Blood Runs Black

amazingly well written for a debut. the concept of having powers is not uncommon in books, but characters being able to control blood is very rare and so intriguing. dante & leone definitely use their power well, and have the personalities to go with it. i certainly did not expect leone to have as ruthless a streak as dante - both of them are so wonderfully morally grey.

romance is not the main focus though; action is. the plot is genuinely, unexpectedly, fantastic. i really honestly expected to face a shallow storyline with a quick happy ending, but nope! instead, there are twists & turns at every corner, secrets unearthed(did barbara romantically like bruno?? i'm just so curious for some reason), and heaps of thrilling shootings and explosions. bonus points for some surprising character developments (i root for sofia).

although i (grudgingly) gave 4 stars because, well, while there was a lot of utilization of the characters' powers/bloodcurses, the worldbuilding was lacking. the background of bloodcursed is unknown, and stuff like origins and regulations of bloodcursed, the types(or even power levels) of bloodcursed, and the government stance on bloodcursed were not really explained in depth(or at all).

the ending was interesting, it's definitely an HFN/open ending, and even though the arc sign up mentioned this book is a standalone, i certainly would not mind a sequel, or heck, an entire series :))