This is the sequel to Need. There are a few situations where I thought, right, now the conflict is starting to break out but it never did – not really. Bast and Trick are having sex so often, it’s amazing they have time for anything else at all. Bast’s friends got on my nerves towards the end. The story is wrapped up nicely and comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Available at Torquere Books

Blurb: As the Alliance wizard-vampire partnerships grow stronger, the dark wizards feel the effects and become increasingly desperate to find enough information to counter them, unaware of the growing strain of the blood-magic bonds on the wizards and vampires alike.
The conflict is spreading. The strife of uncomfortable relationships, both personal and professional, is threatening to tear up the Alliance from the inside, despite the efforts of Alain Magnier and Orlando St. Clair, Thierry Dumont and Sebastien Noyer, and even Raymond Payet and Jean Bellaiche, leader of the Paris vampires, who is fighting to establish a stable covenant with his own partner so he might lead by example.
As the war rages on and heartbreaking casualties mount on both sides, the dark wizards keep searching for clues to understand and counter the strength of the Alliance, while the blood-bound Alliance partners hunt through ancient prejudices and forgotten lore to find an edge that can turn the tide of the war once and for all.

My thoughts: “Conflict in blood” is the third book in the “Partnership in Blood” series and you shouldn’t read this as a stand alone. If you haven’t read the first two books you will be at a loss as to what is going on. I’ll just talk about my thoughts about events and various couples while reading the book.

This contains SPOILERS!

Couples:

Orlando & Alain: It’s time for Orlando to get over all his hang-ups. I know he and Alain met only three weeks ago, but to me the time felt much longer (and I think it also did to the characters). Thank God that towards the end of the book Orlando took some action and started to see this himself.

Sébastien & Thierry: What a great couple. When I started reading Alliance in blood I didn’t care too much for Thierry, but he’s really grown on me. Once he overcame his uneasiness and acknowledged his attraction he was great. Sébastien’s qualms were understandable, but since they were for other reasons than Orlando’s he was much quicker in letting them go. He’s a different calibre than Orlando and I like him a lot.

Luc & Magali: I’d like to see more of them, but am not at all sure this will come to pass, since they are tugged away in Amiens. I liked the little interaction that we got to see.

Jude & Adèle: I understand what’s driving them, and I can relate to a certain point, but the aggressiveness that is underlying every time those two are together is grating on me. They seem to be caught in a lust/hate relationship. The constant fight for supremacy between them is aggravating. When they had sex for the first time, before anybody knew what was going on, I disliked them even more. Once I found out the reason for their behaviour I sort of forgave them, only to find out later that they both had that petty “I need to get the upper hand” streak that I really hated. Adèle even more so than Jude. She is a intelligent, independent woman and shouldn’t let feelings like this get to her in that way. From Jude I didn’t expect anything better considering his background. The scene where he gets his revenge for her leaving him behind earlier was pretty bad. Yeah, she desired it (he tasted that) and enjoyed it (and this he didn’t anticipate; in fact he counted on that she wouldn’t, which makes the whole scene a bit dubious). Those two have found their match, I suppose, but I still don’t like them.

Eric & Vincent: Now here’s a surprise. A nice touch to work in a relationship which is not the common wizard/vampire connection. I suppose those two will play a big part in the last book.

David & Angelique: Another pairing that still have to find a way to settle their disputes. I thought they finally got around to it, but then they regressed into their standard behaviour. Still, from the latest events I understand that maybe there is still hope.

Raymond & Jean: Until the end of book two I had misgivings about Raymond, but I must admit that now he and Jean are almost my favourite couple. The dynamics between them were very good, balanced and they seem to have come into their own. I loved them when they were together.

Antonio & Monique: Good set up. I liked that Antonio found his partner among the enemy and how that worked out later on.

Story:

A point I don’t understand is why no re-enforcements are being called in from other places. The war must concern everybody. It seems that the dark wizards are all in Paris gathering around Serrier, so I would think that getting in more wizards and vampires from other cities (e.g. Amiens) would help the cause. And it also would make more powerful pairings possible.

What was the scene with Christophe about? He wasn’t mentioned again afterwards and neither was his fear of what might happen in the future. Is this some foretelling, so we know to be prepared?

Slowly but surely the loyalty of Serrier’s supporters (which in a lot of cases must be based on that they don’t see a way out of what they’ve gotten themselves into) is faltering. That process was shown in a subtle way, which I appreciated. By now Eric & Vincent would probably leave the minute they see a chance for it. Not necessarily to defect to the militia, but rather just to leave the whole affair altogether. And the way Monique made the switch was more than believable after everything that had happened.

