Customer Reviews

Blood Kin (Blood Lines, Book 3)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The first two books in the series were captivating with a good storyline, intriguing subplots, and insightful details. They were cohesive and made sense, sort of like a good sherlock holmes story where all the pieces fall into place at the end. However, from start to finish, Blood Kin was an exhausting effort to finish. While I'm a fan of Marie Lima's work, this novel fell far short of what I would have expected. I had been expecting this newest addition to the series for some time and upon completing it, I was surprisingly disappointed.

*spoilers*
To begin with, Keira, the main character in the series, is a non stop whiner throughout the novel. Following her change in the last novel and discovering her role as the new heir to the Kelly Clan chieftainship, Blood Kin unrelentingly highlights her desire to shy away from her new responsibilities. She is written as a constant whiner in the vein of a spoiled teenager who does not want to grow up when she knows she has no choice. I kept wanting to mentally slap the character for her constant boohooing over the notion that she is the heir to immense power, fortune, and political standing but wants to stay in Texas to be with her vampire lover. We get it! Life is not fair but you would think a 38 year old woman even in fiction would quit moaning and just figure out a solution to her circumstances instead of constantly complaining about them.

Secondly, the whole story can be summed up as this: Keira and entourage are summoned by the all powerful Kelly clan chief, Minerva (aka Gigi), to go to the the clan's enclave in British Columbia to announce her as the heir. They are delayed in Vancouver due to the mysterious deaths of a few people and an unseelie bard. After a bunch of long, drawn out and uninteresting searches, they figure out in the end that, Adam is the half unseelie crown prince, Gideon, is also a Kelly clan heir, the half brother of her current lover, Adam, and also the son of the Unseelie king, Drystan. At the end, they get sent back to Texas while Gigi waits to see what happens.

The whole story was just one meandering disjointed waste of time that could have been resolved by common sense communication between characters and Keira resolving her infantile emotional and psychological issues.

In short, I would highly recommend NOT buying this book. It was one long filler that could have been summed up in a few pages. If you must read the events, then I strongly suggest borrowing the book from your local library. This book was not worth the money it was printed on. If I could rate it 0 stars I would have.

I'm just as likely the wrong audience for this series, but since I did enjoy the first book some what I feel I should comment on this one. While I was not enthralled with the first book it showed some potential. The best part being the characters are very likeable and you can enjoy reading just to see what happens to them. Since then however the books have had issues. In this book the first being that there is no real story. It was more like the author just strung together a bunch of moments that meant absolutely nothing. The characters would have achieved more by washing their clothes. The actual plot events could have been covered in one chapter.

The characters are likeable still but the heroine keeps becoming an idiot at moments. She lives in a world where the supernatural happens every day yet in the second and this book it isn't something she considers until her face has been rubbed in it. That is when she isn't acting childish. If the author didn't keep giving her a "get out of jail free" card if you will then she wouldn't have any supporting characters left. It is fine to have a powerful character but the situations shouldn't be created just so the character can use the powers. Give some plot meaning to these events not just another blind stupid decision that she can then three pages later just pull out the mojo card just to say it is all better.

I say if you are desperate for a book like I was then read the first book it really isn't bad read and worth the money. Then stop. Nothing is developed in the next books that are even worth the reading let alone the money.

After the first two books in this series I was scrambing to get the third. What a waste of time and money. I had to keep my attention on the book through sheer determination to finish. I was looking through Netflix in between chapters to see if I could seek entertainment elsewhere.
The problems I had with this book are simple. Kiera does not act like a real person. She has in the last two which is why this seems totaly like a character shift...
SPOILER: She gets angry with Adam for keeping HUGE secrets from her and then forgives him two seconds later claiming to be an adult, yet she continually whines throughout the book like a pre-teen.
M. Lima subtly insults the Twilight series(Of which I am not a fan)apparently for laughs; of which it gets none..it felt kind of jealous and catty...
This book could have easily been a novella in that there were no real action or true revelations about her. No real growth. Another reviewer already said what I was thinking about her use of Cousin, and nephew in everyday speech. Fake.

I probably will give the next book a try but I am not hoding my breath..

Do yourself a favor and read the Mercy Thompson series or Kate Daniels for some real characters, exciting action, true romance, and real urban fantasy.

This is an interesting new series with unexpected twists. A bit of mystery walking side by side with paranormal. I was looking forward to this next installment, but was a little let down. It just seemed to take forever to read it.

