Bloodlines by Dennis Young:

5 stars

This was not the most comfortable book to read; things change very quickly for Julie, and she isn’t given the luxury of time to adjust. I wanted to reach into the book and protect her.

This world, the U.K. and Europe during WWII, is at once familiar and utterly new. I’ve never considered how any vampire, let alone a sixteen-year-old girl, might handle a world at war. This was wildly imaginative — the grit, the horror, the humanity. The characters have faces I recognize, driven by purpose, greed, love, and fear; their voices are distinct and utterly relatable. It made me think; it made me hurt.

I highly recommend Bloodlines if you enjoy fantasy blended with real-world history and an emotional wallop.