Blood Bound (Unbound Novel) [Mass Market Paperback]

Rachel Vincent (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 23, 2011 | Series: Unbound Novel

By blood, by word, by magic…

Most can't touch the power. But Liv Warren is special—a paranormal tracker who follows the scent of blood.

Liv makes her own rules, and the most important one is trust no one.

But when her friend's daughter goes missing, Liv has no choice but to find the girl. Thanks to a childhood oath, Liv can't rest until the child is home safe. But that means trusting Cam Caballero, the former lover forbidden to her.

Bound by oath and lost in desire for a man she cannot have, Liv is racing to save the child from a dark criminal underworld where secrets, lies, trauma and danger lurk around every corner…every touch…every kiss.

And more blood will be spilled before it's over…

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A high-octane plot with characters you can really care about. Vincent is a welcome addition to the genre."

-#1 New York Times bestseller Kelley Armstrong on Stray

"Compelling and edgy, dark and evocative, Stray is a must read! I loved it from beginning to end."

-New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter

"The second installment of Vincent's urban fantasy series (after Stray) features a well-thought-out vision of werecat social structure as well as a heroine who insists on carving her own path, even if it means breaking some of her society's most sacred taboos."

-Library Journal on Rogue

"Vincent continues to impress with the freshness of her approach and voice. Action and intrigue abound, and Faythe is still a delight."

-RT Book Reviews on Prey

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent loves good chocolate, comfortable jeans, and serial commas. She’s older than she looks and younger than she feels, but is convinced that for every day she spends writing, one more day will be added to her lifespan. Now absorbed in the dark, tangled loyalties of her UNBOUND world, as well as the travails of a teenage banshee in her SOUL SCREAMERS world, Rachel can be found online at www.rachelvincent.com or urbanfantasy.blogspot.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mira; Original edition (August 23, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780778312550
• ISBN-13: 978-0778312550
• ASIN: 0778312550
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #459,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rachel Vincent is the author of the Shifters series, about a werecat named Faythe Sanders, who is learning to define her own role in her family and fighting to claim a place in her Pride.

Rachel's young adult series, Soul Screamers, debuted on August 1, 2009. My SOUL TO TAKE is the first in the series, about a teenage bean sidhe (banshee) trying to balance a normal high school experience with the terrifying, hidden world she's just discovered. Soul Screamers Book 5, IF I DIE, will be available on October 1, 2011.

BLOOD BOUND (Unbound, book 1), the first in Rachel's new adult paranormal series, will debut September 1, 2011.

A new resident of San Antonio, Rachel Vincent has a BA in English and an overactive imagination, and she consistently finds the latter to be more practical. She shares her workspace with two black cats (Kaci and Nyx) and her # 1 fan. Rachel is older than she looks-seriously-and younger than she feels, but remains convinced that for every day she spends writing, one more day will be added to her lifespan.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Review from My Overstuffed Bookshelf August 22, 2011

By A. Jacobs VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I am speechless for my review of Blood Bound. I did not know what to expect since the only books I have read by this author are her young adult Soul Screamer series. I knew it would be excellent writing, but I didn't realize how well she could execute an adult themed genre book until now.

I will be honest though in the fact that if you aren't prepared for some puzzle solving, you can easily get lost in the first couple chapters. I was scratching my head several times trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Even though I was confused and starting to get frustrated, I kept reading and I am so happy I did. Once I got through the initial scene set-up chapters, the book took off. I found myself sucked into the Skilled world and was secretly wishing I had some of those Skills without the contracts! Imagine having the powers to track someone with either a name or sample of blood. Imagine stepping from one place into another by just walking though a shadow. Imagine seeing into the future and knowing all sorts of possibilities with different decisions. Just sit and imagine what it would be like.

The romance between Cam and Olivia is written perfectly. It isn't over done with a lot of sex scenes, but you can still feel the chemistry pull between the two and you find yourself looking for the loopholes for them to be together. I even found myself cheering and hoping that one particular bad guy would turn out not to be so bad. While I still can't stand his wife, the bad guy does have some redeeming qualities if you look close enough.

Now don't even get me started on that ending! I was so frustrated on the last page. I looked at my book closely to see if it was missing pages and then my frustration only grew when I finally accepted that the author left the ending this way for a reason. I could have screamed and thrown my book against a wall, but I realized it just makes me more anxious for the next book in the series to arrive. I now NEED the next book in the series just as much as I need my next breath! When an author can leave you hanging at the end, but leave you satisfied enough to want to continue the series, you know the author has done a beautiful job in a novel. Author Rachel Vincent has now been bumped to my always list for adult themed books and I can't wait to get my hands on her other series!

