Wildblood is an epic tale about a young woman---who was enslaved as a child by a tourist company on the island of Jamaica due to her genetic abilities to shape blood into weapons---leading a tour group through the perilous jungle she once called home.

To receive her promotion to tour leader, Victoria must make her ex, Dean, look good to this new group of rich gold miners. One of those gold miners is a young man, Thorn, who immediately becomes infatuated with Victoria and vice versa. Along the way, they will become closer as they face more and more dangers of the jungle.

In my opinion, this is a fantastic book---the imagery is vivid, the concept is inventive, it handles PTSD from rape and abuse in a digestible manner and is rich with Jamaican folklore. My only drawback is that Wildblood is to be a YA book and there is some mature content in a later chapter. Other than that, it is a wonderful and fierce story of healing and returning home despite what your heart may want right now. ( )

WILDBLOOD, by Lauren Blackwood, is about a young woman named Victoria who is enslaved as a guide working for an exotic touring company. She, along with her fellow tour guides, have a magical gift of manipulating blood into hardened shapes or moving it around to damage a person or end a life. Denied a promotion and constantly abused, Victoria hatches a plan to escape using the next tour she is assigned to. On tour, things go from bad to worse and Victoria scrambles to figure a way out of the jungle while still working on her escape from the touring company. To make things more complicated, she is also falling in love with the leader of the group that is being lead on this adventure.
While on the surface, this novel is a supernatural jungle adventure, with river spirits, unnaturally large predators, and a plethora of different ghosts roaming through the trees. Beyond all of that, as well as the mysterious wildblood abilities of the tour guides, this book is about humanity, love and figuring out what means most to a person. Victoria and her tour guide friends are struggling to be accepted as fellow humans, not lessened or thought of different because of their abilities. Victoria also has love surrounding her from many sides and in different ways and she has to work through what that all means. Victoria struggles mirrors so many people's lifelong search of what means most to them.
This exciting adventure coupled with lots of introspection and discovery make this novel a pleasure to read. ( )

This book was an instant favorite!

Simmering romantic tensions bring the heat to a jungle where anything from ghosts to butterflies to the river itself may be trying to kill you.

When a group hunting for gold hires the Wildbloods - wielders of blood magic - to protect their journey, Victoria is determined to be the expedition leader, and not just because of the charming investor Thorn. She desperately needs the money to help her brother Bunny escape the cruel life filled with beatings and torture that they are held in by the Boss. But her ex-best friend and rival, Dean, gets himself named expedition leader.

Victoria convinced him to let her help lead the expedition through the haunted, dangerous jungle, where everything’s trying to kill them. They get two warnings to turn back, and the jungle doesn’t normally give a third.

The author has brought an unforgettable, haunting jungle world to life. From the pickney ghosts to the beautiful, venomous butterflies, I wanted to see this world so badly, but from the safety of a movie screen! No way I’d brave the jungle myself.

Victoria’s both fierce and vulnerable. Whether she’s fighting monsters, dealing with her past pain from the Boss’s abuse or falling in love, she’s a heroine to root for. Thorn’s sense of humor is a delight, and Dean’s a great antihero with complicated motives.

Though the ending wasn’t quite what I hoped, it was still perfection. After finishing the book, I didn’t see how it could end any other way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

2.5 stars
Well, this was disappointing. The premise had me so intrigued and excited, but the execution did not live up to expectations.
The plot was thin and the main character was sort of disconnected from it all. She didn't care about getting the gold and the jungle and its inhabitants were benevolent towards her, so there was little tension there. As for her goals of becoming a team leader and getting her brother away from the touring company for his safety, aside from getting herself on this expedition, she doesn't take a very active role in working towards them, so they didn't feel like an important part of the story. There just wasn't much to get invested in, plot-wise.
The romance was extremely instalovey with no real chemistry and no time to show why Victoria would trust this guy without question. They met eyes and that was that.
The intelligent jungle hostile to outsiders and all the magical creatures within it were interesting and made a good backdrop. I wanted to see more of what it contained and learn more about the magic system. But without a good plot or characters and stakes that I cared about to pair with it a fun setting was not enough on its own.
I will give the author props for the ending though. It was clear throughout the book how much Victoria loved and belonged in the jungle with it being one of the only reasons she could stand the abuse and exploitation her boss and the touring company put her through. It was equally obvious that her new lover, Thorn, was not welcome and would not be happy staying in the jungle. It was a surprisingly mature and satisfying ending to have them acknowledge that they have incompatible needs and go their separate ways rather than abandon everything else they want out of life to be together. ( )

Danger comes in all forms, each one deadlier than the last, in a fast-paced read, which doesn't let up until the end.

Victoria has been working for The Exotic Lands Touring Company since she was six, although not by choice. As a Wildblood, her talents gave the company reason enough to kidnap her and have her steer customers safely through the dangers of the jungle. Now eighteen, she hopes to finally get a promotion. When a group shows up, paying to be lead into the depths of the jungle and not along the usual path, Victoria knows death awaits them but also sees this as her chance to finally achieve her goals if she pulls it off. Unfortunately, that also means she'll have to make the group leader, her nemesis, shine. But when his bad decisions lead them from one danger to the next, and she hears the jungles promise of certain death, even she might not be able to steer them through. And maybe, not even herself.

This is a gripping read with one tense situation after the other. It's impossible to predict what they'll be facing next or even how they can overcome the dangers. While the idea of a jungle already means enough danger, this tale amps it up and adds fantastical creatures to the mix along with more than a little paranormal. Blood magic ensures a dark tone right along with greed, revenge, and hate. Violence and murder along with mentioned rape (mentioned without graphic as happening in past) and abuse ensure this is not one for sensitive readers. It also is not overly graphic or inappropriate for older YAers.

The plot does lure in and keep the reader hooked, and there are many mysteries, which do find resolution by the end. I enjoyed Victoria's tenacity and, yet, meek moments, and found many of the characters around her well done with their varying intentions (good and bad) and personalities. It flows together very well and even adds just enough comic relief, here and there, to keep things from weighing down too much. Although it's not a light story. My only criticisms land on the romance, which is instant and doesn't come across natural in the slightest, the missing emotions at some events, and a few logic stumbles. These kept the read from becoming the amazing tale it could have been, but didn't hold it back from being a good read and worth the peek. I had a hard time putting this one down and enjoyed it quite a bit. I received a DRC and found it to be a very good read. ( )