The Blood that Divides Us

by Marcelina LoBue

All seventeen-year-old Alyssa LeClae wants to do in life is get straight As, attend an Ivy League college, and read her dark romance books in peace. But everyone hides something...her secret just goes a bit deeper than the bruises and scars constantly appearing on her body. What doesn’t help is the fact that her best friend hosts a true crime podcast, sprinkling even more violence into her life than she already has.

Everything changes, however, on what should’ve been a regular Monday - a classmate is stabbed to death in the school bathroom. Alyssa’s best friend is considered the number one suspect on everyone’s radar because of one controversial episode she recorded.

In an attempt to take the blame off her friend, Alyssa is forced to work with her academic rival, Matteo Romano, to solve the case...who seems to know a lot more about the murder than he’s saying. But will the infamous killer claim them first?

If you're looking for a fast-paced high school murder mystery book similar to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and One of Us is Lying, with a hint of a trauma-filled enemies to lovers couple like Binding 13, then this is the perfect book for you.

*TWs of blood/gore, flashbacks of physical abuse, and (attempted) on-page rape. Please do not read if you are not comfortable.

Genres: Romance, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Enemies To Lovers, Dark Romance, Young Adult

440 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 26, 2025

About the author

Marcelina LoBue is the 16-year-old YA mystery romance author of The Blood that Divides Us (an academic rivals to lovers, trauma healing murder mystery) and Labeled Innocent, Presumed Dead (a true crime thriller with a love triangle). The latter releases on February 14th, 2026.
When she’s not listening to true crime podcasts or writing about stab wounds, she’s focused on her education and highly involved in her school’s student council. Baking and teaching herself how to code—much like Natalia—has also preoccupied her time, in addition to having a bad habit of staying up too late reading romances on her Kindle.

Reviews

[✧ hayley (the sugar bowl) ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

➳ 2.75 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

╰┈➤ ”books were both my strength and my weakness. my happy place. my form of escapism.

first of all, i’d just like to thank the author for reaching out to me and sending me this arc 🎀

now for the review!! overall, this wasn’t my cup of tea but i did enjoy some parts and it was such a cool concept. i’m gonna break up my thought by element because i wanna be thorough and cutesy so here we go 🤭💌

➳ the characters

* alyssa:
i just wanted to give her a hug tbh because girl’s been through it. i liked her development and i feel like she was a believable character. like so many of these characters didn’t feel like real teenagers but she did—sometimes i almost forgot she was 17 and not 14 though. but overall i liked her and was rooting for her!!

* matteo:
i wanted to like him so bad. he just didn’t do it for me. i feel like his development just didn’t feel believable and was kind of rushed. plus picturing him joining and leading the mafia at 13 was so funny to me. he gave me the ick and every time he said ‘my girl’ i wanted to hurl 😭 he did have some good quotes though and he was almosttt fictional husband material but not quite there!!

* brooklyn:
without spoiling anything, i knew it. as a fellow true crime girlie i wanted to trust her but yeah i was suspicious from the beginning and hey i was right

* gracie:
she was so sweet!! one of the only characters i really liked tbh and i want to be her friend

* xiao:
bro reminded me of kenji until he didn’t and then i wanted to punch him

* xavier:
i hope you step on legos. he made me so mad and i feel like he would have made me even madder if his character was more believable. he kind of just seemed too cartoon villain yk? still wanted to punch him though!!

➳ the romance:
ugh i wanted to like this romance so much but it just felt too rushed and unbelievable? this was supposed to be enemies to lovers and they didn’t really feel like enemies!! which happens often so i’m not too mad about it but it just felt forced yk? i feel like the transition was too abrupt from hating each other to saying they love each other and i know it’s such a hard thing to pace and make that switch seamlessly i just wished it was more gradual!! their dynamic was interesting but not my vibe. i’m also just not a dark romance reader so like keep that in mind. but like i said some of the quotes at the end were really cute!! 💋

➳ the plot:
this plot was so unlike anything i’ve ever read. it kept me on my toes for sure and i didn’t see most of the plot twists coming. i was definitely entertained and there was so much going on. i feel like maybe this book was trying to be too many genres. it was marketed to me as a mystery + dark romance and it was that but also there were mafia elements that really took over and we focused a lot on abuse and domestic violence. it definitely kept me guessing and i really enjoyed how fast paced it was though.

➳ the writing:
ahh i feel bad saying this because i know this author is young and self published but the writing maybe wasn’t for me. there were some plot holes that had me a little confused and it felt too info-dumpy and over-explanatory sometimes. i enjoyed how easy this was to read and how casual the writing felt!! sometimes i just feel like everything was spelled out too much and the dialogue was rambling + mostly served to justify the plot and emotions only existed to serve a scene not the character if that makes sense? also the amount of times the word trigger was used kind of took away from the story for me 😖 but i loved the little fourth wall breaks where the characters acknowledged that they were in a dark romance mystery book omg that was so funny and cute!! overall like i know the author is young and just starting out and she definitely has so much potential!! i can’t wait to say i knew her when yk 🤭

➳ the content:
this book is ya but just make sure you check the content warnings before you read this!! it starts out tame but then it just gets crazier and darker and the dirty talk in the epilogue threw me omg 😭

anyways marcelina if you’re reading this: congratulations!! you wrote a whole book and that’s such a huge accomplishment!! i genuinely had fun reading this and my rating is just one person and everyone has different taste! in my review and rating i’m trying to be objective and consider it from all aspects but you’ve written a 400+ page book and you’re still in high school and i think that’s so cool!! and with such a fun concept! there were parts of this that i really enjoyed and especially if people are more into dark romance i think they’d really like it

ALSO it was so fun reading a book by someone my age who’s a book girlie and like one of my people yk? the shatter me and agggtm and chappell roan references made me smile and i feel like we’d def be friends if we knew each other in real life!! 🤭🫂

overall, this wasn’t my personal favorite but it was still a fun read! i loved all the plot twists but the writing brought it down a little for me. i hope this author continues to write though, i’d definitely read other books from her and i think she has such a promising future!!

thank you to the author for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for my honest review


₊˚ ✧ ‿︵‿୨୧‿︵‿ ✧ ₊˚


➳ pre review ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

my first arc ‼️ thanks so much to marcelina for reaching out to me and sending me a copy 😙🎀




୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

[lish ೀ⋆｡ (s.ia) · Rating 3 out of 5]

before I begin this review, I'd like to give a huge thanks to Marcelina for sending me my first ever arc!! 💗

(WARNING: SPOLIERS)

This book earned a solid 3.5 stars. While I enjoyed certain aspects of the story, some parts of the writing felt repetitive and juvenile, which detracted from the overall experience.

Tropes:
✔️enemies to lovers (YA)
✔️the classic - 'who did this to you?'
✔️mafia romance
✔️murder mystery

౨ৎ ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･˚ the plot: 🎀༘⋆
17 year old, Alyssa LeClae is determined to focus on her grades, get into an Ivy League school and escape into her books. However, Alyssa suffers from major PTSD and trauma. She has a not so friendly home life, and when one of her classmates end up dead, her life is thrown completely off course. Alyssa must team up with Matteo, but as they work together, she realises that he may be hiding more than he's letting on.

౨ৎ ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･˚ the characters: 🌷͙֒✧˚.

જ⁀➴ alyssa leclae
girl I wish I could give you a hug rn, bc you've been through enough. She's vulnerable yet strong, showing a lot of loyalty to her friends and a quiet determination to protect them. Her character is relatable, struggling to balance her personal pain with her desire to move forward.

જ⁀➴ matteo romano
umm, I really wanted to like him but I just couldn't, it's even more sad when all ur friends rave on about him . I'm sorry but picturing him, joining the mafia at the tender age of 13 really made me laugh. Though I do like how loyal, sweet and caring he is with alyssa.

જ⁀➴ brooklyn and her gang: the backstabbers
I KNEW IT!! yay.
I hope everyone else dies, esp that xavier dude. Ugh, he was so annoying.

౨ৎ ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･˚ the romance & writing: ⋆⋆.˚🪻༘⋆
The fastest enemies to lovers award goes to... ✨alyssa and matteo✨
I really wanted to like them, but their whole relationship was so quick to come and honestly it was just unbelievable. I mean, you've hated each other all your life and when a classmate dies, you helplessly fall in love??
As for the writing, it wasn't so bad. Like I said before, it was quite juvenile, like when the characters were having a conversation, it felt as though I was reading an essay/speech, not a book. However, it was a really fast paced, easy to read book, and icl I was intrigued all the way through.

