Detective Cait Reagan, forever changed by her relationship with Marcella Carson, has survived the opening of the Black Gate and the vampire curse. Now, seemingly cured, Cait has a new lease on her mortal life, but difficulties beset her at every turn. Cait’s mother, Róisín, is neurologically devastated, unable to function without constant supervision, and her reunion with Morgan Kennedy, the first woman she ever loved, is downright awkward. In the meantime, Cait struggles to raise Katie, the sixteen-year-old vampire she turned in a desperate bid to save her life. Once Cait’s enemy, Elizabeth is helping with Katie, but Cait’s relationship with Liz is tenuous and strange. And eight-hundred-year-old vampire Nastasia Volkova, the acting head of the vampire council, seems to have her eye on Cait, refusing to remove her from the roll of known vampires.
As if all of this turmoil wasn’t enough for one woman to handle, Marcella is missing, and someone is murdering the remaining vampires who survived the battle of the Black Gate. Nastasia has made it crystal clear that she wants the culprits found and brought to her brand of justice. Meanwhile, something sinister stalks from the Black Gate deep beneath Boston.
Cait must juggle her increasingly complicated personal life with the needs of her job, Nastasia’s strange fixation, and the whirlwind of her own desperate search for self as she grasps for answers to the question, ‘What is true evil?’
Rave Reviews for Blood Rituals
“For all its fantasy, it was the human experiences that kept me reading.”
“Worth the read, couldn’t put it down, gnashing my teeth for the second book.”
“What an incredible book[...] I’m so sad to have to wait for the next installment.”
Black Mirror, book two in Aoibh Wood’s Cait Reagan series is a heart-stopper with a killer cliffhanger ending, so be warned! Honestly, I can not get enough of this world of vampires, humans, and all things mythical.
If you haven’t read Blood Rituals, go back and start there; Black Mirror is not a standalone. Don’t skip it; for starters, you would miss an incredible story, and some major plots may not make sense.
After failing to stop the Black Gate from opening, Cait believes she has been cured of the vampire curse. Her mother is on the brink of death, her relationship with Marcella is over, she is living with a woman she thought was the enemy, the woman she loved in secret for years has become a work colleague and she is the mother of a vampire child. It’s a juggling act that takes its toll emotionally and physically, and Cait is still expected to save the world from the creatures everyone believed were nothing but myths.
Aoibh Wood tells such an intense story, building Cait’s world and making it relatable while filling it with the creatures' nightmares are made of. There is humour and wit among the fast-paced action, and it’s okay not to understand a lot of folklore or fantasy tropes because, in this series, the reader gets to learn along with the protagonist.
I’m so excited to be able to jump straight into book three and am out recommending the Cait Reagan series to anyone who will listen.
I’m conflicted, I liked this book yes , I enjoyed it . But not as much as the first one with marchella more involved. I don’t get why she had to let cait go for good I mean yeah she messed up but ultimately she just did what was asked of her , and I didn’t like Liz and cait as a couple , honestly I feel like cait is constantly trying to be what she’s not and it bothers me . And I get the whole ending at the beginning but I didn’t like this one , it was so much build up and it didn’t amount to much . Maybe it’s because I was literally counting down the months for this new book to come out and I pictured things so much differently , or maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for a villain and i didn’t like that Liz was so i don’t even know what to call her , a push over ? Nevertheless I did enjoy it it just wasn’t what I was expecting but the writing was awesome and the descriptions of the different places and different animals were good and you do really amazing work and I will honestly read any book you write ✍️ .
TLDR: A detective struggles with her new reality but needs to learn how to save herself.
Black Mirror is, to put it mildly, chaotic. The protagonist and antihero, Cait, is trying to piece her life back together after opening the gate and losing Marcella to self-imposed exile. Liz and Katie have stepped in to help Cait through the transition, but she’s both a wreck and a wrecking ball. When she lands a new homicide case it becomes clear that someone is targeting, kidnapping, and killing vampires. The clock is ticking and it’s only a matter of time before someone she loves becomes a victim.
Much like the first book, Black Mirror excels at creating tension. It walks the line between paranormal and science fiction and is reminiscent of shows like The X-Files, Fringe, and Black Mirror. Was it a conscious decision to name the book after the show? It wouldn’t surprise me. What I do know is that I would prefer to never read about the white worm again. I have a difficult enough time sleeping as is, but a monster with endless rows of teeth is insomnia-inducing. This entry in the series builds suspense while layering mystery upon mystery and its chaos. I love it for the creativity – especially the creation story.
Typically, I don’t like to read reviews before reading a book and reviewing it. I prefer to maintain as much objectivity as possible. However, I read several before heading into the prologue of Black Mirror to satisfy my curiosity about something. Now that I am finished with the book, I need to say that I wholly disagree with other reviewers about Liz and Marcella. In the first book, we learn that Marcella has knowingly taken advantage of Cait and her family. And Cait infers, on more than one occasion, that her encounter with Marcella is equivalent to rape. While her view on vampires is constantly evolving, I cannot imagine what logic Cait would need to employ to overcome that initial thought.
