Title: Blood Avenged
Author: Gabrielle Bissett
Series: Sons of Navarus #1
Genre: Erotica/Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Self Published
Word count: 60,000
Word count: 60,000
Source: from author
I am everything you desire. I am vampire. Powerful and manipulative, Vasilije does as he pleases. A vampire beholden to no one, he takes what he desires, drinking deeply the pleasures this life has to offer. When one of his own is staked, Vasilije must travel to New Orleans to exact his revenge. There he meets Sasa, a beautiful woman who arouses him like no other has for centuries. Vasilije’s need for vengeance is equaled only by his passion for her, but what he finds in his revenge is just the beginning... (amazon)
Blood Avenged was a hot and steamy paranormal romance. Sasa is determined to help her mother get well from the cancer she has, even if it means going to sources she normally wouldn't ever use. These sources lead her to a voodoo queen. Through her she meets Tatiana a women out for revenge. She hires Sasa to spy on and eventually help her ruin Vasilije because he turned her human boyfriend into a vampire. One of the things that she does to get back at Vasilije for this is to have one of his favorite vampires staked. Sasa poses as the dead vampires girlfriend to get close to Vasilije. However as she gets to know him, she hates lying to him. Vasilije feels guilty for falling his vampires girlfriend. This sounds like your typical vampire romance, but it's not.
What I liked about Blood Avenged was that it was much darker then I thought it would be. Vasilije is a vampire, and he doesn't hide it. He lets Sasa know from the get-go that he isn't a nice guy. He's been around for centuries and has no qualms about what he is or what he does. Sasa makes him feel something he hasn't felt in a long time, and it throws him for a loop. There is something I love about an Alpha male being brought to his knees by desire and love. The sex scenes between him and Sasa were super hot. Sasa is one of those rare heroines who knows what she wants and goes after it with full force. She pushes Vasilije's buttons and it was fun to watch. Her struggle is an internal one, and it was painful to watch her decide to do the right thing or continue working for Tatiana who she knows hates Vasilije with a passion to help save her mom. The two of them had so much emotion that they were perfect for each other.
One thing that confused me though was that Sasa wasn't at all surprised to find out that Vasilije was a vampire and took everything in stride..and it made me wonder if I had missed some world building somehow that said that vampires were already out in society. After reading the book, I discovered that Vasilije was actually the villain in another novella-Vampire Dreams. While this book worked well as a stand alone, I can't help wonder how much I missed by not reading that book first.
The ending really threw me. I was expecting more of Sasa and Vasilije and was surprised that instead to find that it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, that almost made this book more of an Urban Fantasy then a Paranormal Romance. Thanks to the ending I am really looking forward to seeing what happens next!
Colettes note: I wrote this on the same night I wrote the Careless Whisper review, and blogger really hated me.