౨ৎ ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･˚ overall thoughts: ♡🪐༘⋆
Overall, this wasn't my absolute favourite read, but it was definitely enjoyable. You should read it, if you want something similar to agggtm, one of us is lying and binding 13.

౨ৎ ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･˚ Lastly, I'd like to congratulate the author. Your ability to weave together suspense, emotion, and complex characters is remarkable. Alyssa’s journey was both gripping and heart-wrenching, and I found myself deeply invested in her story. The way you explored themes of trauma, loyalty, and resilience was incredibly powerful.
Thank you for creating such a captivating and thought-provoking book. I can’t wait to see what you write next!


················································································

𝖕𝖗𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉 𐙚
AHHH MY FIRST EVER ARC EEEEK
tysm Marcelina for reaching out to me

I heard it's a 'ya enemies to lovers, murder mystery'?!?!!! Oh I just know imma love this book ahhhh

[ari [gin’s vrsn 🩵] [semi ia] · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75⭐

BIG thanks to marcelina lobue for reaching out and giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review

spoiler free

15/16+

romance: 7/10 (while there is no explicit sex scenes there was a ftb scene and many dirty jokes and comments that carried wild sexual innuendo. so much so that it was much worse than any of my other reviews that mention “innuendo” and “dirty jokes”)

cursing: 6/10 (mildly frequent damn, hell, shit. semi frequent bitch, ass, dick, slut. f-ck used quite a few times. italian curse words, cazzo which translates to f-ck and figlio di puttana which is son of a bitch.)

violence: 8/10 (brutal murder, kidnapping, attempted/actual rape, gun violence, etc.)

other: one character is a lesbian and has a girlfriend, another is bi and is talking to a girl, underage drinking, mentions of drugs. premarital sex.

tropes: mafia romance, enemies to lovers, touch her you die, who did this to you?, betrayal

tw: on page and off page rape. alcoholism. on page physical and mental abuse. suicidal thoughts.

first person, past tense

multiple pov

no one ever talked about those invisible scars; the invisible mental health issues that plagued a lot of lives. not only that, but how much it affected their day-to-day routines, how the flashbacks distracted them from reality, how a wave of numbness washed over them to the point they couldn’t breathe. they drowned underwater, yet no one cared enough to rescue them.


– OVERVIEW –

my genuine reaction through the majority of this book was “WTF” and i have the highlights on my kindle to prove it (since it’s a pdf tho i can’t share it here 🥲)

ok. i won't lie here, this book was a 4 star until the epilogue.

i loved the writing. i loved the characters (mostly). i loved the plot. i loved the twists.

what i hated was the unnecessary sexual scenes and talk in the epilogue.
worst part is, the epilogue is completely useless. there’s no interesting information learned, it was only there for the sexual talk and to sloppily tie off the loose end of the mother (seriously why the crap?)

looking at this book from a Christian perspective, i would probably have dnfed it with 3 pages left at the epilogue (in fact i wish i did, but it was THREE pages and i wanted to finish it for the review). the sex talk made me feel icky. and it was unnecessary. 🤨 marcelina are you sure you’re a teenager?

the last 100 pages (minus epilogue) had me GRIPPED and i couldn’t stop reading.
but speaking of plot. i found it unrealistic at times, and inconsistent. sometimes i wondered why the heck the characters would react the way they did and why there wasn’t full consequences. and many other things but that’s spoilers.
the bad guys didn’t make any sense to me. i saw no motive besides this airless wisp of something tangible.
one loose end that never got tied was WHY THE HECK does the [redacted] family have sm beef with l’elite? we got no explanation, and were instead info dumped with smth else entirely?

the writing reminded me a lot of my best friend’s and had nice vocabulary. the dialogue could be choppy at times and there were definitely many instances where we were info dumped but 🤷‍♀️

wounds were temporary. scars lasted forever


– PLOT –

alyssa leclae is on the brink. of madness. of snapping. of… death. but then, one day, a classmate of hers is murdered, and alyssa now feels like she has to investigate. all is fair in the game of murder and mafia.

“you’re not broken. you’re mine.”


– CHARACTERS –

ALYSSA she was annoying. constantly playing the victim card and i lwk hated her the entire book. she was a wimp who pretended she wasn’t and puffed out her chest all “har har i’m mightier than thou” and i wanted to throw up. bc next minute she was all meek and “oh i can’t do anything bc of my tragic past” WHY THE INCONSISTENCY? you’re either wonder woman or you’re not, so one of those is an act. the “i’m not like other girls” 🥴

and i HATED how she was always like “omg my life is like smth straight out of a novel” no. like NO.

also, the way she never found any of the sus things she overheard weird? like why does this not concern you until you’re fed it on a silver platter??

MATTEO the man that you are 🤭🤭🤭
i genuinely loved him (until the epilogue that we do not speak of) he was so sweet and protective and ahhhh
“mia cara”
“mi amore”
“my girl”

*swoons*

his nicknames for her were so sweet and i was giggling and kicking my feet (UNTIL THE EPILOGUE)

BROOKLYN i never liked her. she was kinda selfishhh and smth was just off idk 🤨

GRACIE i was so suspicious of her at the beginning and i’m so sorry that i ever thought she was the murderer bc she was awesome at the end 😭😭


no one is ‘too broken’ to be healed.

– QUOTES –

”you can come closer, mia cara, i don’t bite. unless you want me to, of course.”

“you’re safe with me. i will keep you safe. no one will ever hurt you again.”

“he’s coming after her and i’d sooner be slaughtered myself than let anything happen to her.”

“hey.” a protective bitterness laced ace’s words. “don’t call my girl that.”

“you’ll wait for me?” my voice broke.
“always and forever, mia cara. i’m not going anywhere.”


ahem. now some of the sexual quotes 💀

“i was simply testing you. i want nothing more than to rip this off you and see exactly how wet you are for me.”
“very. you don’t need to take it off to know that.”
“shall we prove it?”

“words, mi amore. if you want me to keep going, you’re going to have to use your words.”
“please, ace.” i begged. “please f-ck me.”

i’d never come as much as i did then, in the bedroom we shared, with my glossy red dress getting wrinkled on the floor.
it was a great start to a great day.

“okay, y’all, let’s not make alyssa’s ego higher than it already is. i cannot deal with another uptight girl.”
ace then whispered in my ear, “uptight? nah. tight? absolutely.”


– CONCLUSION –

it was meh 🤷‍♀️ i’d recommend it if you don’t care about the content or the plot holes.

he continued placing kisses on my biggest insecurities, the things that made me want to kill myself, and forced me to realize how much he didn’t mind them; it forced me to realize how much he was being truthful and really thought they made me beautiful.



preread

i got my first arc!!

i’m so excited to read this book <3

[mia ౨ৎ [semi ia] · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 ⭐️
thank you so much marcelina for my very first arc!! 💗

this book was ok. it entertained me but i didn’t fully grasp the idea. was it a murder mystery? or was it a romance? or was it just a mystery? it felt like too many things going on at once. the romance imo felt very forced and matteo was nice to her then mean to her and then in the end they were sweethearts. the ‘who did this to you’ trope was kinda nice tho. the dialogue felt a bit forced and the whole italian mafia thing felt VERY unrealistic. but the plot twist at the end?!! wow. i never would’ve guessed. UGGHHH i seriously didn’t know what to rate this bc i enjoyed but it wasn’t that good. again, thank you so so so much marcelina for the arc!! i hope your book absolutely blows up 💗💗

pre read:
🤍🩸🔪
first arc EVERRR im so excited!!! i heard there’s mystery AND romance! totally my type 😆 tysm marcelina for offering me my very first arc! i’m going to eat it up 😋😋

[Belle₊˚⊹♡ (Book slump&#x1f494;) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars!!🌟🌟🌟🌟

(Spoiler~free)

Omg this was a really good book 🤭
The twists, the romance, the plot, EVERYTHING??

And I really liked how the way this book is started is soo DIFFERENT than how it leaves you 😶
The AMOUNT of betrayals put in this book was actually so insane bro I was actually going crazyyy 😭✋🏻

And the enemies-to-lovers???
WE EVEN GOT THE ~“𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪?”~
🗣️🔥🔥🔥
Idc if it’s cliche I loved it sm

I ate this whole book up and just love the little dark turns x romance & other tropes we get in this-🫢
And all thanks Marcelina for reaching out to me!!
Looking forward to your upcoming projects 🙂‍↕️🥰♥️
<333

🌟Rating: 4/5
🔥Spice: 1/5 ( on-page harassment and subplot of romance)
📚~Age rating: 14+

𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊

🩶❤️🖤𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙:

I was offered this as an Arc and my first one too!!💗
I heard that there’s some romance in this book too???
Like oh how ima eat this book uppp 😭🙏

Thanks so much to Marcelina <3
I’m so looking forward to this book 👏🏼🥰

[Keya · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
This book has a lot of potential, I might have absolutely loved this if I read it a few years ago, but right now, I'm not sure this book is for me :(

The Plot of this book genuinely sounds so intriguing!! Alyssa is a seventeen year old who's been the victim of physical abuse all her life but she is grateful to have two best friends so completely get her. One of whom is a host of true crime podcast. But things take a dark turn when one of the students in their school ends up dead but this is just the beginning. When Alyssa attempts to dig deeper into this, she starts receiving warnings and threats - but nothing can stop her until she finds the truth of what's happening. At this point, this is so much bigger than just a murder.

