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Oct 15, 2008

Julie (jjmachshev) rated it:

I enjoyed reading "Blood Memories" by Barb Hendee. This is definitely an urban fantasy vice romance novel (at least so far and there is at least one more novel to come) as there is no one special relationship that the story focuses on. Instead, it's an interesting look at a young woman turned vampire to be a caretaker but not given any information on her existance. The story is told mostly in first person from her POV and it's strangely fascinating to read about how she lives and ho More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2008

Jean rated it:

Don't let the cover fool you, this isn't like other Urban Fantasys. The plot set up on the back cover serves more as a catalyst then anything, driving a mediation on what it means to be immortal, different, a vampire? How does living for so long, and how does coming to be that way, affect you?

Even at it's slowest and most introspective the pacing clips along at a good speed. There are some real heart-string pulling moments. Every character is drawn in detail, even the worst of the an More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2011

Jenn rated it:

I spent a long time waiting for something to happen in this book.

By the end I was still waiting and not in a great way.

Eleisha seemed kinda wimpy to me. Her special "magic skill" is that she comes across as the "save me from the world" girl to her victims. A victim heroine is not my favourite read. It was an interesting twist on vampire lore but not enough to sustain me through the book since I didn't like the characters.

No one was really likable. I found Eleisha whiny, Wade More...

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May 27, 2011

Jules rated it:

This book was first published in 1998 and has been reprinted. There are two more books in print with two scheduled in the next year or so. Barb Hendee is the author of The Noble Dead saga as well as The Vampire Memories series.

With all of the sexy, sparkly teenage vampire stories out there right now, this was a welcome change in the genre. Eleisha and her fellow vamps were much more cerebral, darker and maybe "realistic"? This was a very nice change of pace from the lov More...

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Jan 26, 2011

Melissa rated it:

In the world of Vampire novels, this is an older one. Written in the nineties I saw a lot of similarities to recent vampire novels in this book. It was an ok book, not the best in its genre, but it wasn't bad either.

Eleisha is a vampire and her task is to take care of William, a vampire who was turned while having Alzheimer's and now has lived undead with the disease for many years. Taking care of William is about to get harder though. Normally solitary beings, they had made the friend More...

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Jan 11, 2011

Ithlilian rated it:

The cover, the description, and the thinness of this book gave me some doubts to it's quality, but I was very pleasantly surprised after I finished it. Eleisha, a vampire, witnesses the suicide of her only friend Edward, only to be confronted by cops with strange mental abilities immediately after. Since Eleisha's car was parked out front of Edward's house when the cops arrived, she and the feeble vampire she takes care of must flee and seek help from anywhere they can get it. Throughout the ent More...

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Nov 16, 2010

Sandy rated it:

This was a strong 3.5 stars for me. I really enjoyed it. It's been so long since I read a vampire book, it was nice getting into one again, and I felt, especially toward the beginning, a bit of a BITTEN vibe, which is definitely a good thing. We had to discover how Eleisha reached the point where she is. I thought the writing was excellent, and while I wasn't sure about the lets-leap-into-someone-else's-memories-of-the-past storytelling at first, it grew on me.

This book probably wou More...

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May 07, 2009

Katie(babs) rated it:

Blood Memories is about vampire, Eleisha Clevon who has been around since the mid-nineteenth century ever since she was turned into a vampire by another, Julian, who wanted her to take care of his crazed father, William Ashton for all eternity. Julian turned his father, thinking the change would make him sane again. That did not happen, and Julian was ashamed by what he did, so he banished both Eleisha and William to the states. They were able to survive and have been living in Portland, Oregon More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 06, 2009

Theresa rated it:

If Barb Hendee's name sound familiar, it's probably because you have read "The Noble Dead Saga," written by her and her husband. Because I have read some of Hendee's other books I knew her to be a good author and I was interested to see what she would come up with as she took on the paranormal genre.

Elisha Clevon is a tiny, fragile looking vampire who uses her talent of seeming-helplessness to survive. Unlike other vampire myths in which the vampires have super strength, sp More...

