Debut Graduate Review: Blood Bargain by Maria Lima

Blood Bargain (Amazon USA, UK, Canada - preorder)
by Maria Lima
Paperback
Juno Books

Publisher's Blurb:
Keira Kelly has settled in at Wild Moon Ranch with handsome Adam Walker, her vampire lover, but her life is not so hot. Not only is Keira still struggling with the Change that will bring her an as yet unknown paranormal power, but Adam's avoiding intimacy and mysteriously growing weak. At least she has Tucker, her 1200-year-old shapeshifting ex-Viking brother, around to help. When a ranch hand is reported missing and some teens disappear, Keira and Tucker have a heap of unexpected trouble piled on 'em. There's a lot of weird doing down around Rio Seco, Texas, and after Keira and Tucker stumble across some dangerous clues in an abandoned cemetery, things get even stranger...

Blood Bargain is the sequel to Maria Lima's debut novel, Matters of the Blood, which Tia reviewed last October. It's also the second book in the Blood Lines series. The blurb in the back of the book reports that Maria Lima is working on a third novel in the series.It should be interesting (and maybe enlightening!) for followers of this blog to compare how Tia and I each related to this series.

Tia really enjoyed Matters of the Blood, even though she's not generally into urban fantasy. However, I ran into problems because these books come very close to being paranormal romance. In fact, I might actually classify them as that. And I'm not very big on romance, particularly when it involves the type of characters and relationship portrayed in these books.

But before I get too far off on a tangent, let me start with some background on Blood Bargain. The story in this second book is still set in Texas and still features Keira Kelly, who is half Sidhe and half something else that's never specified, but isn't human. Her friends, relatives (those left alive and/or in the area), and love interest from the previous book reappear in this one. I have to say my favorite character is probably Keira's half-brother, Tucker, an immortal shapeshifter who alternates between being an annoying older brother and an extremely insightful person.

The book was a quick read just like its predecessor. I would have liked to see Keira with greater personal stakes in the story from the beginning, because that would have increased the tension and moved the book along even faster. By the end, however, the stakes do get very personal for her.

Now we get to the biggest reason this book didn't completely work for me: the romance. Keira's love interest, Adam Walker, is an incredibly handsome and sexy vampire who owns a dude ranch called the Wild Moon (it's actually a sort of retreat where vampires can go to be safe). Adam, who is pure alpha male, is very much the decision-maker in their relationship, while Keira is ruled solely by her emotions and physical desires whenever he's around.

I prefer love relationships that are more equal, with men who are less perfect and women who approach the relationship a little more rationally. In fact, I wouldn't have minded seeing Keira get with Adam's second-in-command, Niko, who is flawed and has a dark past (yes, I admit I have a weakness for dark flawed characters), but somebody equally deserving got Niko (anyone who read Matters of the Blood already knows who).

In other respects, Keira is a strong female character, and I'm sure many people would find her fun to read.

I wouldn't have minded getting a stronger sense of place from the book. The Texas setting is an interesting choice, but aside from the obvious Hispanic influences and references to ranches I didn't pick up on the "flavor" of this setting.

Overall, though, I felt Blood Bargain surpassed Matters of the Blood. This story delved deeper into Keira's heritage and personal issues (although the twist in the very last chapter disappointed me; it was a bit of a cliche). It also delved deeper into some of the secondary characters, giving us a taste of who they are and what their backstory is, which made them richer. It's nice to see a series where the second book is stronger than the first.

Matters of the Blood by Maria Lima

Matters of the Blood turned out to be an enjoyable urban fantasy. For fans of the genre, I can't see it disappointing. It did turn out to be more of a vampire novel than I expected, but it held my attention to the end and I sailed right past the midway point without posting. While that's not good for the blog, it does demonstrate that the novel was able to hold my attention.

Matters of the Blood is about Keira, an undefined sort of fey human-looking character who is about to undergo a "change," where she will finally come into her fey powers. Unfortunately, the book didn't delve into Keira's background nearly as much as I hoped. I was dying to learn exactly what she was and what her family was, and my curiosity was left somewhat unsatisfied. Some things were explained, but I wanted more! I suppose that's why they make sequels.

While Keira is still strugging with her emerging powers--which tend to pop up when she least expects it--her cousin Marty is murdered. Keira wants to get to the bottom of his murder not because she was overflowing with love for her somewhat repugnant cousin, but because he was her responsibility. Since he was a throwback human in her family line--sort of like a reverse mutant--the family keeps an eye on him to make sure he didn't get into trouble with the powerful bad boys. Of course, that doesn't stop him from finding trouble, anyway.