Keira Kelly has come into her full powers. Like it or not (and she does not), Keira is the Kelly heir. Her great-great-grandmother Gigi orders Keira to come to British Columbia to begin her training. Her vampire lover, Adam Walker, remains in Texas to oversee his people and do the normal things all vampire kings must. Her best friend, Bea, has still not recovered from her horrifying ordeal a few days ago and refuses all contact with Keira. Her former lover, Gareth, is still in a coma. However, Keira can ignore Gigi's summons no longer.

Due to severe weather, Keira's group must land in Vancouver. The delay is no real problem since the Kelly Family owns a condo there. With Keira are her shapeshifter brother, Tucker, and his vampire life-mate, Niko, and the Sidhe prince, Daffyd ap Geraint.

Vancouver is hosting a folk music festival. But Keira's group cannot enjoy it because Daffyd has disappeared. As they search for the missing Sidhe, the group learns several shocking secrets. These revelations will change their lives forever.

*** THREE STARS! The third installment of the Blood Lines series has finally been released! This time I was not on the edge of my seat as danger surrounded Keira. Instead, the story is full of politics. I must admit to being disappointed at the lack of physical danger. However, for those following the series this story is vital. Book three reveals many twists, surprises, and strengthens the foundation on which the heir plot will grow in future stories. ***

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I have enjoyed the first two books in this series and thought Blood Kin a wonderful edition. So many surprises that I really can't discuss with out spoilers but the twists in the plot were wonderfully surprising.

Keira is a fascinating character and I love watching her mature. Her relationship with Adam is a work in progress and that is very realistic to me. But here I found her relationships to be even more interesting, particularly with Nicko.

There was also a wonderful use of music throughout the book. It was directly related to the plot but not overshadowing it. And going to Vancouver - absolutely loved that. Even though I have never been there, I feel like I know the city after reading Blood Kin.

My only disappointment is the wait to find out what happens next.

If you like Urban Fantasy, I highly recommend this book.

I am greatly disappointed in book three of the Blood Lines Series. I loved the first two books, but I can't even begin to tell you how confusing this one was. Too many characters, too many different blood lines trying to converge... too many stupid coincidences, not to mention her annoying use of the words "brother" or "sister mine" or 'bro", or "uncle", or "nephew" instead of the character's name. Can't they just call each other by their names? I don't go around calling my brother "brother" I call him Jason. I call my aunts and uncles by their first names. At the very most it might be Aunt Julie, or Uncle Steve. But never just Uncle, or just Aunt. We know the relationships already, you don't need to ram it down our throats.
It took me a long long time to get through this one. A part of the confusion stemmed from some kind of dream sequence every few chapters... things that were going on with complete strangers, that was supposed to somehow be tied to the story, but it was unnecessary. It just made the book all the more confusing. And Keira was much whinier, and annoying in this book as well. She did not appear strong at all to me as she did in the previous two books. I hate to say it since I really enjoyed the first two, but I don't think I will be picking up the next book in this series.

After the first book in this series (which I loved), and the second book of the series (which I thought was terrible), I really wasn't sure what to expect from Blood Kin. Overall, I have to say that it was a bit below average. Very little happens in most of the chapters of the book. No action, no character development, no anything. All of the action happens in maybe five out of the thirty-five chapters of the book. Not five chapters in a row, but spaced here and there throughout the story. The main character, Keira, shows all the intelligence of a soggy sandwich, although she is very stubborn (not clever stubborn, but rock-headed mule stubborn). At the end of the story we find out that the author has taken the storyline from very original in the first book of the series, to using every overused plot device in the genre in this book. I was extremely disappointed in the choppy storytelling and lack of character development. Keira spent most of the story clueless and thoughtless, but suddenly in the last two or three chapters she's decisive and charismatic. Poorly done.

I don't think I will be reading the next book in the series.

I picked up book one (Matters of the Blood) based on good reviews. It showed some potential, so I immediately checked #2 (Blood Bargain) & #3 (Blood Kin) out of my library. I read them together, so I will review them together also.

What worked. Maria Lima has a readable writing style and the overall storyline had potential.

What didn't work for me? Just about everything else. The heroine is a self confessed 'trust fund baby'. Which sounds more interesting than reality. Neither the heroine nor her boyfriend display much personality, rather blah people. Although the heroine brags that she differs from other trust fund brats b/c she has an actual job...we never really see her job. In fact she doesn't even solve the mystery/crisis/situation, just mills around until the situation resolves itself. After reading the first three books in the series, I cannot figure out what the heroine does with all her time. In book two she does a few daytime errands for her nocturnal vampire boyfriend. She has sex with the boyfriend (when he's awake), lunch with the girlfriend, and the reader is left to speculate what she does the rest of the time.

