LynneC’s review of Chosen By Blood (Para-Ops Series, Book 1) by Virna DePaul
Paranormal Romance published by Berkley 3 May 11
What a relief to read a paranormal romance that is peopled, for the most part, by adults! I must be on a roll, because the last paranormal I read was the marvellous Nightborn. While Chosen by Blood isn’t quite in that category, I do have hopes for the author and that her paranormal world can coalesce into something as vibrant as the Viehl.
It’s a paranormal world peopled by different kinds of Others, as she refers to them. Some are interesting, such as the wraiths, dead people with no knowledge of what they were before they died and no way of knowing how they got to that state, and familiar creatures like vampires, vamps in this world, and werebeasts.
Knox Devereaux is a vamp. In fact, he leads his clan, but he’s the offspring of a human and a vamp, so he’s not as affected by the loss of pure blood as the rest of his clan. He’s been in love with Felice since before the story starts, although his wife only died the year before. Since he was faithful, and Knox and Felice haven’t consummated their relationship, I could roll with that. No cheating involved, just a lot of yearning.
Felice is a mortal, an agent specialising in hostage situations. She loves Knox but knows he is immortal and bound to marry another vamp, because the vamp race is dying. During the recent war between Others and mortals, a vaccine was developed that prevented blood-giving nourishment to vamps, and so they are starving.
Team Red of Others, a para-ops group, is formed with the objective of uncovering the antidote to the vaccine. At times I wasn’t clear where the plot was going—there are so many twists and turns, I sometimes got a bit lost, especially toward the end.
Unfortunately, toward the end the author had to start including “Only on a Tuesday” rules. This happens when the paranormal beings are so powerful that they can overcome any obstacle, except—only on a Tuesday. If these things aren’t built into the world and the characters early on, it’s obvious when it’s introduced as a limiter rather than a natural progression. If the series continues, these difficulties need to be sorted out.
There are also too many “kitchen table” scenes, places where the characters talk about what they’ve just done and what they’re going to do next. They really need to be cut down a bit.
No matter, because for me, the characters matter more than the plot, and the characters in this book are intriguing and led me to read on.
The sex is hot, but a little pedestrian, if you know what I mean. By the time of their first consummation, Felice and Knox have been fancying each other for ten years, and Knox is already clear that he loves her. While it’s a turn-on to have a hot, powerful man in love with you, I like to read about what led up to that and why and how. That’s why I tend to avoid the “fated mates” trope. In a romance, sometimes it feels like cheating. I want to see their courtship. That’s where Nalini Singh excels, and even in the first Psy-Changeling book, she sets up the romance and we, the reader, watch it build. We learn what great characters the two protagonists are and eventually understand why they belong together.
DePaul effectively skips this part and plunges into the consummation. The relationship doesn’t move forward in the story, and most of the threats to the relationship come from outside, so the idea of Knox marrying someone else and yet devoting his life to Felicia is a welcome one. It is, apparently, usual for vampires to have an “open” relationship, but Felicia is a mortal, and she wants none of it. One of the most effective parts of the story is when she is considering what it would mean and deciding she can’t do it. But until Knox marries, she’s willing to sleep with him.
Although the book isn’t without its faults, I think the characters and setup are interesting, and I’d like to read more para-ops stories.
Grade: B-
(See Ash’s review here.)
Summary:
Leader of an Otherborn clan, half-breed vampire Knox Devereaux would do anything to find a cure for the anti-vamp vaccine slowly starving his people into extinction. When the FBI contacts him about leading a team of hand-selected Others on a mission to reclaim the stolen antidote, Knox accepts. His new assignment places him in direct contact with Special Agent Felicia Locke, the beautiful human he’s craved since their very first meeting.
Read an excerpt.
