Blood Magic - Tessa Gratton This review was first posted on Music, Books and TeaBlood Magic is a book that, if it hadn't of been for my local library, I would have never picked up and read. I never imagined myself enjoying Blood Magic as much as I did, as I had heard some mixed things about it. Whilst it wasn't a perfect book, it was certainly an enjoyable read.The whole concept of performing blood magic wasn't new to me, I've read about the act and its repercussions before, and having this prior knowledge was partly what drew me to the book. I wanted to see how Tessa Gratton would write about the act. She certainly didn't disappoint, as no detail was spared, from the creation of the circle to the spilling of the blood. I love how Gratton didn't tiptoe around the subject, blood was needed to create the magic, and she was incredibly frank with that fact. I liked how she made the performance of the magic different between Silla and Nick - Silla used the latin that was provided in the spell book whereas Nick spoke in rhymes that he created himself. The magic was almost another character in this book, it was always there, and never really took a backseat to anything or anyone.The relationship between Nick and Silla was a little hit and miss for me. There was a part of me that loved it, and another part of me that felt Nick was only drawn to Silla because of the magic. Individually, they were both great characters. Nick had a lot of 'teen angst' almost - his parents had divorced, and his father married his awful stepmother, Lillith. Lillith was a character that I honestly thought would have had more to do with the climax of the story, however, I was wrong. And that left me slightly confused over what the purpose of her character actually was. Maybe she was just a red herring, and used to throw readers off-track completely? I did dislike her just as Nick did, she was incredibly manipulating, especially where Nick's father was concerned. In terms of the other secondary characters, I absolutely adored Resse and Judy. They were just as involved with the magic as Silla and Nick were, and I loved how Judy was there as a parental figure. I did wonder that, as Silla's parents were dead, would we have a book with missing parents/guardians, but luckily Judy was there. My mouth was left hanging with what happened to Reese towards the end of the book - I couldn't believe what I was reading. I actually had to re-read the passage and make sure that I'd read everything correctly, I was that shocked!The diary entries in Blood Magic were a nice addition. I liked how they allowed me to get to know Josephine a lot better, and understand her past and how she came to practice Blood Magic, along with her rise to power. I thought Gratton added a nice twist with Philip too, I wasn't expecting it to happen, but I felt it really help the story click into place.Overall, I thought Blood Magic was an entertaining read, although it did leave me with a few questions that I wish had been answered! I'm hoping that these will be answered in the next book, The Blood Keeper, and whilst it isn't a direct sequel to the story of Nick and Silla, I'm sure it'll be just as gripping as Blood Magic!