Thank you The Write Reads for hosting this awesome tour for Bloodlaced! This particular tour in is honour of Bloodlaced placing 9th in the BBNYA 2022!
Bloodlaced is the first book in the Youkai Bloodlines series by the author. City Owl Press originally published this 314-page book in September 2020. The book is a dark fantasy, but I recommend reading the content warnings before getting into it!
Content Warnings: physical abuse, sexual abuse (off-page), self-harm, blood, graphic violence
What is BBNYA?
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or Twitter @bbnya_official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.
Summary:
Bloodlaced is set in a world where servants are barely viewed as human. And if you’re different, you’re also entertainment. As both a man and a woman Asagi is very different.
Asagi is sold to a new master Mahiro, after an incident that basically breaks them into pieces. But Mahiro is everything Asagi cannot have ever known; kind. But when Asagi’s life is put on the line, Mahiro reveals himself to be a demon, a youkai, who feeds on blood, and Asagi is turned to to save their life.
Unfortunately for them, life rarely, if ever, let’s one problem end before triggering another. As Asagi’s and Mahiro’s relationship splinters, the past begins to catch up; in the best and worst way possible. With a monster at the door, Asagi must decide what it means to be human and protect what they love most.
Book Review:
Bloodlaced is a book that a reader will either love or hate; there isn’t any in between. The main thing that I really loved about Bloodlaced was the plot. I was a big fan of seeing how things played out between these characters, how things came back to haunt them, and how eternity can be a drag when you can’t do more with it. It was also interesting to see a character prioritizing their child, or someone they viewed as their child, over the love interest because maybe I’m on the AITA subreddit too much but many people really forget about their kids. This novel also explored how age gaps can play out, even if not overtly.
There were some things in the book that could have been improved! A lot happened in the book, and things should have been done at a slower pace and given more time. This first book could have been broken down into two if necessary. Matsumoto was a weird character, and I didn’t understand how they became friends!
About the Author:
Courtney Maguire is a University of Texas graduate from Corpus Christi, Texas. Drawn to Austin by a voracious appetite for music, she spent most of her young adult life in dark, divey venues nursing a love for the sublimely weird. A self-proclaimed fangirl with a press pass, she combined her love of music and writing as the primary contributor for Japanese music and culture blog, Project: Lixx, interviewing Japanese rock and roll icons and providing live event coverage for appearances across the country.
The Girl Who Reads 
Leave a Reply