TITLE: Blood's Voice
SERIES: House Millar, Book #1
AUTHOR: Áine P. Massie
PUBLISHER: Geas Publishing
DATE OF PUBLICATION: June 1, 2011
FORMAT: E-book, 400 pages
GENRE: Paranormal Romance
ASIN: B005405MYK
SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:
Anya Millar had no memory of her life or an instruction manual on how to navigate the insane world of humans, biting, and reality. Instead, Anya has had to learn to navigate the world of love, life, and sanity while avoiding those that would see her dead or enslaved.
This is the ongoing journey of Anya and Nicholas, human loving vampires and the human they love, Declán. What makes it all more complicated is that they are abominations in their own world and Declán is a natural born vampire hunter called a Guardian.
Anya must come to terms with who she is and her missing past, Nicholas must win back the object of his eternal love while dealing with new cravings in his silent heart, and Declán must learn to destroy the very creatures that he has unequivocally given his heart and blood.
I received this book for review from the author as part of her virtual book tour. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own.
This is the ongoing journey of Anya and Nicholas, human loving vampires and the human they love, Declán. What makes it all more complicated is that they are abominations in their own world and Declán is a natural born vampire hunter called a Guardian.
Anya must come to terms with who she is and her missing past, Nicholas must win back the object of his eternal love while dealing with new cravings in his silent heart, and Declán must learn to destroy the very creatures that he has unequivocally given his heart and blood.
MY REVIEW:
I received this book for review from the author as part of her virtual book tour. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own.
This book is about a vampire named Anya, who is forever a teenager. I do not believe her exact age was mentioned, but she is about 16 or 17 years old. She was abducted and held against her will for three decades by a group of mysterious people called The Educators who tried to turn Anya into a lethal weapon. When she finally resurfaces, she has no memory of the time during which she was held captive. Anya, aka the Assassin, also has the unique ability to control and even destroy people with her voice.
Anya’s pseudo-mother is Star, who is a “bloodless” one. I am not really clear on what that means.
In Massie’s vampire world, the vamps do not sparkle in sunlight or burst into balls of flame. They can walk among the living. Anya wants to fit in with other teenagers her own age, so she attends the local high school. There, she meets a human boy named Declán and the two fall for each other. It reminded me of Twilight in reverse: Instead of human girl falling for vampire boy, we have human boy falling for vampire girl. Another Twilight similarity is that Anya does not drink human blood but, rather, animal blood.
Anya also shares a “blood bond” with a vampire named Nicholas, and the two drink from each other for pleasure and not for sustenance. Nicholas lives as a family with his sire, Jonathan, and Jonathan’s wife, Amber.
As noted in the synopsis, we find out later in the book that Declán is not an ordinary human but someone with special powers to destroy vampires known as a Guardian. Apparently, the Guardians were thought to have died out a long time ago.
When Anya drinks from Declán, she bonds him to her and also to Nicholas by way of his existing bond with Anya. Their relationship eventually turns intimate for them (the trio).
In a nutshell, some bad vampires want to destroy Anya because of the power that she possesses. Some “good” vampires come to town (Geoffrey and Peony) and want to join Anya’s “house” or “family.” Anya buys a larger home and Nicholas' family moves in with her, as well as Geoffrey, Peony, and Declán. In order to get to Anya, the “bad” vampires kidnap Nicholas and Anya must then risk her life to rescue him.
I really struggled with this story. I could not make a connection with Anya. I really did not like her character, and I felt ambivalent towards her. I also did not “get” the 3-way relationship between Anya, Declán, and Nicholas. Normally, vamps are extremely territorial and unwilling to share their mates as with most members of the human race. Call me old-fashioned, but I could not embrace their relationship.
I think that Massie’s best developed character is Nicholas. I actually did feel a connection with him and enjoyed the parts of the story where his role figured prominently.
The pace of the book moved very slowly for me. This tome is lengthy at 400 pages, and there was a lot of talking but not a lot of action.
The numerous typographical and grammatical errors were distracting and interfered with my ability to enjoy the book. For example, “loosing” and "loose" instead of “losing” and "lose," and “shuttered” instead of “shuddered.” There are also instances of awkward word usage, where words or phrases could have been replaced with more suitable and eloquent ones. With a good editor, I feel that the book could be improved.
MY RATING: 2 stars! Meh, it was just "okay" for me.
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