Blood & Breath

A teen makes a deal with the devil that jeopardizes the survival of her entire world in this mesmerizing historical fantasy novel. Since Magi, a powerful group of magical beings, are barred from drawing up contracts with devils, 17-year-old Evan Wilde poses as human and earns a living underwriting such contracts for Necros, the city’s wealthy human elite. Upon being cornered by unknown assailants who leave her for dead following a failed sacrificial ritual, Evan uses her final breath to make a contract with a devil named Jack, trading her life as payment for an opportunity to seek revenge. After Jack helps Evan infiltrate Necros society, the duo decides that killing all Necros members is the only way to ensure they catch her assaulters. But when Evan reunites with and begins to fall for Necros society member James, a teen for whom she’s drawn up protection contracts, Evan must figure out how to save James’s life—and her own. Evan and James’s wholesome developing romance unfurls against an alluring backdrop informed by the Jazz Age. Via Jack and Evan’s alternating first-person POV chapters, Muhammad leverages the protagonists’ parallel experiences with paranormal persecution to deliver a tense, high-stakes-conflict-driven narrative that explores themes of love, betrayal, and fate. Characters are described as having brown skin. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kelly Van Sant, KT Literary. (Oct.)