Book six of the World of the Lupi, Blood Magic, is absolutely fantastic. I love the world of Lily and Rule, the tight mix of FBI thriller with paranormal danger – AND grandmother is back!!!

Eileen Wilks cleverly draws her readers back into this world with the intersections of Lily’s personal life, her mysterious family heritage and professional investigations. These strands are deftly woven so that we end up with a book with real heart plus a puzzle that is surprising and sometimes shocking.
While Lily worries about hosting the perfect baby shower she also has to deal with resistance from Rule’s pack towards their ‘mixed-marriage’ as well as concerns from her own Chinese family about marrying so far away from her background. Throw in a lethal attack on Cullen, the disappearance of her grandmother, revelations from Sam the dragon and her grandmother’s companion Li Qin and an otherworldly threat and Lily has her understanding of her family and her world thrown way off kilter.

It’s great seeing the normally pragmatic and unflappable Lily off her stride, while Rule provides the stalwart support to keep her grounded. In fact, throughout the series their relationship has had so many challenges and yet they remain dedicated to each other.  One of the greatest charms of this series for me has been the way that Lily and Rule have gone beyond the ‘mate bond’ to work on their actual feelings for each other.  Far too many books deal with these mate bonds and characters fall into line all too easily, and unbelievable. Wilks has made Lily and Rule work for their relationship.

His touch, the contact, soothed her. It always did. That was a matter of magic, the mate bond, which enhanced both the need for physical connection and the benefit of it. His people believed the bond was a gift from their Lady, a belief reflected in their title for Lily: Chosen. Chosen by their Lady they meant, for neither she nor Rule had done the choosing. Not at the start anyway.

But the comfort of his touch also rose from an older, more universal magic. Most people, Lily thought, feel better when they hold hands with someone they love.

At times the pace of the books slows down so that grandmother’s  backstory can be told, and I can imagine that some people lose patience with this. However I’ve been longing to find out more about grandmother and so this trip to historical China, while interrupting Lily and Rule’s story, added to the richness of the book.

In fact there is so much going on in this book that it took me a second reading to pick up all the plot threads and appreciate just how clever Eileen Wilks had been. I’m just hoping that Lily and Rule finally get their wedding – because I’m sure that will be an opportunity for yet more danger and mayhem!