I see why it needed to happen the way that it did.

Your Blood, My Bones is a twisty, atmospheric gothic tale that had me on the edge of my seat. Full of dark, family secrets and cunning cryptids–Kelly Andrews really draws you into this setting like you yourself could almost feel the moss and dirt of the forest beneath your toes. Wyatt is such a powerhouse of a protagonist! I’m such a sucker for a witchy woman who can wield an axe and won’t take shit from no one! And both Peter and James are so mysterious…in their own very different ways...And can we talk about the tension between these three??! I was flipping through these pages so fast, wondering if they were about to kill each other or maybe kiss or maybe both?! This book has claimed my soul and left me guessing on how this would end!

Your Blood, My Bones is a YA horror romance with excellent nature-occult vibes and heartfelt themes of the angst of revisiting childhood nostalgia with new context as an adult. In terms of setting and atmosphere, I could definitely compare this to the Thornchapel series by Sierra Simone (but without the adult sexual content and queer polyamory). The audiobook narration is great, and the audio copy from my library included an interview with the author. It was super interesting to learn that the author, Kelly Andrew, is Deaf with a cochlear implant, and how that experience has shaped her relationship with sound and music, especially as they relate to the emotional component of storytelling. She has a curated music playlist to accompany this book, and in that interview she gives insight to the song choices and how they line up with specific themes or moments in the book. Trigger warnings for blood, human sacrifice, animal death, and corpse reanimation.

I LOVED Kelly's The Whispering Dark so I had high expectations for this book. And it did NOT disappoint! This was a lot harder to take in-- and I'm having a difficult time trying to describe this book without revealing anything spoilery. Wyatt and Peter just grabbed me from the beginning and did not let go. A definite must read!

4.5 stars. I loved reading this. Wyatt and Peter have abilities that are disturbing but very cool. It's clear they love each other and you're hoping for some miracle to save them. So many creepy and interesting things happening in this book. Lots of family secrets and deranged beliefs. But this is so tragic. I'm sad. It's hard to say much without giving spoilers so just read this book. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

Late review here but I haven't had time to write a review until now! Better late than never!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I am not okay 😭

Your Blood, My Bones is a breathtaking and heartbreaking YA book by Kelly Andrew.

With connections to Peter Pan, Wendy, and Captain Hook, this YA book leaves you wanting more! I am absolutely torn to pieces over this book and I am not okay.

Andrew did an amazing job with this book and I definitely need to go read her other one now. The writing style is very different and this book may not be for everyone but I think it definitely needs to be read with an open mind! When I first started reading it I did have a hard time getting into it but just getting use to how it is written. However, once I really got into the book I couldn't put it down!

I loved the characters so much and the plot twists really got me and broke my heart. I genuinely am obsessed with this book now and I don't know what to do with my life anymore 😭😭😭. Wyatt, Peter (Pedyr), and James were amazing and even the side characters were to die for.

I hope we're able to see more of Wyatt later on!

Content:
🩸Only One Bed
🦴Mutual Pining
🩸Reluctant Witch
🦴Sad Immortal
🩸"The woods are not right"
🦴Forced Proximity
🩸Cults
🦴Childhood Friends to Enemies to Lovers
🩸Cottagecore Horror
🦴Charismatic Eldritch Evil
🩸"Only I can kill you"

i think i have found my new favorite type of book!!! gothic fantasy with weird houses and spooky things happening!! absolutely reading kelly andrew's previous books. I loved the writing, the relationships, the touch of humor, and the nostalgic vibes

I'm not usually a YA reader, but the gothic elements and the early reviews drew me in. Overall, this had most of the things I look for-- the prose was strong and well-edited, the characters were compelling, but there were other aspects that didn't work as well for me and left me wanting more explanation-- the magic, for instance.

Just go ahead and add this to your spooky list for this upcoming fall, because you will not want to miss this one!

Spooky, haunted house, plant magic, dark vibes, cultish, immortality?, sacrifices, gore…….pretty much everything you need when you’re in a dark mood.

Add to that a slow burn romance, a main character questioning everything she knew and wasn’t told growing up on a farm in the middle of a forest, a couple of childhood friends, no phone signal and bone-chilling dread.

Kelly Andrew is going to become an auto-buy author for me if she continues on this trend, because this is the kind of beautiful writing I crave when I want something to speak to my soul.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Scholastic | Scholastic Press for an E-ARC copy of this book!

The atmosphere! Chef's kiss. The detail and intricacy and tension! Every sentence is like stepping into a decaying garden where vines coil up your ankles and poisonous scents tickle your nose. I didn't know who to trust at every turn. Deeply flawed, deeply REAL characters.

This was a great atmospheric read with character relationships that were fun to read about, and it had a creepy vibe without actually scaring me. I did feel like some of the story was still missing by the end, though, like we didn’t get the whole picture.

I knew I would love this book because I adored this author and "The Whispering Dark" but I truly enjoyed this book from start to finish. The best way I could describe this book is "moody" but in the best way. 10/10 please read if you love paranormal romance and spooky vibes. Thank you #netgalley!