With Fire in their Blood by Kat Delacorte . Review.

Synopsis

Review

4,25 stars

What a ride!

I won the book at YALC and read it as soon as I could. That book was very atmospheric and a little bit spooky.

I don’t know how to categorize that story honestly.

It’s been labelled under “Renée Ahdieh’s The Beautiful, the forbidden romance of Tracy Wolff’s Crave and those still mourning the end of The Twilight Saga and supernatural world building of Stephanie Meyers.” But having read all these books I wouldn’t compare it to these reads.

Sure you have a mystery like you have in The Beautiful and supernatural but it’s so far from what I experienced reading these stories!

I’d rather compare with Silvia Moreno_Garcia with the very gothic atmosphere of the book.

From Lilly’s mom who gave me the heebie jeebie for the few times she was mentioned in the story to Castello itself, medieval Italian town shrouded in mists, isolated from civilization and with a very “dark sleeping beauty” vibe going through Lilly’s classmates like Liza with her cruel smile and eerie eyes…you get the gist of it.

Add to it that from her arrival at Castello Lilly had weird dreams looking more like nightmares than anything else and I think Kat Delacorte really did great setting the scene and the tone.

Lilly had to follow her dad to Castello as he had been hired to “modernize” the town. She and her dad are estranged from each other since the death of Lilly’s mom. Her dad was devastated and has never really talked with or looked at his daughter since. Basically, both parents left Lilly.

Castello is divided into two sides: the Marconis (the poor side where houses are in deep need of repair) and the Paradisios (the wealthy side). For centuries, both “clans” were at war until the General took control and imposed a truce.

From the start, Lilly will feel different from her old self. The town seems alive and malevolent somehow.

And her classmates, all more strange one than another won’t help.

Pretty soon, Lilly will feel attracted to some of them. That part was a little bit disturbing to me as it seemed one instant that Lilly was attracted to a girl all while needing a boy and also looking at a third one. I was a little bit lost and wondered what was at play there.

I won’t tell more about the plot but let’s just say that you have secrets, power, past mistakes, redemption, betrayal, supernatural beings and a kind of quest for Lilly and her friends.

It’s spooky, often confusing but also weirdly enthralling and I loved it very much! Now I want the sequel.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie