Book: Blood & Bloom by Eva Chase
Reviewed by Booksbystarlightandshadows
Rating: 4/5
I was really intrigued by the premise of this; the idea of Elodie solving the murder of her doppelganger from an alternative universe had me hooked from the start. Other Elodie is very different to our Elodie and seeing her fit into a world which is like hers but also not was really interesting. Our Elodie is logical and capable too and I enjoyed seeing her working on her own investigation rather than relying on the information from the dodgy Auntie who I am getting very suss vibes from! As the only other person who knows about Elodie's situation, she's relegated to the background pretty quickly which surprised me though. I couldn't quite understand why she wasn't investigating alongside Elodie either.
The world building did leave me a little confused though; I felt like I had been dropped into the middle of the story and as Elodie's universe is the same as the Other Elodie, there wasn't that same level of exposition about the magical elements of this universe. I did enjoy the Bloom vs Blight game for a change of pace but I'd love to see more about the magic system in the next book.
I loved the conflict of how Elodie felt about her mates in this timeline; she already has her loves and although these are the same men, they aren't her men. This is very slow burn but it works as despite Elodie's timeline having its issues, she hasn't forgotten about them and I'm intrigued to see how that tension is going to be resolved and if we'll ever see them again. Salvatore was definitely my favourite of the MMCs but I was intrigued about the mystery surrounding Asher and creepy Uncle Nik. I have my suspicions on who I think this world's Uncle Nik is but I'm hoping we get more info from Elodie's original world in the next book.
My interpretation of the star system;
3 stars - I enjoyed it; would read the author again
4 stars - I really liked it; I am invested and definitely want more from this author/series
5 stars - I loved it; I engaged with this book completely until I finished it and it is one I will re-read