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Wyatt returns home, intent on burning it (and the past down). But Peter is there, and quickly what should have been a simple act of wiping the slate clean becomes a complicated mess of memories, emotions, and uncovering a tangled web of magic and protection and family legacy. Your Blood, My Bones is eldritch horror, yes. But the creeping unease doesn’t only come from the darkness seeping out from the creatures in the forest, it also comes from finally peeling away layers of history between three “friends” that are bound to the old farmhouse and the land that surrounds it. They had a childhood steeped in secrets that are now breaking free and setting in motion something that feels inevitable. Wyatt, Peter, and James are never fully honest with each other, not until it becomes too late to stop.

I devoured this book. It was dark and atmospheric and full of love that hurt. It takes curses and horror and shadowy guilds of men and uses these devices to examine growing up and leaving home and then having to come back to things not quite the same, yet eerily familiar. Old wounds are cracked open, and new ones are formed. Wyatt and Peter are such good foils for each other, their opposing and parallel paths keeping them at odds with one another for the entire book. This is a story that manages to tangle itself into your soul, lingering there long after the pages are done.

Now I need to go back and read Kelly Andrews’ first book in this connected universe, The Whispering Dark. We get cameos of characters from that story here, and I am curious as to their journey compared to what we get to glimpse of them in this one. I love unexpected endings and relationships playing out in different ways from what convention seems to dictate. That is part of what made this book linger with me. I also love that is maintained tension throughout, and even let it linger a bit in the end.

*I read this book as an ARC via NetGalley and Scholastic Press. All opinions are my own. Publication date is 4/2/24.