The way Orlando is keeping up is astonishing. I would have expected him to be far less unassailable than he turns out to be. Alain seems to be in a worse state than he. Amazing! But thank God for that. That way the book ended on a positive note – if you can say that considering the trouble Orlando is in and given the fact that the wizards and vampires seem to be at a loss at the moment as to how to proceed to free him.

What I like about the whole story the most is that it is a story that focuses on the people and their interaction. Yes, there is a war going on, and war events play a part, but we are not constantly witnesses of battles and strategy meetings and what not (there are some, of course, but they are not the main theme). What we see most is how the couples deal with what happens to them and with each other. Everybody is entwined with everybody else. What happens to one affects all the others in some way or other.

One thing that made me very happy was that FINALLY someone meeting a really old vampire considers doing more than just sleeping with him. Not once in all the vampire books I’ve read the vampire’s lover / partner/ companion ever mentioned that they would like to actually pick his brain about past events. Except for Raymond. From the first vampire story I read I was wondering why nobody ever asked them anything about historical events or situations that they witnessed. You would think that people would go crazy over the opportunity to get first hand information from someone who was around a thousand or more years ago. Obviously not! Except for Raymond. Because of this I find him even more endearing now.

This was another great read. If you have already read the first two books in the series, “Alliance in blood” and “Covenant in blood” you will certainly pick this one up. And if you haven’t yet, I strongly recommend to get those two first. This series is fantastic. Once more the only drawback is that we have to wait until November to get the fourth and last part of the story.

Available at Dreamspinner Press

By now you probably know that I’m a big fan of the “Partnership in Blood” series by Ariel Tachna. Finally “Conflict in Blood”, the third book in the series of four, will be released at Dreamspinner Press on Monday. Ariel is having a virtual book signing and a release party on her blog all day tomorrow starting 8am EST. She promises excerpts, not only from “Reparation in blood” but also other work in progress, discussions, a contest and other goodies. Sounds like a good way to spend some time tomorrow.

Edit: Ariel provided the link to the whole thread of posts for the party. You’ll find everything you need to know there. 

Lara Adrian is giving away the first story in her popular Midnight Breed series as an e-book for free. “Kiss of Midnight” is the first of so far five books with the sixth one “Ashes of Midnight” coming out later this month. If you like vampires, romance and  a story arc this might be a good series for you. Want to give it a try? Then go and download your free copy of Kiss of Midnight.

If you have read my reviews of Alliance in blood and Covenant in blood you will know that I absolutely love the “Partnership in blood” series by Ariel Tachna. The third volume “Conflict in blood” will be released in May and an excerpt is now available on Dreamspinner. The excerpt is about Jean and Raymond, not one of my favourite  couples in the book, but I enjoyed reading it nevertheless. If you are interested, I strongly recommend you read the first two books, otherwise the story won’t make much sense to you.

Blurb from Ravenous Romance: Detective Victoria Tyler is investigating Collins Bay’s new serial killer, one of the city’s vampires. Since they have marked her as a human to be killed or conquered, Tori knows that Michael is her only hope for survival. But she hasn’t spoken to him since the night she tried to kill him.
As the enforcer for the Italian vampiro cosca, Michael expects a certain amount of cooperation from his boss. That amount has been shrinking ever since their leader took a new sadist lover. So when the detective requests his help, it’s just the excuse he needs to take control of the city and the delicious human.
Risking it all, Tori agrees to let Michael take her neck and lead her on a journey through a world of bondage, domination and blood to stop the killer. But can she resist the dark lusts he sparks? Or will her weakness get someone else killed?

Reason I bought this book: I got it for a book discussion on Shelfari. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have. The title is too obvious even for me, .

Review: After about 10 pages it dawned on me that this is a re-telling of "Guilty Pleasures" with sex. There are so many similarities between these two stories, it is not funny.

Tori is a tough police detective in search of a serial killer. She is acquainted with Michael, a high ranking vampire who runs the nightclub "The Fallen". She once tried to kill him, she doesn’t trust him, he’s mad about her. Sound familiar? Tori is not quite as bitchy and aggravating as Anita Blake, but she’s almost there. She’s attracted to Michael – has been from the start, – in fact the real reason she tried to kill him was jealousy -, but guilt, qualms and self-denial have kept her at bay. This is one of my pet peeves, and more than half the book Tori oscillated between sleeping with Michael and loving it and rejecting him later, because "she can’t do this". So not for me. This "I love him, but I can’t let myself do this" device is a major plot key in a lot of romance books, and I hate it every time.

