Enter a world of immortal danger and desire—and discover an incredible fate borne of blood.
Tendra: One minute, I’m a bartender in gritty Mission City; the next, I’m whisked away by a vampire named Athan who tells me that I’m the lifeblood of his clan. It sounds unbelievable, but he’s got evidence I can’t deny. Turns out, Athan belongs to an underground society of vampires who feed only on humans with their consent. Their enemies have no such qualms, and they want me dead. The only thing standing in their way is strong, sexy Athan. And the closer we get, the more tempted I am to let Athan feed. . . .
Athan: How could I have known when I snatched this snarky, beautiful human off the streets that she would change my destiny? As a loyal soldier, I must deliver Tendra to our future king—my brother. Empowered with the blood of ten generations of the Gregorie breed, she is fated to rule as our queen. But there’s something between us that’s so intoxicating, so carnal, I can’t help wanting Tendra for myself . . . even if it’s treason.
4 stars
An ARC has been kindly provided by Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept via NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.
I don’t know what was in the book but I read it in nearly one sitting. Maybe Megan Erickson sprinkled some somnus to captivate the reader?
This is one of these stories where everything works really well together to give you a great time. The characters, the pace, the plot with some unexpected twists, the side characters (I particularly love the feline one)…
Tendra is a feisty and strong heroine. She’s been on the run since she was a child and her mother just died some weeks ago. She has to work hard as a waitress to pay the bills and feed her cat Brex. Tendra is not one missy you want to mess up with. She’s been trained to protect herself by her mother and is the “MacGyver” of fights as even a stiletto can become a deadly tool.
That’s a good trick to know ladies: high heels can save your life! One more reason to go on a shoe shopping spree.
She feels like moving again and has just decided to leave the town of Maddison when she is “kidnapped” by a huge and intimidating stranger.
Imagine the guy: six foot seven, black eyes, pale skin, abs rippling and shoulders too wide not to cross doors sideway. Yes you’ve just met Athan.
Athan is a vampire warrior and the king’s youngest son of Gregories clan.
You see in this world there are good vampires: The Gregories, bad vampires the Valarians and very, very bad vampire the Quellens who are just plain killers to hire and weird looking.
The Valarian’s grand plan is to enslave the human race while the Gregories want to maintain a truce, stay hidden and feed only from willing humans. To defeat the Valerians they need to up their game thanks to a specially bred human: the Sanguivita. The Sanguivita is meant to feed Idris Athan’s brother and future king granting him extraordinary powers and strength.
And who is the Sanguivita? Of course none other than Tendra.
Now how would you react if a very intimidating man kidnapped you and explained you’ve been created to feed a vampire and your duty was to save the human race?
Well I would freak out and call the police. Or ask for him to be put in the psych ward. Or if I realized it was all true I would maybe do my duty but very, very reluctantly. And I would need compensation. Lots and lots of compensation!
But not Tendra. After the initial shock she accepts her fate and wants to do what is right for the humans.
OK she will need Athan’s support. He is her blood guard after all. And her badass of a cat with a “bad guy” detector to survive the journey
Megan Erickson portrayed a fantastic heroine. She was real, strong, smart, opinionated, caring and had no shame in her sexuality. When the time come expect very hawt sex scenes! Vampires are sex driven and humans they feed from need their release so…. Just buy some spare set of panties maybe.
I really loved her sass!
When someone tells her cat weighs enough for three cats she tells to quit fat-shaming him because he is just “big-boned”.
And when she learned of the Valarians were a rival vampire clan her thoughts was “Oh great, so this was like Goodfellas but with fangs”. Ha! She made me smile so often 😀
I’m gushing about Tendra but Athan was a great hero. Alpha (I love that kind of heroes), excellent fighter, easy on the eye, determined to do his duty but not afraid to listen to Tendra’s opinion. For one big badass vampire raised not to feel anything and respect humans but not especially care for them he did a 180° turn!
Cherry on top: if the plot is not overtly complicated you still have some run and hide to keep it interesting and several twists that will change the whole plan. What happened to Athan was so unexpected I was “Holy sh@t”!
If you are looking for a story easy to read filled with handsome vampires, sustained by strong characters with a prophecy to fulfill as background this book would be a great choice!
Thanks for reading
