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A review by abinthebooks
Blood Mercy by Vela Roth
5.0
“I’ve never heard such a charming sound,” he told her.
“What sound?”
“Your laughter.”
I absolutely adored everything about Blood Mercy. Everything about this story was so incredibly well done. While the cover was the first thing that drew me in, the plot absolutely had me convinced to read this story. Blood Mercy follows two POV’s; Cassia, the bastard daughter of the human king, and Lio a political ambassador from the vampires (Hesperine’s as they’re called in here). Lio and Cassia start meeting in traitorous secret, and eventually, fall in love (this is a very simplified version of what happens in here LMAO). The author described these two as “star-crossed lovers”, and I very much can confirm that is the entire vibe.
This is one of those rare fantasy-romances that has just as much (maybe even more) focus on the fantasy elements including the world building, the magic systems, the fictional religion aspects, the vampire (Hesperine) customs, ect, as it does the romance. The writing also has so much lyrical and meticulous detail. This is truly one of the best most well-written things I’ve read on KU. So when I say I want a fantasy romance I truly mean exactly like this book. Although the plot is very slow moving from beginning to end, that didn’t deter me from this story in the slightest! The world building is very very heavy in the first 50% and the characters and relationships are very heavy in the last 50%. And this book is not short at all. It’s over 700 pages with very firm fixation on the lyrical writing and fantasy.
And while the fantasy elements were absolutely incredible in this book (and heavily prevalent), the romance and characters were easily my favorite part! I adored Cassia and Lio so so dearly. Lio is a very soft, sweet and downright precious cinnamon roll hero (which is my absolute weakness guys). He’s very good with his words (wink wink), and he never wants to resort to violence in anything he does. Cassia is a very good match to Lio’s character. She’s very obedient and meek for a lot of Blood Mercy, but she has so much growth as this story goes on. She becomes a strong-willed, and self-sufficient woman who takes matters into her own hands and will resort to violence if she must. And even though Lio is the stronger one (physically at least) of the two, Cassia would literally do anything for him and protect him at all costs.
Their relationship and character contrasts were the absolute best to read about, and their interactions were so fucking sweet. Lio would do anything for Cassia, and absolutely vise versa. They were just so god damn soft and I could go on and on and on about how much I loved these two and their relationship. Not only were they so cute, but this book had absolutely one of the hottest blood drinking scenes I’ve ever read. And believe me when I say I’ve read a shit ton of vampire books.
I’d almost given up on fantasy-romance so many times these past few months, especially a lot of the ones on KU. A metaphor I always like to use for KU: Kindle-unlimited is essentially a landfill stuffed with a whole lot of trash, and very few diamonds in the rough. This is absolutely one of those gems, and if you’ve been wanting a fantasy-romance with a heavy, sorted out fantasy plot, well done, fleshed out characters, and beautiful writing, I’m begging you all to read this book. You won’t be disappointed, even though there are a few pacing issues.
This will definitely be going on my favorite books of the year, and I’m so very excited to continue on with this series (but scared because how will I ever read that many books…). Yes I’ll admit there were a few issues, but for this being the author’s debut, and something I enjoyed so dearly, I don’t even mind. I will now talk about this book every chance I get and beg everyone to read it.
* * *
Finally some good fucking soup. Gushing RTC.
“What sound?”
“Your laughter.”
I absolutely adored everything about Blood Mercy. Everything about this story was so incredibly well done. While the cover was the first thing that drew me in, the plot absolutely had me convinced to read this story. Blood Mercy follows two POV’s; Cassia, the bastard daughter of the human king, and Lio a political ambassador from the vampires (Hesperine’s as they’re called in here). Lio and Cassia start meeting in traitorous secret, and eventually, fall in love (this is a very simplified version of what happens in here LMAO). The author described these two as “star-crossed lovers”, and I very much can confirm that is the entire vibe.
This is one of those rare fantasy-romances that has just as much (maybe even more) focus on the fantasy elements including the world building, the magic systems, the fictional religion aspects, the vampire (Hesperine) customs, ect, as it does the romance. The writing also has so much lyrical and meticulous detail. This is truly one of the best most well-written things I’ve read on KU. So when I say I want a fantasy romance I truly mean exactly like this book. Although the plot is very slow moving from beginning to end, that didn’t deter me from this story in the slightest! The world building is very very heavy in the first 50% and the characters and relationships are very heavy in the last 50%. And this book is not short at all. It’s over 700 pages with very firm fixation on the lyrical writing and fantasy.
And while the fantasy elements were absolutely incredible in this book (and heavily prevalent), the romance and characters were easily my favorite part! I adored Cassia and Lio so so dearly. Lio is a very soft, sweet and downright precious cinnamon roll hero (which is my absolute weakness guys). He’s very good with his words (wink wink), and he never wants to resort to violence in anything he does. Cassia is a very good match to Lio’s character. She’s very obedient and meek for a lot of Blood Mercy, but she has so much growth as this story goes on. She becomes a strong-willed, and self-sufficient woman who takes matters into her own hands and will resort to violence if she must. And even though Lio is the stronger one (physically at least) of the two, Cassia would literally do anything for him and protect him at all costs.
Their relationship and character contrasts were the absolute best to read about, and their interactions were so fucking sweet. Lio would do anything for Cassia, and absolutely vise versa. They were just so god damn soft and I could go on and on and on about how much I loved these two and their relationship. Not only were they so cute, but this book had absolutely one of the hottest blood drinking scenes I’ve ever read. And believe me when I say I’ve read a shit ton of vampire books.
I’d almost given up on fantasy-romance so many times these past few months, especially a lot of the ones on KU. A metaphor I always like to use for KU: Kindle-unlimited is essentially a landfill stuffed with a whole lot of trash, and very few diamonds in the rough. This is absolutely one of those gems, and if you’ve been wanting a fantasy-romance with a heavy, sorted out fantasy plot, well done, fleshed out characters, and beautiful writing, I’m begging you all to read this book. You won’t be disappointed, even though there are a few pacing issues.
This will definitely be going on my favorite books of the year, and I’m so very excited to continue on with this series (but scared because how will I ever read that many books…). Yes I’ll admit there were a few issues, but for this being the author’s debut, and something I enjoyed so dearly, I don’t even mind. I will now talk about this book every chance I get and beg everyone to read it.
* * *
Finally some good fucking soup. Gushing RTC.