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Sidekick Super Review: Your Blood, My Bones (2024) by Kelly Andrew
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
The Basics
Page Length: 368
Audiobook Length: ~12 hours
Grade Reading Level: 9+
Target Audience Age: 14+
Goodreads Score: 3.66 out of 5
Buy it HERE
Setting: Contemporary Rural Maine, Willow Heath--an isolated family farmhouse and surrounding woods
Genre: Young Adult Dark Fantasy/Gothic Horror
Topics: Magic, Monsters, Curses, Family Secrets, Grief, Survival, Romance, Friendship, Nature, Sacrifice, Immortality
Plot: Wyatt Westlock is haunted—by traumatic memories, her father's death, and a mysterious accident that changed her life forever. Now she's returning to the place where it all began: Willow Heath, her family's isolated farmhouse deep in the woods of Maine. After her father's death, Wyatt has inherited the property, and she has one simple plan: burn it to the ground and leave the past behind.
But everything changes when she discovers her childhood best friend—and longtime crush—Peter imprisoned beneath the house. As Wyatt digs deeper into the secrets of Willow Heath, she realizes there's far more to her family than she ever imagined.
Willow Heath isn't just an old farmhouse. It's the barrier between the human world and a terrifying darkness beyond. For generations, the Westlock family has used ancient blood magic to keep monsters and supernatural creatures from crossing over. And Peter isn't who Wyatt believed he was either. He's immortal and has spent centuries living, dying, and being sacrificed by the Westlock family to maintain the magical barrier. Worse still, he's been keeping secrets about Wyatt's past.
Now Wyatt must decide what kind of future she's willing to fight for. Should she walk away and let the darkness consume the world? Stay and master a dangerous magic she's barely begun to understand? Or continue her family's brutal tradition by sacrificing the one person she's always cared about most?
Themes: Identity shaped by family expectations, making your own destiny/fate, breaking cycles of abuse and violence, home as a refuge and a prison, forgiveness, healing, burden of immortality, consequences of unchecked power, trust and betrayal.
You might like this book if you like:
Dark, gothic vibes
Gardening/Horticulture/Plant Identification
Forest Hiking
Books like: The Honeys, Don't Let the Forest In, The Dead and the Dark, House of Hollow, She Is a Haunting, The Raven Boys, A Wilderness of Stars, The Bone Houses, An Enchantment of Ravens
Shows like: The Haunting of Bly Manor, Locke & Key, Yellowjackets, Wednesday, Shadow and Bone, The Order, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Movies like: Pan's Labyrinth, Crimson Peak, Edward Scissorhands, Warm Bodies, A Monster Calls (also a book), The Shape of Water, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (also a book)
Other books written by this author: The Whispering Dark, I Am Made of Death, The Gravewood
Teaching Your Blood, My Bones in Class
Content:
Language: Infrequent mature language appears throughout the novel.
Sex/Romance: The two main characters develop romantic feelings for one another and share a few passionate kisses.
Violence/Scariness: This novel contains frequent violence and dark fantasy elements, including monsters, supernatural creatures, and other paranormal content. An immortal character is repeatedly killed as part of ritual sacrifices. Children intentionally set fires, a parent poisons their child, and animals are killed. Many of the magical rituals require blood sacrifice.
Drinking/Smoking/Drugs: A teenager drinks whiskey.
Class Novel-ability: Unfortunately, this isn't a strong contender for a whole-class novel because the content is too mature and dark. That said, it's an excellent choice for your fantasy lovers. The story is intriguing and refreshingly original, unlike any fantasy I've read before. It has all the classic elements—magical creatures, monsters, romance, and danger—without feeling like a copy-and-paste version of every other fantasy novel.
The writing is beautiful, with plenty of passages that would make excellent mentor texts for writing lessons. Most importantly, this is the kind of book that will keep students turning pages and help foster a genuine love of reading in your classroom.
