Secrets of Blood by Jennifer ArntsonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’m a big fan of Jennifer Arntson’s Scavenger Girl series – I believe it to be one of the most underrated series out there – and was super eager to dive into Secrets of Blood when I heard we were getting a spin-off. As I’m desperately awaiting the final book in the Scavenger Girl series, I was happy to devour Secrets of Blood to keep me going until then.
Although I enjoyed Secrets of Blood, I didn’t enjoy it to the same degree as I have enjoyed the Scavenger Girl series. It was an addictive read, one I powered through, with plenty of twists and turns, but I wasn’t invested in the same way I am with the main series. I adored seeing how everything came together, I loved the additional layers this book has added to the series, but it was a three-point-five-star read compared to the four-star and four-point-five-star reads of the Scavenger Girl series.
Whilst Secrets of Blood works perfectly fine as a standalone novel in the Scavenger Girl world, I do believe you’ll get the biggest impact if you have read the Scavenger Girl books first. In the timeline, this one plays out before the Scavenger Girl series. You get to see the history of some of the characters, you get to see certain events and uncover secrets, and this adds a lot to the characters you already know. They work perfectly fine as characters in a standalone story, but we do not go as deep with them as we do with the main series. Yes, it’s a standalone; however, it works better as an extra.
When compared to the Scavenger Girl series, this one was a very quick read. Despite being a quicker read, it packs a punch. A lot is contained within the pages, plenty of things occur, and it keeps you hooked throughout. You’re left wanting to see how everything comes together, curious to see how the details will play out, and you will not want to put the book down. Due to my level of addiction, I did debate rounding my rating up – in fact, I came very close to giving this a four-star rating – but, in the end, I opted with to round down as I have given the main series four-star ratings, rounding down my four-point-five-star ratings, and decided to keep consistent.
Overall, if you’ve enjoyed Jennifer Arntson’s Scavenger Girl universe, I certainly recommend diving into Secrets of Blood. It’s such a fun extra – and if you have yet to dive into Jennifer Arntson’s wonderful world, I suggest you amend that now.
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I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It sure was fun to tell the story and let you get inside my head, lol :)
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