Mini Reviews: Every Last Kiss + Bloodlines

EVERY LAST KISS
(Bloodstone Saga #1)
Courtney Cole
Paranormal Young Adult
250 Pages
Lakehouse Press
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
What would you do if you held Fate in your hands?

17-year old Macy Lockhart has the weight of the world on her shoulders. For thousands of years, she has been a Keeper in the ancient organization, the Order of the Moirae… and she literally holds fate in her hands.

But this is something that she forgets because her memories are wiped clean in every life until it is time for her cycle to start again. For the last two thousand years, this has never been a problem. Until now. And now…Fate, the very thing that Macy was born to keep, is being challenged and she has only one choice: To return to a previous life to fix it; a life where she was Cleopatra’s handmaiden, Charmian.

And that’s not all. Unless she interferes with the fabric of time, the very thing she has returned to repair, her soul mate will die leading Marc Antony’s forces against Rome. Can she really stand aside and allow the love of her life to die all over again?

MY THOUGHTS
Every Last Kiss is an extraordinary story out of which rises a series of truly intriguing questions regarding fate versus free will, leaving us to question long after this first part of Macy's story is over if our actions would be the same as hers were we to find ourselves in her place. Macy, as a result of her job as Keeper for the Order of the Moirae, strongly believes that everything in our world is predestined and we merely operate under the illustion of free will when in actuality each decision we make has already been determined. We can’t help but wonder then if we would be able to go through the motions as she does as Charmian, knowing those actions end in tragedy. Would we be strong enough to follow a destined plan to a grisly end because we're simply told that's the way it's meant to be? Or would curiosity and a desire for change cause us to veer off course simply to prove we are not a puppet of fate?

In addition to the profound musings we have while reading, we also get a refreshingly different approach to the romance in this tale. Typically we read of the meeting of two individuals and watch as they either quickly or slowly come together, but with Charmian/Macy and Hasani we get a familiar intimacy based on years of affection already established. The tension then exists due not to the forming of an emotional connection but rather to the almost overwhelming knowledge of impending doom. Macy knows with heartbreaking clarity what is to come of her and Hasani, and reading as she struggles to mask her pain and enjoy his presence despite each moment being another nail in her heart’ s coffin is poignant and moving.

Overall, Every Last Kiss is a thoroughly enjoyable start to the Bloodstone series, the world of Cleopatra’s Egypt dazzling our imaginations as the joy and tragedy of love and death plays the keys of our emotions with mightily deft fingers.

Rating: 4/5


BLOODLINES
(Demons of Oblivion #1)
Skyla Dawn Cameron
Urban Fantasy
216 Pages
Mundania Press
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
After three hundred years of unlife, vampire Zara Lain has seemingly done it all, and she's now making a living as a successful thief-turned-assassin. Her newest assignment seems simple enough--kill the aging leader of the O'Connor Coven and his only heir, and she'll have another ten million in the bank.

But in the dangerous world of the supernatural, few things are ever "simple."

When a massive assault decimates the continent's population of powerful witches and warlocks, and its orchestrator has vampires being hunted down and captured, Zara realizes the tables have turned and now she'll be playing the hero. Forced to join with a smart-mouthed fellow vampire, a demonologist who's also a fan of hers, a recently widowed--and frequently brooding--warlock, and her best friend's mom, Zara's grudgingly willing to do what she can to save the day.

If only people would stop ruining all her outfits...

MY THOUGHTS
Bloodlines starts off with a sprint and never loses its momentum, introducing us to characters and setting up events quickly so we have little choice once we read the opening pages but to see it through to the end to satisfy our need for answers. Though the conflict begins instantaneously, the story doesn't feel hurried or rushed, instead the problems Zara and company face grow in complexity as they reveal layers of supernatural action and romantic drama that ensure Ms. Cameron's world remains unpredictable and highly engaging.

Protagonist Zara has a rather impressively high opinion of herself, singing her own praises with regard to her beauty and skill as a vampire to any willing or unwilling audience– a habit that makes her a bit difficult to connect to initially. She tends to overutilize sarcasm to the extent that almost no genuine words or thoughts leave her mouth for majority of the book, causing us to want to shake her in the hopes such an action will jar loose some of her armor plating to allow the woman behind the attitude to show through. Eventually we learn why she wields her snark like a finely honed blade, constantly on the offensive because her defensive shields aren't nearly as strong as they first appear. With the slow reveal of some vulnerability, she becomes a character of substance rather than false bravado, and our emotional attachment to her grows exponentially.

Overall, Bloodlines is a quick, action-intensive read that puts Ms. Cameron on my list of authors to watch.

Rating: 3.5/5