When Our Legacy Is Done Let It Be Forgotten

I recently finished reading Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

  Rating: 3.5/5 stars

"Wyatt Westlock has one plan for the farmhouse she's just inherited -- to burn it to the ground. But during her final walkthrough of her childhood home, she makes a shocking discovery in the basement -- Peter, the boy she once considered her best friend, strung up in chains and left for dead.

Unbeknownst to Wyatt, Peter has suffered hundreds of ritualistic deaths on her family's property. Semi-immortal, Peter never remains dead for long, but he can't really live, either. Not while he's bound to the farm, locked in a cycle of grisly deaths and painful rebirths. There's only one way for him to break free. He needs to end the Westlock line.

He needs to kill Wyatt.

With Wyatt's parents gone, the spells protecting the property have begun to unravel, and dark, ancient forces gather in the nearby forest. The only way for Wyatt to repair the wards is to work with Peter -- the one person who knows how to harness her volatile magic. But how can she trust a boy who's sworn an oath to destroy her? When the past turns up to haunt them in the most unexpected way, they are forced to rely on one another to survive, or else tear each other apart."

This book had a lot of potential but it needed more work on that back half.

Wyatt has been called back to her childhood home after the sudden totally not suspicious death of her estranged father, having inherited the New England farmstead on the edge of the eldritch woods where she spent her summers. She intends to burn it down because that’s a reasonable response to bad memories or whatever. I personally would maybe try to sell it, but go off. She decides to pause on the arson to take a quick peek inside after some well-timed flashbacks of her childhood boyfriends, James and Peter, and the night she was forced to leave the farm for good with her mother. She hears a voice from the basement and follows it down there, I assume because she’s never seen a horror movie in her life, and she finds Peter, shirtless and emaciated and strung up in weird tree manacles.

Peter (Pedyr, in his own POV) informs Wyatt that they’re in big trouble because the wards are weakening and now a giant spider and various other old beings are hungry for her blood so if she just lets him out of his chains he can help her train up her magic. Wyatt’s like magic haha that would be crazy if I had magic I definitely don’t though I definitely didn’t drown some guy from my past that I have nightmares about. 

Instead of releasing Peter immediately or offering him water and food or you know literally anything she’s like hang on I have to Facetime my mom really quick so she can fill me in on Survivor and discovers there’s no cell service. That doesn’t stop the landline on the wall from ringing with a call from James, full of cryptic advice and promises to arrive soon with help, and through spooky static tells her she has to get out of there because Peter will kill her! Conveniently, unfortunately, Wyatt can’t just leave the obviously evil and dangerous farmstead (and abandon Peter, which is her plan) because her shitty truck she borrowed won’t start!

For a while, I thought this would be four stars. It’s a very loose Peter Pan retelling, and there are some clever references to Peter climbing through the window, Wyatt telling him stories, his shadow, Wyatt and Peter’s first kiss, James’ “hooked smile” (get it), and his love of petty larceny. But really, this could have been aged up. Thank god they’re legal adults but this would have been better as an actual adult book where the author could lean into the toxic romantic three-way relationship that was more text than subtext. The first half of this book is mature, atmospheric horror YA. I was genuinely very creeped out at points. There were some obvious plot holes but I was enjoying the vibes (and the unsubtle “we’re all in love with each other” undertones) so I could overlook them.

At around 60% though, things go off the rails. Side characters appear out of nowhere and I was like “this feels like when a television show does a back door pilot or a crossover episode for a show I’ve never seen.” I checked the author’s GR profile to confirm my suspicion and yes, it’s because the characters are from the author’s other book. So it really feels like the story gets highjacked and these characters come out of nowhere. Things continue to go downhill from there. Worldbuilding that felt mysterious turns half-baked when you realize oh, we’re just not explaining things or answering questions. The majority of the relationship-building between all three characters is done in flashbacks, and not enough is done in the present. There’s no real magic system, and not much exploration into Peter’s backstory or his immortality deal. Plot holes and nonsensical actions continue piling up. So much time is spent on alluding to a very traumatic incident in Wyatt’s past and it’s never fully explained. She does something to someone with her magic that is so horrible that it should definitely have involved a police investigation, and we never learn what triggered it. The flashback descriptions surrounding it seem to be implying sexual assault but it’s so vague it pisses me off. You can imply without being unclear. 

And listen, when it comes to magical realism I can suspend my disbelief and hand wave plot holes and sail along even when I don’t know half of what is going on. If the prose is right and the characters are lovable and the payoff is good I’ll cry anyway. I don’t even mind a bittersweet ending if it feels narratively satisfying. I picked up that it was going to be tragic early on, and I think if this had been an adult book (with a better back half) it would have fit but as YA I just don’t think it works here. Not only is this ending a downer, it didn’t seem like it had to be that way. I’ve already had to suspend my disbelief so much and accept a lot of plot contrivances, people have survived lethal injuries and infections that should have killed them, and you’re telling me that’s the ending we’re going with? Flop.

Check out Your Blood, M Bones, and discover what happens when magic and mayhem ensue.

Happy Reading :)