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What pleased me about this book:

I picked this book up on a whim and was delighted to find an honestly good, hot story. I finished it in the same day I unpacked it from the shipping box.

Victor has a job he doesn’t care much for, a talent that makes his life a misery, and the depressing realization that there isn’t much better for him out there. He spends most of his days in a drugged-out haze to help deal with the ghosts and doesn’t have any friends. He’s also gay in a traditionally homophobic career and not entirely comfortable with that either. He could easily come off a self-pitying whiner who spends pages dwelling on the suffering of his life, but instead he is portrayed as a sympathetic, likable guy who just isn’t happy with his life — and with good reason.

Victor’s love interest, Jacob Marks, while not a particularly complex character, presents a perfect counter-point to Vic’s awkwardness with his grinning self-confidence. He’s handsome, talented, capable, likes his life and his job — Vic’s baffled “and this hunk wants to be with ME?” attitude is understandable and easy to connect with, but at the same time, we can see what Jacob finds so appealing about him. It’s enjoyable to watch their relationship develop and Vic struggling to figure out his place in it. I was never left with that annoyed sense of “wish-fulfillment” that I get from stories with overly bland characters attracting overly amazing love interests.

The plot is fun and nicely paced. It’s no mind twister, but it will draw you right in and keep you entertained and interested in what will happen next right up until the very end. There are no holes or inconsistence, and it’s not constantly put on the shelf for the sake of sex.

Now about the Sex…

This is no traditional romance filled with scenes of ever-building passions leading to a final, firework cumulation between the two characters. Jacob and Victor’s relationship is dirty back-room hip-grinding from the get go, and the deeper feelings and connections start developing from there on. The sex scene themselves are numerous and fantastic. They run short, sweet, and hot, and are joyfully free of silly euphemisms or meandering internal monologues on “feelings”. They never overwhelm the plot or take place of good character development.

I loved all the side characters; they were as well handled as the main character and were never marginalized for the sake of the main romance.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for a good, fun read.

Review: If allowed to pass through the hands of a talented editor and tightened up a bit, this novel could have been amazing.

Instead, it’s “okay” (which is also, ironically, the most frequently used word in the book.) Entertaining, some clever ideas, but a lack-luster execution.

The lack of consistent tone is one of the book’s greatest weaknesses. It reads like a contemporary piece for the most part; even though it’s set in a 1900s inspired world, that “feel” is rarely achieved in the narrative or dialog. This wasn’t horribly grating since the story isn’t intended to be a period-piece, but it really would have added something strong to it. Later, the tone hints at a spiritual sense of dead religions and weary gods, then swings into a futuristic/high fantasy feel for the concluding show-down. The background setting starts out rich, but frequently becomes a vaguely defined stage for the great play of Kieran and Ashleigh’s love. The tale as a whole, with all it’s fascinating concepts and occasionally riveting plot, is ultimately about the love story at it’s center.

Among the characters, Ashleigh is probably the most developed and grows the most believably. Here’s where the book’s strengths come in: Ash starts out the stereotyped “bottom” character; needy and emotional and physically weak, turning to big tough Kieran to help out in the hopeless prison they’re trapped in. He’s not overly-wimpy, having been once apart of the rebellion, but he is sensitive and prone to tears when emotionally overwrought. Kieran is, unsurprisingly, drawn to protecting him. However, instead of continuing to cling uselessly to Kieran’s side, Ashleigh grows in emotional and physical strength and is unafraid to stand up to Kieran for what he believes in. When Kieran becomes badly injured, it’s Ash who shoulders the burden and keeps them moving and fighting to survive.

Kieran’s reverse development from a tough-as-nails assassin and drug-runner with a broken soul, to a man learning how to let others into his heart and find hope in the world again is not nearly as smooth or well-done. Kieran is a little overly sensitive and too quick to open up to Ashleigh from the begining. This is described as a “lack of control” because he’s agitated somehow, yet this lack only shows up at the perfect time to further their relationship and never at any other moment. There’s never a good connection between Kieran’s “I’d just as soon shoot you as look at you” side and his “I’m an abused, wounded child” side; it usually feels like two separate people.

The Romance: I enjoyed it. It was a little girly emotional at times, but not to the point that I felt like I was reading about two high school age lesbians, which can be a downfall in some Gay Romance novels. They also had a good amount of “men don’t talk about this feelings crap” too. As mentioned above, the power between them shifts over the course of the story; from Kieran being the emotional dominate, to Ashleigh, to finally an equal balance based on what they bring to the relationship. The overblown “WE ARE TRUE LOVE FOREVER” element was amusingly minimized by the tolerant “you two just got together, huh?” eye-rolling of older characters.

The plot itself, with ancient people of great power who grew into Gods that that ultimately fought against and consumed each other, until only four remained (one holding sway over the world, another trapped under his power, and the last two hidden within the cycle of human-rebirth) had so much potential in it that I found myself wishing it were a larger, deeper part of the story as a whole. I especially loved the idea of the evil god that was, at his center, a spoiled lonely child who just wanted to rest.

Overall it was an entertaining read, with a fast and fun pace. As an action/adventure, fantasy themed romance, it doesn’t miss it’s mark. My only disappointment is that it had the chance to be even greater.

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.