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A review by _spirirbound_
House of Bane and Blood by Alexis L. Menard
4.0
Rating: 4 Stars
Spice: 1
Tropes: Marriage of Convenience, Rivals to Lovers, Found Family, Morally Grey Characters, Slowburn Romance
Being a huge fan of the Peaky Blinders TV show and fantasy novels, this book met all my expectations and more! I can't emphasise enough how much I enjoyed reading an adult fantasy book set in a 1920s-like era, featuring powerful families, gangs, and rivalries. "House and Bane and Blood" turned out to be exactly what I didn't realise I was missing until I finished it.
Our main female character, Camilla Marchese, is determined to prevent her family's syndicate, The Iron Saint Railway, from going bankrupt. When Nicolai Attano, the leader of a rival family her own has been feuding with for years, proposes to settle her family's debts in exchange for her hand in marriage, Camilla reluctantly agrees. The witty banter and tension between these characters had me gobbling up every interaction and left me wanting more. Although I was at times frustrated with Camilla’s naivety at times, she proves herself to be a capable strong MFC who I hope finds more of herself and who she truly is in book two! Nico, my goodness, I have found another book boy to obsess over. His motivations, inner struggles, morally grey choices and dedication to his family had me hooked from the very first pages. Don’t get me started on his devotion and protective tendencies over Camilla, it had me swooning.
I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline of the first part of this duology, and although some of the cliffhangers I saw coming the major one in the end left me gobsmacked. I had to re-read the chapter twice to get a firm understanding of what had just happened. It left me completely distraught!
It took me about five to six chapters to fully grasp and comprehend the magic system. Eventually, everything clicked, and I found myself much less confused than when I initially started reading. mThe primary issue I had with this book was the lack of detailed descriptions of the characters. I struggled to visualise any of them in my mind! It would have been wonderful to have more elaborate descriptions of both the main and supporting characters earlier in the story.
Spice: 1
Tropes: Marriage of Convenience, Rivals to Lovers, Found Family, Morally Grey Characters, Slowburn Romance
Being a huge fan of the Peaky Blinders TV show and fantasy novels, this book met all my expectations and more! I can't emphasise enough how much I enjoyed reading an adult fantasy book set in a 1920s-like era, featuring powerful families, gangs, and rivalries. "House and Bane and Blood" turned out to be exactly what I didn't realise I was missing until I finished it.
Our main female character, Camilla Marchese, is determined to prevent her family's syndicate, The Iron Saint Railway, from going bankrupt. When Nicolai Attano, the leader of a rival family her own has been feuding with for years, proposes to settle her family's debts in exchange for her hand in marriage, Camilla reluctantly agrees. The witty banter and tension between these characters had me gobbling up every interaction and left me wanting more. Although I was at times frustrated with Camilla’s naivety at times, she proves herself to be a capable strong MFC who I hope finds more of herself and who she truly is in book two! Nico, my goodness, I have found another book boy to obsess over. His motivations, inner struggles, morally grey choices and dedication to his family had me hooked from the very first pages. Don’t get me started on his devotion and protective tendencies over Camilla, it had me swooning.
I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline of the first part of this duology, and although some of the cliffhangers I saw coming the major one in the end left me gobsmacked. I had to re-read the chapter twice to get a firm understanding of what had just happened. It left me completely distraught!
It took me about five to six chapters to fully grasp and comprehend the magic system. Eventually, everything clicked, and I found myself much less confused than when I initially started reading. mThe primary issue I had with this book was the lack of detailed descriptions of the characters. I struggled to visualise any of them in my mind! It would have been wonderful to have more elaborate descriptions of both the main and supporting characters earlier in the story.