The evil vampire master of the city/clan/family is the next thing. It says "Nikolaos" all over. Michael later defeating him and becoming the new master/padrone? I’m not saying any more.

The bond between Tori and Michael, that he forced on her without her knowledge in order to save her life?  The master/servant thing? Been there, done that.

Once I got over those obvious similarities the story took off into a slightly different direction since there had to be some justification for the sex. Because of  Tori not owning up up to her attraction to Michael, there obviously couldn’t be a sex scene right at the start. How to solve this? Easy! Dreaming of sex with Michael, of course. Another thing I don’t like. Later on Tori did  comply and have sex with Michael and submitted to him (something she always wanted to do and Michael knew this from the get go), but, of course, this wasn’t the end of it. Right after, there was the inevitable rejection scene. This "I like you, I like you not" game went on for an eternity until all of a sudden Tori changed her tune and decided to love Michael after all. Huh?

All over the story Italian words were scattered about. I don’t really mind this, but at least they should be understandable. The Italian word for slave is not shiavo/shiava, but schiavo/schiava. The word "inamorato" is spelled "innamorato". Innamorato means "in love", and if it can be used to address a woman as "sweetheart" at all, which I doubt very much, it would be innamorata, since we are speaking about a woman. Just small details, but those just annoyed me.

If I hadn’t read "Guilty Pleasures" I probably would have liked the story a bit better than I have. As it is I didn’t like it at all, because even the concept wasn’t new to me. If you have never read Laurell K. Hamilton and enjoy reading about women who can’t make up their minds and won’t stick to their decisions, men who know exactly how submissive women are without even knowing them and with immediate sex scenes, you might enjoy this book.

Foot note: The customer service at Ravenous Romance is far from stellar. I got this book taking advantage of a "buy one gift certificate, get one free" deal. Three days after my purchase I inquired for the second time about when I’d get the second GC. Then I finally got an answer that consisted of exactly one sentence: "I will get to them tomorrow". Hello? No form of address, no "sorry about the delay", nothing. I’m the customer here and I’d expect a bit more than a snippy phrase. Anyway, the tomorrow turned out to be the day after tomorrow. Thanks a lot for it. After redeeming it, I won’t shop there again. There are plenty of shops out there who offer excellent customer service. In that respect I highly recommend Dreamspinner Press. They answer customer emails very fast and are extremely helpful.

[rating: 1.5] Because I did finish it for the discussion’s sake it gets a rating of 1.5. Otherwise it would have gotten a rating of 1

Synopsis: Trick, a hustler, is being picked up by Bast. Bast looks like he is 16 at most, loaded and sexy. After a paid night, they meet by accident later again and hit it off big time. Trick more or less moves in with Bast and they have a fabulous time – until Bast decides it’s time to tell the truth and reveals to Trick that he’s a 749 year old vampire. Trick’s first reaction is to run away, but later realizes that he was hurt rather about being lied to, not because of Bast’s actual  "condition". So, off he goes to make up with Bast…

Review: It’s hard for me to write a synopsis. The book basically is about Bast and Trick getting together, separating and getting together again, this time for good. Really good. Bast and Trick are both loveable characters. Trick is street smart, trusts only in himself and has a hard time owning up to the fact that he fell for Bast. Bast looks like a boy, but has seen more than you’d want to know.

Together they are a hot couple. Bast has such a wild need for Trick, it’s not funny. Trick is getting addicted to Bast in the same way. It’s really weird and oddly pleasant. You wouldn’t want to be in their place and at the same time you would. Together they decide that Trick would be Bast’s only source of blood (apart from blood bank stuff), thus becoming his Chosen. This reminds me of the Aveu de Sang between Orlando and Alain in Alliance in blood and doesn’t bode well for the future. I noticed just now that there is a sequel to "Need" out, "Chosen" the blurb of which already hints at interfering, well-meaning friends (a pet peeve of mine) and dark clouds on the horizon. But, since we’re talking about erotica, the problems will be solved rather quickly and we’ll be returning to our regularly scheduled program.