The most interesting characters (about the only interesting characters) in these books are Keira's brother, Tucker, and his vampire boyfriend. Almost without exception, everyone mentioned is into 'serial monogamy'... everyone...(eyeroll), both human and non-humans. I have deep reservations about characters aged in excess of 1,000 years, it's not a plot device I find believable nor desirable (unless the character is insane)... and this series has lots of very old characters. The heroine has a couple ex-boyfriends that are discussed much more often than necessary, they are 'on-stage' more often than the current beau (unfortunately).

Inconsistencies, the most memorable being the heroine coming into these 'awesome' powers. Which quickly becomes a confusing jumble of 'will she', 'won't she', and 'what will she become'? The storyline says one thing, does another, generally inconsistent all around and quickly becomes just another annoyance factor.

And then there's the factual errors (do some authors live in a cave?). The heroine prepares to travel from the Southwest US to Western Canada, and considers which passport to travel on (and leads us to believe she has more than 2 choices). Frankly, I've traveled to Canada several times...and until recently (before these books were written) US citizens didn't require passports to travel into or out of Canada, only valid ID. The author mentions Canadian customs stamping the passport *raspberries* IME a total error, my passport (when used) has never been stamped when crossing that border (either direction).

By book three, I'm awash in factual errors, boring characters milling around smartly, and an unbelievable mix of misunderstandings, missed communications, extended periods of major communications outages *did I mention eyerolls?*, dialogue sets a scene to do one thing then out-of-the-blue the reader discovers something totally different happened, and other annoying plot devices.

I thought book one had interesting potential, despite the flaws already apparent. Book two continued to magnify the flaws, and by book three...I waded through the first third with numerous eyerolls, skimmed the second third, then tossed the unfinished book under my bed to languish with the dust bunnies until it was due to be returned to the library.

If you like bland, name-dropping, party-snob, rich people pretending to live like 'the folks' this could be the series for you. Otherwise, there's much better paranormal fiction available. So glad I didn't actually invest money in this series.

I recently received a review copy of the fourth Blood Lines book, Blood Heat. I realized then that I hadn't yet read the third installment, Blood Kin, and decided to remedy that before starting Blood Heat. I'm glad I read it -- there are a couple of revelations that will no doubt be important to the series -- but as an individual novel, Blood Kin is disappointing.

The main plot here is that Keira has been summoned by the family matriarch, Minerva "Gigi" Kelly, to the family compound in Canada. She brings her brother Tucker, Tucker's boyfriend Niko, and her Sidhe cousin Daffyd along with her. Due to weather and other complications, the group is stuck in Vancouver spinning their wheels for a while. They learn that mysterious deaths are occurring in the vicinity of a folk music festival, and take it upon themselves to do a little investigating. Several "interludes" are told from the point of view of characters affected by the events at the festival. These chapters evoke an older style of urban fantasy, reminding me of Charles de Lint's tales of music-loving misfits on the streets of Canadian cities, but unfortunately Maria Lima doesn't do as much with this plot thread as I might have hoped.

The interaction between Keira and her various friends and family members is sometimes entertaining and leads to a few amusing zingers, such as when Keira asks Adam if his initial attraction to her was based on a supernatural "imprinting" and he replies: "This isn't some badly written young adult stalker romance, Keira." (The comment loses a little of its oomph, though, when Adam fesses up to some stalker behavior of his own not long after.) Unfortunately, most of the family-chat scenes are a little flat. The dialogue is often stilted (does anyone really address their siblings as "brother" or "sister" constantly?) and the characters spend much of their time discussing political machinations from decades past. This leads to a few big bombshells, but overall, the political rehashing takes up far too much of the book.

The mystery plot has issues as well. It takes a long time for this plot to intersect with Keira's arc. When it does, Keira misses obvious clues too often in her investigation. Then, the final resolution of the mystery is anticlimactic. This whole plotline feels like a pretext to get Keira and her friends to go to a particular supernatural location.

Blood Kin ends with the characters in much the same positions they were at the beginning of the book. A few crucial secrets have been revealed, but a reader could glean the same information by browsing a review more spoilery than mine. Almost nothing actually happens in this book, and I hope Blood Heat is a return to the elements that have made this series fun.