Customer Reviews

Blood Secrets (Intrigue)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Vivi Anna, has written an excellent paranormal romance and the first Nocturne book I could not only finish, but devour. She has made her name to my must buy list.

Human victims just aren't found in Necropolis....

Necropolis doesn't exist on any map, but those of otherworld persuasion know of it and recognize it as a safe haven from humans who don't understand their differences. Caine Valorian is a vampire and a member of the Otherworld Crime Unit (OCU). The shock of finding a human victim in Necropolis brings human investigator Eve Grant into the picture. Caine wants to resist his attraction to her, but will he be able to? And who is behind this vicious murder?

Vivi Anna takes readers on a wild ride into a fascinating world that is just on the fringes of society, hidden from all humans, where vampires, witches, and werewolves coexist. Caine's team on the OCU is a captivating one that leaves readers hungering to know more about these quirky individuals, particularly Lyra Magice and her dead grandmother with whom she regularly converses! Caine is a fabulous alpha male and his desire to protect Eve while allowing her to show her own talents is touching. Eve's own growth as a character is beautiful to witness as she becomes more comfortable with herself.

BLOOD SECRETS is a shining gem for the Silhouette Nocturne series as it showcases the phenomenal writing talent of Vivi Anna. Better known for her erotica, Ms. Anna maintains the sensual tone one would expect while combining it with the eerie atmosphere necessary to make the Necropolis work. This reviewer hopes to see more of the Necropolis and its inhabitants in future books. BLOOD SECRETS is highly recommended!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

I haven't been all that tempted by the new Harlequin/Silhouette Nocturne paranormal line so far, but I couldn't pass this one up--we have the alternate-modern-day setting (mostly like our own world but with vamps and other beasties running around) that I like so much, plus some pretty good police procedural/CSI stuff, plus kind-of-hot vampire romance.

I loved the setting, Necropolis, a city built on an abandoned military base as a refuge/home for all sorts of paranormal types, including vampires, werewolves and witches. Necropolis is near San Antonio but the human and nonhuman worlds aren't supposed to interact, except they do and a human woman ends up dead in Necropolis. This is the reason for the insertion of Eve Grant, human criminologist, into CAine Valorian's crack Necropolis PD forensic team. Of course Caine (leader of the team) and Eve have an irresistable attraction to each other, while they work side by side trying to figure out who killed the girl and what they might be planning to do with the blood they took from her.

Necropolis, where it's pretty dangerous to be human, even if you are a trained police type, is the best part of this book. Second best part--the interesting team working with and around Caine. I am sure they are due books of their own at some point. If you like the CSI tv show format (lots of science jargon, friction between team members etc) and the typical paranormal ingredients, this is definitely a book to check out.

Alas, the actual crime plot was on the weakish side, or at least wrapped up far too hastily, or maybe not at all and will be continuing in further books. I wasn't sure what the bad guy was up to and if there really was a bigger bad he was working for, who showed up or not. If the plot goes on in further books it will clarify this, but I wasn't sure whether this was supposed to stand alone or not.

I also was a little let down bythe romance plot. Heavy on the angsty "humans and vampires can't mix" side, when they do finally get together I wasn't as convinced as Caine and Eve seem to be that this will all work out. Of course, again, this storyline may continue in further books which would make everything in this book ultimately make more sense.

My mind remains open and I look forward to more books in the series, as well as other work by Vivi Anna.

Blood Secrets is one of those books that, when searching for something memorable in a used bookstore, might drop from a rack high above and strike you upon your head. This book is rather thin but perhaps it could cause you enough brain damage to want to take it home and read about vampires and sex and vampires and sex and then some crime with vampires and sex. Forgetable, blah, nanana! I don't remember much of this at all and I think I was drawn entirely by the title which isn't always a good way to go when choosing a book. I bet others would enjoy it (others have judging by the ratings) and I respect it as a work of art, even though vampire books in general are starting to seriously offend me. This book just made me hate vampires a little more but it was still a nice little time waster and I give it some stars for that.