I saw some of the plot twists coming but some had my jaw on the floor - I wouldn't have seen them coming at all. Especially the ending.

Personally, what didn't work for me was the writing - and that too you get used to once you get a hang of it. But just the conversations between the characters felt too fake at some level, making it harder to connect with them. Even though this was rivals to lovers (also the 'who did this to you?' trope!!), my fav trope of all times, the romance between Alyssa and Matteo sadly just didn't do it for me. Also the whole concept of 'mafia' felt too unreal.

I'd still say you should give this book a try but it's more a hit or miss situation. Do check out the TWs first!

Thank you to the author for providing me with a free ARC copy in exchange an honest review 🤍

[bianca ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

3.25 ✰ {15/16+}

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ”We’re familiar with the story, right? The hero gets their happily ever after and everyone praises them…what of the villain though? They’ve sacrificed the most, bled the most, lost the most, and all they get is a climactic death if they’re lucky.”

a HUGE thank you to Marcelina LoBue for sending me the ARC of her book in exchange for an honest review! I really enjoyed this! 😊


⇢ ˗ˏˋ plot ࿐ྂ

ೃ⁀➷ summary:
Alyssa LeClae is just an average teenage girl, wanting to get good grades, attend an amazing college, and read her books in peace. however, she is hiding a big secret, and so is everyone around her. a dead body is found in the bathroom at her school and Alyssa’s best friend Brooklyn—who has a true crime podcast—ropes her into trying to solve the murder herself. Alyssa is forced to work with her academic rival, Matteo Romano, to find the killer and discover the truth, uncovering many dark secrets along the way.

ೃ⁀➷ thoughts:
this was super fast-paced and i really enjoyed the plot twists that were on almost every single page. this was filled to the BRIM with them. and they were nearly as crazy as the ones in ‘as good as dead’. i thought a few of the things in here were just a tad unrealistic and i did dock a half a star for that bc the topics were a bit of a stretch. the premise of this was honestly really cool, it doesn’t stray too much from the plot line of your average thriller but with as many unique twists as this book had, i think it made up for that. i predicted very few of the plot twists so i think i can safely say that this author did a really good job at keeping the element of surprise all through the book, once I got to the last hundred pages i could NOT stop reading! i seriously had no idea who the killer could be and kept second guessing myself bc literally everyone was hiding something and they’re all suspicious as heck, the end result wasn’t even close to the things i was guessing either! as a heads-up for anyone who wants to read this, there’s multiple attempted rape scenes towards the end. those things tend to make me super uncomfortable, i did know what i was getting myself into though so i’m not mad but i don’t like reading those scenes (i ended up skipping it anyway as it doesn’t add to the story much). this explored a lot of very deep topics which i was surprised by and appreciated, just beware of that, but i think it really added to the element of the story to have those raw, hard moments. this authors writing was really good too! very lyrically satisfying and it had my attention from the very beginning. the amount of quotes that hit hard in this were insane. also side note: the dedication at the beginning hits hard ✊🏻😔

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ”He genuinely looked like a victim straight out of a horror movie. Always the victim, never the survivor.”


⇢ ˗ˏˋ characters ࿐ྂ

ೃ⁀➷ alyssa leclae ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
she’s not my favorite but the way she handled everything, from being abused by her father and her mom disappearing was very admirable, and in my opinion she was an amazing, strong, caring, sassy 😜, girlboss of an FMC, and 100% reminded me of Pip. her backstory was great and made me care for her even more and i didn’t lose interest in reading from her POV, she has a really interesting dynamic with the other characters and the way her emotions are written into the scenes definitely helped me feel it more.

ೃ⁀➷ brooklyn shine ੈ✩‧₊˚
i did like Brooklyn’s character a lot, however, she had a way of pushing Alyssa into things quite a bit and was actually pretty suspicious at times. she had such a kind personality though, especially when she was trying to help Alyssa out, except she might have to work on boundaries a little bit 😅 i enjoyed the part where we got to find out about her past back in Italy, she’s a very interesting character.

ೃ⁀➷ gracie alumes ׂׂૢ
AHHH OMG i LOVE Gracie!!! honestly i felt so bad for her when she was left out of anything Alyssa and Brooklyn were doing, but i loved how she was ALWAYS there for Alyssa when she needed it—and even though i kinda suspected her for a while there—she was so sweet and supportive of her bestie 🥹 i wish we got to see more of her! i loved the ending with Gracie and Alyssa though, they have ✨the✨ bestie dynamic.

ೃ⁀➷ matteo romano ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚
YOU GUYS. THIS MAN 🤭🤭🤭 the way he was so down bad for Alyssa had me giggling and smiling like a fool, the touch of the dark romance was a little much though, definitely “who did this to you” vibes. he’s an amazing character, he had a great backstory and was really interesting to read about, VERY adamant—a little too much but it’s fine—about his love for Alyssa and wanting to protect her which AGHH is ADORABLE 🥰 the nicknames he had for her too omggg (i watched some of this authors edits of Matteo on YouTube and it might’ve just changed my whole perspective on the slightly bad things i said…)

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ”’Thank you. I know this probably seems small and insignificant to you, but it means the world to me.’
He sat on the edge of the bed. ‘Nothing that’s important to you is insignificant to me.’”



⇢ ˗ˏˋ final thoughts ࿐ྂ

ೃ⁀➷ the book was so good! i wasn’t bored for a second, the plot twists were plot twisting, and the characters were so amazing. i love them all 🤭 there were quite a few funny moments that had me laughing out loud, and also a few scenes and plot choices that I didn’t necessarily enjoy. but i think Marcelina has a lot of potential as a writer and in my opinion this was a really good second book, especially as a teenage author, i’m very impressed and i think her books will continue to improve from here! if you’re a fan of holly jackson books, i would definitely give this a try! it has a lot of the same vibes as agggtm.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ”I was broken. Forever. Like a mirror that had been recklessly tossed to the ground; people might’ve picked up the glass shards and attempted to glue them back together, but at the end of the day, it’d never go back to the way it was before the accident. Wounds were temporary. Scars lasted forever.”




＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚pre-read˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

i’m so excited to be receiving my FIRST ARC!! thank you SO much to Marcelina for reaching out to me, i can’t wait to read this! 💕 (omg this looks amazing 🤭)

[em ౨ৎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★.25 stars

⁀➷ "It’s all right. You’re safe with me. I will keep you safe. No one will ever hurt you again.”


First of all, thank you to Marcelina LoBue for giving me the ARC, in exchange for my honest review, you are so sweet for that. ♡


Now playing:
No Body, No Crime by Taylor Swift
01:23 ━━━━●───── 03:43
ㅤ ㅤ◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷ ㅤㅤ


౨ৎ Tropes
~ enemies to lovers


౨ৎ Read if You Like
~ mystery + romance
~ agggtm
~ fast-paced books
~ books with playlists
~ morally grey men


౨ৎ Alyssa
She went through so much that she didn't deserve and I felt so bad for everything she went. She was such a sweet, kind-hearted character and it brought tears to my eyes reading about her rough life. She didn't have a large circle, but she has a big heart, and tries to make others feel seen. She cares so deeply about the people around her and she picks up on the smallest change in someone's character.

⁀➷ "I was broken. Forever. Like a mirror that had been recklessly tossed to the ground; people might’ve picked up the glass shards and attempted to glue them back together, but at the end of the day, it’d never go back to the way it was before the accident. Wounds were temporary. Scars lasted forever."

⁀➷ 'Always the victim, never the survivor'


౨ৎ Matteo
Always gotta love a morally grey man. But even with his questionable morals, he made sure those close to him felt safe and did anything he could to protect him. He had the whole 'who did this to you??' going on and I loved it.


