Silver & Blood (Silver & Blood, #1) by Jessie Mihalik 
Series: Silver & Blood #1
Published by Avon on January 27, 2026
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 448
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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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 and powerful man who saves her.
There’s something in the woods…
Untrained and barely armed, Riela reluctantly agrees to enter the forest and kill the deadly beast that has been attacking her fellow villagers as she’s the only mage available—or so she thought. When one beast turns into two, she fears her death is at hand, but unexpected aid from a scarred, strikingly handsome man with dangerous moonlit magic means a second chance at life—and an opportunity to learn more about her own fickle power.
After being rescued and healed from her fight in the forest, Riela awakens in a magical castle complete with a gorgeous library, a strange wolf, and the surly man who saved her life. Riela soon learns Garrick is not a mortal mage at all—he’s a powerful Etheri sovereign who has been locked out of his kingdom in Lohka for nearly a century, and 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 connecting Riela’s past to Lohka, the tenuous threads of trust between them begin to fray because Riela’s life—or her death—might be the key to regaining everything Garrick has lost.
I’m hooked.
I don’t like Fae stories. I really don’t. The Fae are horrible, horrible people. Their politics are so convoluted. The Rulers need to be vicious to keep their people (barely) in line. You have to be on your toes are all times, watching everything you say or do. They treat humans like pets or worse; much, much worse. So how is this the second series this year that has sucked me in with a Fae story.
In this case, I am certain it is because the first fifty percent of the story is just focused on Riela and Garrick and quietly building a relationship between them before we get to dealing with fae courts, the backstabbing and all that goes with it.
Riela has a little (teeny tiny) bit of magic. When one of the Huntsman in her Village is attacked by something in the forest, Riela’s village force her into the woods to go kill it. Let’s stop here a moment. Interesting enough we eventually learn that there is a magical boarder and the monsters can’t leave the forest. Why did Riela have to go in to kill one (of many) magical monster since if you stay in the Village no one would be hurt and if the Huntsman is stupid enough to run around the forest at night, that’s natural selection if you ask me. But, obviously, there is no story without Riela being forced to fight the monster but like Riela, I question the Village’s motives.
Riela, who again has tiny bit of magic, also has no fighting skills. She barely survives the attack of one monster with poison barbs but she was ready to go down swinging when a second monster attacks. Thankfully, Riela is saved by a handsome mage (Garrick) and his wolf (Grim). He takes her to his magical castle. Just another aside, I love that the magical castle loves Riela. It’s like a magical pet castle that keeps doing nice things for Riela. Garrick keeps asking how she accomplishes things without magic and she says, I asked the castle and it gave it to me. There was also the wolf who liked Reila to read him stories.
Riela eventually learns that Garrick is no ordinary mage, but the Sovereign of the Silver Court. Garrick has been trapped for the last century in the human realm by the Sovereign of the Blood Court. These are the two most dangerous Kings of the Fae realm.
Garrick can feel Riela’s magic and knows that is more to her than just being a simple mage. In fact, someone has bound her magic but releasing it could cause her death. He refuses to help her, and not just because of the possible death thing, but because he doesn’t know why her magic was bound in the first place. Garrick has been burned before trying to save a “helpless” mage who turned out to be an enemy spy. Every time he starts to trust Riela, something about her bound magic sets him on edge, and when Riela accidently opens the bound door to the Fae realm, Garrick is certain he has been played the fool.
Yet once Garrick returns to the Silver Court, things only get worse (because Fae, duh) and since Fae politics will do everything it can to separate Garrick from his pet human.
I really enjoyed Jessie Mihalik’s SciFi series and I had a hard time putting this one down as well. While we have the standard fairy tale unwary-human-with-bound-magic storyline, I believe that giving us a good portion of the story to give Riela and Garrick’s relationship a solid foundation before throwing all the Court BS was the key to what made this such a good story.
This is the first of a duology and I while hate that I have to wait for the rest of the story, I am loving these duologies. Whoever in publishing came up with the idea of duologies should get a raise or a parade or both. So many middle books in a trilogy are just a waste of time where the characters don’t accomplish anything and it is just marking time until the final book gives us the conclusion. Duologies allow us more time with the characters and to tell the complete story without another 300 pages of going nowhere. Although it could also just be released in 500+ page novel…no, no. Don’t get crazy, but I am very excited about this turn towards duologies.
Favorite Scene:
I inhaled deeply and nuzzled farther into my warm sheets. They smelled faintly like mint and something else my sleepy brain couldn’t quite name but liked nonetheless. Whatever I’d paid for this soap had been worth it.
“If you are quite finished,” a deep voice rumbled into my ear.
A deep, familiar voice.
My eyes popped open and my cocoon of languid peacefulness evaporated as reality came roaring back in. The last thing I remembered was staring at the ceiling, but it had been infinitely boring, so despite the awkwardness, I must’ve fallen asleep.
At some point in the last few hours, Garrick and I had switched places. Now I had him pinned to the bed, and I was lying nearly on top of him, with my cheek pressed against his sternum and my legs sprawled over his.
I’d been nuzzling his barely covered chest. And now that I was awake, I definitely was not noticing how nice his body felt under mine.
It was too late to pretend to be asleep, so I mentally shrugged and snuggled in farther. If he was going to kill me, I might as well enjoy my last few minutes. “You used me as your personal heater earlier, so consider this payback,” I murmured.
“I did no such thing.”
I should probably be offended at the level of outrage in his tone, but I just chuckled. “You absolutely did. I tried to get up and you refused to let go. You don’t remember?”
He stiffly admitted, “No, I don’t remember.” After a moment, he added, “I apologize.”
The words sounded like they’d been dragged out of him, but he seemed sincere.
“Does that mean I should apologize for snuggling you now?” I asked without lifting my head.
When he didn’t respond, I propped myself up so I could see his face. Mistake. This close, I could see every detail. Whatever had scarred him had missed his eye by the narrowest of margins. And his eyes…they weren’t solid silver, they were a multitude of shades from storm gray to platinum, and the color constantly shifted. It was mesmerizing, so I dropped my gaze, but that left me staring at his mouth, which wasn’t much better.
His lips parted, and I was so focused on their movement that I nearly missed his words. “You don’t need to apologize,” he said, his voice low and rough.
What would it be like to hear him growl my name in that exact tone? I shivered with desire. But as much as I wanted him, he was still an Etheri King–one I wasn’t entirely sure was on my side.
Time to put some distance between us.
Unfortunately, I was tangled in the sheet, which made leaving more difficult than expected. I moved my leg higher to help me balance and Garrick’s jaw clenched. It took me a second to process exactly what I was feeling; he was hard, and my thigh was not resting directly stop his erection.
His impressive erection.
Before I could remember how to move, he rolled over, taking me with him. My thighs parted, and his hips landed between them like he was meant to be there. We were both clothed, but the friction still sent delicious waves of ecstasy skating along my nerves.
Garrick’s expression shimmered with heat and hunger as he lowered his head toward mine. All thoughts of putting space between us vanished. I wanted him closer.
I lifted my arms to pull him down, but he stilled and tipped his head to the side as his magic rose. “Why is there a dagger in the bed?”
The question was mild, but it felt fraught nonetheless.
It was difficult to think with his hips pinning me in place with delicious weight–weight that could be used to seize as easily as seduce. Last night’s anxiety began to creep back in. “I didn’t know why you were unconscious. I was worried something would try to break in and finish the job. Why were you unconscious? Were you attacked?”
He leaned closer, and I bit my lip. He was still hard, and every time he shifted, he rubbed against me in a way that made my toes curl. My body didn’t care that he was dangerous, it just wanted relief–now.
“You were trying to protect me?” he asked, voice deceptively soft.
I snorted. “For all the good it would’ve done, yes. Anything that could take out an Etheri sovereign would’ve made short work of me, but I felt better having a weapon nearby.”
On dark eyebrow rose. “Are you sure you know how to wield a dagger?”
“Of course.” I kept my voice light and the memory of the fight with the chagri locked down. “The pointy end goes toward the monster, the other end stays in my hand, and then I start stabbing.”
I mimed stabbing an imaginary foe with more enthusiasm than skill, and Garrick barked out a surprised laugh.
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