Furthermore, I love Liz to itty bitty pieces. Not once does she ask for Cait to become something she isn’t. She waits, with the patience of an undead saint, for Cait to emerge from her cocoon. Whereas Marcella and Nastasia try to put Cait in a cocoon of their own making for their own purposes. Some of those uses are nobler than others, but the result is the same. They would knowingly strip Cait of freedom. And Cait rails against Japanese internment and the Holocaust and a whole host of human atrocities which strip people of agency. Why would she choose a paranormal mate that does the same? So, at this moment in her life, Liz is the perfect match. Do I need a Team Liz shirt? Bloody hell, I never thought I’d use Twilight to back up an opinion about a romance.
I could ramble forever about why Liz is the better partner, but I need to briefly touch on some issues I had with the text. To start, I’m not a fan of Cait sleeping her way through heartache. The encounter inside the gate was frustrating because it didn’t align with any of Cait’s thoughts prior to it occurring or afterward. So, why did it happen at all? Secondly, for a tough-as-nails cop, Cait cries more than a leaky faucet. She’s always falling apart or one second from a breakdown. I don’t envy her pain or circumstances, but it would be nice to see her grow beyond the damsel in distress persona which causes everyone to come to her rescue. Thirdly, I don’t like the epilogue for reasons I cannot specify.
This was still a fun read, and I can’t wait for the third book.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS really enjoyed the 1st hair of the 1st book in this series, Cait becoming involved in the paranormal world, the PTSD from the war & wking through that, meeting M and the positive things coming out of their relationship, but the dark turn the book took in the 2nd half left me disappointed, M becoming a terrible person, Cait beginning to become bad in some ways. For me the darkness overshadowed the characters and took too much room. I thought i would give the 2nd bk a go though, i really like Cait and some of the characters and the world created by the author, but Cait hooking up with Nastasha, a very bad vampire who bullied and tormented her, was too much…..
Ah-ma-zing! A whole different ball game. The bar was set higher this time. The scenes were definitely more exciting with additional characters and uh creatures.
Argh! What a cliffhanger! So much action, many characters, backstabbings, polyamory... lots of things going on. There were a few times i had to take a pause to retrace a characters origin etc. But in all a riveting tale and i am so looking forward to whats next.
Oh boy. This series is the gift that keeps on giving. In the previous book what started out as a fairly run of the mill vampire romance novel turned batshit crazy at the end and, boy let me tell you, the batshit craziness just keeps on coming. You've got snake lady orgies, xenomorph face huggers, brain worms, zombies, interdimensional amazon women, bratty vampire teenagers, fairy internment camps... the works. To say that this series keeps surprising me with things that I haven't really seen in urban fantasy novels before is something of an understatement. I eat this shit up. Nomnomnomnom.
What also surprised me was that there was a sex scene that actually turned me on which is pretty hard to do these days, since I've come out as ace. No, it wasn't the snake lady orgy. It was a very d/s scene which I wasn't expecting, because none of the other sex scenes had any kind of leaning towards that kind of thing. I always knew I was into BDSM, but I thought that interest had died with my sexual desire but... I guess not. You learn something new about yourself everyday.
A peeve of mine, though. When all the dust is settled and our author is showing what the main character's idyllic family life is like, it's nothing but good natured ribbing of each other. Constant ribbing. Personally, a good ribbing every now and then is good, the constant nature of it wears me down.
I am literally so upset over that ending, and I don’t mean Cait getting shot—we knew that was going to happen. I was waiting for Cait to finally choose Liz, tell her that she loved her, and be together without any reservations. And the author skipped it? There wasn’t even a talk, flashback, or summary of how it went. Cait just spoke to Marcella, realized she loved Liz and wouldn’t get back with Marcella, and Marcella told her to go get her girl and stop her from leaving. Then the chapter ends, and the next one is the following morning. Apparently, they had the talk, slept together, and now they are a happy family. What the actual hell? I had to sit through Cait messing up, making horrible decisions, and being with people she shouldn’t have, only to miss out on the moment when she finally makes a good one. Also, Nastasia should’ve died—I hate that character. Normally, I like evil women, but this one had no redeeming qualities. Cait, you don’t actually like her, baby girl; she is mind-controlling you, and you can’t even tell. It is ridiculous. And telling Morgan she should go to therapy while Cait herself refuses to? She needs therapy so badly. Cait claiming she’s in a different stage of life and maturity and that Morgan isn't there yet, so they can’t be together because of it is the most hypocritical and delusional thing I have ever read. Cait has so much trauma and PTSD that she can’t properly function. Aside from Katie, all of the relationship dynamics are so unbalanced that I’m actually worried for her. The plot was all over the place, with very random time and location skips, leaving me confused a lot of the time. Is she dreaming? Did they all teleport? What is going on?
Anyways, I stayed for Liz and was disappointed in the end. I feel robbed. Still somewhat enjoyed it though, so 3 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Some books have a way of dragging you in, even when you know it's going to be dark, that it's going to end on a cliffhanger, and that it's going to have all sorts of twists and go in some unexpected directions. Black Mirror is 100% that, and I still really really enjoyed it. Cait, apparently 'cured', grows a lot in this books, learning a lot more about who she is, and the world around her - what's really there. Especially as this series definitely falls in the urban fantasy camp. And what can I say - the relationship between Cait, Liz and Katie is really cute.
Thoroughly enjoying the series, and now on to book 3 (Green Rath).
I really enjoyed the 2nd book in this series and can’t wait for the next one. One thing I liked is the new characters. We get an expansion for Cait’s division and get to learn quite a bit about them. This book also helped continue to lay groundwork for bigger things to come as it focused on more immediate happenings to Cait and company. Cait has to battle with losing her vampiric curse while also trying to figure out what is happening with her family and in the city. Her love life is in shambles and as she’s trying to figure out why Marcella left, there are 3 more women in the picture. Now if she can just figure out if they want her or to use her. Outside of the immediate attacks impacting Cait’s life or what awaits under the city a new threat emerges when politicians come for preternaturals. Again, this one has laid so much more groundwork for what is to come and did so while keeping my attention (even knowing what we’d get at the end). I love Cait, Liz, and Katie and can’t wait to see how their growing family handle what comes next.
Tantalizingly Creative, Captivating, and Fascinating
Wow! The phenomenal world-building expands within this world, earth, with new worlds and new friendly and enemy preternatural and sides being drawn among humans. The outstanding descriptions and dialogue flow within the story and move it forward at the same time.
As we read or listen, we see Cait come to understand Marcella's motives and choices realizing their love is real and deep, but that trust has been broken and we watch a chosen family form between Cait and Elizabeth with Katie and her sister. And we get a tantalizing dark taste of Natasha giving us a better picture of Marcella and her needed role among the preternatural, but where is she?
This story is rich and full, drawing you in and not letting go until the very end bringing clarity while expanding the storyline and introducing new characters. The action is intense almost nonstop. You never want to put it down and when Black Mirror ends you are more than ready to pick up Green Rath, matter of fact you are rushing off to read it.
I appreciate that Aoibh Wood follows through on every thread, smoothly connects the flow from book to book, and brings conclusions while opening new conflicts, some of which need to be addressed in the next book. She has an amazing creative mind and superb writing skills. Her books are a treat to read and when you get to listen to Abby Craden narrate, as I did, thank you Aoibh Wood for the audible, it is incredibly magnificent.
One more thing before I end this review. I don't believe we've heard the end of Cait. I'm looking for the impressively impossible that brings her back powerfully; maybe not in the next book but hopefully by book four.
And I highly recommend this whole series. You will be thrilled you picked it up!
The pace of this one was better, not as fast paced.
I like the introduction of Liz, and Natasia, but I’m team Marcella. Liz isn’t badass enough. So the ending for me was a bit, meh! Though it makes sense if you’re after the happy ever after type ending.
However Cait’s character irritated me a little, more self absorbed than before.
Looking forward to the next one. I hope we find out more about Cait’s origin, as Demi god is mentioned, then kind of forgotten about. Which is odd.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was hooked with the beginning and it was an excellent sequel to Cait’s story. I really don’t want to wait for the next one. I’m hoping it’s out soon. While I want to learn about Aiofe, I hope the next Cait book comes soon, as well. I only deducted a star because of some typos/punctuation issues. The editing needs to be better, but the book and series itself has been awesome so far.
A theoretically 'cured' Cait is dealing with the fallout from magical creatures being revealed to the world....
I was not as happy with this one. It felt less plot driven and more Cait floundering around as various stuff happens. Plus a LOT of 'lore dumps' which while interesting felt a bit much.
(I liked the explaination why Cait has magic, but it really should have been in book one, not this one.)
Another part of this series that was amazing. The story was super exciting and I kept listening to it during the night -what a page turner. Jumping straight into the next, and so far final, book in this amazing series Had to give this audiobook 5 ⭐️ and to the amazing narration by Abby Craden too!
A great installment to this series. Great characters and dialogues leaving you wanting more. Action packed with that intertwines with other world characters. A true page turner.
I honestly can’t wait for book 3. I started the first book because I was bored and on a supernatural kick. But I am glad I did. I love the dynamics between all of the ladies. Looking forward to book 3.
I love this story. I like when a story pulls me in and I like being immersed in it. I feel like I'm a part of the family. It's great. I can't wait for the next in the series.
I liked the way it was tidied up, even though her murder happened on the last pages. Also like how the story can go to far flung places, this can have so many others following it.
I really love ur books. I like how u kept the story going very good at. Suspense n also love how u have lgbt in it. Will it really take until the new year for the last book? But anyways ill will wait in it ty for begin a very good writer. Ty for the books
While there were missing story beats, like the relationship between Cáit and Aoife and the exploration of that backstory, the characters were better developed and more entertaining, with interesting questions of morality.
Holy Black Mirror was excellent! So much plot and character development in this book, and although Cait's relationships won't be for all readers, I thought it was realistic for her character. The series is far from over, and I can't wait for the next!
A new world opens up and we are introduced to more new characters. This book was a faster pace than the first one. Get the books and leave your reviews.
I could do without the constant and varied references and scenes about sexual assault. By the second book its beyond unnecessary. Otherwise i really enjoyed the story as it unfolded.