౨ৎ General thoughts
I was constantly guessing throughout the whole book, and I never knew what was going to happen next. All the characters were my suspects, but somehow I was still shocked by the plot twist. This book was so fast-paced and it felt like a really quick read. Though it was fast-paced, it was by no means an easy read. It delved into very deep topics, so make sure to check your trigger warnings before reading. I personally really liked that it explored these deeper topics, especially through Alyssa's character. Overall, I enjoyed it and have high hopes for this author's future!

⁀➷ “Who did this to you?”
“I…fell. Off my bike.”
“I know what kind of bruises and scars you get from falling off a bicycle, and that’s far from it. Someone did that to you. Someone put their hands on you. I need you to tell me who.”

[paula ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

First of all, I want to thank Marcelina LoBue for offering me this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion on the book

I loved it! I found it super quick to read and things kept happening. The characters look super close, it seems like you're in the same class with them ☺️

My only problem is that I felt some things in the plot weren't very credible, I didn't find it credible, for example, that a 17-year-old boy is the leader of an Italian mafia. Even so, I have no complaints because I devoured the book 🤭

Highly recommended to read it in one go and enjoy multiple plot twists 🖤

[Hannahhh ;) [free palestine] · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎀Pre-read:
IVE BEEN OFFERED MY FIRST EVEER ARC EEEEEEE. I’m so looking forward to reading this one. It’s a ya mystery book by Marcelina LoBue and it looks so so good. And “a trauma-filled enemies to lovers couple”- AAHHHH OMG. Thank you so much to the author for reaching to me <3

I’m hopefully starting this next week and I’ll be buddy reading it with the lovely littlefox 💓💓


🎀Pre-review:
~4.5 stars
I loved this!! It was so incredibly good eeeeeee. The way it ended was so different to the way it started 🤯. It is way more than just a murder mystery trust me.
And the plot twists… 🤯🤯🤯🤯😶. I wouldn’t have seen them coming in a million years- my predictions were so off.
I can’t believe this was written by a teen author?! The writing was honestly better than a lot of the really popular authors. I have so much more to say about this book so full rtc later :)

🎀Review:
~4 stars
Okay so I was originally going to rate this a little higher, but looking back there were a couple things I didn’t really like about this book.
I won’t start with that tho…

Firstly, The plot twists, the betrayals… 🤯🤯🤯🤯. They were crazyyy. I never would’ve seen them coming. And I’m not sure if that makes it a little unrealistic or just has good plot twists ig.

I actually adored Matteo. He’s defo being added to my book bf list 🤭. The romance was enemies to lovers and rest assured Matteo was actually morally grey. He was so so sweet, some of his lines had me tearing up 🥹😭. He was so protective over Alyssa with the “WHO DID THIS TO YOU?”>>>. He had me smiling, giggling and kicking my feet. I loved for his lines

I loved the mental health rep in this book. It was actually in depth unlike in a lot of books where it’s mentioned once and never again. That was a really nice detail I think.

At first, I felt like the

The playlist for this book is fireeee 🔥🔥. I love so many of these songs and they fit the vibe of the book so much. Here’s the link:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7kS...-

Thank you again to the author for reaching out to me with this arc. I was so unbelievably excited to get my first arc and I’m so unbelievably grateful. And I’ve done my best to write an honest review

I recommend this book so much!! It deserves so much hype. If you like one of us is lying or agggtm definitely check this book out- I liked it more than a good girls guide to murder tbh. But be aware that whilst the first half gives off just mystery vibes, the second half is very different. I’m trying to keep this part of the review spoiler free but I’ll explain further down

****minor spoilers from the quotes****
💌“For all the girls who stay strong so people don’t know they’re secretly breaking.
For all the girls who push their mental health aside at the expense of others.
For all the girls who read as a form of escapism.

I wrote this book for you. You’re worth it and loved by many. Never forget it.”

💌”You’re not broken. You’re mine. Calling yourself anything offensive is an insult to my girl and I will not tolerate it… “mi amore, when you love something, you protect it.”

💌 “I love you so much. I love every part of you, Alyssa. Your scars don’t change anything. If anything, they prove just how gorgeous and strong and resilient you are — and how you managed to survive for several years. I’m honored you trusted me enough to let me in and now that I have you, I’m never letting you go. Nothing, certainly not scars or bruises, will scare me away. They’re one of your most beautiful qualities and I will not have you ever thinking otherwise. You’re. Gorgeous,”

‼️⚠️SPOILERS⚠️‼️ from here on..
Okay so.. this book starts off as a murder mystery but ends more as a mafia romance- ya tho. Yep you read that right. I did like the whole mafia aspect and it made matteo/ace even hotter & loveable 🤭😻. But also I think the book might’ve worked a bit better if it was either a murder mystery or a mafia book, rather than a mix of both.
Bro the way this was technically my first mafia romance book too🤭🤭. I did not see that coming. I did feel that they were a bit young to be the leaders of gangs and all of that. It was a tad realistic ngl. I feel like it would work a bit better if they were a few years older- like in their twenties? Still a cool concept tho

[jette ᥫ᭡ [ia] · Rating 3 out of 5]

rtc
→ 2.5 ✮⋆˙ — rounded up
✧₊⁺꒰🩸꒱ post-read
⤿ finished on january 4, 2025. ⸝⸝

ok so I need to gather my thoughts first before I decide on a rating because I am so conflicted rn.
also that ending was a lot all at once…

𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃 𓂃

✧₊⁺꒰🩸꒱ pre-read
⤿ started on january 1, 2025. ⸝⸝

My first read of 2025 and also my first arc ever. eeee I'm so exited!! Also the story is supposed to be inspired by "A Good Girls Guide to Murder", "One of us is Lying"and "Binding 13"?! Count me in 🤭
A huge huge thank you to Marcelina LoBue for reaching out to me and offering me this opportunity. 🫂

[Kendall (worst reading slump of my life)]

DNF @pg200

Unfortunately, this book is not for me. Maybe if I was a teenager I would be more into it. But it just read a bit young for me. Out of respect to the author I won’t rate this book.

There were too many instances for me where things were unrealistic. The mafia aspect. Her getting into the morgue at 17. Even the way everyone spoke with each other.
—————————
Thank you Marcelina for this ARC! I’m so excited to dive right into this 🩷🫶🏻

[ೀ riaaa (school !)⊹ ᰔ · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnfed @ page 90
rating: 1 ⭐
it hurts me a little to give a rating so low to an author so inexperienced, for she has a lot of potential... but i have to speak my truth and the review has to be honest .


the blood that divides us is a murderer mystery romance book, supposedly inspired by the popular books binding 13 and a good girl's guide to murder, following 17 year old alyssa leclae whose turbulent life becomes even more turbulent after the death of a popular student at her school. alyssa is traumatized from her past but she decides to investigate with her best friend, brooklyn, nonetheless.

----------------

i don't quite know where to begin, but i guess i'll talk about the most important element of a book to me.
writing
this book presented quite a lot of grammatical errors that i personally couldn't ignore, making it feel like the author didn't read through it very well... or at all. i 100% understand her being a new author however grammar is literally fundamental no matter what. besides that, there happened to be metaphors at random with little to no meaning.
it felt like she wanted her prose to be pretty and flowery but it came off as confusing and tiresome to read instead, for they didn't go well with her writing style or the book itself, and it always felt like she added them just because. they also didn't need to be related to water ALL the time...

As soon as Lacey’s name floated out of my mouth, it was like a tidal wave knocked them down; both Brooklyn and Matteo turned around to stare at each other.

...?
this next thing might be a personal preference but i had to close the book after the amount of modern-day book references. this book could've done without mentioning kenji and juliette; not only would that have saved it from cringe but also confusion for the people who haven't even read shatter me... it was just so out of the blue. i won't even begin w the agggtm one.
our fmc alyssa reads dark romances but there was a reference to it in a scene for which it was so utterly unsuitable. i wish she'd thought more about whether or not certain quotes or reflections went well with the scenes. new author or not i cannot put aside these types of errors; it literally feels like this was the first haphazard draft of a story, unedited and not revisited.


scenes
being a murderer mystery book, the stakes and tension were supposed to be high. but i don't think i've read a more underwhelming dead-body-discovery scene in my life.
alyssa went on about her triggers and ptsd rather than the dead body, there were minor unnecessary dialogues that took away from the already non-existent tension, the haphazard fight scene in the same room as the body, the teachers watching them tamper with the blood instead of evacuating the kids from a LITERAL CRIME SCENE, the lack of the actual feel of danger from alyssa's lackluster narration. she kept saying she was on edge yet everyone was talking so normally and the narration was far too casual. the aftermath was worse. a dead body was discovered yet i couldn't have cared less!! wow.
once again, i fully understand being new at this however everything just felt so far from reality that i asked myself constantly whether she'd done any research on crime, the genre of the book.


characters
my brain hurts from trying to think of a character i liked in the 90 pages that i read—there's not one.
alyssa leclae perpetually mentioning her triggers from we-don't-even-know-what bothered the shit out of me. as much as it may hurt to say this it was exhausting to read from her POV when her only notable traits were her trauma and her false badass personality. why does she do avoidable things if she knows they'll make her uncomfortable?
alyssa's father (if he had a name i do not remember it) talked in such a juvenile way that it was hard to imagine him as the abusive dangerous monster alyssa perceived him as.

