Review: "Blood Born" by Linda Howard andd Linda Jones

From the back of the book

When the human and vampire worlds collide

Luca Ambrus is a rare breed: He is a vampire from birth, begotten by two vampire parents: blood born. He is also an agent of the Council--the centuries-old cabal that governs vampirekind, preserving their secrecy and destroying those who betray them.

When a cryptic summons leads him to the scene of the brutal killing of a powerful Council member, Luca begins the hunt for an assassin among his own people. But instead of a lone killer he discovers a sinister conspiracy of rogue vampires bent on subjugating the mortal world.

All that stands in their way are the conduits, humans able to channel spirit warriors into the physical world to protect mankind. Chloe Fallon is a conduit--and a target of the vampire assassin who's killing them. When Luca saves her life, an irresistible bond of trust--along with more passionate feelings--is forged between them. As more victims fall, Chloe and Luca have only each other to depend on to save the world from the reign of monsters--and salvage their own future together.

My Thoughts

The authors did a great job of explaining the characters and what made them the way they were. This also made it kind of hard to get into the story, because so much of it is bogged down with background information. Also, a lot of that information was repeated several times throughout several chapters (as if we could forget!) I would have liked to have seen all that information spread out a little more, giving the characters a little more mystery, perhaps.

The characters themselves were very original and I loved the premis of the story. Aside from all the info dumping, it was a good story. The only thing I saw as a problem was I knew what was coming before it happened. There weren't enough surprises. There were plenty of hints that could have made me think, "Ah! Now it all makes sense," but there was just a little too much given.

One other thing I noticed, was the characters progressed too quickly, especially given all the information given. I think more time could have been spent allowing them to grow rather than explaining and re-explaining the thought processes of the characters.

What I loved about it was that it jumped around to different characters to get into different heads, good and bad characters, even if several of the same characters were in a particular scene. I also loved the believability of the explainations. The authors did a great job of making it seem like vampires could be real.

Rating: R for adult content and language and mature situations

Recommended for: Anyone still interested in vampire novels, people who love paranormal romances, anyone looking to pass the time with a decent book.

Not Recommended for: Anyone under 18, those who are easily distracted or pay too much attention to writing flaws.

Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Thanks to Anne Riley for the review template!