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Jan 11, 2010

Natasha rated it:

Blood Memories is the first book in the first book in the Vampire Memories series by Barb Hendee.
Blood Memories is an amazing book. Once I started this book, I was hooked.

Blood Memories is about a female vampire named Eleisha Clevon who has been around since the mid-nineteenth century. She was turned into a vampire by another vampie named Julian, who wanted her to take care of his crazed father, William Ashton. Julian turned his father, thinking the change would make him sane More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2011

Christine rated it:

Blood Memories was Barb Hendee’s first novel written over 13 years ago. From what I understand, the final three chapters have been deeply revised, if not completely rewritten and the book has been re-released with a new cover.

This is the first in a series about Eleisha Clevon, a vampire whose gift is helplessness. Yep, that’s right ladies; she gets what she wants by pretending to be helpless. In other words, she does exactly what women have done since the beginning of time. Eleisha More...

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Nov 01, 2011

Nikki rated it:

I have to say I was not sure what to expect with this book! I am very surprised at how much I liked it. This is definitely a first book in a series, which I am fine with. The characters are built up in this book, glimpses in the past through mind reading make the characters complex and more understood. You can tell as events unfold and things change for our vamps, evolution in their thinking starts to change. You can feel the hope and emotion from them as they discover how things can be as oppos More...

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Dec 17, 2011

Destiny rated it:

I bought this book for a simple reason. It was on sale and it has vampires. You can't beat that combination! Honestly I was intending to read the other book I bought along with it. But as things often happen, I chose to read something else.

Two days ago I pursued my bookshelf for something new to read. This one caught my eye and so I picked it up. It seemed like most of the other vampire books I'd read, but I have to say Eleisha's gift interested me a bit. Why give her that particular g More...

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Feb 14, 2010

Paige rated it:

this book was recommended by a friend. I'm almost half way finished with the book and I'm still waiting for the 'hook'. Reading it isn't tedious but there are no rewards. I feel as though I'm still waiting to figure out what the book is about. I've learned more about the plot of the book from the back cover than I have from reading.
Hopefully things will improve.

to be continued...

I finished it and realized the main reason I didn't like it was the lack of character d More...

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Apr 03, 2011

Melliane rated it:

j'ai un sentiment assez étrange sur ce tome , il se passe beaucoup de choses et en même temps peu de choses. Je pense que ce tome place l'histoire. On a une vampire qui s'occupe d'un vampire sénile qui ne sait rien faire tout seul et qui se retrouve toute seule avec lui quand le seul vampire autour se suicide, elle part retrouver une autre vampire mais tout tourne toujours mal. Il n'y a pas vraiment de fin, du coup on se demande quand meme ce que pourra bien être le sujet du tome 2. On se demand More...

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Nov 27, 2011

Esther rated it:

okay for the first book i read of this author, i don't know i like the story but i not sure i want to keep reading only the fact that in coming book is going to be a little romance make me want to read a little more, personally i don't like the book i read it and enjoy it but didn't make go crazy like some book. i did like the character and that what keep me reading. one thing i didn't like is that for a first book almost everyone she love is gone i mean come on at least leave someone but hey i More...

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Dec 25, 2010

Shelley rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Apr 29, 2010

Shannon rated it:

Eleisha is one of only a handful of vampires in the world. Once a servant in a lord's castle in Wales, she was turned in the 1830s at the age of seventeen by Julian, the lord's son, a man everyone fears. She's put on a boat to America with a very specific responsibility: to care for William, a vampire everyone but Eleisha is repulsed by.

In America, Eleisha finds friendship with another vampire, Edward, who teaches her how to hunt, how to feed, how to ensure mortals never discover wha More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jun 16, 2009

Brenda rated it:

Imagine a life that revolves around only two other people, and one of those dies. How alone would you feel? How desolate?

This is a dark and haunting tale of a young woman turned into a vampire and then sent of to care for a mentally deficient vampire with no training and no knowledge of what she had become. More than 150 years later, she still survives, still caring for her charge, but is suddenly thrust into danger.