“You don’t say ‘yeah’ to your father. What is wrong with you? Ugh. Kids these days. So entitled and disrespectful.” [...] “Anyway. Back to why I called you down here to begin with—"

xiao, the class clown, just made me cringe. the racism bit made me feel a little for him but other than that, nothing. the way he spoke with and about characters irked me. come to think of it, most characters just spoke strangely and unrealistically.


romance & matteo romano
matteo romano is an italian student who transferred to aly's school for an unknown reason. he is the love interest. he is also an asshole who publicly shamed aly for her imperfect family.
i think that very scene was meant to be the beginning of their tension (romantic or not) for he even called her "mia cara", my darling. he actually did that quite a bit; it's precisely what confused me when it comes to the romance because one second he was the rudest person you'll ever meet, the next they were making eye contact, the next he was flirting with her. like HELLO?
they were academic rivals, something alyssa mentioned more times than necessary in the narration. yet i didnt feel any tension at all. it felt incredibly forced, as if the author had wanted to make him a likeable character with the pet name he gave her and the bickering and the bad boy stereotype. i hated the way he talked; it made what happened next even more unbelievable.
matteo romano's being italian is SO fucking glorified and i can't understand why. as an italian myself it genuinely felt more than a little weird; i don't know if american schools are like this or if it's just this book. either way some of it definitely could've been omitted 😖 he's seen as this hot italian junior but there are also mentions of a mafia gang he was involved in?? please. enough



😬 so those were my thoughts about the blood that divides us, unfortunately not very positive. this book is advertised as a mix of binding 13 and agggtm but it felt very different from those books. it's true that i only read 90 pages but i dont feel as though i should read any more because my opinions will more than likely remain the same. i didn't even want to keep reading for the plot twists .
to Marcelina, i'm truly so sorry if this review feels like hate—it wasn't meant to be. these were my genuine thoughts and feelings i'm sorry if it was so harsh!!! before reading the arc i thought the potential was there and now i know it's still there. it takes a little more practice, dedication and attention to even the small details but you can 100% make it .
thank you again for the opportunity you gave me to read and review this arc, i know you can do big things!



--------

dnfing @ page 90
why so early?? bc my list i made on my notes app of everything wrong with this book is just far too long for me to keep going.
rtc 😐

[Fairuz ᥫ᭡. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars ✨ First off, HUGE thanks to Marcelina LoBue for sending me the ARC of The Blood that Divides Us! 💖 I had a blast reading this one! It hits shelves on January 25, 2025, so mark your calendars! 📅 Now, let’s dive in...

Okay, this book had more twists than a pretzel factory! Some were crazy fun, and others... well, let’s just say I had to suspend my disbelief a tiny bit. 😬 I was second-guessing everyone and everything, but hey, that’s what kept the tension high! Still, a few moments had me shaking my head like, “Seriously?” 🤷‍♀️




✨ Tropes ✨
✧ Enemies to Lovers 💘
✧ Dark Romance 💋
✧ Suspicious Love Interest ���💭
✧ Forced Proximity 💗
✧ Murder Mystery 🕵️‍♀️
✧ Hidden Secrets 🤐
✧ Moral Grey Area ⚖️
✧ Twist Ending 😵

Alyssa LeClae was tough, no doubt. She’s been through some serious stuff but still powers through like a boss. 💪 I liked her, but at times, I couldn’t help but think her strength was a little over-the-top. Like, after all the trauma, she was handling things a bit too perfectly, you know? 🤔

Then there's Matteo Romano... oh boy. 🙈 This guy was all “Who did this to you?” and I was DONE. Chef’s kiss 😘. He’s got that morally grey vibe that I just can't resist! He had me crazy in love with him, but at the same time, some of the dark romance felt like a bit much for my taste. 😅 But his obsession with protecting Alyssa? Swoon. 😍

The mafia vibes were strong, adding plenty of danger, but some moments were just... too much. I’m all about dark romance, but sometimes it felt like the plot was trying way too hard. 🤦‍♀️ A few twists had me either shaking my head or laughing at their sheer audacity. 😬

The mystery? WHOA. 🤯 I couldn’t guess the killer to save my life! Every character had a secret, and when the reveal came, I was SHOCKED. Still, there were a couple of extra moments that made me roll my eyes a bit. But overall, it was a wild ride! 🎢

Trigger Warnings (CW):
- Blood/Gore
- Suicidal Thoughts
- Flashbacks of Physical Abuse
-Attempted Rape

Overall, this book is a great pick for fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and One of Us Is Lying. It’s fast-paced, mysterious, and keeps you guessing—just don’t expect everything to be super realistic. 😅 This one was a bit of a hit or miss for me, but I know others will love it more! 📚

[saisha⊹{we are so back} · Rating 1 out of 5]

1✧
↳ first one star read of the year :( it hurts so much for me to give a rating this low to a teenage author😔💔 also this is a mini review - because i don't rlly feel like writing a long one😭

“so many questions, not nearly enough answers.”

♫ ~ say don’t go
why'd you have to lead me on
why'd you have to twist the knife
walk away and leave me bleedin' bleedin'

my thoughts🙈┆ well, uhm this was a very conflicted read... i went into this VERY excited because i was told it was similar to aggtm and'one of us is lying' which were both mysteries that i really loved💗 <3! but i didn't really like this - the writing style was a bit messy and there were too many plot twists in my opinion and overall i didn't like it. :( ALSO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read the TW! there is a scene with r@pe, and there's a LOT abuse and violence and it made me feel uncomfortable.😔


characters💐

➼ alyssa
╰ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ i could not relate to alyssa at ALL. it was kinda sad tho - how she kept being betrayed by everyone and everything.😔 but girl be fr - if someone at school dies - you can't just call in and ASK to see the body, like what? AND THE WAY THE TEACHERS JUST STOOD THERE DOING NOTHING after the murder??😭 ALSO her bff runs a murder mystery podcast which was exactly like aggtm too. but overall i disliked her character and it could have been wayyy better.😭

➼ matteo
╰ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ uhmm so i heard it was going to be academic rivals to lovers and i was SO excited, because adore that trope SO MUCH(bc sadiejulius yk?🤭💗) but this was very disappointing. i HATED matteo's character, i found him to be too obbsessive and also the "enemies" portion only lasted for about 1/3 of the book, and it was way to messy 😭 especially with him being an italian mafia boss at 17?? like please. i just didn't like him at all - and it made me sad because if i don't like the mmc it means i didn't really like the book. :(

bottom line💐┆soo, i didn't really like this :( part of the reason might have been that i generally don't rlly read mystery/thriller books, but mainly it was the book itself that i did not like. the plot was messy and complicated and the writing style was messy. i was really dissappointed because i was so excited for it - but never mind😔 i hope everyone is doing well and ur current reads are amazing!!🤍💋😙

~love, saisha🩰
---------------------------

📝┊post-read 1/24/25
rtc, i NEED to rant about this...


📝┊pre-read 1/21/25
similar to agggtm and 'one of us is lying'?? i completely ADORE 'one of us is lying'🤭 so excited to start this, because i don't really read thrillers!! and the description is so interesting! here goes!💕🤞🏻

thank you so much to the author for reaching out and providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!!

[sav ⋰˚☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

꒰ Preread 11/25/24
Thank you so much to Marcelina for reaching out to me and sending the ARC!
This book looks exactly like the kind of ya thriller I would love, so ofc I'm excited to read it!

꒰ Pre-Review 1/4/25
Well, I'm a little disappointed. I have a lot of thoughts about this book that I'd like to go over.
Review is to come, probably sometime tomorrow.

꒰ Review 1/16/25
Finally writing my review for this book! I'm changing my rating from 3 to 2 stars, because the more I think about this book, the more I realize how much improvement was possible. And I hate to give such a low rating to a new, young author, so I want to say that Marcelina truly has so much potential. I can honestly see her writing a bestseller in the future! I also noticed how the reviews for this book were very mixed, so it could be that this was just not my cup of tea. But overall, there were too many flaws in the novel to make me give it a 3.

