Thank you so much to Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy of the With Fire In Their Blood
by Kat Delacorte.

I had such a fun time reading this novel, I loved the setting and all the characters. And of course, I loved the representation in the novel. I am a massive gothic fan so this book just slightly tipped into this and I enjoyed that.

The magic system, world-building, and dystopian elements are incredible in this novel.

4/5

The city of Castello seems to be falling apart and far removed from civilised society – almost like a dystopian Brigadoon (although not appearing every 100 years) through the clouds. It’s to Castello that our protagonist Lilly arrives, relocated with her father from Maine, and she immediately senses something very strange is lurking in the city. Graffiti sprawls on the city walls ‘All witches burn’ and ‘The Saints Live’ but without any Wi-Fi Lilly feels isolated. The opening pages bombard the reader with mysteries and questions and seemingly shifts the setting into the past. It’s clear Lilly’s life has already been challenging and her arrival in Castello looks set to be a rocky ride.

After arriving at school Lilly meets an eclectic bunch of students, from the over enthusiastic, to the withdrawn and the openly hostile. She learns quickly that The General is in control and dictatorship rules. The Sign sprawled on the wall at the school from Dante’s Inferno is a big alarm bell: Abandon all hope, you who enter here’.

This is a YA fantasy read, so you have all the usual threads and angst you’d expect. I did find myself drifting on several occasions – I’m not of a YA age, but I do read and review many YA books. For me, the characters seemed so adrift and Lilly was very irritating at times, particularly how she was drawn to several people at once and seemed to be easily swayed – maybe she’s just an open relationship kind of girl. I liked the character of Nico, although he was kept to the sidelines, but I assume he’ll play a key part in the next in series.

Overall, this book creates a great fantasy setting, where control, fear and manipulation rule. There’s an undertone of Romeo & Juliet in terms of the warring families.

Do check it out if you enjoy angst ridden drama, with multiple love interests, in a supernatural fantasy setting with a mystery at its core.

A good story of magic and mafia, my two favourite M's set in a dystopian Italy. Lilly the main character moves to a new town and finds herself in some chaotic supernatural situations. I loved the relationship dynamics and the various characters in the story. I want to know about the magic and their origins as well as the city. I'm looking forward to the second installment.

A supernatural romance set in the Italian city of Castello where dark magic exists and Mafia clans battle for power. This was a very enjoyable read with interesting characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Children’s UK for the book, here my honest review!

I love how Gothic this book described and make me want to read it soon. And from the beginning I love how creepy this book give to us, with the setting of small city and with all the mysterious thing.

For me, character is one of the most important thing to make me love a book and I can't get it from Lilly. I can't connect with her, especially with how impulsive she is. And what make it worse there are three love interest, well it just my personal opinion but I didn't like it at all. I can't see a deep connection between them. It sad that the book is didn't what I think

Three reasons to read With Fire in Their Blood:

It’s dark and brutally so.
Right from the beginning, we are introduced to a world of mystery and as the reader you will be disturbed but it will draw you in. Lilly (the main character) moves to Castello, Italy after the death of her mother and her fathers new job. It is a very closed off town surrounded by woods upon woods and the actual town is strange.

Like, the town is divided in half by a wall and there seems to be a barely put together truce between the Paradisos and the Marconis, who absolutely hate each other. But is it crumbling? And will anything damage this truce and potentially lead to war?

Then the rules are strange, like don’t cross over the wall or be tried for treason, have you blood tested and more?! What is the reason why? And why is everyone obsessed with the general?

Edgy Characters
Goodbye Paranormal Romance books, Kat Delacorte is bringing the old school edgy characters of that time back and they are intriguing!

We have Lilly, the newcomer who has no idea what’s going on and is drawn between one? Two? Or maybe three love interests? She is very in over her head but has such a fierce longing to find out what is happening in Castello.

Then there is Christian, with his tragic life but there seems to be a spark, a surge of electricity between him and Lilly…

Gripping Story
This story feels like a wild ride from beginning to end, with a plot twist or a brilliant revelation at every turn and there’s something about it that keeps drawing you in, tension building to a shocking ending!

This was such an enjoyable read. Super pacy and broodingly atmospheric. Think fantasy dysptopia - West Side Story meets The Wicker Man meets Carrie.

