Review: Bloodstone

Bloodstone by Barbra Annino

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Spoiler Alert: Again there are unavoidable spoilers in this review. I have hidden them on Goodreads and they will be redacted in my blog, but elsewhere they will remain. You have been warned.

Book Info: Genre: Paranormal mystery/chick lit
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: fans of paranormal mystery, chick lit, those interested in witchcraft and Celtic lore and legends
Trigger Warnings: murder, violence, shooting
Animal Abuse: I do not at all approve of how they treat Moonlight, Stacy's cat. She keeps forgetting Moonlight even exists (takes Thor with her everywhere, but when she takes off at the end of the previous book with Ivy, she doesn't even think of Moonlight and, in fact, after the bomb goes off in the first book, we don't even hear mention of Moonlight until well into this book), and then during the denouement, when Moonlight is responsible for helping save Ivy, Stacy and Ivy flee the scene without even stopping to make sure Moonlight had left the room and was safe.

My Thoughts: After not liking the first book in this series, I was somewhat reluctant to continue, but this is a series that must be read in order, and I need to read the third book for the Amazon Vine program, so I took a deep breath and dove right in.

I'm fairly sure that there is no small town in existence that is quite as wacky as Amethyst, Illinois. It is wacky to the point where you just want to shake your head and listen for the laugh track because it is way too sit-com-ish. It is wacky to the point where I frequently almost dislocated my eyes due to rolling them. Seriously, who puts the Three Stooges as part of the police force, even as citizen helpers? (I'm talking about Ned, Jed and Jeb here) Those sorts of things.

That said, this book was better than the first book, if only just. Stacy is still acting like a TSTL* heroine most of the time, and it's really annoying how Birdie and the aunts don't tell her anything, but that is rather an Irish/Celtic thing to do. I like how we're finally learning a bit more about the whole situation, the Seeker, the Guardian and the Warrior, and I really like the details about Celtic history and culture that is thrown in, since Celt mythology is something about which I have been fascinated for decades.

If you enjoy paranormal mysteries, chick lit, stories involving witchcraft and Celtic lore and legends, you'll probably enjoy this series. Next up: Tiger's Eye.

Series Information: This is book 2 in the Stacy Justice series.
Book 1: Opal Fire, review linked here where formatting allowed
Book 3: Tiger's Eye, review to come
Book 4: Emerald Isle, scheduled for release in 2013

Disclosure: I picked this book up when it was on a KDP promotion. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: A long-lost sister. A missing mother. And murder.

Stacy Justice finds herself caught in a web of deceit, betrayal and family secrets that run deeper than the Mississippi in this follow up to Annino's debut novel, Opal Fire.

Not only must the reluctant witch determine if the teenager on her doorstep is her sister—she's forced to confront her mother's disappearance—again. Add to that a dead guy in the kitchen and Stacy's at her witch's end. She's pretty sure the Blessed Book of her family's ancestry holds the key. Except she can't find it. And if the killer does—it may be over Stacy's dead body.

Is Ivy really her sister? Where is Stacy's mother? And what does the dead guy have to do with it all?

*TSTL = Too Stupid To Live



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