(Side note- I'm going to be writing the majority of this review in a bullet point format, it's easier and this way I don't have to properly word my vague thoughts LOL)

꒰ The Good
✧- Great cast of suspects. The best types of whodunits are the ones that always make you guess wrong!
✧- The plot twists absolutely shocked me because, as I said, there were so many good suspects.
✧- The way the main character was written was actually really relatable, as someone who has struggled with mental health (of course not to Alyssa's level but you get what I mean.) And I just loved the way that she felt like an actual teenager.

꒰ The Bad, unfortunately outweighs the good
✧- WAY too much violence. So much to the point where it really kind of ruined my reading experience. This is partly my fault! I read the trigger warnings and still jumped into it. But seriously, so many of these very violent flashback scenes could have been cut or at the very least shortened. There are multiple SA scenes that happen on page, to the main character. It was just really disturbing and sort of gross.
✧- The dialogue was so clunky and often out of place, and the characters almost didn't speak like real humans? 😭
✧- About halfway through the book a plot line involving the "Italian mafia" gets introduced. This part was so unrealistic it was actually quite comical. 😂
✧- I hate the love interest. im so sorry please dont come for me This might be an unpopular opinion and it might just be my personal taste, but he seems really toxic and I swear, he and Alyssa have no chemistry. Plus all of the scenes where they're supposed to be bantering end up falling flat because again, the dialogue is so robotic and corny.

Marcelina, thank you again for sending me an ARC!! You are going to write great things in the future, always keep writing 🫶

2 ⭐
˚˖𓍢ִ ⊹ ‧₊˚ ⋅

[Reading Mouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again; I judge books by their dedications, and I believe that if a dedication is good so is the book. I’ll let you guys decide whether you like this one or not.
“For all the girls who stay strong so people don’t know they’re secretly breaking.
For all the girls who push their mental health aside at the expense of others.
For all the girls who read as a form of escapism.
I wrote this book for you. You’re worth it and loved by many. Never forget it.”

Quotes:

“The hero gets their happily ever after and everyone praises them...what of the villain, though?
They've sacrificed the most, bled the most, lost the most, and all they get is a climactic death if they're lucky.”
God how the hell am I supposed to sleep tonight if the book starts like this??!

“Alyssa, I’m not going to ask you again. Who did this to you?”
Started this book for that one line. It didn’t disappoint 🤭

“Let it out. It’s all right. You’re safe with me. I will keep you safe. No one will ever hurt you again.”
Omg this is getting so good 🤭🤭

“You’re not broken. You’re mine. Calling yourself anything offensive is an insult to my girl and I will
not tolerate it.”

“Because, mi amore, when you love something, you protect it.”
Omg this man 🤭🫶😝

“Once again, his way with words had me freaking folded.”
You and me both.

———

The author said this book was inspired by Binding 13 and AGGGTM. And she did not disappoint.

This book had everything a girl could wish for.
Murder mystery, great chemistry, tragic backstories, plot twists, and mafias.

I mean what more could a book girly wish for?
I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you Marcelina LoBue for sending me an ARC of this book!

Enjoy 😘

[kitkat (semi-hiatus ♡︎) · Rating 4 out of 5]

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✧

tl;dr - good murder mystery, similar to one of us is lying and agggtm, but check trigger warnings first

let me start by saying thank you to the author for my first arc in exchange for an honest review!
for a debut novel, i was really impressed. yes, there were some formatting mistakes here and there, but overall the story was just really entertaining. ALSO MATTEO, THE MAN YOU ARE <33

* although this book is marketed as YA, there is on page rape and abuse, so make sure to check your trigger warnings first.

now playing - no body no crime - taylor swift
“she thinks i did it but she just can’t prove it.”

features -
✧ italian mafia
✧ murder mystery
✧ enemies to lovers
✧ betrayal
✧ mystery POV
✧ multiple POV

✧ plot - i have so many mixed feelings, because on one hand, it was everything i wanted, but on the other, i was able to predict the murder plot about half way through.

i can’t say too much more or it’ll spoil it
😇💥🔫😈
------------------------
✧₊⁺ pre-read

so excited to read this one!! 🥰🥰

thank you to the author for an arc <33

[mai ༉‧⋆˚. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ★

Thank you to the author for sending me this arc!

I tried to finish this as best as I could but I was really struggling- I don’t even remember what happened at the end or what I was reading, that’s how detached I felt from the story. The reason for this is that the story just felt so fictional to me and unrealistic, I was not able to really indulge in it. Besides that, the love interest made the worst first impression ever so I was not able to like him at all. This is also why the tropes fell very flat for me and not executed well.

What I liked:
▸ The mystery was interesting
▸ The writing was good- very easy to follow and understand !
▸ The plot twists were done sooo well, I did not expect any of it.
▸ Putting chapters from the killers perspective was very smart and really kept you guessing.

Characters and romance:
▸ The main character was kind of annoying me at certain moments when she was putting the blame on someone, she didn’t even believe committed the crime, on a PODCAST and telling all that to her best friend. She and her best friend were literally calling out “suspects” in a podcast and that’s so dangerous and f-ed up it was hard for me to read bc you can seriously destroy someone’s life by doing that. It just made me dislike her a lot during that moment and I don’t even know if she learned something from it because by the time we went over page 200 I was so detached idk what happened. On all the other times, she was fun to follow along.

▸ I did not like the romance between our two characters. He was just a big asshole in the beginning and I could not forgive the things he did (that our main character mentioned he did when we just met him). Their relationship felt forced. I did not like it at. All.
I also didn’t like that he said “let’s play a game and take your clothes off” in the beginning like stfu ugly.
Maybe later on we got an explanation for his stupid behavior in the beginninggggg, but again, I was so detached I wouldn’t even know if it happened

“Why do you keep flirting with me? I thought you hated me.”
“Why would you think that?”
BECAUSE YOU ARE AN ANNOYING BIG ASSHOLE? Read between the lines.

▸ That best friend Brooklyn - my gosh why tf would you want to get your friend and this stupid guy together when he has literately spread horrible rumors about her- that’s what I mean with it being kind of unrealistic and annoying sometimes. Is there maybe a reason for all of this ? Probably. Do I know about it? No, I did not care anymore

Childish and unrealistic:
▸ They did not really feel like 17 year olds and more like 14 year olds, seriously childish at times. When they kept saying stuff like “ewww I don’t like him!” 🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️
Pls stop, even I didn’t say stuff like that when I was 17.
Again, this behavior just made it feel even more unrealistic.

▸ The conversations felt unrealistic. It just felt very fictional to me, so I never had the chance to escape in the story and dialogue. The characters would say things to sound very nice or very scary and I would just be like “nobody would say this”.


In the end I would not say this is a bad story. It did feel like a good book at times, but at other times it really didn’t. I think that as the author grows and ends up reading more and writing more her writing will become better and better. This is I think the authors second book and she’s a teenage author, and for someone that young the author seriously did a veryyyyyy good job. You can see that there was a lot of thought and detail put into every character and plot line, you could just feel how much love was put into it.

As the reader however I would have liked the story to be a little less messy at times and a bit better structured. I would have also liked it if the story felt a little more realistic and with that I do not mean the mystery, but the dialogues and certain scenes. Tropes should not just be put into a story, but we should move towards them in a logical but slow pace as to really feel the connection between the two characters.

I see a very bright feature for this author and I wish her a lot of luck 💗💗

[Marcelina LoBue · Rating 5 out of 5]

⤿ The Blood that Divides Us is out now! ✰

❝Because, mi amore, when you love something, you protect it.❞

⊹ high school murder mystery
⊹ academic rivals to lovers
⊹ a true crime podcast
⊹ trauma healing
⊹ "who did this to you?"
⊹ "touch her and die"
⊹ mafia

This past year has quite literally been one of the hardest; from moving states to starting high school, I constantly doubted if this story was even worth telling - or if I was just wasting time. The imposter syndrome was REAL. But I pushed through, continuously reminding myself that this needed to exist in order for it to be a comfort book and have an impact on people. I gave it my all, sprinkling pieces of myself in every character, and almost breaking my brain to decode the plot twists.

If you're able to buy it, I'd really appreciate it. You can find it on Amazon for paperback (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DTPDTXWH) and ebook (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKXLZMW2) as well as Barnes and Noble for paperback only (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...) . If not, adding it to your to-read shelf also helps me out a lot. I genuinely hope you all enjoy <33 Thank you so much in advance!

