I had some high hopes going into this, given the praise it got from Chloe Gong, but I was left wanting.

The magic system didn't feel very easy to understand, but the premise of the book was good. I just got a bit lost in some of the way things were worded, and got confused easily.

30 years ago a young woman was murdered, a magical massacre ensued in New Orleans and a queen was dethroned. Today the twin heirs to that lost throne, Clement and Cristina, discover that their mother's mysterious illness is actually a hex. To uncover who is after their family, they must work together instead of being at each other's throats and solve the mystery, for there is the danger of conflict again and maybe worse.

Starting with a newspaper article that properly submerges us into the premise, we are thrown right into the life of the twins and it's like we've always been there. Set in present-day New Orleans, the unapologetic narrative is so immersive you usually forget whose POV it is. The pacing is great as is the unfurling of the plot tapestry which is peppered with clever, snappy dialogue and delicious drama. Benton-Walker's writing is deeply emotive and makes you hang from every word in its enthralling manner. Descriptions with wonderful and unusual wording bring this world alive and convey the captivating mythology.

The depictions of the characters are very insightful. You will instantly fall in love with the stubborn twins and their butting of heads — hello snarkiness — and feel for them, what they've been through and what they've lost. They present a misplaced guilt and dedication to making things right. You admire their dedication. That 3rd unexpected POV helps us see the other side, the whole story.

Themes of this book: prejudice and its polarizing effect, family dynamics and loyalty, and how destroying the hunger for power is.

Some descriptions needed more clarification, mostly some of the spells. I think I need more explanation of the inner workings of the magic system. A plot thread of a POV that comes into play later in the book was less interesting and could have been handled better.

Dive into this world of magic and mayhem in a modern-day New Orleans and enjoy this debut to a promising new series (it better be a series with that ending).

3.5* Urban Fantasy is my favourite kind of Fantasy novel, and there's so much potential energy buzzing around in Blood Debts. It feels like the kind of story that could be picked up for a tv show. I really appreciated that one of the MCs is dealing with anxiety and taking medication, as this is still fairly rare rep in this kind of story. I thought Clem's short, spiky personality matched the struggles he's dealing with. I also liked how the story was threaded with contemporary social concerns, which were handled with a deft touch. Always here for a relevant quotation epigraph.

Personally, I felt there were too many point of view characters, which split the focus of the story. I felt it would have worked better with the twins, and to stick to first person pov. The switch between first and third person pov between the different characters constantly threw me out of the story and impacted my personal enjoyment of the book. Other readers may not experience this, but it was a problem for my tastes. I also felt that, without confirmation of this being the first book in a series, the ending was unsatisfactory. However, I would want to read a sequel, and I could see my rating changing if another book is on the way.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thirty years ago, a young woman was murdered, a family was lynched, and New Orleans saw the greatest magical massacre in its history. In the days that followed, a throne was stolen from a queen. On the anniversary of these brutal events, Clement and Cristina Trudeau—the sixteen-year-old twin heirs to the powerful, magical, dethroned family—are mourning their father and caring for their sick mother. Until, by chance, they discover their mother isn’t sick—she’s cursed. Cursed by someone on the very magic council their family used to rule. Someone who will come for them next. Cristina, once a talented and dedicated practitioner of Generational magic, has given up magic for good. An ancient spell is what killed their father and she was the one who cast it. For Clement, magic is his lifeline. A distraction from his anger and pain. Even better than the random guys he hooks up with. Cristina and Clement used to be each other’s most trusted confidant and friend, now they barely speak. But if they have any hope of discovering who is coming after their family, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other and their family's magic, all while solving the decades-old murder that sparked the still-rising tensions between the city’s magical and non-magical communities. And if they don't succeed, New Orleans may see another massacre. Or worse.

Cristina was once dedicated to her use of magic, now she wants to be as far away as she can be from it. She’s quite a judgemental person in my opinion, always second guessing others and their opinions. Sure, she has a kind heart and can be very caring towards family and those she likes, but that underlying presence of querying everyone’s motives and actions makes her frustrating in my eyes. She’s a bit too cynical and it doesn’t change much at all throughout the book. I had hoped for a little more from her if I’m perfectly honest, something that would let me click with her. Towards the end she became a lot harsher, something I felt didn’t entirely fit with her character but perhaps that was just her emotions coming through instead of being hidden away. I think Cristina is a good character but could have had a few more layers to her.
Clement is a kind, tormented soul in a hard-as-stone exterior. He is still trying to navigate life after his dad’s death and seems to struggle making friends or developing any kind of relationship. Though this changes when Yves comes along. I did like seeing Clement open up with Yves as we got to see a different side to him - a softer side compared to the stand-offish persona that makes an appearance quite a bit, particularly with his sister. It did feel like there was quite a bit of mystery surrounding Clement’s character so I would have liked this explored further but on the whole, he was a decent addition to the story.

