Kim Liggett

Romeo and Juliet meets Children of the Corn in this one-of-a-kind romantic horror "When you fall in love, you will carve out your heart and throw it into the deepest ocean. You will be all in--blood and salt." These are the last words Ash Larkin hears before her mother returns to the spiritual commune she escaped long ago. But when Ash follows her to Quivira, Kansas, something sinister and ancient waits among the rustling cornstalks of this village lost to time. Ash is plagued by memories of her ancestor, Katia, which harken back to the town's history of unrequited love and murder, alchemy and immortality. Charming traditions soon give way to a string of gruesome deaths, and Ash feels drawn to Dane, a forbidden boy with secrets of his own. As the community prepares for a ceremony five hundred years in the making, Ash must fight not only to save her mother, but herself--and discover the truth about Quivira before it's too late. Before she's all in--blood and salt.

Blood and Salt

Steysha

Blood and salt - is an intriguing romantic horror that will hardly leave you indifferent. But what emotions will you experience going through it: positive or negative, I cannot foresee. The story is very peculiar, and, to my opinion, it has a lot of shortcomings. Nevertheless, it captivated me from the beginning to the end.

Twins Ash and Rhys live with their mother who once escaped from a cult, which is located in Kansas among the corn fields. Under these conditions, their life can hardly be called a normal one: especially when they hear about magic and alchemy all the time, and many other crazy things that you won`t believe until you see it with your own eyes.



But Ash also constantly sees things that others would call abnormal: for instance, a dead girl hanging on a rope. Imagine how you eat your breakfast at the table, and there is a dead body on a chandelier hanging over your, and blood dripping into your food.


  «THE DEAD GIRL hung upside down over our kitchen table.
Ropes dug into her ankles as she swayed from the chandelier. Blood traced a line from the familiar cut across the palm of her hand to one of her delicate fingertips. The drop quivered before joining the little puddle headed for my twin’s cereal bowl»


Crazy, isn`t it? Ash` mom desperately tries to protect her daughter from the visions, but at some point they become more frequent.

One day their mother runs back to Quivira to perform her duty: to become a human vessel for the head of the cult - the immortal witch Katia. Long time ago she was blood bounded with a very bad man - Coronado - and he killed the love of her life. Now, after many years, she wants to return her beloved one from death, and live with him forever. In order to do it, she needs two vessels – who happened to be twin`s parents.



Not believing in all this nonsense, children decide to go after their mother, bring her back home and save her from the cult. But after coming to Quivira they quickly realize that everything is not as easy as it seemed. Ashlyn is a conduit, and she constantly sees memories of her dead ancestors – Katia`s and her murdered daughter Maria`s. Day after day she finds out more about the history of her family... and the information she discovered stirs her blood.


  «Coronado shoves his fingers inside the tear of my bodice, feeling my newly healed flesh. He knows what I am.
“What do you want from me?” I recoil from his touch.
He smiles, beautiful and cruel. “Immortality.»


With time, twins find new friends and allies - charming prophetess Beth and mysterious Dane, with whom Ashlyn immediately falls in love. Together they learn the truth about the murders surrounding Ashlyn`s ancestry, about Katia and Coronado and about their mission, all the while trying to deal with the evil, lurking in the corn field that protects the cult.



I`d like to talk a bit more about the romance in this novel – which is the reason I took two stars out of rating. I didn`t like Dane from right away, as soon as he appeared. Let me explain why.

Ashlyn and her brother finally come to the corn field. Not a living soul around, only corn stalks. Suddenly, some boy appears out of nowhere, and Ash instantly falls in love with him. He did not say a word yet, but he already managed to awaken her sexual desire, though she had never felt anything like that to any other guy. Well, let's say he`s a man-candy, he has a nice look and he reeks of sexuality. Ashlyn swoons and all, which is stupid but quite possible in real life, and it would have been okay, if only she had stopped at that. But no, she decided to start a conversation with a stranger in the middle of a corn field. His first sentence:


  «Do I know you?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “Maybe from a fashion magazine or something?»


Smoooooth. Apparently, all real pickup masters are born in corn fields. After three minutes of conversation, the guy had his fingers laid over her hipbone. Excuse me, have you ever heard of personal space? But Ash didn`t mind - she was immersed in thoughts about how his touch caused fireworks in her head. I'll add a whole excerpt from their conversation to justify my indignation.

«It’s too bad you can’t stick around. I could show you the sights,” he said, stepping closer.
“There are sights?” I teased as I turned down a narrow pathway lined with orphaned fenders.
“Sure.” He smiled broadly as he followed close behind. “The sunflower field at sunset, maybe we could split a bottle of dandelion wine.”
I looked down at the ground, attempting to hide my idiotic grin.
“Then I would take you to Windy Point to watch for shooting stars.”
“Would we make a wish?” I glanced at him over my shoulder.
«You can if you like, but I don’t need to.” He offered that smile again with the tiny dimple.
“Sounds like you’ve thought this through.”
“It’s not over yet.” He grabbed my waist, stopping me in my tracks. My pulse pounded beneath his touch. He dragged his thumb across the top of my hip bone, and my stomach lurched as if the ground were caving in, sending me into a free fall. “At dawn, we could take a swim at Crystal Pond.”
“And then what?” I managed to ask.
He pulled me close, whispering in my ear. “You’d never want to leave.”
I felt giddy.

I remind you, these two know each other for 3 minutes. They did not even introduce themselves! Really, who cares about the name of a stranger when he offers to swim at dawn, and then to "make you stay with him forever?" Pfff, I always find friends that way! I wonder what he had in mind? Must be some seeeerious intentions. 

GIRL, watch the fucking Lovely Bones movie! Strangers in a field who offer you to spend the night will never do you any good! Fun fact, immediately after this, the guy asks for Ashlyn`s name and then runs off into the field like he saw a ghost. Uh-uh, so romantic! All in all, what was meant as a love story I perceived as a horror. Ashlyn was completely blind to all Dane`s oddities, because her heart was full of luuuuv. It`s like Twilight all over again! Dane also behaves like a jerk at first, but then rapidly changes and becomes a faithful squire to his queen. Though we are given some explanations about such a strange behavior in the end, my impression was still spoiled.




  «I snatched it back and took another drink, not because I wanted more, but because his lips had just touched the bottle. I wanted to capture his warmth, his kiss. And then I wanted to slap myself for being such a tool.»


You see? Needless to say that she completely forgot about her mom and her looming death, and focused all her attention on our misterious boy.



As for the rest, I enjoyed the story. I really liked the author`s style, and the ease with which I read the book. I liked the atmospheric descriptions. I loved secondary characters (team Rhys + Beth all the way!). Yes, Ashlyn openly infuriated me with her obsession over Dane, but when it was not about him - it was good. I really liked sarcastic dialogues between the twins, and how the relationships between siblings were shown. I can`t complain on the creepy moments – personally, I was terrified at some points.

But, tell you what: the first half of the book was almost flawless - the heroine was focused on rescuing her mother, and the plot was twisted around the mystery of the cult. The second half payed way more attention to the romance, and the plot became a little bit predictable and confusing. I`m still not sure what I feel about the ending, but it definitely left a couple of questions.



I think the fans of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Tucholke will like this book. Happy reading!
*I`m adding my moodboard to this review

Blood and Salt

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