→ Quotes
➛ ❝Someone did that to you. Someone put their hands on you. I need you to tell me who.❞

➛ ❝Always a victim, never a survivor.❞

➛ ❝We’re familiar with the story, right? The hero gets their happily ever after and everyone praises them…what of the villain though? They’ve sacrificed the most, bled the most, lost the most, and all they get is a climactic death if they’re lucky.❞

➛ ❝I'm fine felt like my two favorite words. I said them so much they had been permanently branded into my brain.❞

➛ ❝Trauma is the Devil; it consumes you, wiping away all your morals and replacing them with rage, a desire to get revenge on the people who hurt you.❞

➛ ❝We’re not the police or the detectives, but we’re people just as important — witnesses.❞

➛ ❝I was no one’s. I belonged to no one.❞

[Chloe ˚୨୧⋆｡ &#x1f9a2; · Rating 4 out of 5]

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 4 ★
♡︎ aggtm x one of us lying aesthetic.
♡︎ enemies to lovers romance.
♡ ‘who did this to you?’
︎
thank you to Marcelina LoBu for this early arc of this book. 𐦍༘⋆
~ this is an honest review based on my feelings and thoughts ꒱
~ this gave me so much aggtm vibes because of the investigation crime podcast and the fmc being an investigator & it reminded me of one of us is lying because of the death of a student inside of a school.

・❥・ I 100% recommend this if you’re looking for a book with similar vibes!
୨⎯ ⎯୧
⚠️ please do ask Marcelina for trigger warnings as they are a few scenes & sub-plots that may upset you.

୨⎯ ⎯୧ ୨⎯ ⎯୧ ୨⎯ ⎯୧ ୨⎯ ⎯୧ ୨⎯ ⎯୧

☆ can’t wait to begin this book with the similar vibes to aggtm and one of us lying 🥹

ᯓ★ 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗍𝗈 𝖬𝖺𝗋𝖼𝖾𝗅𝗂𝗇𝖺 𝖫𝗈𝖡𝗎𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖺𝗇 𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗅𝗒 𝖤-𝖽𝗂𝗀𝗂𝗍𝖺𝗅 𝖼𝗈𝗉𝗒 𝗈𝖿 ‘𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖡𝗅𝗈𝗈𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖣𝗂𝗏𝗂𝖽𝖾𝗌 𝖴𝗌’ 𝗂𝗇 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖺𝗇 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗋𝖾𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐!

[Hanna☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ (Free Palestine) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Blood That Divides Us
──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────




🍂Pace
🍂Plot
🍂Writing
🍂Characters


____________⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆____________

For all the girls who stay strong so people don’t know they’re secretly breaking.

For all the girls who push their mental health aside at the expense of others.

For all the girls who read as a form of escapism.

I wrote this book for you. You’re worth it and loved by many.

Never forget it.

____________⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆____________

That dedication is so beautiful, I'm absolutely in love with itt.




This was not only my first arc of 2025 but also my first read and I’m so happy to give this a solid 3.5 stars! So let’s dive right into everything I enjoyed about The Blood That Divides Us:




ೀ⁀➷ Pace


This was so fast paced, like the first day I only read one chapter, so about… 30 pages? Then the next day I was on page 382 or something lol. It was very easy to get through which I was so happy about and I never felt like I was struggling to push through it.



ೀ⁀➷ Plot


The plot was very intriguing. As promised, it reminded me of One of Us Is Lying which was a book I really enjoyed! (I haven’t read AGGGTM yet so I can’t say anything about it)


The podcast element was super fun, I remember I was reading at night and then I had to go outside in the dark for something and all I could think about was one of the stories covered in it so I freaked myself out lol 😭


I love all the plot twists Lobue included! As someone who enjoys trying to piece together the puzzle and solve it myself, there were points where I got soo confused and found myself going, ‘wait what?’. I can tell there was a lot of work put into figuring out how to ✨wow✨ the reader in the best way possible.

My one small point of contention is that while the twists were good, in my opinion there were too many of them. I'd find out something through one twist and then a few pages later, there'd be another twist completely different to what I thought was right which left me feeling a little too confused.


Speaking of trying to solve the mystery, I loved how the author included a playlist for us to listen along to but just a warning, some of the songs can give spoilers if you’re paying attention to them. So if that’s something that would bother you, I’d recommend listening to it after finishing the book as one of the songs was basically a clue for a particular twist.


Lastly, I was a little surprised at how dark the book went at a few points compared to what I was expecting but in my opinion it made it far more interesting and the author handled those mature topics very well. Please do make sure you check out the trigger warnings before reading!




Things that I thought could be a little better:




ೀ⁀➷ Writing


For the most part, it flowed well but there were some points where the dialogue felt a little… forced? Or someone would be talking to someone and their reply would be so long that I’d find myself wondering if a conversation would ever go like this realistically. Not always, but a few times which broke the flow of immersion slightly.




ೀ⁀➷ Characters


Overall I really liked them but I just have a few small points to mention:




Alyssa LeClae:


I found her a good fmc, if slightly confusing at times? Her constant struggle to overcome her hardships and put on a brave face for the world were really inspiring. The only thing was that I found sometimes, when it mattered, she didn’t really react the way I feel like anyone else in her situation would have like when she was nearly raped but it didn’t seem to affect her at all and she was sort of… casually mentioning it? For example, when she was arguing with Matteo and goes, “I just got attacked and almost ra—, it just felt as if it didn’t really have any impact on her?.




Matteo Romana:


"Nothing important to you is insignificant to me."


I completely see what Lobue was doing here and with just a littleee more finetuning, he has serious book boyfriend potential. As it happens, I loved the little insertions of Italian words/phrases and the stuff he said was soo cute! However I felt as if the pacing was a little off with how quickly he fell for Alyssa, I mean, one moment they’re nothing to each other and then he’s declaring that he loves her, despite only having had a few brief interactions leading up to it.


The other thing I found slightly unbelievable was not the fact that he was so young and somehow a Mafia leader but the fact that his gang is so powerful, dangerous and well known and he MUST have plenty of experience with betrayals and other situations but he didn’t even consider the possibility that Nerezza could be a traitor. Not even a slight doubt, and it wasn’t as if he was new to being a leader, so yes, I was a little confused by that.




The rest of the characters were also great, my only comment here was that I was constantly forgetting that they were all 17+ but I’m not sure if that was because of how they acted or just my own fault lol.





🍂 In Conclusion 🍂


I’m very impressed by the fact that this was written by a teenage author and I think it has a lot of potential. Especially if you’re a reader starting out in your murder mystery journey, I would definitely recommend you try this book. It’ll have everything you’re looking for without utterly confusing you but still keeping you hooked and entertained.


Thank you again to Marcelina for reaching out to me in exchange for an honest review. I wish you the best of luck in your publication journey and can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with next <3

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️

I'm absolutely stunned how can a teenage author write something like that!
The story OMG the fact its all connected and it's not just a regular murder mystery it exceeded all my expectations. I'm absolutely amazed plus the romance the enemies to lovers trope and how he was far gone for her in all of that mess overall I'm completely fond of everything.
P.S. Thanks again for the ARC.
______
This is my first ARC ever the excitement is so overwhelming 😭💕

[Bookshelf&#x1f9f8;ྀི ⋆. &#x1065a; ˚ ྀི]

🤍🔪pre-read:
THIS IS MY FIRST ARC EVER!!���
It’s a ya mystery and I can’t wait to read it! I hope I enjoy it🤞🏻

Tysm to Marcelina for offering this arc to me!🫶🏻

[rayyan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

mild spoilers but not much so read at your own risk

“we’re juniors who don’t know what we’re doing with our lives; we’re not pip fitz-amobi”

“because, mi amore, when you love something, you protect it”

id like to start this review by ofc saying thank you so much to the author for the arc 🫶

overall i had fun !! it was fast-paced and an easy read (not considering the fact i got distracted by school and couldn’t read for a little while). i did have a few issues though but let's break this down into sections.

⁀➷ character:
my first issue was the characters. a lot of them were boring and didn't really connect with me. most of the conversations felt off. like they weren't human? i kept forgetting the characters are literally my age 😭

alyssa as much as i enjoyed alyssa’s character development she was just ridiculously boring at times. boring. so so boring. it felt like her only personality was her trauma. and don't get me wrong the girl has been through some INSANE shit but that's really all and i hated that because she had so much potential. yes, i know her toxic family was a big part of the story but as much as she didn’t want it to define her it was pretty much her only personality trait. she was also described as “not like other girls” so. many. times. and she literally said it HERSELF. crazy if you ask me.

brooklyn don’t want to spoil anything but i feel like her character fell flat. like why did she do what she did? what were her motives? she didn’t have a valid reason for anything.

matteo i really wanted to like him. i really did. but i just COULDN’T he made me cringe so many times i’m sorry. plus he was just so toxic at the beginning that when they became lovers it felt weird to me. their relationship felt forced and unnatural. maybe i just felt that way because i didn’t like him? idk. but either way, they just didn’t work for me.

gracie she was cool. she was super sweet to alyssa and everything. im sorry i did accuse her for a good amount of time 😔

⁀➷ plot:
the plot was honestly really interesting but it could’ve been executed a lot better with better writing (will get into that in a sec). the involvement of gangs and the mafia was extremely unexpected. the plot twists were CRAZY. i did feel like there were too many plot twists that they kept throwing at us but i was left shocked nonetheless. one thing i would say is that there were a few plot holes. like everyone was just… okay with the whole mafia stuff? and what happened to carla? and what were the bad guys’ motives? and what happened to them after everything? lots of stuff that didn’t add up at the end.

