Blood Drunk- Faded Blue by Angela Lovell: Review by AimeeKay

With summer waning quickly before the start of his senior year, a family emergency forces Blue Knightly to leave his small Midwest town and travel to New York City to locate his rebellious sister. From the morgue to Central Park to the underbelly of New York, he quickly discovers the big city is the least of his concerns as he reluctantly takes sides within a warring faction of vampires to unravel the mystery of his sister’s disappearance. In their underground world of abandoned subway tunnels, Blue finds himself falling for a femme fatale vampire whose vibe is seldom clear. Not knowing who to trust, Blue finds himself battling not only the undead, but his own heart, as the family crisis escalates and every decision could be his last. 

So this time Melissa was kind enough to send me Blood Drunk Faded Blue by Angela Lovell. In blood drunk Richard "Blue" Knightly goes to New York to identify the body of his sister Lacy. But the body they have isn't hers, and Blue finds himself drawn into a dark underworld, literally. Below the city are rival factions of vampires whose leaders have decided that they both want Lacy and neither is willing to share. But Lacy isn't completely innocent in all the confusion either and soon Blue finds himself trying to protect his sister from vampires as well as herself.

Alright, I was torn with this one. The story itself was okay, it starts out slow, but really starts moving towards the end. The beginning you mostly spend trying to figure out who's telling the truth and what is really going on between Lacy, Alex and Tristan. There's a twist at the end, no spoilers, I promise, but I really didn't see it coming.

I think Lovell does an amazing job of bringing New York to life. I've only been once or twice, a REALLY long time ago, so it's not like I can say if her descriptions are accurate or not, but they definitely draw you in and help you visualize this iconic city. I also think she does a really good job of bringing Blue to life. Especially in his interactions with his mother and how he has handled his father's death.

Parts I didn't really like about the book. Ok. Let's start off with the one that is more of a personal preference than an actual issue. The story is written in present tense. It's still third person, but for some reason present tense gets on my nerves when I'm reading. I do have to say that the story was written well enough that there were large portions where I didn't notice it. But then some line or another would pop up out of no where that would throw me, and I would look back and because I had to make sure that it had stayed in the present tense the whole time. I have to say that's a definite complement to the story, the fact that I got that into it.

The second issue I had with the story focuses on Lacy. She just seems like such a spoiled, naive little brat, and maybe that is the way she is suppose to seem, since it is Blue's story. But there were time's I just wanted to slap her. I also wanted to slap her mom. Who lets their 16 year old daughter just up and go off to New York City to stay by herself. I understand she was suppose to have an internship with some fashion program or something, but still. She never comes across as overly mature for her age, and even if she had, she is still only 16. She has no adult supervision there, at least none that is mentioned, and no one except the cop investigating her apparent death seems to think this is odd. I think that is really my biggest complaint about the book.

One quick spoiler alert *** It is a cliff hanger! So be prepared to be left hanging. (this kinda annoyed me too, since there were a lot things left unanswered or unexplained, and while I understand it is called a cliff hanger for a reason, it is still annoying) End spoiler alert***

All things considered though, I really got into the story, especially near the end, and I definitely would read the next book in the series if given a chance!

Hope you all had a Happy New Year!

AimeeKay

Announcement from Mel:

Come back tomorrow for a blog post from the author and a giveaway!