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Blood Trails #14
Wicked
Shade’s latest case hits close to home when a witch shows up on her doorstep claiming her magic has been stolen. A fly-by-night coven is using an online message board to recruit inexperienced witches—only to vanish weeks later, leaving a trail of magicless women in their wake.
And it only gets weirder from there.
An offer of help from a familiar, but unwelcome source.
Growing discord from Scath threatening to play right into their enemies’ hands.
And the mutilated body of a solitary witch.
Now it’s personal. There’s something theatrical about these magic thefts, something beyond a simple lust for power. Someone is pulling the strings—and there’s no shortage of puppeteers among Shade’s suspects.
But a witch can only be pushed so far.
And Shade has had enough.
And it only gets weirder from there.
An offer of help from a familiar, but unwelcome source.
Growing discord from Scath threatening to play right into their enemies’ hands.
And the mutilated body of a solitary witch.
Now it’s personal. There’s something theatrical about these magic thefts, something beyond a simple lust for power. Someone is pulling the strings—and there’s no shortage of puppeteers among Shade’s suspects.
But a witch can only be pushed so far.
And Shade has had enough.
318 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 29, 2023
About the author
Jennifer Blackstream
56 books520 followersJennifer Blackstream is a USA Today bestselling author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She is amazed and grateful to have made a writing career out of a Master’s degree in Psychology, hours of couch-detecting watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and endless research into mythology and fairy tales. She firmly believes that whether it’s a village witch deciding she wants to be a private investigator, or a single mother having a go at being a full time writer, it’s never too late for a new adventure.
A fervent devotee of cooperative board games, Jennifer sets aside at least two nights a week for team-based adventures such as Mice & Mystics, Sentinels of the Multiverse, or Harry Potter: Battle at Hogwarts. She uses games with dice-based mechanics to lure in her ridiculously lucky-rolling son and daughter in the hope that they too will develop a passion for cooperative escapism.
Jennifer currently has three series going:
BLOOD PRINCE SERIES (PARANORMAL ROMANCE, COMPLETE):
Book 1 – Before Midnight
Book 2 – One Bite
Book 3 – Golden Stair
Book 4 – Divine Scales
Book 5 – Beautiful Salvation
Bonus Adventures in the Blood Prince World:
Book 2.5 – What Big Teeth You Have (free when you sign up for mailing list mentioned below)
Book 4.5 – The Pirate’s Witch
Book 5.5 – Dead to Begin With (available only between Thanksgiving and whenever Jennifer takes her Christmas tree down)
BLOOD REALM SERIES (PARANORMAL ROMANCE, IN PROGRESS SPIN-OFF OF BLOOD PRINCE SERIES):
Book 1 – All for a Rose
Book 2 – Blue Voodoo
Book 3 – The Archer
Book 4 – Bear With Me
Book 5 – Stolen Wish
BLOOD TRAILS SERIES (URBAN FANTASY, ONGOING)
Book 1 – Deadline
Book 2 – Monster
Book 3 – Taken
Book 4 – Corruption
Book 5 – Mercenary
Book 6 – Caged
Book 7 – Betrayal
A fervent devotee of cooperative board games, Jennifer sets aside at least two nights a week for team-based adventures such as Mice & Mystics, Sentinels of the Multiverse, or Harry Potter: Battle at Hogwarts. She uses games with dice-based mechanics to lure in her ridiculously lucky-rolling son and daughter in the hope that they too will develop a passion for cooperative escapism.
Jennifer currently has three series going:
BLOOD PRINCE SERIES (PARANORMAL ROMANCE, COMPLETE):
Book 1 – Before Midnight
Book 2 – One Bite
Book 3 – Golden Stair
Book 4 – Divine Scales
Book 5 – Beautiful Salvation
Bonus Adventures in the Blood Prince World:
Book 2.5 – What Big Teeth You Have (free when you sign up for mailing list mentioned below)
Book 4.5 – The Pirate’s Witch
Book 5.5 – Dead to Begin With (available only between Thanksgiving and whenever Jennifer takes her Christmas tree down)
BLOOD REALM SERIES (PARANORMAL ROMANCE, IN PROGRESS SPIN-OFF OF BLOOD PRINCE SERIES):
Book 1 – All for a Rose
Book 2 – Blue Voodoo
Book 3 – The Archer
Book 4 – Bear With Me
Book 5 – Stolen Wish
BLOOD TRAILS SERIES (URBAN FANTASY, ONGOING)
Book 1 – Deadline
Book 2 – Monster
Book 3 – Taken
Book 4 – Corruption
Book 5 – Mercenary
Book 6 – Caged
Book 7 – Betrayal
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 29, 2023
Overall I enjoyed Wicked but I wish Liam was in this one more. Interesting story but leaves many, many questions unanswered
October 21, 2023
Enjoyed this story very much! Cast of characters interesting with lots of plot twist. Peasblossum is just adorable! Many questions to be answered & I can't wait for the next adventure!
