Bound by Night by Larissa Ione

A WOMAN OUT FOR BLOOD Nicole Martin was only eight years old when the vampire slaves rose up in rebellion and killed her family. Now she devotes her life to finding a vaccine against vampirism, hoping to wipe out her memories—along with every bloodsucker on the planet.

But there’s one thing she cannot destroy: her searing, undeniable attraction for the one man she should hate and fear the most . . .

A VAMPIRE OUT FOR REVENGE A member of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan, Riker is haunted by demons of his own. When he recognizes Nicole and remembers how her family enslaved his loved ones, his heart burns for vengeance.

But when he kidnaps Nicole and holds her in a secret lair, his mortal enemy becomes his soul obsession, his greatest temptation, and, perhaps, his only salvation—a hot-blooded lover who could heal him with her touch . . . or bury him forever.

The Urban Book Thief Review

Well, well, well. Lookee what we have here. A brand new vampire series waiting in the wings to compete with the likes of the BDB boys and the LOTU chaps. So… how does it fare?

Bloody brilliantly if you ask me.

It’s good, fabulous even. Okay, I’m probably getting a little ahead of myself here. It’s not quite at the same level as some of the leaders in the ‘immortal band of brothers’ story-telling business. But I think now that we’re done and dusted with the world building so very necessary in the first book of a new series, there’s so much to get excited about! Plus, with the cliff hanger ending we’re left with (sob!) and knowing which very unlikely pair are up next: the following 12 months are going to be a tough wait for me. Nooooooo!

A-hem. Back to the story at hand. The MoonBound series takes place in modern day America where vampires came out around 60 years earlier. Unfortunately for the poor suckers, (couldn’t resist!) it didn’t take long for humans to bag, tag and defang them, turning our vampire brethren into nothing more than mere house hold slaves.

Side note: it takes the entire book to build up a complete picture of this world and the mythology behind vampires, which may frustrate some readers, but never fear! Nearer the end it becomes a little more apparent as to why Ms. Ione decided to unravel her story little… by… little.

Riker

Meet Riker – he belongs to a renegade band of vampires living out in the wild, free from servitude and doing his utmost to protect and serve his people. He’s a ninety year old veteran with some uber moves up his sleeve and likes to play commando in his spare time by kicking human poacher butt, (evil people who bait and lure vampires so that they can cut up and ‘distribute’ their remains – so gross). Riker also spends a lot of his personal time hating on the Martin family with every fibre of his being. Why? The Martins not only own Daedalus, the multi-billion making company who supplies the public with vampire slaves. But they made him a widow after his pregant mate, who had been caught and made a servant in their household, suffered a bloody and violent death.

Death to the Martin family – argh!

Nicole

So, when Riker meets the lovely Nicole Martin one could say that it was not love at first sight. No siree. It doesn’t help that she hates vampires either. Her parents were murdered and she was viciously torn apart by an unappreciative vampire slave during the Seattle Slave Uprising. And now that she has come of age, Nicole is the default CEO of her parent’s lucrative vampire business – and she doesn’t want to be. All she wants is to go back to Paris, her home for the last ten years, leave her half-brother Chuck in charge of everything and go back to being a vampire biologist.

But her dastardly plans are thwarted when she is kidnapped by the MoonBound Clan in her own home. You see, they’re in a wee bit of a tight spot. A birthing healer who was on loan to them by a different renegade group was caught by poachers and illegally sold to Daedalus. If they don’t get the special vampire healer back in time it will mean war – and almost certain death to their clan. Their plan is to do a trade, Nicole for the healer. But things go ever slightly astray… leading to some gratuitous nudity, copious amounts of blood loss, mating bonds, bad-ass Native American vampires, vampires with metal fangs (Ay, caramba!) and Hunter, their leader and one delicious s.o.b – a  second generation vampire who is holding a big fat secret. Muhaha!

In a nutshell – this new series doesn’t have so many of the comedic elements we witnessed in both the Demonica and Lords of Deliverance series. Its very straight and feels very different. But I think there’s definitely something here worth holding on for – it’s gonna be great (don’t let me down Ms. Ione!)

The Urban Book Thief has awarded Bound by Night a kiss factor rating of five – bring it on Hunter, bring-it-on.

Genre Paranormal Romance Expected Publication 24 September 2013  Publisher Pocket Books Series MoonBound Clan Vampire book one