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I was surprised and mildly disappointed to discover that it was a “Vampire Hunter” type novel, and then in retrospect wondered why I was. Nearly all supernatural stories with female main characters are “Vampire Hunters”.

For those not into this sub-genre; a “Vampire Hunter” story is classified by a main female character in a world where supernatural exists, she is involved in it, and hunts vampires — sometimes repeatedly as a job/calling, other times as a rare incident born of necessity. She is always loved by and loves at least one vampire. She has some skill, disability, or power that makes her stand out from humans and often other supernaturals, putting her in the position of being both desirable to those that can use her and utterly alone. She’s a strong, kick-ass character despite her emotional hang-ups, and when the shit is on the line, she is the only one who can tip the balance in the favor of the good guys.

She may also be loved by no less than two other men. She is drawn to them in turn, yet can’t decide which one she wants and is often half-assed about sending them away when she does make up her mind. She will continue to go to them for help even after they’ve “broken up”, allowing for further drama/romantic tension between them.

In case you couldn’t tell, the majority of “Vampire Hunter” novels are also Romances.

“Blood Bound” falls into all of the above. Main character Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson is a coyote shapeshifter raised by a pack of werewolves. Because she’s a special type of shapeshifter that isn’t tied into the moon’s cycles and doesn’t run the risk of being taken over by her inner beast, she doesn’t completely fit in with them. She can also resist the powers of vampires and see ghosts, so the bloodsuckers aren’t that fond of her either.

On the normal end of life, she works as a mechanic and lives in an old trailer with Love Interest #1, aka Sam. Sam is the son of the Marrok (the top werewolf above all other packs) and has been lusting after Mercy since they were teenagers. Mostly because he thinks her womb would make a good place for his babies. They dated for a while and had a pretty bad break-up; possibly the first book better explains why they’re living together a decade later, because it seemed doubtful to me. Sam is a doctor, but apparently doesn’t pay much in rent, because Mercy frequently worries about being able to cover the bills or to repair the vampire-caused damage to the outside of her trailer. (Or she’s too stubborn to allow him to contribute, that’s a possibility too.)

The trailer is neighbors with Love Interest #2, aka Adam the leader of the local werewolf pack. Mercy rescued him and his daughter in the previous book, at which point he declared her his mate in front of the entire pack and she hasn’t been entirely sure what to do about it since then. Both Adam and Sam play tough dominate types around her, alternately “grrr-ing” at each other and trying to protect and coddle her. In the grand scheme of things, I like Adam more than Sam, because he’s more into looking after Mercy and less into growling at Sam for being near her — and I like Mercy less for being wishy-washy with her feelings about them.

Love interest #3 is Stefan the “nice” vampire and is shockingly the least annoying of the love interests. He’s played off as a very secondary interest for the majority of the book and you’re left guessing whether he feels platonic or romantic affection for her up until the end. He’s also the primary push of the plot.

Oh right, the plot.

It’s actually pretty entertaining. You got a demon-ridden sorcerer turned into a vampire and causing mass destruction because of it. Stefan is asked to investigate and drags Mercy along in coyote-form to both contribute to his bad-guy image and in hopes that her vampire-magic-resisting abilities will be of use. It goes worse and better than planned and death pretty much abounds.

The author wins points for non-annoying take on vampires. She managed to make Stefan the Good Vampire without either diluting how evil vampires are in her world, or making him a whiny prat. It’s also clear that ‘good’ is a subjective phrase, for while Stefan is better than the others in how he keeps his humans, he’s still also collecting the needy and downtrodden who won’t be missed and feeding off of them.

If you’re a fan of “Vampire Hunter” books, this one will satisfy you. If that isn’t your thing, you probably won’t care for it.