Blood at Dusk
Brenna Harlow
Paranormal Romance
Will she forgive him for his sins, or is their bond destined to fracture before it’s even forged?
KORA
Everything changed when the vampires arrived.
I’m starving, alone in a dark cave, and grieving those who I lost.
But I’m not giving up just yet. I’m a fighter, a survivor. A little fear won’t get in my way.
A vampire will, though. And he chooses the worst time to show himself.
Only he doesn’t want blood… He wants something even more sacred. Something I’m not willing to give away.
ALDEON
I am dhampir, and I’ve been lost to the bloodlust like many of my people.
Yet I awaken from the haze, only to find myself in a strange world, drinking from even stranger beings.
When I catch her scent, everything changes. The Calling awakens deep within, and I know she is my mate. My fated.
But she is different. She is human, native to this land, and in dire trouble. A mysterious enemy leads a horde of maddened dhampirs straight to her dwelling, ready to drink her dry.
It is my duty to protect her. I’ll fight to the death if I must.
And when the time is right, I will claim her as mine.Â
Uncaged Review: When I first opened this book, I thought the story would continue directly from the prequel novella, but that idea was quickly squashed when I started reading. In this book, Aldeon comes back to himself from his madness and wakes up in a forest. When he reaches out to find others from his world, he still hears many with the bloodlust madness, but he also hears one other rational dhampir, Brone. He continues to mind speak with Brone as he moves along, until he hears the thoughts of a girl….and The Calling hits him. When he finds Kora, he will have a hard time convincing her that he will only protect her, after she’s seen everyone she cares about killed by the vampires.
There are parts of this story that are very compelling and that I wanted to come back to anytime I put it down, but there were also parts I wished had more elaboration on. The author is giving us bits and pieces of the past and the world Azure, where the dhampirs came from, but it’s still so vague. I’d also like to see more of the type of interaction between Kora and Aldeon where she is teaching him more about this world and how he needs to act to fit in better.
Other than that, I like the premise of the book, and I think it will bring more understanding with the next books in the series, with the author promising 7 books and a couple novellas along the way. We do find Maggie from the prequel toward the back part of the book – and this is an intriguing storyline that I will look forward to. Reviewed by Cyrene
4 Stars
