A review by aamna_theinkslinger
Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 "Your Blood, My Bones" by Kelly Andrew is an absolutely gut-wrenching and hair-raising read. From the very beginning, the persistent feeling of doom sets the tone, enhanced by Andrew's gorgeous and visceral writing. As a writer, I found myself continuously highlighting paragraphs because the prose was so impressive—dark, vivid, and masterful in intertwining the setting with the characters' emotions.

Set on a farm beside a haunted forest, the book is rich in unique and imaginative imagery, making it a visual delight. The magic system, which lies somewhere between eldritch horror and witchcraft, is intriguing without being overly complex. It serves the story well without bogging it down with unnecessary details.

Phenol-sweet and slightly fevered, Wyatt had always been able to feel it inside her—a strangeness, hard and swollen as a blister. Sometimes, late at night, she’d lie awake and wonder if whatever nameless thing pulsed through her veins would one day split her open and leak out all on its own.
“Power like that isn’t something you trip and fall into, dove,” her mother would tell her as she brushed and braided her hair before bed. “You have to nurture it, like any other beating thing.”


What stands out most is Andrew's unflinching willingness to put her characters through horrifying experiences, making their journey both brutal and compelling. One particular character’s backstory is truly gruesome and brutal. Despite seeing the tragedy unfold from a distance, I held out hope for a happy ending, which speaks volumes about how deeply invested I became in the characters. The events are disturbing and the tone viscerally dark, and yet the connection to the characters renders you feeling like your heart has been torn apart. In less than 300 pages, Andrew manages to make the reader desperately root for them, making this book a truly gripping and emotional ride.
This definitely reignited my love of reading horror, especially YA, and I can’t wait to read more of what Andrew writes.

Pitiful, how each new year he’d crawled out from his hideaway like a bear from a cave, an internal clock ticking in his chest: Wyatt. Wyatt. Wyatt.
Painful, the way his heart beat at a clip when he heard her on the farmhouse stairs, the way his breaths went unsteady, his head electric. He’d blink up at her from the wide old willow outside her window and think she looked just like spring was meant to look, her hair the color of rusted orchids, pink peonies in her cheeks, her smile a bold dahlia red."