Blood of the Damned

The Embraced #4

by Anya Bast

Book 4 in The Embraced series. The Dominion are making a play for the future of humanity. They have achieved corporeality...with the help of a traitor Embraced. Jade has been entrusted with the keeping of a Vampir known for his ruthlessness. The Embraced need him in the fight against the Dominion, but even his own friends consider him dangerous. As a Priestess of the Morrigan, Jade can handle most anything, but perhaps not Niccolo Romano. Jade looks damn good to Niccolo, but she proves resistant to his charms. Soon bedding her becomes a mission, but he takes one step too far in his quest to possess her and soon she possesses his heart. Jade has secrets she wants to keep, but Niccolo has a way of laying her bare in more ways than one. Every time Niccolo seduces her to his bed sometimes gently, sometimes not he unravels another piece of her history, bringing up long repressed sexual need and emotion. Soon Niccolo is fighting two battles one against the Dominion and the other for Jade.

Genres: Paranormal Romance, Romance, Vampires, Ebooks, Paranormal, Erotica, Fantasy

234 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2006

About the author

Anya Bast is the author of numerous works of romantic fiction, mostly all paranormal and mostly all scorching hot. She lives in the country with her husband, daughter, eight cats, a dog, and an odd assortment of rescued animals.

She grew up in Minnesota and still favors the colder climates. After high school she moved to the southeast United States where she attended college. While in graduate school she sold her first book and decide to pursue her lifelong dream of writing instead of a career in psychology.

Somewhat reclusive by nature, she can be drawn out with a good bottle of red wine, classic movies, or good music. When she’s not writing, she can be found trying to grow organic vegetables, shopping in thrift stores for that perfect piece of clothing, or dreaming about travel to some faraway country.

She’s hard at work on a brand new series for Berkley Sensation right now, while winding up her national bestselling Elemental Witches quartet.

Reviews

[Yui]

I am confused... Why is the blurb seem different from the reviews? It's like 2 different novels..??

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book four in Anya Bast's Embraced series - and admittedly my favorite. The hero is Niccolo - an ancient vampire who has been imprisoned for 200 years [this entry in the saga takes place AFTER World War III and the rebuilding of the planet so I guess it qualifies as a futuristic as well:] for a crime he did not commit. This was partly his own decision, he had spent almost 2000 years killing, first as Roman soldier, then a gladiator, and eventually as a Council Enforcer who was sent to remove rogue vampires and he's afraid he might cross the line and harm innocents. He has appeared in all three previous books. The leads from the other books appear here also - with Adam playing his usual strong supporting role. The heroine is Jade, a half-OtherKin Sidhe and a Priestess of the Morrigan. The victim of a horrific gang torture, rape, and attempted murder - she has strong issues that Niccolo has to deal with...

This is another well written action oriented vampire paranormal. The Dominion has gotten extremely strong and has manifested a presence in this plane, soon to be used to open a gateway for the Dominion inhabitants to pass through to destroy the earth. The Council agrees to let Niccolo out [permanently:] as he's probably the only person who has a hope of dealing with it.

Bast does her usual outstanding job of introducing multiple fascinating characters with their own plots and then weaving them into the main plot. Sex is [relatively:] conservative - one menage scene but it's more about the relationship between Jade and Niccolo.

Order is important with this series and especially this book. Although if you read it as a standalone you'd be OK - but you wouldn't know a lot of important background about Niccolo, his friends, and the Dominion. It's worth it to read the whole series in order.

In my opinion - this series really cries out for a fifth book. Adam really needs to find his soul mate.

Embraced
1. Blood Of The Rose (2004)
2. Blood of the Raven (2005)
3. Blood of an Angel (2005)
4. Blood of the Damned (2006)

[Jenny Delandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jade springs Nicollo from prison to help catch super bad guy Drayton.

they are attacked as they leave the prison...riots ensue.
she is able to dodge bullets - she is very fast
she is a half breed
'otherworld' and human
he is a vampire
both are immortal

she was attacked as a young girl and raped by otherworld men who saw her as freak

she joined the sisterhood of morrigan and learnt how to fight ...
then killed all the men who raped her
she is known as a death priestess

bit she has not had a lover since

fights happen between the two main characters

he saves her life.... she saves his
he figths his attraction to her sensing that she has issues

she is frightened of her feelings for him

he is striking beautiful - aren't they all

they give in to their desires and there is earth shattering sex...

then they are captured by drayton and Jade goes crazy trying to escape

then drayton realises he has chosen the wrong team and releases them just before the real bad guy turns up

who takes drayton and leaves

Nicollo is nearly crazy with thirst
and they(adam and Jade) have to feed him blood in bags until he comes around.....nearly too far gone

Nicollo wants jade to confront her fears... because drayton knows and now the bad guys dominion will know too

1. being restrained or tied up
2. sex with more than one partner

3. open sex with another man (adam) while Nicollo watches.....

that is very intense and believeable....they are juat getting used to each other when suddenly....

they are back into fighting bad guys again and Jade is almost taken into another diminsion but Nicollo drags her back just in time

then he realises that he lives for her and she realises she is home for the first time in her life (105)
then it is over.......


there are extreme highs and extreme lows in the book
such changes brought the overall score down..
it could have been a 5

re-read 110727

Still enough to make me laugh and make me hold me breath while I hurry to reach the climax......
a solid 4

:)

[Cecily Magnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I last read this book and I gotta say, this time around was just as good as the first. If you haven't read Anya Bast before, get ready for hot, hot, hot. I think Book 4 is my favorite in The Embraced series.

The chemistry between Niccolo and Jade is awesome. You take these two broken people and it's only by coming together do they become whole again.

One thing I did notice this time around were the missed typos. No big deal, it didn't deter me at all. I think the first time I read this, I might have been fanning myself too much to notice. Again, hot, hot, hot!

Loved it!

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finishing this book, I can't help but wonder if there will be a 5th or 6th book. Adam deserves his happy ever after too... And eventhough Drayden started out as a villain, in my opinion, he redeemed himself when he sacrificed his life to save the world by being sucked in by the Dominion... With all the crap and suffering he endured in his life, he is also entitled to change for the better and find love... Don't you think? For now, all I can do is just wait and wonder...

[LilMisGrayBrisk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to Niccolo's book, and I'm sad to say that I was disappointed. Everything about the story was boring. Niccolo and Jade didn't click for me. I didn't care if the Dominion took over the world. There were way too many sex scenes, IMO and the editing was pretty bad too. This just wasn't good.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phew, hot stuff.

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hot stuff is right, wow.. I will say I am happy Niccolo got his HEA but Adam needs his next...