"Blood Magic," Eileen Wilks

Pros: Gorgeous story with beautiful world background
Cons: Do try to read the series in order!
Rating: 5 out of 5

Review book courtesy of Penguin Group

Lily Yu and Rule Turner are planning their wedding, but that’s going to have to take a back seat to safety when an old enemy of Lily’s grandmother turns up in town. Anyone who could possibly pose a threat to Lily’s grandmother is someone to take very seriously indeed, and he, or she, has already upended San Diego’s underworld. Meanwhile, it seems as though far too many people are unhappy about Lily and Rule’s engagement. She’s Chinese, he’s Lupi, an old flame of hers has put in an appearance, and it turns out that Lily has inherited some wild things from her legendary grandmother she didn’t even know about. Somehow Lily has to keep her ‘ordinary’ life together while saving her family, and all of San Diego, from the bad guys.

Eileen Wilks’s Blood Magic (A Novel of the Lupi, Book 6) is one of my favorite entries in the Lupi series. Lily’s grandmother has always been a mystery, and now we get to see glimpses into her past, when she was young, impetuous, and plenty dangerous (only one of those has truly changed!). We also get to see some of what Lily has inherited from her, despite their surface differences. If that wasn’t enough, there’s plenty of romantic tension between Lily and Rule, we get to see some very nice bits about the dragons, and Lily’s family members make some wonderful appearances.

Other than that, it’s hard to find anything to say I haven’t said before about this series of books. The world-building is gorgeous, and stands out among many of the all-too-similar paranormal worlds these days. Wilks has a wonderful talent for balancing warmth, seriousness, tragedy, and humor. The characters are lively and interesting, and the plots twisted and fun. There’s plenty of action to keep things moving, and some lovely romance to keep things heated up. Definitely read the series as a whole if you can, because the ongoing plot only gets more complex as it goes!