The evidence leads to Adam Walker's luxury ranch. And there, Keira's ex-boyfriend Carlton--the town sheriff--comes sniffing around. Carlton isn't quite ready to let Keira go--even after a fifteen year absence--but he doesn't exactly light Keira's fire anymore. On the other hand, Keira finds Adam quite intriguing, and she's almost willing to violate her own no human boyfriends policy in order to have him.

This novel turned out to be more of a vampire novel than I expected. This was a rather stupid expectation on my part, because right on the cover it says, "Forget Transylvania--Keira's got to deal with supernatural Texas . . ." The author has done interesting things with the vampire mythology. They band together in enclaves for protection, and they are not necessarily demonic--some are even practicing Christians, and they went to a church for refuge from persecution back during World War II.

One of the novel's strengths is that it was able to engage my interest even though I'm not a fan of vampire protagonists. I'm especially not a fan of vampire lovers, and thankfully this novel spared me any vampire sex. I enjoyed the struggles that the vampires had with their own natures, their desire to hunt and to suck fresh human blood, which is like a drug for them. The dialog was especially well done, snappy without being snarky. My favorite character was Tucker, Keira's shapeshifting half-brother who is over a thousand years old.

I do wish Keira had more of an active role to play in the ending, and that the ending could have been resolved without the deaths of certain characters. However, bravo to the author for not pulling a power out of Keira's hat in order to save the day. Keira had to deal with stuff the same way the rest of us do. The ultimate villains--who were not who I expected--had ways of dealing with vampires that I found very resourceful and imaginative. Due to the sympathetic nature of the villains, I sometimes found myself cheering for them instead of Keira and her allies. Not that I didn't want Keira to win, but I just didn't want the villains to lose. Sympathetic villains are a good thing.

I can recommend this novel to fans of urban fantasy or vampire fantasies. I'm not sure if it will lure non-vampire fans into the vampire fold, because it didn't do so for me, but there is a lot to like.

As an added bonus, there is an excerpt from the sequel, Blood Bargain, in the back.

Links!

Maria Lima's Website

Juno Books 

Excerpt

Amazon links: USA, UK, Canada

Matters of the Blood - Opening Chapters

I never announced Matters of the Blood (by Maria Lima) when it came out last year through Juno Books (excerpt) as a trade paperback, so I'll include links as I go along. My excuse (do I really need one?) is that it came out before this blog started. Juno Books has re-released it as a mass-market paperback, and they sent a copy to me.

I was glad to get a copy because I've been trying out some urban fantasy, which is a new genre for me. (Sorry, Mulluane!) I am about a third of the way through. The novel is written in first person, which seems to be typical for the genre. Although the voice has a bit of attitude, I don't find it particularly snarky, which for me is a plus.

The story begins as thirty-something Keira is starting to undergo a Change of sorts, where she comes into a power inherited through a bloodline. Except she has no idea what kind of power she'll get. There's a remote chance that she'll get all of the powers. Most of her family is magical in some way or another . . . except Marty. Marty is a genetic aberration--he's an ordinary human. He works as an undertaker. It sort of goes right along with the family business, since Keira's family all have necromantic powers. Her and Marty live in a po-dunk Texas town in the middle of ranch country.

Marty calls Keira for help as the story opens, asking her to come by the ole family mortuary. However, it seems that Marty has cried "wolf" one too many times. Keira (I keep wanting to spell it "Kiera," so forgive me if one slips by) thinks that Marty just wants to borrow money again, so she ain't about to let his little emergency interrupt her breakfast.

Turns out to be a bad decision when Marty turns up dead.

The pace is good and the characters are all intriguing. There's a former lover, Carlton, who now works as County Sheriff. For him, the flame for Keira has never gone out. Even though he's now married. And there's Keira's former flirtation, Adam, who now runs the local dude ranch. Which happens to be on the site of Keira's former family . . . er . . . hunting grounds. Plus we have Keira's best friend Bea and her thousand-year-old brother, Tucker. (Did I mention that near-immortality was part of the family heritage?)

The setting in Texas is original; I can't remember the last book I read (if ever) that was set in Texas, or anywhere but the east or west coast. And it has a Hispanic flare that anyone who has ever lived in the Southwest will recognize as authentic.

So far, Matters of the Blood is moving along at a good pace; quick without being frantic. I'll keep reading.