When they say make your setting a character, this book is exactly what they mean. The dilapidated Italian city of Castello is spooky, claustrophobic (no wifi!) and decidedly menacing. With its skulls and roses emblems, a secret key, clan wars and untold power built into its brick and marble.

The history of bloody clan wars has been overtaken by the focus on a new combined enemy - The Saints - and literal witch hunts against them including monthly blood tests to weed out the impure. The divided city and the pious general all gives echoes of Nazi Germany and the truce is tenuous.

The characters are all murky. Morally grey, conflicted and damaged in one way or another. This book is also filled with teenage angst and sexual tension.

Protagonist Lilly is an intriguing heroine. Her complex history with both of her parents form a large part of the plot and despite their absence on the page and the absence of their love in her heart their influence is a huge driver in this story and I’m intrigued to find out even more next time.

Liza, Christian, Nico - and Alex (who sadly doesn’t get a mention on the blurb) are all generally engaged with separately by Lilly with her almost acting as a catalyst in their complex relationships. I’d be interested in seeing more of them interacting with each other in the follow up.

We see more of the Marconi clan in book one than of the Paradisos but in the glimpses we see of the latter they are dripping with riches and cruelty. Chrissy (wake up - I don’t like you) is a girl in a red dress - think Cha Cha from Grease out for bloody vengeance. The love stories included aren’t across clan divides so it’s not quite West Side Story/Romeo and Juliet in this aspect.

This is the first in a Duology and I’m super intrigued to read book 2 which is set up perfectly at the end of this one (with this book rounding out it’s own story well too).

I don't know. On paper I should really have liked this one but there were a couple things missing for me. I actually felt like this would've been a better 2nd book in follow up to the events that lead Lilly and her father to the town of Castello.

Let's start with the good:
- The setting and premise: Italy - perfect, mysterious town shrouded in mist and inexplicably cut off from the world - incredible, townspeople who refuse to full explain the town's mysterious and bloody past - mystifying!
- The kind of cultish feel to the townspeople and The General. The General as a character in particular was really interesting and I would've enjoyed more about him.

What I didn't engage with:
- I think this was going for mafia-clan vibes and it just sort of fell flat in this area. Whilst there was obvious conflict between two clans in the town, it didn't run deep enough for me. Perhaps this divide will be explained in future books but it just wasn't fleshed out enough for me.
- I don't really care much for there being a system to magic but this all felt a bit woolly to me.
- The insta-love quadrangle.... I'm not a fan of insta-love as a trope, let alone with 3 different love interests.
- Lilly as a MC is quite passive, easily led into nefarious plans for most of the book. Character motivations overall feel incredibly plot-led and didn't feel authentic.
- One of the largest 'mysteries' felt obvious to me.

All in all, this was a quick read for me but left me wanting. Sorry!

The start wasn't that compellingly written for me, despite the cool premise. The setting is rather strange and interesting -- a mysterious Italian town, cut off from the world by the mist and severely lacking in modern technology.

I didnt really find the perspective of the main character that interesting, and her new classmates also didn't do a lot for me much from the get-go. They seemed like elaborate set pieces and not really like anything special. There was a lot of exposition in the early chapters and I got fed up fast.

That being said Lily's fish-out-of-water experience is pretty good, as I think I'd want to leave immediately if I found out that my new neighbours were being kept from gang wars by the minor thing of the cult they're in (albeit for most of them reluctantly) and the fact that they also burn people at the stake if they randomly develop magical powers.

Plus, she gets a strange painful jolt whenever she touches this one guy!

There's an obvious development in that set of circumstances, of course. I'd be remiss if I didn't admit by the end of the novel I'd stopped being incredulous about Lily's three love interests and decided one of them was actually interesting enough to justify her title. (Liza. Obviously.) I do appreciate that there's still some uncertainty about who she'll end up with. (Could still be Liza.) I warmed up somewhat to the characters although I can't say I cared about most of them either.

The main thing I enjoyed about this novel was when the plot did eventually get going, it kicked into overdrive and the author is quite fantastic at writing punchy, interesting action scenes. Though I was under inspired by the resolution I did enjoy the way it was written. There were several "big twists" which kept the story racing by and the stakes heightening. I'm not sure they were convincing but they worked for the novel.

The city i suppose is the star of the show. It managed to invoke the dystopian feel that was popular all those years ago but make the setting quite unique. There was a delightful gothic nature to everything, which I did love. The catacombs were neat. That being said, I thought the names -- or nicknames in particular -- for a lot of the characters really let the side down when it came to evoking "Italy".