June 7, 2023
Loved this one for the most, although I wish Liam was in it more and to be honest… I’m starting to get frustrated with how slow Shade’s history is unfolding. I need answers soon!!
August 29, 2023
5 stars because it’s so, so much better than your usual urban fantasy especially at 14 books and counting. Shade still solves her mysteries more with intelligence and grunt work as opposed to the easier-to-write magic solutions that become more common in a lot of series as they age and as usual, there are rewarding parallels to find between the main characters and the side characters making up the mystery part of the plot. I’m torn between wanting answers now and wanting the series to go on and on as long as it keeps up the quality abandoned by so many UF series.
The compulsion keeping Shade from asking questions is falling apart (seems like a sort of look-away spell—the exact mechanism is yet to be explained) so we do get a lot of answers in this book with the promise of a lot more in future books. We see the emotional toll this has had on all of the characters and a breaking point is reached. The prospects of seeing what exactly happened with Scath, Shade facing and reconciling her darker side, Anton and Liam finally in the same room together and what Flint’s up to have me more anxious for the next book than I’ve been in some time. I know Andy’s off doing his own thing, but hopefully the possible openings for him to be more active in the upcoming books pan out. The series has toyed with some philosophical and moral questions and I’m looking forward to seeing the characters deal with these now that the issues have been brought forward more explicitly.
My one issue with the series is Shade’s romantic relationship. There are few substantive scenes between them in the whole series that aren’t strictly professional, and fewer yet that are meaningful in a way that is personal to these 2 characters beyond generic romance that could be between any 2 people, anytime, anywhere if you swap out names and a few details. It’s too close to a doormat-like Very Supportive Boyfriend situation. Shade/Andy, Shade/Peasblossom, Shade/Flint, Shade/Scath, and well, Shade/just about everyone else, are written with detail, thought, and uniqueness which draw a lot more emotion from Shade while her romantic relationship is just so white-bread blah. And they shouldn’t be blah at all. They have a lot of problems and red flags to work through and both are interesting characters. Liam is a lot more than the usual just-add-water insta-alpha character who’s basically interchangeable with any other alpha type that I see all too often in a UF series.
That said, I feel like (ok, hope) the author is making a point here as I can see several interesting character-based reasons why the romantic relationship is this way and it’ll make sense later but it worries me the longer they dodge their very long list of problems because other authors have drug out blah Very Supportive Boyfriend relationships in the past with promises of introducing something more interesting but ended their series without actually going there. Keeping things nice and cutesy by avoiding problems and unfortunately necessary confrontations is both boring and disturbing especially if it’s being held up as a good example of a how a relationship should work. Frankly, there was more substance to the interactions between these 2 earlier in the series when he was a total asshole who needed her magical help to hold his pack in line and she just used him because he was a police contact for her investigations. I want them to be real and work through their issues or just end it already. Romance for the sake of romance isn't enough for me.
The compulsion keeping Shade from asking questions is falling apart (seems like a sort of look-away spell—the exact mechanism is yet to be explained) so we do get a lot of answers in this book with the promise of a lot more in future books. We see the emotional toll this has had on all of the characters and a breaking point is reached. The prospects of seeing what exactly happened with Scath, Shade facing and reconciling her darker side, Anton and Liam finally in the same room together and what Flint’s up to have me more anxious for the next book than I’ve been in some time. I know Andy’s off doing his own thing, but hopefully the possible openings for him to be more active in the upcoming books pan out. The series has toyed with some philosophical and moral questions and I’m looking forward to seeing the characters deal with these now that the issues have been brought forward more explicitly.
My one issue with the series is Shade’s romantic relationship. There are few substantive scenes between them in the whole series that aren’t strictly professional, and fewer yet that are meaningful in a way that is personal to these 2 characters beyond generic romance that could be between any 2 people, anytime, anywhere if you swap out names and a few details. It’s too close to a doormat-like Very Supportive Boyfriend situation. Shade/Andy, Shade/Peasblossom, Shade/Flint, Shade/Scath, and well, Shade/just about everyone else, are written with detail, thought, and uniqueness which draw a lot more emotion from Shade while her romantic relationship is just so white-bread blah. And they shouldn’t be blah at all. They have a lot of problems and red flags to work through and both are interesting characters. Liam is a lot more than the usual just-add-water insta-alpha character who’s basically interchangeable with any other alpha type that I see all too often in a UF series.
