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A Blood Seduction (Vamp City #1)
Pamela Palmer
Published:
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Review by: Candace
Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars
Quinn.
At the gentle sound of Arturo’s voice, she closed her eyes, feeling the sting of tears.
You’re not alone, cara. I’m here.
Quinn Lennox is a human convinced she is a freak. So much so that in her job at a lab, she runs tests on herself to look for any anomalies. She finds none. Little does she know, there are anomalies that can’t be detected in blood.
Arturo is a vampire in an alternate world, accessible by magical portals in sunlight. Ironic, really, as the sunlight is lethal to Pamela Palmer’s vamps and there is usually no escape once humans access their world.
Vamp City was created as a basic clone of Washington, D.C., where our story starts. Insert political vampire jokes here. As opposed to D.C., Vamp City is a desolate world where the trees have no greenery and the humans are basically treated as cattle. Vamp City’s vamps feed not only off of blood but emotion as well. With a place this desolate, there is a virtual buffet of fear. The walls to Vamp City are about to fall, potentially trapping the fanged inhabitants inside with no possible hope of survival. Their only hope is to find a magical way of keeping Vamp City secure.
A Blood Seduction is marketed as romance, but it read like urban fantasy. There is a lot of world building in book one. What roles the characters will play are clearly defined. Christoff, Arturo’s master vampire, is an ass. Nothing about him was likable. He’s the one that the animosity is geared toward. Zack, Quinn’s brother, is a sweetie. A lifelong gamer, he’s forced to defend himself once in Vamp City. Zack has to look to inner strength to accomplish that.
The wildcard character is Kassius. He’s a mind reader, and this vampire is sympathetic to the plight of the humans and feels the same way about Christoff as I do. With the secrets he carries and his on-page presence, I would rush out to buy Kassius’ book.
We don’t get a happy ending at the end of ABS; we get a cliffhanger. Arturo’s role in Quinn’s life has yet to be defined. Hopefully, by the time book two hits the shelves, Arturo will be a little more set in his course instead of playing I like her, I like her not.
Taking all of this into consideration, the question would be is A Blood Seduction worth the time? Definitely. Book one with any new series has a great deal of world building. Such is the case here. Quinn and Arturo do not pack an initial punch, but they are intriguing enough that I wanted to know more.
Palmer has a gold mine of potential here. Arturo’s feelings have been so restrained that it’s exciting to think about his character development. Quinn’s potential is untapped as well and I look forward to seeing how this changes in the upcoming books. This is a slow start to a new series but a promising one. I would urge paranormal romance fans to give this one a chance.
Sexual content: Sex
I also thought this was a good book, I just didn’t get the whole Sweet Tarts thing though.
This book wasn’t the worst I’ve ever read by any means. It had great world building, and the vamps were as malicious as you could possibly hope for, but I pretty much hated how weak and inept Quinn was as a heroine. For me, a UF female lead needs to have a bit more backbone. She didn’t need to be the toughest woman out there, but she was way too trusting for my taste. She read like a romance novel heroine trying to play a part in urban fantasy and it didn’t work.
That’s just it, this book is PNR, not UF. I think it would be a better fit in the UF section. I agree about Quinn, but something tells me that she is going to be a hell of a lot stronger in book two.