Blood Secrets is the second book I bought after reading Dark Lies. I wasn't confused at all by reading the second book in the Valorian Chronicles but I notice it does help to read it in order if only to understand the big baddie's theme running through the two stories. I think I mentioned in my Dark Lies review that part of it was left open as I thought the villain got away. Now I noticed the theme which may most likely end in Veiled Truth which is out today.

I'll just say that Ms. Anna's stories are simply awesome. She has basically become an auto buy for me with her Valorian Chronicles because she knows how to weave an awesome suspenseful tale with a romantic backdrop. I would love to see her books turned into films or even a weekly tv series like a paranormal CSI. Ooh, talk about Must-See-TV, I would tune in each week.

In the first novel we're introduced to Caine Valorian and his team of forensic experts in the city of Necropolis, a world of baddies. After a human is murdered, the team is on the case and is soon joined by human investigator Eve. The sexual tension takes its time to grow between Eve and Caine and I like that Ms. Anna writes them as real people with real problems who don't exactly dive headfirst into bed with each other. In fact the love scene is a bit farther toward the late middle half of the book while the bulk focuses on the case and the relations between the team members. I liked seeing the character of Jace here based on how well I got to know him in Dark Lies. Now I'm looking forward to knowing more about Lyra (especially the story behind her dead granny).

I'm a sucker for paranormals that focus on the perspective of the vampires, lycans, etc that inhabit the world more so than stories that focus from humans point of view against the beasties. Much of vampire and werewolf stories are from that angle so whenever I can get a chance to totally lose myself in the "other's' lives, I'm all for it. Ms. Anna definitely does not disappoint and I can't wait to dive into the next of her series. I'm highly looking forward to her Nocturne Bites in October which may bookend the entire series. I know once I read it, that'll be the end and I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to Caine and his team yet. It almost makes me wish that it was an ongoing series rather than what appears to be a trilogy. I'd certainly be on board for more!

If you love CSI-like police dramas, you'll love the Valorian series packed with a sexy, dark, otherworldly read that's sure to raise your blood pressure in more ways than one!

Necropolis, a city populated by paranormal beings or "Otherworlders", isn't found on any human map, but it is as much a city as any inhabited by humans. It even boasts its own crime scene investigation team, led up by three hundred year old vampire Caine Valorian. When the body of a human girl is found in a hotel room, his team of vampires, werewolves and witches has trouble on its hands since humans aren't allowed within the borders of Necropolis. Matters get even more complicated when the San Antonio PD sends in one of its own, a woman named Eve Grant, to assist in the investigation, and the complications increases as she and Caine slowly start to fall for one another...

The book isn't without flaws: the way Caine suddenly became mildly psychic two-thirds the way through the book (about the time he and Eve start to become, ah, physical with each other) was a bit jarring, and there's some vocabulary problems here and there (a "magical block" on an entryway would be better-off called "a ward", the more correct and much less awkward term for it, since the former made me think of a cube with a spell built into it), but it's certainly not enough to really undermine the excellent world-building and great pacing of the narrative. Well worth picking this one up to enjoy on a summer afternoon!

This review is actually closer to a 4.5 and a strong recommendation for setting, great plot, wonderful characters--both secondary and villians--thatoverallmake this just a delightful read. Until we get to the "third act', when it all starts to fall apart. The author has done excellent world building, but suddenly starts contradicting herself. The lead male character develops certain characteristics that readers of the urban fantasy genre know darn well wouldn't happen. Yet I don't hold the author responsible because of the level of quality and originality she demonstrates through the entire book. She needed a good editor to pick up the small details that could ruin an almost top-knotch book. Still--this is an author to watch and brand-name buy for next time. Betcha' by her next book, she will be hooked up to a better publisher, too!

The paranormal crimes unit in Necropolis and its leader, Caine Valorian, are facing one of their most challenging cases in centuries. Complicating matters are at least two factors, an interspecies war looming on the horizon, and the fact that the newest member of the team is human. Eve Grant is as much of a challenge to Valorian, and his willpower, as the murder itself. Though Eve is a capable investigator, the vampire finds that he has to protect her from himself.

**** A new series begins on a strong note with compelling characters that draw you into their world, showing it to you in a way that explains without bogging down the narrative. This is a solid mystery that is enhanced by the romantic and paranormal elements. I look forward to seeing more from this author. ****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.