I think there was a slightly more story to be told in the explanation of the city of Castello and of the villains. It was a little vague but that is perhaps the promise of an interesting sequel.

The novel certainly ends leaving you with more questions than answers. It's not exactly a cliffhanger but more one of those standard YA ending scenes that you've come to expect in modern YA fantasy. The "I had a terrible dream and..." one. You know it. Don't lie.

This was a wonderfully gothic fantasy tale that is perfect for the autumn season. Kat wrote beautifully and she keeps you gripped so it won’t take you long to read it all. There are so many twists and turns and I loved how things kept unfolding throughout the whole story. I cannot wait for the next one as there are still so many questions I would like answered.

If you know me, you’ll know that some of my least favourite genres are paranormal, fantasy, romance and dystopian(esque). This book has a bit of all of them, but for some reason I really enjoyed my time reading it, don’t be fooled by the rating. For my standards and taking into consideration that this was a debut, it’s a pretty high rating and I will be definitely reading the following books in the series, because I am really curious to see what happens.
My favourite thing was definitely the atmosphere: gothic, claustorphobic, isolated, dangerous and a bit cultish. I think the author did a really great job at making a contemporary setting feel so gothic and out of this world. I also think that it’s still belieavable (aside for the whole Saints thing, of course), because some communities really do feel like cults and they get away with unthinkable things. As a true crime junkie, I don’t have a hard time believing something similar to this could happen in real life. Especially when real power is at play.
I also really enjoyed the characters, which — as I always say — are the most important thing for me in books. Lilly is not my favourite main character of all times, but she was okay and I found the secondary characters interesting enough to make up for what she may be lacking. My favourites, to probably no one’s surprise, are Alex and Sebastian and I really hope we do get to see more of them in the second book. I also really liked Liza and I think you can tell she was the author’s favourite character to create, because I found her really well done. I liked how unhinged and unapologetic she was, I am all for powerful women.
For some reason unknown even to myself, I was also kinda invested in the romance. I know, right? Who am I and what have I done with the usual Pritt? I don’t know, I was interested in all the angles of the love square (which I would argue is more of a love hexagon, if you put into account Alex and Chrissy as well), and I am curious to see what the author chooses to do. My wildest dreams include a polyamory relationship, but we shall wait and see.
My least favourite part of the book was the plot. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with it, I am just a bit picky when it comes to fantasy, as I don’t read as many of them as I used to, but I still have read tons of them and I am difficult to please. I found it both basic and a bit too convoluted, like the author was trying to squeeze too many things into a single book. However, I do think a lot of people are going to love it, so there’s that.
I also wasn’t a big fan of the ending, but I can see why it had to end like it did and I am interested in how thing will turn out from now on (and the romance!!).
I would still highly recommend reading this book, I even made a Spotify playlist for it, which you can find here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4yTPcwsddjx8H2Zk7Cze9U?si=a558dc9822e74bad. I will for sure be reading the sequel as soon as it comes out, or even before, if I manage to get my hands on an e-ARC of it as well.

An unexpected fabulous read. Luscious worldbuilding, memorable chatacters and an action packed ride from start to finish.

Thank you to The Write Reads, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions contained within are my own.

We all know that I love a fantasy. Lately, though, I’ve been leaning hard into the darker fantasies. The fantasies with that little sprinkling of horror to spice them up. Perhaps it’s because fall is right around the corner and I’m gearing up for spooky season. Either way, anything with a note of the creepy or a hint of darkness has been my jam as of late. With Fire In Their Blood is a book that definitely hit the right note!

This story is the first in a new YA series that begins with a young woman named Lilly having her entire life turned upside down. Her dad accepts a job in a rural, Italian town and Lilly is dragged along for the ride. She’s not a fan as soon as she steps foot in Castello, what with the old, bedraggled buildings and the lack of Wi-fi. She soon finds herself falling in with eclectic group of people, however, and that’s when Castello starts to become anything but boring.

I talked about how much I was loving the atmosphere in this book in my first impressions post and that held true throughout the rest of the story! Kat Delacorte has a way of writing that creates a pitch perfect, foreboding atmosphere that will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. It was eerie and spooky and had my heart racing! I thought she did an incredible job with the pacing of this story, as well. At no point in time was I bored, but it also didn’t race along and leave me in the dust. This was paced wonderfully and made the story that much more immersive.

