I was a little apprehensive when I first approached this book. If you're a fan of YA urban fantasy then you'll understand the reasons why. The genre has become overfilled with too many books that all seem to tell the same story with very few variations. It's getting sort of difficult to find something that stands out from everything else enough without going completely overboard. Either the book is too typical or it's so atypical that it gets a little old & overbearing in its attempt to stand out. About 100 pages into the book I was glad to discover that this book wasn't either of those things. 
 What I absolutely loved about this book is that Gratton managed to mix the familiar ideas of YA fiction (boy meets girl, sparks ensue, they battle trouble together, etc) with ideas that haven't been worn to tatters. While witches aren't new by any means, the idea of blood magic is still pretty fresh as far as YA goes. It was a nice change of pace from the usual "vampires, werewolves, & angsty love interests, oh my!" that you see on every shelf. I also loved that there were a few actual repercussions to things. Using blood magic meant that Silla would have to cause wounds that people noticed as well as a huge drop of energy that could incapacitate her. The characters are pretty nice as well. I'm a little disappointed that not all of them were as thoroughly fleshed out as they could have been, but this is an ongoing series & I have a feeling that what's missing will later be valuable plot information down the line. 
 The only downfall is the usage of multiple POVs. The action jumps around a little too much, irritating me at times because it just seemed a little unnecessary. Even worse than that though was that (like others have said) there wasn't a huge amount of difference between the voice of Silla & the voice of Nick. I can't help but feel that it might have been a little better served if it was in third person rather than being narrated. 
 However, the narration didn't bother me enough to completely throw me out of the story & I quickly devoured this in about two days. I'll be honest that this is predominantly typical YA fare, there's enough here to where I really enjoyed it & can't wait to read the next book in the series. (Supposedly this is a stand alone book but it just feels like the beginning of a series & Gratton already has another book set in this universe.) In the end this is one of those guilty pleasure books that you love to read because it's such a good way to pass the time. It has its rough edges but those will probably be smoothed away as the author gets more familiar with her work. This is just a nice comfy read. 
 (ARC provided by Amazon Vine)