In downtown Necropolis at a room in the Black Heart Hotel, Otherworld Crime Unit Chief Caine Valorian a vampire and his top aids Jace Jericho and Lyra Magice struggle with the case of a woman's throat sliced, but little blood at the crime scene. Though a bloodsucker apparently bit the human victim, the amount of blood apparently taken is way beyond the pint normally consumed; that amount should have left them with a comatose culprit lying in his or her vomit. This murder could be the final impetus leading to an interspecies war.

Caine also has a new cop on his team; one whose assignment makes no sense to him to be working the paranormal crime beat. His superior at Necropolis Police Department Captain Mahina Garner has assigned human Eve Grant to work for him breaking a glass ceiling as no human has ever been placed on this squad. Though Eve proves to be a superior dedicated investigator, she poses a second problem for Valorian; he is attracted to her and struggles to contain his desire for her as he knows cross species romances normally fail and besides, one should never mix pleasure with work especially with a subordinate. As he holds his need in check, they work in close proximity on a homicide case that if not solved fast could expedite the impending interspecies war.

The key to why BLOOD SECRETS is a superb paranormal romantic police procedural is that the lead couple and the support cast (on both sides of the law) make Necropolis seem genuine; thus the fantasy elements come across as real. The relationship between the vampire chief and his human detective enhances the whodunit with the fear of a dangerous civil war between species lurking on the horizon. Viva Vivi!

Harriet Klausner

Necropolis wasn't all that different from any other city in America; high-rises brushed the night sky, storefronts lined the busy streets, fluorescent signs declared this week's special sales and couples out on the town lined up to get into the hottest nightclubs. There was a difference though... the people. They weren't human, they were Other. For the most part, the existence of the Otherworld community was a guarded secret from the rest of the world. The human populace on a whole weren't aware of the existence of any Otherworld community, let alone a city built just for them fifty miles outside of San Antonio, Texas, behind the chain link fence of a supposed military installation.

Caine Valorian is a Crime Scene Investigator for the city of Necropolis. His lab is his baby and he spent months setting it up, getting it organized, buying the equipment; all of it funded by his own sizeable fortune. A vampire didn't live as long as he had without amassing some wealth... if he was smart. Since the death of his wife, Caine hasn't had anything to do with relationships, other than professional ones.

Why did she have to open her big fat mouth at the emergency lab meeting and say that working in the Otherworld Crime Unit would be no big deal? Eve Grant works as a Crime Scene Investigator in San Antonio and has for the past two years. She's processed evidence and maintained the computer lab, and although she'd been out on a few crime scenes while in training, this would be the first one she'd be out in the field alone... well, not quite alone.

The first time Caine saw Eve, he thought she looked like a Malibu Stacy Barbie doll. There was an instant attraction¾which was odd for him; especially since she was a human. The attraction became stronger when she proved herself to be extremely intelligent and good at her job. This was bad, he needed to keep his mind on the case, not on the human that came in to help with it. Eve expected Caine Valorian to look like a classic movie vampire... long black hair, aristocratic features, and pale blue eyes but the only thing he and the vampire in her mind have in common was the color of his hair. She was in trouble. She just arrived and she was already imagining the lead investigator of the case in flagrante. The case... she had to keep her mind and attention on finding out what a young human woman was not only doing in a city that is off-limits to the human race, but who her murderer is.

Valorian Chronicles is a book that totally captivated me with its intense emotion, mystery and adventure. Every step that Caine and Eve took solving Lillian's murder brought me closer to finding out who the murderer was, but even with the occasional glimpse into the killer's mind and life, as well as the clues that were found, I didn't figure it out until the end. Both the romance and the mystery in the Valorian Chronicles told in this alternate reality felt so real, that I could easily not only see the story as it unfolded, but also felt that I could fly to San Antonio, rent a car and drive right to Necropolis. I have loved every story of Vivi Anna's that I've read, and the Valorian Chronicles is another one that goes onto the top shelf of my keeper bookcase. I loved Valorian Chronicles from first page until last and I can't wait until book two comes out!!


Lyonene
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed