Astrid and Jonas feel like they will never fit in anywhere. As twins, at least they have each other and the solid vow between them that – it’s them together, against the world.

The world has driven them to this, as they have no idea who their parents were or where they came from. They have moved from school to school and between foster homes because they are seen as strange by all who meet them. With their blonde white hair and intense stares, they attract the wrong kind of attention, and their doctor and social worker are at their wits end.

Astrid and Jonas seem to have strange powers. No one knows how they seem to be connected to the nature around them. The twins can hear the songs of trees, flowers and even grass, and also hear screams of warning from them too. Their doctor knows they are different and has performed test after test on them, and now that Astrid and Jonas are teens, they’ve had enough.

Little do they know that they are about to meet someone who will bring them (almost) all the answers they have been searching for their entire lives.

Gwen is upset and embarrassed that she cannot control her magic. Her sister now attends the prestigious school for magic but Gwen must stay home. She’s tried and tried to summon her Bloom, but the results are too frightening for her to achieve anything. A desire to prove herself once and for all, takes her into a tunnel that Astrid and Jonas are also in as they are testing their own powers.

From Gwen, the twins learn that they are Bloom bloods – folk with magical powers. The humans they have grown up with and who have found them strange, are all Red Bloods – humans without magic. Finally, Astrid and Jonas feel more understood.

They are accepted into a new home with Gwen and her Bloom blood family, but find it hard to trust any one. Even here they are seen as different, and as Gwen keeps a terrible secret, Astrid and Jonas build their powers. None of the three teens realise how important they are to the future of humankind – and to each other.

A new world of magic – with those who have powers and those who have no idea magical folk walk among them. It’s hard not to compare this magical worlds with one that broke the mould in 1997, but even with comparison, this new series of good and evil types of magic, twins and a stubborn young girl and their journey to discover their true selves – is intriguing and a great read.

This first book in the series is perfectly fine for middle-grade readers as the romance component is only lightly touched upon. It’s these romantic influences that have the twin main characters keeping secrets from each other for the first time in their lives. I’m looking forward to seeing if these outside friendships turn into something more, and maybe even go on to cause tension between the tight-knit twins.

A great tale about the fighting forces of good and evil, finding your true self, working together, and humans and nature working together. 

For fans of the Harry Potter and Nevermoor series’ and other magical worlds.

Author – Connie Glynn

Age – 12+

(2025, Penguin NZ, Magic, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical, Music, Mystery, Secret, School, Dark Forces, The Bloom, Red Bloods, Prince, Control, Experiments, Twins, Nature, Fountains Abbey, Series)