Today’s review is about SILVER AND BLOOD by Jessie Mihalik. It’s the first book in a new romantasy series. After the villagers force Riela to enter the mysterious woods and kill a magical beast, she awakes to find herself in a magical castle with a powerful mage. There she tries to learn how to use her newly awakened magic, but also learns there might be more to her own history.
Author: Jessie Mihalik
Series: Silver & Blood, #1
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Avon
Publish Date: January 27, 2026
Print Length: 448
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Silver and Blood Synopsis
Synopsis
On a deadly mission to kill the mythical beast that has been haunting her woods, a desperate mage finds her fate intertwined with the handsome, powerful man who saves her in this dark and sexy romantasy—perfect for readers of Jennifer L. Armentrout, Callie Hart, and Holly Black.
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.
Silver and Blood Review
I received a free, digital, advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher. My review is my own and reflects my honest opinion about this book.
SILVER AND BLOOD is the first book in a new romantasy series (of currently unspecified length) by Jessie Mihalik. When a villager returns from the woods after being attacked by a monster, the village tasks Riela with killing it. Although Riela has newly manifested magic, she has no combat skills. But the villagers give her little choice, so Riela arms herself and enters the woods. Overwhelmed by a pack of monsters, a mysterious mage emerges and rescues her. She awakes in his magical castle, unable to leave because of an old spell put on the woods. Trying to make the best of the situation and Garrick, the moody mage, Riela tries to learn how to use her magic. But as they learn more about her magic, Garrick becomes suspicious about her identity and Riela begins to wonder who she really is.
To get straight to the point, SILVER AND BLOOD is not the most novel romantasy. The writing is on the more simple side, it’s fairly predictable, and there are a lot of well-loved tropes. However, that isn’t automatically a negative thing. In fact, those aspects make this book very bingeable and I think a lot of people will enjoy it. Even though this is nearly 450 pages, those pages flew by. Despite some subjective flaws, I found the story entertaining enough that I want to read the next book. That said, a number of things kept this book around a three-star read for me until the plot picked up in the last third of the book.
First, the characterization of Riela and Garrick is incredibly inconsistent. This is especially so when one considers that Riela is 28 and Garrick reveals he is many many centuries old. At this point in time, Riela’s parents are dead, her father having passed away some time before she turned 18. She had to fend for herself, for the most part, and find odd jobs to afford sustenance. One would think this would heighten Riela’s sense of preservation. Yet she just can’t help but antagonize Garrick despite feeling how powerful he is. Then, when their argument is over, suddenly she wants to communicate clearly with him. She also always does the most dangerous thing possible despite not having the knowledge of (spoilery) things that Garrick does.
The same can be said for Garrick. For someone who is nearly a millenium old, he certainly doesn’t act like it. Despite his suspicions and distrust of Reila, he can’t help but let his emotions lead him. He also doesn’t seem to have the ability to plan ahead. If he does, it’s all off page even though there are chapters from his point of view.
It also felt like the author used as many set ups as possible to get Garrick and Riela in the same room. It didn’t necessarily feel incredibly forced, but it was very obvious. There are times where she overextends her magic and Garrick happens to be nearby to save her as she loses consciousness. Yet when she is alone and does the same thing, she doesn’t pass out.
Additionally, it felt like the author wanted Riela and Garrick to have the hots for each other as fast as possible. There wasn’t really a build up of tension. So their first consummation surprised me considering they’d known each other for all of two or three days. Moreover, Garrick brags about his prowess, yet the first time it takes up maybe two or three pages? I can hardly blame Garrick, though, since he’s a fictional character. But it was underwhelming to have a character say that and then not devote page time or descriptions to initially back that up.
Thankfully, though, the stakes got higher in the last third of the book and I became more invested. Those events raised my rating a little bit more. While I won’t divulge why the stakes become higher since it’s very spoilery, I enjoyed reading about Riela’s interactions a lot more. I especially liked the development of interactions between Riela and Grim, Garrick’s seemingly magical wolf beast. And Garrick and Riela work on improving their communication.
SILVER AND BLOOD is a predictable, easily readable romantasy. I think it has a lot of appeal to the romantasy base. It perhaps needs another round of editing to stabilize some characterization. But it’s overall very easy to get into and have fun with.
Rating: 3.5
Content warnings: sexual content, blood, death of a parent (historical), death, violence
Reading format: Kindle e-ARC
If you liked this book, you may also enjoy FALL OF RUIN AND WRATH by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
I still need to read this, and having read your review, I will temper my expectations. I’ve enjoyed Mihalik in the past, but I read one of her sci fi series, so it will be interesting to see how she does fantasy.
I didn’t actually know she’d written other books, so I went into this with no expectations regarding her writing style or characterization. I’m curious to see your opinion since you’ve said you’ve read her sci-fi before.
Your review is an interesting take on this book. Maybe it’s because we expect more from this author in terms of including romance in her genre (mostly sci-fi) stories. This book is the first in a series, so hopefully, the plot will get better. I hope to read this book soon.
I hadn’t heard of this author before nor have I read any of her other books, so I went into this with no expectations. So I can’t really compare to her older work. The plot was fine, in my opinion, but the characterization didn’t work well for me for most of the book.
This author is known for her sci-fi books with characters who fall in love throughout the series. I’m not sure whether or not this is her first fantasy/romantasy series.
Interesting…romantic sci-fi! I might have to check those books out then. I’m not big into sci-fi but if there’s a romance draw in them then I get more interested.
Yeah. I think I’ll probably avoid this one. It sounds just a bit too basic to grab my attention, but it seems like it might be good if I wanted to just turn my brain off and binge. Although, the characterization issues would probably get on my nerves a lot. I’m glad it picked up toward the end for you, though. Great review!
It’s definitely good if you want to turn your brain off and binge. So keep it in mind if/when you want to read one of those kinds of books!
Im sorry to hear that this one was kind of a mixed experience, although I’m glad it was enjoyable on the whole. I can definitely see some of the flaws you’ve highlighted grating on me a bit too – especially an ancient character not showing their age in a believable manner, I’ve been burnt by that very same struggle before. It does sound like it has potential though and I’m glad the stakes upped themselves towards the end. A wolf companion is also an intriguing inclusion for me. I doubt I’ll get to it this year but I’ll definitely still leave it on my TBR for further down the road. And I hope the sequel is stronger.
I’m sorry, too, but I liked it enough to at least continue with the series. It was odd that an old character didn’t seem to act their age. I feel like another round of editing might have smoothed out some of the inconsistent characterization.