Blood Bargain

by Maria Lima

Book Overview

Something is not right at Wild Moon Ranch... Keira Kelly has settled in with handsome Adam Walker, but happy-ever-after is not so easy when your vampire lover seems determined to deny his true nature. With Adam starving himself of blood and growing weak, Keira needs to work out how to persuade him to take care of himself, something she's fi nding diffi cult to do -- even with the advice of her brother Tucker, a millennium-old ex-Viking shapeshifter...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439156751
• ISBN13: 9781439156759
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.3" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Interesting mystery with a paranormal twist.

This is an interesting new series with unexpected twists. A bit of mystery walking side by side with paranormal. Well worth reading.

Another winner from Maria Lima

Another installment in a great series. Supernatural heroes, a little sexy action, and lots of fun.

Feels retooled from another genre

Not bad as a mystery novel, but there's a tendency for supernatural characters to act exactly natural 99% of the time. That gives one the impression that something like a mystery novel was modified to fit the vampire-shifter genre after the fact, without paying much attention to all the minute-by-minute differences there'd realistically be. (If "realistic" is a word we can use for such creatures!)

Second in series

I very much enjoyed 'Matters of the Blood', the first in this series (in fact an extract from my review is printed in the front of this second book). However I was a little disappointed by Blood Bargain. There's nothing actually wrong with the story - it's a continuation of the vampire/shapeshifter/sidhe-themed story of Keira Kelly, a woman who has just started her Change and isn't sure yet what her powers will be; will she be a shapeshifter like her father, a sidhe like her mother, or something else altogether? She's living with Adam Walker, chief Vampire and owner of the Wild Moon Ranch, but she's beginning to worry about him. Adam is getting weaker and weaker and insists on surviving on animal, not human, blood. Keira's thoughts are very much taken with Adam's health and yet she also finds herself investigating the disappearance of a Mexican man several months before, at the behest of his brother. Her searches seem to be uncovering a tale of missing people, and when four young people from the town of Rio Seco go missing, there is far more urgency. Is there some link to the strange angel statue at a cemetery near the Wild Moon Ranch? And could there even be some link to Adam's failing health? As I was reading this book I had no idea where the plot was actually going. It was certainly not predictable, and the resolution of the mysteries was a bit of a surprise. It was also a slightly unusual read in that the hero of the previous book, Adam, had a minimal part to play in this story; instead, the foil for Keira was her hellhound brother, Tucker. It's also interesting that Keira has not yet come into her powers so, despite being supernatural, there's not a great deal extra she can do over the humans around her. Although I enjoyed reading this book I felt it somehow didn't have as much as an impact as the previous book and that the plot lacked the ability to really grab my attention. It was well-written, however, and the setting of a small Texas town made a change from the usual big-city vampire tale. Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009

excellent urban romantic fantasy

Rio Seco, Texas is a small town that is becoming yuppie-fied, but Keira Kelly still calls it home. Even though she keeps an apartment in town, Keira lives with the vampire tribal head Adam Walker on his Wild Moon ranch. She is also a supernatural being and is beginning the Change that will eventually turn her into a shapeshifter like her six half brothers, a healer or a necromancer witch. Watching over her as she Changes is her twelve century old sibling Tucker who is the lover of Adam's second in command Niko. Things are not going well in town. Four teens have vanished and an illegal alien working on a nearby ranch also disappeared a few months ago. Keira hears whispers and her visions are becoming stronger. Her troubles don't end there because something is wrong with Adam as he sleeps from dawn to dusk. After a six hour nap he rejects sex with her. He lapses into a coma from not drinking blood. Keira is determined to find out what happened to the missing people and help Adam return to his senses even at the forfeit of her life as she would rather die than be without him. Urban fantasy fans are going to love this romantic fantasy especially the Kelly clan, an extended family of supernaturals living within human society. Each of the major characters is fascinating and readers will particularly appreciate Tucker who was a Viking warrior who can shift into wolf. The mysteries and the town enhance BLOOD BARGAIN, a strong tale that fans of Kelly Armstrong and Kim Harrison will want to read. Harriet Klausner