Blood and Fire by Willow Rose

[Jax14]

Blood and Fire is the second in the Vampires of Shadow Hills fantasy series and is not explicitly advertised as a YA novel, but is more suited to tweens.

Robyn is concerned. Sure she knows that her vampire parents have turned her brother and that she is next. Why else would she suddenly be home-schooled and kept away from her friends? Especially Jayden, who she still has a major crush on. Ok so it’s dangerous to be around Robyn’s family, which is why Jayden is with Jazmyn, but still. Oh, and there is the matter of Melanie, another friend, who was attacked and seems to be changing into something. Just an average, ordinary teenage life...

I picked this up as a free book as I have read a number of good books by the author and the cover looked like a fun YA novel. I read it in 45 minutes and was disappointed that it finished at 78% on the Kindle. This really felt like a gateway novel to me. Something to introduce a new character and add a bit of info to the previous book, but nothing of substance. The clues about what certain characters are changing into/becoming are in your face, yet the kids are shocked when it happens. The bit that felt the most intriguing, for me, is the house with the spell on it.

With the number of fantasy novels out there involving vampires, werewolves and witches, you have to really have a new concept to sell. Sad to say but this fell short of the author’s other books. Nothing inherently wrong with it, but nothing that would make me buy the rest of the series.