Tuesday, October 4, 2011

[Review]: "Moon Dance"

Title: Moon Dance
Author: Amy Blankenship
Series: The Blood Bound Series, 1
Publisher: CreateSpace
Publication Date: July 5th, 2010
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Summary (Amazon.com):
Envy's life was great. Great brother, great boyfriend, and the best job a girl could ask for... tending bar at the most popular clubs in the city. At least it was great until she got a call from one of her best friends about her boyfriend doing the vertical limbo on the dance floor at Moon Dance. Her decision to confront him begins a chain of events that will introduce her to a dangerous paranormal world hidden beneath the everyday humdrum. A world where people can transform into jaguars, real life vampires roam the streets, and fallen angels walk among us. Devon is a werejaguar, a little rough around the edges and one of the joint owners of Moon Dance. His world is tilted on its axis when he spies an alluring vixen with red hair dancing in his club, armed with a cynical heart and a taser. With a vampire war raging around them, Devon vows to make this woman his... and will fight like hell to have her.




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My Review:

In a world where many things go bump in the night, sometimes it's hard to tell who is on the good side, and who is pure evil....Enter Amy Blankenship's paranormal world, where vampires are not just fictional characters in cheap horror movies and shifters roam the land. Moon Dance, the first novel in her Blood Bound series, gives us a brief taste of the paranormal, while showing a promise for many future thrills and horrors to be found. Within the pages of this book lies a very complex storyline; at times, you must read carefully to be sure that you do not get confused with the various characters and their intentions.



Many of the problems that arise in this book are due to an event that happened over 30 years before the beginning of the story. There are two shifter clans in the area—the cougars and the jaguars. For many years, they lived in peace and friendship as the leaders of both were best friends. Or so it seemed... But when the mate of the jaguar leader is found murdered, Kane, a vampire and trusted friend of both of these men, is framed for her death, as he is lying on top of her body. Furious, Malachi seeks revenge and with the help of Nathaniel binds Kane to the earth, burying him alive and locking his powers away. Only the blood of his soul mate can release him, and Kane, though having lived for centuries, has never found her.


Nearly twenty years after this, Malachi finds out the truth—that his mate was not killed by Kane, but rather by his friend, and the leader of the cougars, Nathaniel, who then framed it on Kane. They head into the woods, to the very spot where Kane is still locked deep in the earth, to settle this once and for all. In the shifter's world, that means a fight to the death. During their fight, a young girl who was camping in the area stumbles upon them after running after her puppy. In the rumble, Tabatha is injured. Her blood seeps into the soil...and begins to awaken Kane. His soul mate has finally come! Unfortunately, it is days before Kane is strong enough to dig himself out of the grave, and by then Malachi and Nathaniel have since killed one another and the girl long gone.


Upset by the loss of his mate, Kane seeks revenge on both of the shifter groups, as he does not know that he was framed all those years ago, instead thinking that he was simply betrayed by both for no reason. Sending his newly made vampires out to do the work, a string of hideous murders soon follow as he attempts to frame the shifters for them.


While Kane wrecks havoc on the city, specifically the two shifters' nightclubs, Envy, our heroine for this story, walks into the jaguar's nightclub with the intention of seeking her own revenge on an ex-boyfriend who is enjoying a night on the town (or so it seems). She never expected that she would end up spotting a sexy, very dominant man, while there... nor did she dream that she would have a one-night stand with him! Devon, one of the sons of Malachi and part owner of the nightclub, is attracted to Envy from the start...but it isn't until he takes her that night that he realizes what he has done: claimed his mate. Clueless to the paranormal world that she's stepped into, Envy leaves during the night, not knowing that this was not a one-night stand like she thinks, but rather the beginning of a very permanent relationship.


In between Envy and Devon's intense mating, the overall storyline continues. Can the shifters put aside their argument with each other to find the killer and stop him before they are all revealed to the human world? Will Kane realize his error as well before it is too late to repair the damage and he loses the chance to find his missing mate, possibly for good this time? Only by reading Moon Dance will you find out the answers!

There were a few tiny flaws, at least for my personal tastes, but nothing drastic enough to make me unhappy with the book. The main thing that lead to Moon Dance receiving this rating rather than a higher one was the lack of relationship building. The sex was great, and while I very much enjoy my romances to be red-hot like this one was, I also need to know that the hero and heroine base their relationship on more than just fantastic sex and burning desire. In this case, Envy seemed to just accept that Devon was now her mate at the end of the book, even though they had not talked about what he was (she simply found out when he changed during a fight against the vampires). Devon, being the dominant male that he is, simply sees her as his mate; there is no other reasoning (at least not any that were brought forth during the story) for his need to claim her forever. I guess I'm too much of the romantic at heart—I need the build up and declaration of love from both characters, not just hot sex and a mating mark meant to bind them forever (although both are encouraged!)
 

4 STARS! A promising start to a paranormal romance series, Moon Dance managed to capture my interest and hold it until the very last page. Blankenship can tell a great story, not to mention add a new twist to many of the creatures we've read about dozens of times. The sex, though only taking up one or two scenes, is very intense and primal desires run rampant. Overall, Moon Dance was a very enjoyable and quick read, one that I would recommend to paranormal fans everywhere! I look forward to reading the remaining books in this series, as the other characters introduced to us captured my interest.
 
 
 
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I received this e-book from the author in exchange for the review. My opinion on the book has nothing to do with receiving the book for free. Thanks again, Amy!
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Enjoy!





Until Next Time,
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