After the sudden death of her grandmother, Mari Pollard is torn from her quiet life and thrust into the glittering, ruthless world of New York City’s elite. Surrounded by wealth, secrets, and expectations she never asked for, Mari begins to feel something awakening beneath her skin, ancient, dangerous… and tied to her blood.

As forbidden power stirs, Mari is pulled into a hidden war between the Bloodwrights, wielders of perilous blood magic, and the Stonebound, sworn guardians of the mortal world. Her only guide is Alaric Gaines, the enigmatic boy sworn to train and protect her, even as he becomes the one person she’s not sure she can trust.

Bound by grief, destiny, and a connection older than memory itself, Mari must navigate dark academia halls, morally gray alliances, and a slow-burning attraction that could either save her… or destroy everything.

Because in a world where loss fuels magic, the greatest danger isn’t power.
- Goodreads

​​​Characters and Plot

I really like the magic system in this book. Death’s Echo’s magic is not something you see every day, and I wish the book had expanded more into it. How is it that Bloodwright can also use elemental magic as well as hear the echoes of death? A bit more explanation on that would be desired. ​

The romance plotline was not my thing; I didn’t like our main protagonist; for me, she was too naive and melodramatic, and the romance was moving way too quickly for my liking. Now, the main protagonist was crying over the simplest thing, and instead of asking the right question at the right time, she sort of waited for the last possible moment when things are this close to exploding to finally ask... The romance was not my jam; they get with each other way too quickly, like a week in? I felt like a lot of romance tends to rush the romance when they are missing out on the slow burn. You can't have a good lovey relationship if you skip the build-up entirely. 

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The plot was interesting, and it really picked up in the last 20% of the book, where I was dying to know what was going to happen. I kind of got bored in between, and I am suspicious of Tiffanny and Uncle Dan for some reason here :)) 

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