Born of Blood and Magic: The Lightless Series, Book 1

Violet “Vy” Finch is a vampire who is sickened by blood, the one thing she craves. This happens because she is an ill-blood. Vy is not just a vampire, she is a mixed breed and that is what causes her to become sick if she indulges on the blood she craves. Petra Malkovitch had her life turned upside down as a teenager because of Violent Finch and she has vowed revenge since that day. Fast forward to the present, she has become a part of an organization that dedicates itself to hunting these creatures down and ridding society of their presence. Petra gets her chance at revenge but is forced to help Vy on her journey. Can they work together to reach their goals? I listened to this book on audible. I really enjoyed listening to this book. It kept me engaged and I found myself wanting to keep listening. Vy and Petra both have pretty traumatic pasts that have shaped who they are and that plays a large part of this story. The two characters have constant power struggles and it brings a very angsty dynamic. The end does have a conclusion. However, there is definitely an opening for a second book. I definitely recommend this.

Recommend for fans of: The Mercy Thompson Series (Patricia Briggs in general) Five Moons Rising by Lisa MacTeague The Collins Trilogy by Kate Hershberger (fyi, This book is mostly about vampires, witches, and hunters so far, so not many werewolves/shifters, but they do exist in the worldbuilding) F/F enemies to allies to lovers, vampire/hunter slowish burn romance TW for SA, being drugged I really enjoyed this quick urban fantasy/romance! It was exactly what I was looking for. Some nice world building in a short amount of time, adding little changes to the usual urban fantasy setup. I especially liked the spellcaster/witch lore, that's the group of "unhumans" we learn probably the most about in this (hopefully 1st) book. It was fascinating and quite mysterious, so I constantly looked forward to learning more. I feel like the witches are usually kinda cut and dry so this lore did a good job enriching everything, making it fresh but familar. The 2 main characters had some great chemistry immediately (but it avoided feeling like instalove) to go along with their almost crippling amount of angst. The dialogue left a lot to be desired throughout the book (especially amount the military/Order characters) and yet somehow I still fell in love with Petra & Vy's chemistry anyway. I'd say the ending was a tad rushed, especially from Petra's end of things, but I honestly expected it b/c the characters had tangled themselves in a pretty big mess even as things were winding down.…