Magic and murder mystery. Two sure ways of getting me to read a book. The moment I read the blurb, I knew I wanted to read this story as it sounded right up my street. Unfortunately my excitement faded over the course of the book. The beginning felt slow to me and then whilst it picked up, it just didn’t draw me in. Don’t get me wrong, I loved this fresh take on magic and the “real world” being infused with many different kinds of it but I just didn’t find enjoyment in the book. I refused to DNF it in the hopes that perhaps I was just having an off day or two and that the story would pick up, making me eager for me. Instead I felt rather meh, which is such a massive shame for me! I really wanted to enjoy this as others had, but sadly it just wasn’t meant to be. The romance moments were cute but quite fleeting - and the slight insta-love was a bit much. It added some extra depth to the story which was nice but wasn’t vital to the storyline. The ending did seem to wrap everything up but the very end has certainly been left open for a sequel. I’m not entirely sure where this story could go and won’t be finding out but I hope the readers who enjoyed this will like whatever is to come.

Overall, Blood Debts is a book that really intrigued me but fell a little flat on execution.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced copy of this book. Review will be posted on my blog on release day.

I enjoyed this one, I did find it quite slow to read though and not a lot really happened until the second half however I'm super interested in reading Book two!

This book has the potential to be the newest TikTok/trending sensation - and I can't wait to tell my students all about it.

!! This e-arc was kindly sent to me by netgalley, so thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley themselves for the copy in exchange for an honest review. !!

Firstly, I need to say that this book is very YA & it definitely reads more on the younger side of things. However, we definitely need more fantasy geared towards younger readers, especially when it boasts incredible LGBTQ+ and BIPOC representation so that really works in this books favour. I sped through this at breakneck speed, and I don’t regret a single second.

The world and magic system is so interesting and I found myself enthralled by them, which is something I do not say lightly. This story is set in a modern day New Orleans, following Twins (Clem and Cristina) who learn of a curse on their mother and set out to discover who would do such a thing to their family, in the process they uncover secrets that were meant to stay buried.

This story has mystery and intrigue galore and the atmosphere is fantastic. There were some fantastic characters and I ended up coming out of the experience feeling as if I’d definitely experienced something very special. The author did a particularly great job at portraying teenagers, even the gritty details like the clear language used when discussing consent and safe sex during a scene in the book. YA (geared towards teens!) shouldn’t shy away from teenagers discussing or acting on their urges in a healthy normal way- realistically teenagers do these things, they are the audience for this story and personally I would rather have accurate and safe rep for teenagers exploring these things rather than them consuming adult content that can sometimes be more confusing and contain (sometimes) questionable or indistinguishable consent.

The one negative I have here is that for me, personally there were too many POVs, I struggled to keep up and the flip between first person and third person did cause me quite a bit of confusion at times.

Overall, this was great, I imagine I would have been screaming if I’d read this as a teenager and I would have been OBSESSED, as an adult I can appreciate this for what it is and I think it fulfils what it sets out to do and so much more.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Blood Debts
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Terry J. Benton-Walker
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: LGBT Fantasy
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 4th April 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3.5/5

”Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should; and just because you can hold something in your hand doesn’t mean it fucking belongs to you.”

This is one of the books that falls between a three and a four star rating because some parts are a definite four, whilst others are a definite three. I kept finding reasons to like it and reasons to dislike it and now I’m worried my review will be less like my personal opinion and more like a critical analysis.

The magic system in Blood Debts is based on black ancestral New Orleans Voodoo, which encompasses nature, spirits and ancestors to invoke magic. I really liked the magic system, it was full of amazing concepts and felt realistic and grounded, but also at times it felt messy, magic would occur and then would go unexplained so I’d often be left wondering what was going on.

I enjoyed the two main characters, Cris and Clem, but also I liked Cris WAY more than I liked Clem! I thought Cris seemed way older than Clem in her POV, she was so much more steady and confident and fierce—which made her more likable in general—but I don’t quite understand why she was teaching Clem how to do magic, especially since it seems Clem was the one who was closer to the other family members?

I also felt a bit of disconnect because at one point as readers were told that Cris and Clem’s investigation was creating a wider distance between the two and yet for me, I felt like they were really distant at the beginning (especially since we’re literally introduced to them with an argument) and the investigation was giving them the chance to become closer, this actually really surprised me.

I also enjoyed the plot but felt like sometimes we were taking the scenic route to our destination, on the other hand I also sometimes found myself engrossed.

I feel like this book is a walking contradiction, there was so much to enjoy, and so much that left me asking questions. I wish this story had more finesse, there were so many amazing plot ideas packed into it and in a page turner such as this one, it could feel quite discombobulating.


𝑲𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉 @ 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒉 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒚
🧚‍♀️🤍

2,5
I tried, till the end, to like it, but between me and Blood Debts there was no fit at all.
Assuming that, the synopsis and the content of his book, they are completely two different things.
From the synopsis it sounds like a historical novel, it is actually set in the present day, ergo we can say it is an Urban Fantasy.
The writing, being a debut novel, is still immature, so the unfolding has a lot of flaws.
It is a pity that, the most anticipated novel of 2023, according to BuzzFeed and others, for me it was a disappointment.
There is one thing to be said in favor of the book though, the cover is the bomb!