Review: Blood Oranges by Kathleen Tierney (Siobhan Quinn #1)

Blood Oranges (Siobhan Quinn #1)
Kathleen Tierney
Published: Feb. 5, 2013 (Roc)
Purchase: Book Depository or Blood Oranges
Review source: purchased

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Reviewed by: Amanda

Quinn didn’t start out as an abomination, but after a run-in with a werewolf and a rescue-turned-meal with a vampire, she’s a taboo nasty – half werewolf, half vamp, and none too pleased with the results. Her half-assed career as a demon hunter’s been put on hold, but the good news is her newly fanged status seems to have cured her itch for heroin.

The vampire who decided to snack on her after saving her life, the Bride of Quiet, wants to use her as a weapon. Against whom and for what purpose, she doesn’t know. But she’s going to find out.

Blood Oranges is one of those books that’s so fantastically good you want to badger everyone you know until they read it, but at the same time, you kind of keep your mouth shut about it because it’s not going to appeal to everyone. It’s dark, unapologetically so, and harsh. People die. Lots of people die. The side of Providence, Rhode Island depicted in the book is a distinctly foul-smelling place to be, full of blood and muck and other far nastier things.

Quinn is not a nice person. She doesn’t have many friends, and she’s fine with that. She’s been on the streets since she was a kid (by choice) and she’s used to fending for herself. Her version of snark has a bite to it that will leave marks, and her education came mostly from the days she spent camped out at the library. She lies, cheats, and steals. What else would you expect from an addict?

The pace is slow; Quinn spends a good portion of the story just trying to get a grip on her new self, what she can do, how she can control it. Her search for answers leads to a lot of dead ends and more than a few corpses. What draws you in and keeps you turning pages is the writing. Tierney’s got some mad skills, and she’s not afraid to poke fun at the paranormal romance genre.

Some stories you read for the writing, for the way the words are strung together to give you an image so visceral, it doesn’t matter that you’ve read an entire chapter and not a whole hell of a lot has happened. You keep reading because despite her tough front, Quinn’s actually quite vulnerable and scared and you like her; you root for her, even when you’re cringing about her latest worship service to the porcelain gods.

Blood Oranges was a fun, wild trip to the dark side, and with Quinn as your guide, you’ll definitely want to go back.

Sexual content: none