That said, I feel like (ok, hope) the author is making a point here as I can see several interesting character-based reasons why the romantic relationship is this way and it’ll make sense later but it worries me the longer they dodge their very long list of problems because other authors have drug out blah Very Supportive Boyfriend relationships in the past with promises of introducing something more interesting but ended their series without actually going there. Keeping things nice and cutesy by avoiding problems and unfortunately necessary confrontations is both boring and disturbing especially if it’s being held up as a good example of a how a relationship should work. Frankly, there was more substance to the interactions between these 2 earlier in the series when he was a total asshole who needed her magical help to hold his pack in line and she just used him because he was a police contact for her investigations. I want them to be real and work through their issues or just end it already. Romance for the sake of romance isn't enough for me.
June 20, 2023
When i read a book, i expect to be intrigued, scared, interested, angry, happy but not FRUSTRATED! No Liam, no Andy, no questions answered. Even the plot, WTF is this?
14 books and you couldn't tell the fuck is happening! "Unspeakable" indeed! I love, love Shade, but enough is enough. I don't know if I'm even giving this series a last chance with the next book. Fourteen books building expectations and in the end i think most of us fans will be left disappointed with the outcome. I can imagine that we all think the "Unspeakable" /laughing my ass off cuz it's so true, not speaking about it for 14 books/ is something big, and scary, and that it will make our blood runs faster and blow our minds, but just watch. We will get a shitty explanation, just like till now.
14 books and you couldn't tell the fuck is happening! "Unspeakable" indeed! I love, love Shade, but enough is enough. I don't know if I'm even giving this series a last chance with the next book. Fourteen books building expectations and in the end i think most of us fans will be left disappointed with the outcome. I can imagine that we all think the "Unspeakable" /laughing my ass off cuz it's so true, not speaking about it for 14 books/ is something big, and scary, and that it will make our blood runs faster and blow our minds, but just watch. We will get a shitty explanation, just like till now.
June 27, 2023
I'm invested in the outcome so I will keep reading- but I'm getting very annoyed. It seems like the NEXT book we might FINALLY get some answers - but I have to say I hate hate hate how Shade is so blasé about not knowing anything about WHY everyone is interested in her and how everyone is keeping secrets from her. Why all the secrets?!?!?!?!
The 'mystery' in this one was pretty damned obvious, but I enjoyed how Shade went about investigating - and just how in depth the whole operation was. I do wish Shade would also do a bit more magic - she was raised and trained to use it as a last resort - and this book to be fair - she has a decent number of spells and/or potions that she uses - but based on the series so far, she seems a mediocre witch just scraping by. Which would be fine - if not for all the secrets and mystery about her.
The 'mystery' in this one was pretty damned obvious, but I enjoyed how Shade went about investigating - and just how in depth the whole operation was. I do wish Shade would also do a bit more magic - she was raised and trained to use it as a last resort - and this book to be fair - she has a decent number of spells and/or potions that she uses - but based on the series so far, she seems a mediocre witch just scraping by. Which would be fine - if not for all the secrets and mystery about her.
July 31, 2023
Never Disappoints!
Blackstream has woven such an intricate and richly detailed story arc where each book builds on the next but still asserts its own identity.
Blackstream has woven such an intricate and richly detailed story arc where each book builds on the next but still asserts its own identity.
February 10, 2025
Shade is apparently a PI, so you'd think a case that starts with a client that shows up at her door looking for help would be a normal thing. But it's really not, and as far as we can tell she doesn't advertise. So I questioned her PI skills when "how did you get referred to me" isn't the first question we answer before we agree to take on this case. Of course, if it was we'd have short circuited to nearly the end of the book, so there's that. And that wasn't the only thing in this one that had me questioning Shade's PI skills, or at least her general skills as a reasonably observant and intelligent person.
May 29, 2023
Shade's new case captivated me from the start and violently threw me on a wild rollercoaster of emotions, of suspiscions and revelations that kept me reading breathlessly, the whole day (thankfully it is a national holiday today and work didn't get in my way) until I was crying my eyes out about the ending.
And now I feel a desperate, physical need for the next book in this series. It hurts so bad. I can't wait to read on!
And now I feel a desperate, physical need for the next book in this series. It hurts so bad. I can't wait to read on!
June 23, 2023
Another enjoyable read
I'm really enjoying this series and this book was as good as the previous ones. Shade has to find who has stolen the magic of three women, find the murderer of another woman, as well as unravel the mystery surrounding Scath's past. An enjoyable book and cannot wait for the next one. Highly recommend.
I'm really enjoying this series and this book was as good as the previous ones. Shade has to find who has stolen the magic of three women, find the murderer of another woman, as well as unravel the mystery surrounding Scath's past. An enjoyable book and cannot wait for the next one. Highly recommend.
June 27, 2023
5 Stars:)
July 2, 2023
3.5/5
August 16, 2023
Waugh of course the last book published is a huge cliffhanger! Now after binging 14 books I must wait despondently for #15.
April 29, 2025
I think that the series overall is moving in a good direction. 5/10.
July 31, 2026
I read all 18 books in this series within a month. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories, the characters and the weaving of species, magic and humor. I cannot wait for the next in the series. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews