Book Review: Silver & Blood by Jessie Milhalik

Official Synopsis: There’s something in the woods…

When a vicious beast begins attacking her fellow villagers, Riela reluctantly agrees to enter the forbidden forest and kill the monster as she’s the only mage available—or so she thought.

Untrained and barely armed, Riela is quickly overwhelmed when one beast turns into two. She fears her death is at hand until the unexpected arrival of a scarred, strikingly handsome man with gleaming moonlit magic changes her fate—and provides a rare opportunity to learn more about her own fickle power.

After being rescued and healed from the beast’s poison, Riela awakens in a magical castle complete with a gorgeous library, a strange wolf, and the surly man who saved her life. She soon learns Garrick is both more powerful and far deadlier than a mere mortal mage—but thanks to a century-long curse, his powers are weakening.

Trapped in his castle and surrounded by the treacherous woods, the spark of attraction between Riela and Garrick slowly ignites into fiery desire. But the more they discover about Riela’s magic, the more suspicious Garrick grows of her identity. As they unravel the secrets and lies connecting Riela’s past to Garrick’s, the tenuous threads of trust between them start to fray.

Because Riela’s life—or her death—might be the key to regaining everything Garrick has lost.

When we first meet Riela, she is being woken up to go and kill a monster in the woods that has been tormenting her town. As the only one with magic she is the only one with even a chance of surviving in the woods. But when a mysterious stranger, and his pet wolf, save her life and bring her back to their castle she realizes entering the woods might lead to more than she bargained for. Riela has only recently come to knowing she has magic, meaning she has little to no control over it and finds it difficult to use the way other mages do. She is determined to not be a damsel in distress. Reila won't let this stranger keep her prisoner, but it turns out its not the castle keeping her prisoner, its the woods themselves. Now she finds herself needing to trust the mage in the woods, who might be her only chance at ever getting out but also at training her to control the magic she only recently realized she had.

I had a lot of hope for this book, mostly because it gave the vibes of having fae without it actually being fae...I think. The problems started to come in when I realized it was trying to do enemies to lovers, but in a way that just didn't vibe with me. I think Garrick is just mean at times, I get that he's been stuck forever and has been tricked before but his lack of believing Riela, while also actively having tension, came off as mean and not as enemies to lovers to me. The magic system in this book was also confusing at times. You could run out of magic, or at least get too tired to be able to continue using, but then it felt weird how some of it would work. It also mentions different types of magic users but never delves into it more.

That being said, I think the story had a lot of potential. There were some interactions between Garrick and Reila that I really enjoyed and I did enjoy the tension between the two characters. One of the other things I really liked in this book was the side characters. Vastian is a treat and honestly I think he saved the book for me at times. I loved his wit and how he would poke all of Garrick's buttons when needed. Being a romantasy, this book definitely has it's spicy moments between Garrick and Riela, once they kind of figure it out at least. It's definitely a middle-spice level based off things I've read and I think most of the scenes make sense within the plot, though there are a few moments that don't. I think being romantasy is where some of the plot points I was searching for were missed, or at least not delved into as much as I would have liked. I also really enjoyed the jumping between worlds, even if at times it felt a little disjointed. There is a decent plot twist at the end and a cliffhanger that definitely leads to more.

At this point, I would be interested in seeing how the ending plays out in this story, but would also need there to be a bit more explanation of things going on in the background, especially the magic system. I think if there is a chance for the main characters to be less annoying and finally more trusting of each other it would make a big difference in how I feel about the sequel. I think there is chance for things to get better for the book, but this one just missed the mark for me a bit. For those that do love romantasy with some mystery and a 'tall, dark and handsome' male main character, this might be just the book for you!

I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Silver & Blood comes out January 27, 2026!

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