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly imaginative, richly developed, and action-packed new series August 25, 2011

By Fiktshun

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Never tell anyone your full name. Never leave behind a drop of your blood. Because if you do, they will find you.

Always keep the lights on. Banish every shadow. Because no locked door can keep them out.

The Skilled have been around for years, and those who are the most powerful are bound to one of the two powerful crime families that control the city.

So, unless you are extremely careful, incredibly lucky or exceedingly wealthy, they can see you, they can track you, they can instantly travel to wherever you are, they can blind you and they can bind you.

***

What an incredibly imaginative, richly developed, dark, gritty and deadly world Rachel Vincent has created in Blood Bound, the first book in her new paranormal series.

Blood Bound instantly transports readers into this action-packed and danger-filled story where the Skilled, with just a name or a sample of blood, can track someone. With just a shadow, can travel instantly from place to place, or with a word, can forever lock someone into an agreement they may never have wanted.

While the Government refuses to recognize their abilities, the syndicates use them to gain the advantage. For years, these two powerful families have divided the city - Jake Towers controls the West and Ruben Cavazos, the East. Only the really wealthy or the incredibly lucky don't have to show their allegiance to either.

But being Skilled, and as good as Liv Warren was, meant that being unbound couldn't last. Eventually she would have to choose sides or the choice would be made for her. And even if she wouldn't have to pay the price for her indecision, someone else would. Most likely someone she cared about.

When Liv is forced to accept an old friend's plea to use her abilities as a Tracker to find whoever murdered her friend's husband and assassinate him, she had no idea just how complicated things would become. With a fresh blood sample, the job should have been a simple one for someone with her Skill.

But her past quickly becomes her present when she is asked to work alongside the man who was once the love of her life. The man she walked out on with no notice or explanation. The man she has tried desperately to stay away from. Cam Caballero, the man she still loved, even after six years apart.

As Liv and Cam search for the killer and try to figure out why someone would want to harm an unskilled, unbound family man, they become ensnared in an even bigger mystery. One that is more dangerous than they could ever have imagined.

And when truths are revealed and secrets from the past are uncovered, the pieces to this puzzle slowly begin to fit together. But getting the answers they need may cost one of them their lives.

Blood Bound is an intense, riveting and irresistibly seductive novel in this new series, with a whirlwind pace, tension that continues to build, and a story that reveals itself to be much more complex than first meets the eye.

This story is set in a world where the undercurrent of violence is ever-present. Where the dark and seedy underworld is in control and there is nowhere safe to hide. Author Rachel Vincent has created an exciting, dark and sexy urban fantasy novel that is part mystery and part crime drama, with an intricate plot that reveals itself layer by layer as the story progresses.

Blood Bound is an absolute must read and has everything that fans of the author have come to expect - twists and turns, surprises around every corner, electrifying chemistry between the characters and a build-up to an ending that will leave readers wanting more.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting World but Hackneyed Plot October 12, 2011

By Erin Evans

Format:Kindle Edition

I give this book a three star for "It's Okay." Not great, but okay. The idea of someone abandoning their true love for six years without explanation to "protect" the loved one is old, contrived, and really silly. Then you have your sterotypical "Dirty Harry" heroine, who's tough, and good with guns, and scarred, who has a bitter outlook on life, and yet is still supposed to be relatable. She drinks, she curses, she sleeps around, she kills people, she likes to get beat up by the bad guy, yet the reader is supposed to understand her motivation for doing all those things.
The end was anticlamtic and rushed and obviously setting up for a series. It was also rather contrived in that <spoiler> <spoiler> Liv recontracts with the horrible crime boss who she spent the whole book trying to get away from. I'm sorry, but no matter how much I love my husband I'm not putting myself in a situation where I will be forced to murder, lie, cheat, steal, and sleep around with other people against my will. Not even to save him from having to do the same. I think it showed lack of character on her part to put herself back in an abusive relationship, and it showed weakness on Cam's part by choosing Liv's life over all the people that he is going to be forced to hunt down and kill later. I don't really want to read more about "star crossed lovers" who are "bound" to run around and kill people and feel so torn up about it while they do it. Bleh.
To top it off, the writing was over the top in places where you just stopped and laughed at the choice of melodramatic words. If I could give this a two-and-half-star I would. I finished the book, but it was somewhere between "didn't like" and "okay."