There are tons of love scenes, extremely hot, but I could have done without the multiple partner ones. Unless it is a menage book, I’d rather read about exclusive relationships. Mind you, the thing between Bast and Trick is as exclusive as it can get. They strictly differentiate between their relationship and playtime with others. Maybe Michael thought it was necessary to get that across, but even without those scenes the seriousness of Bast’s and Trick’s relationship came over pretty loud and clear.

Available at Torquere Books

[rating: 4]

Synopsis: Lexis, a vampire, gets a little too conceited and confident and pisses his elders off. As a punishment his coven turns against him, blinds him and leaves him for dead. He gets captured by humans and, together with other supernatural beings, is being experimented upon in some institution. When some of his fellow inmates make it possible to escape he’d rather stay behind and just die. However, Bryce, a werewolf, has other plans and drags him along. Bryce wants to avenge Lexis – against Lexis’ will -, but as a result of this well-meaning action, his old coven captures Lexis to finish him off for good.

Review: OK, this was different. The whole story is being told in first person. I usually don’t like that I only get one person’s angle, but from an excerpt I knew already that the story was told from Lexis’ point of view. So no complaints here. What was strange for me was that Lexis also is blind, so we never receive any visual impressions, but only Lexis’ feelings and what he experiences by touch or from hearing.
Bryce is totally smitten with Lexis, a fact that Lexis doesn’t recognize. He is totally unaware of his own appeal. On the other hand he feels dependent on Bryce and is quite taken with him as well. The love scenes are hot (I wouldn’t expect anything else) and took some getting used to. The warning on the shop site that the story contained sex in shifted form made me wonder whether I’d like it at all (given my opinion about the Wolf Tales by Kate Douglas), but I went for it anyway. So once I got over the fact that Bryce turned at some point to a certain degree the scenes were quite good, but nothing I’d like to read repeatedly.

What I liked was Bryce’s dedication to support Lexis and his determination to avenge him and help him restore his eyesight. Even though Lexis doesn’t recognize this himself and even fights it, it is just what he needs. Those two certainly make an interesting couple. All in all, this was a good read and the unique perspective made it quite extraordinary.

Available at Loose ID

[rating: 3]

Synopsis: While trying to escape a few killers hired by his family Griffin is shot and rescued by a stranger who saves his life. The stranger, Jarrah, turns out to be a vampire  to whom he feels extremely drawn.  Jarrah, in turn, develops feelings for Griffin and is determined to help him face and overcome his past.

Review: I chose this story for the erotica challenge and I didn’t go wrong here. My synopsis really doesn’t do this novella justice. Jarrah and Griffin are compelling characters who both have a need to find someone to love and who loves them. Both have been betrayed in their past and are very unhappy with their current lives. The way they find each other and after a short interlude find each other again is so heartwarming, you can’t help feeling warm and fuzzy yourself.

The love scenes are hot and sensual, yet at the same time loving. A word about the spanking scene. I usually hate them. To me they always feel stilted and forced, never fit into the context and seem as if just put in the book because the writer felt they had to have one. This is not so in this story. It fits right in and is fun to read. I never thought I’d say that about a spanking but I really enjoyed it, .

This won’t be the last story by M. L. Rhodes for me. If you enjoy novellas with a decent plot, hot scenes and deep emotions, "Souls Deep" is a good place to start.

Available at Amber Allure

[rating:5]

Synopsis: The war between the wizards is raging on affecting the natural balance. Meanwhile the wizards and vampires slowly realize that the connection between the couples entails more than just giving and receiving blood and the vampires’ immunity to the sun. Some couples are completely happy with each other, while others are struggling. Still they have to make it work so that the alliance will remain intact. Marcel and Jean, the leaders of the two groups, are preparing to announce their alliance publicly, to even get more support in their fight against the dark wizards around Serrier.

Review: Again the story kept me reading all night. More details are coming out about the bond between wizards and vampires that make the stories about the various couples even more interesting. The "aveu de sang" (blood vow) between Alain and Orlando is still strong, but due to Orlando’s past and all his hang-ups the relationship between the two becomes more difficult. Alain would like more than Orlando is able to give. I can’t wait to learn more about how those great guys will overcome their problems.

All the characters, who were already quite distinct in the first part, are getting even more fleshed out in the second one. The relationship between Thierry and Sebastien is getting more room in this book, and I’m already looking forward to reading even more about them in the next one. The same goes for Jean and Raymond and some other couples.

If you like vampire stories with a great story arc that stretches over more than one book, great love scenes and lovable characters, this is the series for you. It certainly is the series for me.

Available at Dreamspinner Press

[rating:5]