• When Wishes Bleed by Casey Bond
4.5
When Wishes Bleed Book Cover When Wishes Bleed
Casey Bond
Teen, YA, Fantasy, Romance, Thriller
Independently Published
October 30, 2019
Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback
460

The upheaval in my life began the moment a prince stumbled into my house and asked me to read his fortune. Any other night, I might have made an excuse to get him to leave, but this was no normal visit. My fingers prickled to touch him. So, I granted his request by handing him a single wishbone. When he snapped it, the wish ... bled.

Hearing me suck in a shocked breath, he asked what it meant. Such an ominous omen could only mean one thing: his death was imminent. Fate revealed that he wouldn't die of natural causes. Someone wanted him dead. Stunned by the revelation, the man I now knew as Prince Tauren disappeared into a night I feared he wouldn't survive. The following day, I received an invitation to the castle. While it seemed the prince believed I could intervene and uncover who was plotting his death, his motives didn't stop there. I was being summoned to join twelve other women in vying for the opportunity to be his wife and future queen.

Going could mean jeopardizing my plans to reclaim my heritage and resurrect the House of Fate. But staying would guarantee Tauren's death, and the blood of his wish would be on my hands.

Do you believe in Fate?…

Casey Bond will make you a believer in When Wishes Bleed. For seventeen year old Sable of the Gallows, the thirteenth sector in the kingdom of Nautilus, life is dictated by Fate.  To her, Fate is not just an amorphous concept but a specific entity who lives inside her, guides her own life, and imparts blessings and destruction on others.  To the other witches of the Houses: Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind she is the Daughter of Fate, the only remaining heir to the House of Fate, but also an ostracized witch because of her mother.  A chance encounter with a striking young man at the Equinox Celebration, one of the few times a year non-witches are permitted entry into the thirteenth sector, and a terrifying reading of his future changes the direction of Sables life in ways Fate has not yet revealed to her but will push her to follow.

I was not overly excited about reviewing When Wishes Bleed by Casey Bond after reading that it was a cross between The Selection and The Hunger Games.  While I have no issue with either one of these stories and enjoyed them both, I’m just not trilled about experiencing books where the plots are regurgitated onto different characters and settings.  I’ve seen more than one teen book trying to capitalize on those stories’ success.  Aside from the fact that Prince Tauren, the man whose future she read at the Equinox Celebration,  must hold a selection-esque process to choose a wife, When Wishes Bleed is totally different than either of the stories mentioned.   Sable and Tauren are authentic and you can’t help hoping it will work out for them.  As a bonus, Casey’s storytelling hooks you from the opening pages and leads you in a totally unanticipated way to the ending.

Casey Bond creates a wonderful tale of magic and murder, intense intrigue, and fated romance in When Wishes Bleed.  It is a captivating book, appropriate for teens and young adults but interesting for adults, with dialogue that is not cheesy or stilted like some teen books.  Plus, the idea of finding love and acceptance while standing up for what is right is appealing no matter what your age.  An added bonus, When Wishes Bleed is now available on .

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