As for our cast of characters, what a delightfully weird and twisted bunch! Lilly was truly thrown to the wolves when it comes to the town of Castello and it’s residents. I loved how vivid and intense all the characters were in this book. From our main character, Lilly, down to the most peripheral side character, they truly came to life on the page! Were some of them cartoonishly evil? Yeah, there were a couple. Still, the vast majority had nuance and layers that made them so interesting to learn about and follow.

Overall, this was a stunning debut! It features incredible characters, great world-building, and atmospheric writing that will have you completely captivated. I’m certainly sucked in to this world and I need to know what happens next. I will be waiting in eager anticipation for the next installment in this series!

Loved this unusual book - great fantasy world building but with enough real life to keep me interested. A sinister city with a sinister general keeping the peace between warring factions. Thank you for having me on the tour!

With Fire in Their Blood is a YA urban fantasy, witches, factions, and small-town Italy. Aside from the witches, I got Romeo and Juliet vibes from it but I was wrong. Even though we have the Marconis against the Paradisos, there isn’t a clear Romeo, nor do I think Lilly is a Juliet. Still, the book didn’t disappoint.

The premise lured me in and it was a good promise for what was coming, the past being a blueprint for the future.

I didn’t like Lilly as much. She pushes everyone away even though she craves relationships. She has three potential love interests and kissed two of them. I have absolutely no idea what’s up with her. She makes bad decisions and is incredibly stubborn. She gets people hurt because of it. And because she’s the only PoV, other characters are also seen as antagonists, people who get in her way. It makes sense since the whole town is a big cult and she’s the new girl. And not just the new girl.

The world-building is amazing. The history, the architecture, the religion, the symbols. I loved it. It reminded me of other witchy contemporary fantasy books and movies but with a unique twist of a small town in Italy. I used my experiences walking through Grosetto and Sienna to imagine the city. I’m sure my imagination wouldn’t be able to compete with what the author had in mind though.

I give With Fire in Their Blood four stars. It’s a fast-paced YA urban fantasy with interesting worldbuilding. The intrigues are more interesting than the characters but it was enough to keep me reading. And that ending… It left me wanting more.

Throughout this book, a book that virtually demanded to be read in one sitting, I kept thinking of Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero.” Beginning quietly, the song builds in intensity throughout. With a driving percussion maintaining a consistent pattern behind variations on a common theme as each instrument enters, the music pounds and swells and expands to a crescendo. The simple direction given from the composer was to end it as loudly as possible.

Duuuun, duh duh duh duh duh duh dun, duhduh duuun.

With Fire in their Blood builds slowly. Lilly, an 11th grader in the US, has moved with her father to a small town in Italy. She does not want to be there. She doesn’t necessarily want to be anywhere else, but moving from Maine to Italy was definitely not on her list of things she wanted to do. However, her father has been offered a job by the town upgrading its power grid and Internet connection. Her mother killed herself six years before and her father has decided it’s time to try to restart their lives in a new country.

Almost immediately Lilly realizes things are different in Castello. Very, very different. The first day of school she runs into a boy, as in, literally runs into him, and she feels a very strange spark within her. Not merely attraction, she feels something unfamiliar come alive within her. Then, uniformed adults, “Enforcers,” enter the school and test the blood of all of the students. Apparently this is a once monthly requirement to screen for…something.

Her first history class requires the watching of an old movie about the town, one that hails the wisdom and power of “The General,” who is the unquestioned ruler of the town. The General had brought an end to centuries of fighting within the town. As a child he was the sole survivor of a terrible fire in the church, a fire set by two children who were “Saints.” The Saints, or perhaps they were witches, had telekinetic and telepathic powers that made them coveted by the rulers of the town as soldiers in their fight to control the entire community. When The General walked out from the ashes, he immediately brought the town together in opposition to the Saints. Beginning with his own brother, The General ordered any persons of power executed by burning at the stake. This united the town…to a point. It remained divided in reality, one faction living in wealth on one side of the town center, the other in poverty on the other side. Crossing the border between the sides was treason, and treason was subject to execution.

Duuuun, duh duh duh duh duh duh dun, duhduh duuun.

