Vampires have never been so hot… Million-bestselling author Bella Forrest returns with an all-new paranormal romance series!
One last adventure. That’s all Riley wants before heading off to college and parting ways with her two best friends. Spending their last summer together on a Texas farm in the middle of nowhere isn’t quite as exciting as they’d planned…
That is, until … isn’t quite as exciting as they’d planned…
That is, until they stumble upon secrets no human should know.
Men who appear and disappear.
A giant wing hidden in the creek.
Screams in the dead of night.
Every oddity seems connected to their strange–and alarmingly attractive–new neighbors, led by the stormy-eyed Navan. For reasons she can’t explain, Riley feels drawn to him and the story of his past.
But Navan has a monstrous side, one that grants him incredible powers that are not of this world…and ashen skin that feels like fire to the touch.
When events take a dangerous twist, Riley is determined to protect her friends at all costs, but as she unravels each thread of the mystery, she finds herself entangled in a supernatural conquest that is far bigger than Texas… and even Earth itself.
A mystery.
A romance.
And a journey that could change the fate of the human race.
Prepare for a unique spin on the lore you love – and an adventure that is as thrilling as it is unexpected.
Scroll up and BUY NOW to begin…
This review MAY contain spoilers.
This book is good, but it didn’t blow my mind. I think that I went into this book with higher expectations than I should have. I read many positive reviews and saw that the overall rating for the book was high so I didn’t think much past that before beginning this book. This is the first book that I have read by this author. While I found the book entertaining, I also found it frustrating at times. So it pretty much had an equal amount of good and bad for me.
One pattern that I saw in the book that I didn’t care for was info dumping. There is too much telling the history of things in big chunks instead of letting things come up gradually. It felt like too much at once every time an info dump occurred. The writing style is very fluid and easy to follow for the most part. It didn’t feel amateur by any means, but neither did it feel overly accomplished. It felt comfortable. Some of the language and dialogue felt a little too stiff, but nothing cringe-worthy.
I felt that the plot could have used some work. At least in the believability of it. Riley and her friends were all too eager to accept what Navan and his comrades were, and even more ready to fly off in Navan’s arms without any hesitation. There was too much trust without any reason for it. And Riley declared that she felt safe with Navan, which seemed unconvincing since she didn’t know him from jack and he didn’t really give her any reason to feel that way. She came off as very naive. The whole trust aspect is not convincing at all. Trust usually has to be earned, not given freely. Most people wouldn’t put their trust in someone without hesitation, especially when that someone revealed that they were not even human. The plot did have some good points too. I liked the premise of the story and the plot points were strung together pretty well. I just think that the human characters accepted things way too easily in the beginning to make the setup of the story believable.
The characters were really dull and fell flat for me. Especially at the beginning. Navan was like a robot showing no emotion or personality. He eventually shows a little promise, but I was hoping for more. Riley could be annoying at time and she was excessively naive. I didn’t feel like either main character had much development. They felt one-dimensional. I really think that the story could have been epic if they had been developed more thoroughly and if they showed more emotion. It could just be that the writing didn’t portray them with enough emotion.
I felt that the romance wasn’t entirely convincing either. There was some attraction there but the romance almost felt forced. This is a fast-paced story so that may be why the romance felt too sudden. Even though there isn’t any romance until the last chapter of the book and it is quite brief. I felt that they needed to share more moments together to develop romantic feelings towards each other. It didn’t feel like the time that they had spent together really justified it. I am rooting for them though. I hope that the romance gets better in the next book.
Overall, I enjoyed this story but I felt that some of the execution could have been better. There were many things that didn’t click with me while reading this, though it was entertaining enough. It did hold my interest enough that I want to continue with the next book. I think that the story has promise even if some of the development didn’t come across as top notch. This was a quick read and I would recommend this book because the premise is interesting enough and the writing is decent.
A totally different take on vampires. Easy and fun.
This paranormal romance is riddled with suspense twists that keep you bound wanting to know what happens next.
I’ve read the first 3 seasons from The Shade as well as the Dragon series. While I enjoyed all of those series, I was getting tired of all of the “seasons”, so I tapped out on Bella Forrest for a while.
Now, more than a year later since reading anything of hers, I decided to give the Hotbloods series a chance. In the beginning of the book, I was really drawn in…. couldn’t put it down, but then about midway through, it turned meh for me. I finished it in the hopes that it would rekindle my interest, but no such luck. Even with a cliff hanger type ending, I could care less to read on, and as most of her series are, this one is 8 books long at $5 a whack. Not interested is investing another $35 to finish it. Maybe if her books were still 2.99 like when she first started writing the Shade Series, but even then, probably not.
This was a pretty good set of books def a good read for the coffee table or a weekend read for the 8 books in this series..they are targeted young or teen readers.i kinda was expecting more from her at this point but guess not..
I had read & thoroughly enjoyed this Author’s Shade of Vampire series, until it got past about book 15 & kept n going So I had high hopes for this new series but not blind optimism!!
The start is setting the scene & letting you get to know Riley, mainly, although it also shows the tightknit friendship between her, Angie & Lauren too. It then moves at quite a pace once something very unusual is found & then stolen.
Naven is the leader of the ‘Coldbloods’ that the 3 girls have stumbled across. He isn’t like the majority of his Race in the way he thinks & behaves & neither are his companions/brothers/friends. They want nothing more than to protect humans from their people!! We’d call their Race Vampire’s
Naven is betrayed & from that betrayal the book takes off as does he and Riley. They are in a race to protect humankind from being destroyed by his people.
I feel the need to stick up for our heroine a little. Riley has only just turned 18yrs old & has been thrust into an enormously complicated, mind blowing & scary new reality that most 30+ year old adults couldn’t cope with. I think she shows backbone & strength of character that most girls her age couldn’t hope too, along with the naivete of her age which keeps her real!!
Bella has turned Vampire lore on its head, yet again, as well as the whole supernatural community, in a fascinating way.
The book is more of a SERIAL than a series which I find annoying. I hate not knowing in advance that a story ends on a cliffhanger. I’d rather wait for all the books to release & then read them as I don’t like waiting in between I’m glad book 2 is already available but it will lose a star from me for this alone!!
I feel like this book is possibly more suited to YA or slightly older rather than older people like myself. I enjoyed it & will read book 2 & 3 once that’s released but I’m not jumping in excitement over it. I’d say its worth a read if this genre is your favourite as this spin on the lore is very clever!!
Bonus. .. It’s in Kindle Unlimited, how I read it!!
Debbie, 1970, UK