Still recovering from the death of her younger brother, Lacey is starting a new school, hoping to escape her past. But Lacey’s dark secret is darker than most: she’s a witch and a blood mage, and unfortunately her past has nothing on what she finds waiting for her at her new home.

This is a wonderful stand-alone story, in the YA paranormal genre. Creative world-building, strong characters with established backgrounds that become clearer as the book progresses, and an intriguing plot with twists and turns combine in this gripping modern fantasy. The blend of different mythologies, mainly celtic and voodoo, produces an original environment with twists you don’t see coming.

The slow revelation of Lacey’s history mingled with the unfolding events at the school and in the city is intriguing and held my interest right to the end. I was actually glad to find there are a full series of works set in the same world – if they are all of the same high standard, this series is one to read.

Paranormal and modern or urban fantasy fans should look this one up – for them, it’s a five. Psychological horror, occult, and suspense readers may also enjoy it – I’m all three and I certainly did.