Scattered Thoughts: Silver in the Blood

Silver in the Blood

by Jessica Day George
Book 1 of Silver in the Blood

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  2.5 Stars

As debutantes in 1890s New York City, cousins Dacia and Lou knew little about their mysterious Romanian relatives, the Florescus. Now, upon turning seventeen, the girls must journey to Romania--a journey that seems to be both reward and punishment--to meet their cousins and their tyrant of a grandmother and to learn the secrets of their family. Secrets spoken of in whispers. Dangerous secrets known as the Claw, the Wing, and the Smoke.

But as dangerous as those family secrets might be, even more dangerous is the centuries-old bond between the Florescus and the royal Dracula family, and it seems that it's time for Dacia and Lou to give up their life in New York society and take their place among the servants of the Draculas. When the devilish heir, Mihai Dracula, sets his sights on Dacia as part of his evil, power-hungry plan, the girls must accept or fight against this cruel inheritance. Do they have the courage to break the shackles of their upbringing and set the course of their own destiny?

The second half was significantly more exciting than the first half, but it still didn't really make up for the slow, boring progress of the beginning of the book. And then the ending was also a bit 'meh' for me.

I’m not sure I know how to feel about this book, in general, though. It’s a historical fantasy with paranormal aspects with some gothic themes with references to Dracula... It was a very interesting premise that got me interested despite the fact that it is historical and I rarely pick up books based in historical settings. Nonetheless, between the gorgeous cover and the intriguing setup, I was really hoping that I would love Silver in the Blood.

Unfortunately, the book starts out very slow and we end up spending nearly half the book wandering around locale after locale with riddles and secrets that really just made me more frustrated and annoyed rather than continuously curious. As the reader, it’s pretty obvious what big bad secret is being kept from Dacia and Lou by their entire Florescu family, and I wish we could have gotten straight to the point a bit faster.

While the writing was quite lovely and the descriptions were done well, I’m not as enamoured by the progress of the story telling.

The events taking place after the big Florescu family secret is revealed to the girls (and the reader) are more exciting and actually managed to hook me in. Whereas it took me weeks, nearly a month, to get through the first half of the book, I blew right through the rest of the book without trouble.

Nonetheless, there were still some aspects of the book at the end that I didn’t really care for--open-ended conclusion included. The ending, I felt, was just a little too easy and all the conflicts seemed to resolve themselves without much effort.

I found myself wondering if I rushed through the rest of the book because I just wanted to finish reading it, if it really DID become more enjoyable, or if I just wanted to see how everything turns out. Mainly, I kind of had this strange, twisted need to see the Florescu family get what’s coming to them when they realize that Dacia and Lou aren’t as pliable as they had hoped to the family secret and the family duties.

The only other part of this book I didn’t much care for were the romances, really, but they were pretty back-seated, so I’m not complaining.


Finally, if it WAS one thing I DID love about this book, it was the relationship between Dacia and Lou. I loved how much the cousins loved each other and took care of each other. I loved how they stood up for one another. And I love how they played off of each other’s strengths and each other’s weaknesses. I loved how they just worked so well together like two halves of a whole.

I hope that in succeeding books, this relationship continues to grow stronger, because if it’s one thing YA books need, I really believe it’s positive female relationships. Especially when you’ve got two main characters who are as strong as these girls have become by the end of the book.


I may go on to the next book when it comes out, but I’m in no rush to jump into it. Curiosity of how the rest of the story plays out is what’s keeping me interested right now.


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2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• Bookish Resolutions Challenge -- New to me author #9