Review: Blood & Ash (The Jezebel Files #1) by Deborah Wilde

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Blood & Ash by Deborah Wilde
Series: The Jezebel Files #1
Published by Te Da Media on January 14, 2020
Genres: Mystery, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 318
Format: eBook
Source: Free, Kindle Unlimited
Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Chirp
Goodreads

Missing teens. Long-lost magic. And the sexy nemesis who might drive her to murder.
​​​​​​​
Detective for hire, Ashira Cohen is having a no-good, very bad day.

When Ash was thirteen, her con artist father disappeared, leaving her with emotional scars and a limp she can't hide. But she toughened up, determined never to be played again. Is history repeating itself?

First, she’s hit on the head during a stakeout, revealing a mysterious tattoo on the back of her skull.

Even worse? It’s a now-broken ward unleashing dangerous magic that as a Mundane, she shouldn’t possess.

And the icing on this crap cake? Her unruly powers nearly kill her long-time nemesis, Levi, the uptight leader of the magic community. One word from him revealing her forbidden abilities, and everything she’s built will be taken from her… by force.

The only bright spot is that Levi requires her supernatural skills to solve a spree of abductions. After years of being underestimated by him, it’s Ash’s chance at payback and she’s going to enjoy bringing him to his knees—or stuffing him in a body bag.

Crackling with humor and suspense, Blood & Ash features a headstrong heroine tackling paranormal mysteries and an enemies-to-lovers romance.

“I knew you were the kind of woman to ruin my day.” “Aww, Leviticus,” I said. “Don’t tempt me. Properly motivated, I’ll ruin your life.” “I don’t doubt it. – 44% Blood & Ash

 

Blood & Ash is a brand new Urban Fantasy series by Deborah Wilde. It’s a whirlwind adventure with a dash of Alice and Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes, and Hidden Legacy series. 

The story takes place in Vancouver, Canada with a lot of Jewish mythology rooted in. 

Ashira is a human private investigator working in a world where magic exits until an unexpected accident happens and now she’s got magic. Ashira was a fun character. I liked how her mind worked. She’s a Sherlock Homes type character and theirs a lot of references to her love of Homes. 

Levi her nemesis and the leader of the magic community. Boy he’s a sexy one, but also very put together. He needs to loosen up and have his world turned upside down. 

The story moves at a break-necking speed. With that the world building isn’t very well explained. We get a lot of different things thrown at us and it can be a lot to take in. We don’t get much time to digest until after you’ve devoured the book. I am hoping more things will be explained as the series progress. 

The story is full of action packed scenes and a few different mysteries to be solved. We’ve got missing kids, something killing magical people, and Ashira getting magical powers. So many mysteries to solve and not all are answered in this first installment. 

The romance was secondary to the mysteries. Levi and Ashira are like oil and vinegar. They have a lot of witty comments and comebacks for each-other, but you can defiantly tell that theirs an attraction between them. I liked the banter, snarky comments, and witty humor in this novel. Though at this point in the story the romance just didn’t fit. These two have known each other for decades and for some reason they choose now to kick off a romance. I’m not won over on the romance end and I don’t think it’s needed in the series. 

Blood & Ash was a nice start to The Jezebel Files series. It’s a snarky detective urban fantasy read and I’m looking toward to continuing the series. 

Rated: 3.5 Stars

Was this review helpful? If so, please consider liking it on Goodreads (Angela)!

Challenge(s):

• 2020 New Release