Kat Delacorte keeps building the tension, bringing in more characters, building more of the history, revealing more of the past, sharing more hidden agendas. Enemies become friends, friends betray friends, and Lilly learns again and again that history carries an inescapable weight. Everyone has an agenda, everyone wants something, and Lilly finds herself in the middle of a battle she did not start, at the center of a divide she does not really understand.

There is the promise of sequels, and I for one hope they come. This book would find a home on either YA or adult shelves. For readers who enjoy a dark fantasy set in the present, this is an excellent book to add to their collection. And, maybe, an excuse to play Bolero.

Thank you to the publisher Penguin and to NetGalley for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TWs: death, violence, mentions of suicide and abuse

"With Fire In Their Blood" is a dark, brutal contemporary fantasy set in Italy with a wonderful bisexual lead main character. This is exactly the kind of YA that I love, with it's detailed world building and it's rich history, combined with incredibly memorable characters and some excellent twists. After the death of her mother, Lilly and her estranged father move to the Italian city of Castello which is divided in two by a wary peace held together by a figure named the General. As she adapts to life in this new place, Lilly comes to learn the brutal magical history that has so affected the present- and even has had an influence on her own life as she comes to realise that the stories told about the people of Castello are true. If I had one complaint it's that we didn't see enough of certain side characters (especially Liza and Nico) because of the intense focus on the character of Christian. However, this was a brilliant debut and I can't wait to see what might happen next.

Excellent premise, loved the concept. I enjoyed the whole Romeo and Juliet clan mafia vibes on the hilltop of Castello. This book was mentioned to be perfect for the fans of These Violent Delights and The Darkest Minds and I can absolutely see why.

Enter a world of warring Mafia families, who had to set their feuds aside and fight a new enemy, The Saints. Secrets will be revealed, hidden powers unveiled and and insane amount of plot twists will keep you entertained as you venture with Lilly as she battles this strange town. Perfect gothic set for a dark and thrilling book.

It took me quite some time to get into this book, and I loved the concept. The characters however, I couldn’t find myself to resonate with, root for or even just care a little. Lilly our lead female character did nothing brave or badass, just fell trap into other people’s plans and then moped over it. Only in the last 80% does she actually do something right, and it was just frustrating to wait so long for her to show any signs of badassness. Also the many love interests, just a no from me. And all of them this insta-love, which is always a trope that grinds my nerves.

The ending I have to say was quite intriguing, the setting was atmospheric which I adored and I loved the concept- execution wise and character wise, not a favorite.

YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.

Kat Delacorte is a debut author who brought so much to this book and did not disappoint one bit. It was atmospheric, it was tense - the characters were well developed but had even more room for growth. The storyline and worldbuilding was also there and you were able to immerse yourself immediately into this book.

I would say it was a New Adult book rather than a YA. It has a slightly darker vibe with some violence and some sexual references which is why I would say it's for the older reader in the YA bracket. I found it however brilliant. Kat Delacorte just had a way with words and describing the world where it was set.

Atmospheric is the probably the best word to describe this book. It had it in abundance, with a background of being set in Italy but in a small town called Castello, I wouldn't call it picturesque, but I would say it is dark, moody and a mystery that needs to be explored and unravelled.

The characters are young yes in their late teens, but they are no way simple. They are complex - they all hold secrets, and they are all morally grey which I absolutely adore about them all. There is a hierarchy, and with Lilly Deluca who is the main focus of the book coming into this world as an unknown she upsets this. This book doesn't to me differentiate between what you would say the Hero and Villain. It is deliciously morally grey; all the characters are out for themselves and trying to either further themselves or kill another character for being in the way. Honestly it was refreshing to see that in a book.

There is some representation within the book with several of the characters being Bisexual which was nice to see. I am by no means an expert but have seen reviewers express good comments on the representation being in the book.

I am excited to see where book two takes us and I can't wait to read more of Kat Delacorte's books.

I'm Italian, so when I read the plot for the first time, I was very curious about it.
I have to be honest: the plot is original (it reminded me of Divergent with all the serums/diversity stuff) and characters are diversified. In the last part I was a little bit confused about the multitude of things that happen and the city's fate.
Another confusing thing for me: THE LOVE INTERESTS. I mean, I was expecting a sort of triangle but NOT THAT MUCH.
Despite the "temporary" choice of the main character (which I approve a lot from the beginning), at this point I expect SO MUCH DRAMA FOR THE NEXT BOOK.

in conclusion I appreciated this book and I rate it 3.5 stars!