I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2010

Kelly rated it:

Originally published in 1998, Blood Memories is an odd book. In some ways, it's more in line with the gothic vampire-fiction trends begun by Anne Rice, while in other ways it's more reflective of the newer urban-fantasy trends influenced by Joss Whedon and early Laurell Hamilton.

On the Rice side of the scales: Barb Hendee's vampires kill, but are presented as sympathetic characters who don't enjoy killing. (In current urban fantasy, it's more common to find vamps who rarely kill, or More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2009

Delores rated it:

This book was about a young girl who was "turned" when she was 17 against her will. She wasn't given much information about what she had become or what her "new" life would be like. She was turned because of selfish reasons by her "maker." The reader learns her "modern" story as well as glimpses into her past dating back to the early 1800s. The basic plot was good. The story had some good twists and turns but it wasn't completely enthralling. It had jus More...

9 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Julie rated it:

Another vampire book, but a little different. I like Hendee's style of writing and she made me care about the characters. The main character is a vampire name Eleisha, who was turned in order to take care of another vampire who had been turned even though he was old and senile. It tells the stories behind these vampires from the time they were "born" until present day. Interesting and exciting. I hope there more books follow this one!

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Feb 25, 2010

Tiffany rated it:

I'm not exactly sure if I liked this book or not. I was happy to find a book from the perspective of the vampire that actually included vampires feeding and well, acting like vampires. However, the way the author describes the "gifts" of the vampires was seriously lacking and nondescript... it seems as though there wasn't much thought put into it. I may pick up the second book, but I wouldn't say I'm dying to rush into it either.

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Jan 22, 2009

Brian rated it:

One thing to remember about this book -- it was actually written before her popular Noble Dead saga. Again, her main character is a creature of limited knowledge about who/what she is. The book serves more as a character development study then a plot driven book. Interesting read. The ending does leave it open for further stories. I wonder if that's why the book was republished after 9 years?

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Dec 10, 2011

Karen rated it:

This was a 'thoughtful' vampire story. It seems at first to be going slowly, but that's an illusion - it flows smoothly despite having three of the characters stories told in 3rd person and injected amongst the normal 1st person chapters. The suicide of Edward by stepping into sunlight starts a chain of events, that lead to an exciting confrontation where I swear I had to remind myself to breathe. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it

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Sep 21, 2011

JenniferJ rated it:

This story was just meh for me. I cant quite put my finger on what I didn't like about it. I feel like it could be that Eleisha is such a weakling that the other characters had to kind of tug her along to make the storyline work at all. About the only thing that I liked about her was her care giving for William. She was just "to" soft was my problem I guess because I am so used to kick ass no foul heriones that Eleisha really never stood a chance with me.

Although this was j More...

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Oct 23, 2011

Faith rated it:

Very dark urban fantasy. This is the first book of a series, limited 3rd person POV, with rich detail and intense internal dialogue. The characters all all dynamic and very different from the Nobel Dead series, yet it reads just as easy. I admit that I am totally hooked and started on book 2 in the series five minutes after I finished this one! Go get this book!

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Jun 13, 2010

Doris rated it:

This is not a supernatural romance, regardless of the appearance of the cover! That is a compelling reason to like the story, even if it didn't give you a tale of someone lost in a world not of their choice, trapped in a confusing mix of should have beens.

It was a good read, and helped explain a few things in Hunting Memories, which I read first.

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Sep 17, 2010

Chelsea rated it:

I liked this book a lot more than some of the other vampire books I've read lately. I did, however, have a feeling at the end that something was missing. Some of the character's relationships just didn't sit well with me. I wanted... more. More development. It was well written though. No unnecessary smut. I'd definitely read more books by the author.

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Dec 17, 2009

Rachel rated it:

I was a little leery of this as I started reading it, as it had all the trappings of some horrible paranormal romance. Happily, it didn't go that direction after all. While not the greatest of stories, I'm pleased enough to consider reading another in the series, as it was decent filler fluff.

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