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Early Review: Pure Blooded by Amanda Carlson (Jessica McClain #5)

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Pure Blooded by Amanda Carlson // VBC ReviewPure Blooded (Jessica McClain #5)
Amanda Carlson
Published: June 16, 2015 (Orbit)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Full Blooded.

I’m having something of a love-hate relationship with Jessica McClain’s to-do list right now. At the beginning of Pure Blooded, as with most of the books in the series, Jessica has clearly defined objectives. Since the end of book 3, Cold Blooded, her father has been in the Everglades battling rogue werewolves who are in league with a voodoo priestess. So one item on her list is to travel to Florida and help resolve that conflict.

In book 4, Red Blooded, a coven of witches helped Jessica travel to hell to rescue her brother. When she returned, she discovered the witches, led by her best friend’s Aunt Tally had disappeared. Her second task then is to find, and probably rescue, Aunt Tally.

When Jessica accomplishes one of her goals a little more than halfway through the book, I thought I knew what was going to happen in the second half. Then I thought, “There’s kind of a lull here between part one and part two. Why is this taking so long?” And then that second thing never happened and I felt like I was left hanging.

I realize that I’ve basically just defined the term “cliffhanger” and even that most of the books in the series have had unresolved issues at the end. But I felt like nothing happened in the second half of the book and that was frustrating. It’s also not entirely true. Jessica and her friends did encounter some new creatures and have an exciting action scene. She also added some interesting new characters to her entourage.

Despite my frustrations, there are still plenty of things I like about Pure Blooded. Jessica’s best friend Marcy, who always gets left behind, finally gets to play a bigger role and show off her magic skills. Danny and Naomi have always been my favorite supporting characters and I loved the direction their stories take.

Jessica also learns a lot about her magic and her destiny in this book. I always thought it was odd that she had conversations with her wolf, like Jane Yellowrock does with Beast, but I finally found out why. And I’m happy to finally have the whole story about the Fates and their involvement in Jessica’s life. The downside of that is that I feel like Jessica needs to reclaim her agency and independence going forward. I also wish she had actually used her magic more, rather than just listening to people talk about it.

Despite being disappointed with the previous book in the series, Im glad that I stuck with Jessica McClain. I feel like Pure Blooded is moving in the right direction and Im happy to finally have some big questions answered. I’m looking forward to finding out what’s next for Jessica and her friends.

Sexual content: sex

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