The Star Qualities
The gothic atmosphere is one of my favorite parts of this book. Kelly Andrew brings the dilapidated farmhouse, overgrown woods, and creepy chapel to life so vividly that it feels like you're walking through the setting yourself. It has the perfect haunted, eerie vibe, and the writing matches it every step of the way. The tone is dark, moody, and emotional, and the slow-burn romance fits perfectly. It's the story of two broken teenagers trapped in a haunting cycle they have to break together. If you love atmospheric books that make you feel the setting, this one delivers.
I also loved how unique the story felt. I've read a lot of young adult fantasy, and sometimes the plots can start to blend together. Your Blood, My Bones has all the classic fantasy elements—monsters, curses, haunted houses, magic, and sacrifice—but the author combines them in a way that feels fresh and original. I was never quite sure where the story was going, which made it even more fun to read.
The writing itself is beautiful. Kelly Andrew's prose is poetic, dark, and just a little unsettling in the best way. She uses vivid imagery and lyrical language to create such a strong sense of mood that every page feels drenched in gothic atmosphere. There are so many passages that would make fantastic mentor texts for creative writing lessons, especially when teaching imagery, mood, and word choice.
Book Talk Read Aloud Section
If you have the physical book, read pages 3-5 (through the paragraph break "The last living Westlock.")
If you don't, read the same pages in the reading sample here.
"Reading Like a Writer" Mentor Texts
This is the very first passage of the book, and I love how it sets the stage. It opens with a strong, intriguing first sentence that immediately grabs the reader's attention. The setting is brought to life through incredible sensory details, personification, and carefully chosen descriptive language. There's symbolism, parallel structure, and a mix of long and short sentences that creates great pacing. The dramatic paragraph breaks build tension, ending the passage on a powerful note. The entire description feels moody, haunting, and unsettling—perfectly establishing the tone for the rest of the book.
This passage has so many interesting things working for it. First, the diction is incredible. The author uses lots of strong, active verbs that make the scene feel violent and powerful. There’s figurative language, internal thoughts in italics, and a mix of long and short sentences that changes the pacing. Sentence fragments emphasize certain snapshots from Wyatt’s dream, while vivid sensory details let readers picture the scene for themselves. It’s just an impressively packed passage.
I like the setup of this passage. It does exactly what it promises: it introduces three mistakes and then walks readers through each one. The repetition and parallel structure ("The first mistake..." followed by "That was...") give the passage a strong rhythm, while each mistake escalates the stakes and adds to the drama. The paragraph breaks slow the pacing and emphasize the narrator's regret, making the characterization even more powerful.
Sentences for Combining and Imitation
Sentence sets for combining:
"Gangling and barefoot and a little bit feral, Peter had been the sort of boy who always looked hungry." (p.11)
He was gangling.
He was barefoot.
He was a little bit feral.
Peter had been the sort of boy who always looked hungry.
"She blew in at the top of the stairs like a springtime squall–all bluster and torrent, color in her cheeks and her hair windblown." (p. 72)
She blew in at the top of the stairs.
She was like a springtime squall.
She was all bluster and torrent.
She had color in her cheeks.
Her hair was windblown.
"Sometimes, in the dog days of summer–before the seasons changed and Wyatt’s parents shipped her back to school–she’d curl up in the porch swing out front and watch the moths cluster around the lit onion lamps." (p. 116)
It was the dog days of summer.
It was before the seasons changed.
It was before Wyatt's parents shipped her back to school.
Sometimes, she would curl up in the porch swing.
The porch swing was out front.
She would watch the moths.
The moths clustered around the lit onion lamps.
Sentences for Imitation:
These sentences are full of simple but dramatically effective craft moves that students can imitate. They include em dashes, personification, colons, onomatopoeia, and internal dialogue in italics. Students can easily pick one, two, or even three of these techniques to try in their own writing.
"He’d spent so long saying too little–tucking his secrets into his cheek like sugar candies–that when he finally went looking for them, they were gone." (p. 19)
"He knew this: He was five years old the first time he saw the beast." (p. 40)
"Don’t cry, she willed herself, blinking furiously. Don’t cry." (p. 66)
"It was followed by the slow groan of woos, a sound like a tree uprooting–the rapid plink-plink-plink of chains uncoupling." (p. 74)
Used this book in your classroom? Tell us how in the comments!
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