Kim Murray receives a ghostly message from her cousin Ruli, begging for help, but a vision in an airplane terminal while suffering serious jetlag isn't the most reliable means of communication. Unable to shake her growing sense of worry for Ruli, Kim returns to Dobrenica only to learn that Ruli has been killed and Alec, Ruli's husband and the man Kim loves, has been accused of her murder. As more family members are attacked, Kim must step carefully through the political minefield of Dobrenica to learn how all these seemingly random attacks are connected to Ruli's death. Not to mention that Kim must also do this while learning about the existence of vampires, ghosts, visions, and the cultural costumes of a country that couldn't be any different than a southern California girl is used to.

BLOOD SPIRITS is the fourth books in the Dobrenica Series and the first one that I've read. While the political, familial, and cultural structures are very complex, Sherwood Smith does a wonderful job of detailing the world and the connections for the first time reader to Dobrenica. If you've read others in the series, there might be some repetition, but as a newbie to the series I was grateful for the explanation and history. While reading the previous novels isn't essential to follow the plot, I'm sure that the knowledge of prior interaction adds layers that I simply didn't have. All the same, BLOOD SPIRITS was a good read, filled with action, rising conflict, and lots of old- world flare and more it makes me want to go in search of the others in this series.

The romance between Kim and Alec is a large part of Kim's motivation, but it isn't driving the plot of this story. Kim's growing 'abilities' and how she connects with the absolutely stunning world of Dobrenica is what really shines. Dobrenica's history and setting is beautifully written, and the cultural beliefs twine seamlessly with plot creating an intricate web of conflict. My favorite character though has to be Tony. His character is wonderfully flawed and with hidden depths that I can't wait to see explored in further stories by Sherwood Smith. Recklessly charming, dangerous, and ambitious make Tony a remarkable fun character.

If you're looking for a supernatural tale filled with political intrigue, sword fights, and a setting that blurs the lines between past and present, then BLOOD SPIRITS by Sherwood Smith is the perfect book for you.

Book Summary

Everyone's favorite sword-wielding California girl returns-from the author of Coronets and Steel.

With the man she loves set to marry a look-alike princess, Kim Murray returns to California from the magical country of Dobrenica to heal her broken heart. But family politics soon have her leaving for London, where she is forced into a duel with a Dobrenican nobleman. He reveals that her great sacrifice, leaving Alec, was a disaster. To fix her mistake, Kim returns to Dobrenica, but what she finds there is far more shocking and dangerous than she ever imagined. Not just politics and personalities but ghosts and magic, murder and mystery, await her as she struggles to understand the many faces of love. Once again Kim has to take sword in hand as she tries to make peace and learn the truth. Only, whose truth?