⁀➷ writing:
i think my main issue was the writing. the dialogues felt off and it got too repetitive at times. the writing in general just brought the plot down imo. not saying i hated it just wasn’t the biggest fan. another thing was that it felt like it was trying to fit in too many tropes and it was in your face about it. like it would literally say what the trope was i guess it was because alyssa is a book girlie so she knows the tropes but idk. i did like the chapters from the killer’s pov those are always fun!


honestly this wasn’t bad i really did have fun reading it and the mystery kept me on the edge of my seat. there is definitely room for improvement and i’d love to see what the author is gonna do in the future!!

[Ayeza · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blood that divides us

⤹⋆🔪｡˚۰˚☽˚⁀➷｡˚🩸⋆ ༄

Rating: 3.25
Age rating: 16+

⤹⋆🔪｡˚۰˚☽˚⁀➷｡˚🩸⋆ ༄

Before I begin this review, I would like to thank the author Marcelina LoBue for sending me an ARC for this book! This was my first ever ARC and I highly appreciate her for choosing me as one of the ARC readers. Also this will be a completely honest review!

✼The plot

All 17-year-old Alyssa LeClae wants is to get good grades, go to a prestigious college, and read her dark romance books in peace. However, a quick turn of events changes her life when a classmate is murdered on a random school day. Her best friend, who runs a true crime podcast, convinces Alyssa to help solve the case together , and now Alyssa must work with her academic rival, Matteo Romano, who seems to know more about the murder than he's letting on.

✼Thoughts

The book started off very interesting and the plot was quit enjoyable too. It was also quit fast paced which made it easy to read it and it was FILLED with plot twists, which at first was extremely exciting but as the book progressed it felt a bit annoying because there was a twist on almost every single page, however they were very unpredictable and I always ended up guessing the wrong thing LOL. I genuinely DEVOURED the last few pages because it got really interesting and when I found out about the killer my jaw was ON THE FLOOR. I did NOT see that coming. The author did amazing with the plot twists!!

As interesting as this book was there were a few things that I think could have been better. Firstly, the whole mafia thing was a bit too unrealistic to me, I know it’s a fiction book, but the fact that an 18 year old boy was the leader of an Italian mafia gang just doesn’t sit right with me. In addition, the writing style could have been improved as well. Sometimes it felt like I was reading a diary and a few conversations felt forced, if that makes sense.

Apart from that, everything else was amazingly done! In fact I devoured this book up because the twists genuinely had me HOOKED! Also can we take a moment to appreciate the playlist given by the author?! I feel like every book should have a playlist because it makes the book so much more amusing!

”Always the victim, never the survivor”

➳Alyssa Leclae

She was a strong and confident FMC, and her POV chapters were very intriguing. Her backstory gave a lot of depth to her character and made me connect to her in an even better way. Her character made me the saddest because she went through so much but was still adamant on never giving up no matter what. I could feel every single emotion she felt!

”Who did this to you” ❤️‍🩹

➳Matteo Romano

Although he was very caring towards Alyssa and helped her recover a lot, I still can’t decide how I feel about him. He was supposed to be a morally gray character, but I feel that he lacked that morally gray essence, if that makes sense. Like one moment he was going to almost kill Alyssa but the next he’s… in love?


All in all, it was a good read! Yes, a few improvements could be done, however, I enjoyed most of the book and it’s highly impressive considering the fact that it was written by a teenage indie author! Looking forward to read more amazing books from her in the future!

(Also can we take moment to appreciate the dedication, Miss Marcelina, you COOKED)

✨For all the girls who stay strong so people don’t know they’re secretly breaking. For all the girls who push their mental health aside at the expense of others. For all the girls who read as a form of escapism. I wrote this book for you. You’re worth it and loved by many. Never forget it.✨







⭒❃.✮:▹ Pre-read ◃:✮.❃⭒
15.12.2024


Got my first ever ARC and I’m super excited to start this! Thank you so much Marcelina for offering me to be one of the ARC readers for this book, hoping it’ll be as amazing as I’m expecting it to be!!🫶🏼

[Lili°❀⋆⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ (book slump) · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many plot twists WHAT THE FUCK??

[joni ౨ৎ (vacation hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️

okay so after reading a bunch of my friends reviews & thinking it over i had to bring down the rating sadly. there was a lot of topics such as SA and other TW in the book, there was an explicit scene with some of these and they made me uncomfortable. if it was briefly mentioned I wouldn't mind but i think it's a bit much for a YA book. the romance was cute tho and the mystery plot was executed well


thank u sm to the author for reaching out to me for this arc!!

[littlefox · Rating 3 out of 5]

a big thank you to the author, marcelina, for sending me this ARC!

buddy read with the amazing hannah <3

‼️reminder to check the trigger warnings before reading‼️

· · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ·· · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ·· · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ·
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
~ 2.5 stars ~
i went back and forth between 2 and 3 stars while reading this book. there were moments i enjoyed but ultimately, it fell flat for me. i don't tend to enjoy mysteries including the mafia, especially not with teenage characters. however, i wholeheartedly believe that there is potential - the book just needs some rewrites.

what i liked
~ i loved the ptsd and trauma representation from the main character, alyssa. it's not very common for a book to have this sort of representation. even when a main character overcomes a traumatic event, they seem to immediately move on from it. for a book that emphasizes the importance of being mindful of triggers, CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. there are dark themes in this book and it can be a heavy read.

~ JUSTICE FOR GRACIE!!! i loved her character, she was the only one i trusted. i'm disappointed she didn't have as much page time as br****yn, but i'm glad she had a happy ending.

~ the plot itself was interesting. it reminded me a lot of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, and i'm always ready to read a book with those vibes. the plot spiraled midway through the book, but up until that point, i was genuinely interested in the mystery.

some constructive criticism
~ dialogue
one of my main issues with this book was how unnatural the dialogue was. the characters' conversations felt like an essay rather than an actual conversation. the banter fell flat because of this, it was too robotic for the characters' chemistry to HIT.

~ plot
the sudden addition of the mafia took a good story and made it confusing (not to mention unrealistic). the book went from a thrilling high school mystery to a dark romance? with teenagers as mafia leaders? my main suggestion is to a) find a topic and stick to it and b) map out how the plot progresses before writing it out so the denouement makes sense. for example, the plot twists were shocking... mostly because they made no sense. all the reveals and betrayals piled up without satisfyingly tying up the loose ends.
my other gripe is that not all books need a romance subplot. this is one such book. i didn't particularly enjoy that matteo and alyssa end up together when he had made her feel MORE suicidal with his spreading of rumors. imo their enemies to lovers arc didn't fit the book.

· · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ·· · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ·· · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ·
considering that this book was written by a teenager, i think it's good and there is a lot of potential. with practice, editing, and some story mapping, i can see this author going a long way.

[Lenore ⸆⸉ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was marketed as a crime mystery similar to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, but it ended up being more of a dark romance with a teenage mafia subplot. The premise was intriguing—a high school student, Alyssa, investigates a classmate’s murder while uncovering something much bigger—but the execution didn’t work for me.
While the pacing was fast, and some of the plot twists, especially the ending, caught me off guard, a lot of the twists felt predictable. The story also leaned heavily into unrealistic elements, like a teenage boy leading a mafia and the romance between Alyssa and Matteo feeling forced and contradictory. Their “rivals-to-lovers”dynamic and the “who did this to you?” trope had potential, but the relationship just didn’t land for me.
The writing was easy to read, but at times it felt overly simplistic, like I was reading a diary rather than a developed narrative. The dialogue often felt unnatural, making it hard to connect with the characters. Plus, the mix of darker themes and sensitive topics made the story feel jumbled, and it didn’t align with the small-town mystery vibe I was expecting. Overall, this wasn’t the book for me, but I can see how some might enjoy its fast pace and twists

But with this being the author’s second book and her being a teenager, I can see the potential she has and can’t wait to see what she writes next











This sounds so exciting! Thanks Marcelina for the arc