When a group of vampires rises from the dark of the humid Miami summer and murders her partner, officer Cara Evens gathers a group of allies with their own unique abilities to avenge her partner's death and save the city. To succeed she'll have to accept her own changing abilities, ignore her lust for a vampire and hide the one thing her enemies need to kill them all.
I'll admit I haven't read many UF books, but this was definitely the oddest one I've ever read in this genre, or actually, ever read period. I'm still not entirely sure how such a small novel confused me so much.
Detective Cara Evens may be petite, but knows how to pack a punch. And she is determined to prove that after her partner is savagely murdered. She is even willing to stretch her emotional and physical limits to the brink, as long as it means those responsible go down. But when she teams up with a few unlikely allies, Cara learns that she doesn't have to face her foe alone.
Cara and her 'crew' were hard characters to connect with. They were all hot tempered and every little thing set them off. Yes, there were facing a tough situation and they were under a lot of stress, but they fought amongst themselves more than they fought the 'bad' guys. I disliked that their back and forth tension felt forced, especially when Cara formed a relationship with Johnathan, a vampire. One minute, they were trying to kill each other and the next they were making googly eyes at one another. It was so off putting. Also, I couldn't understand Cara's 'tough' girl act. When she is viciously attacked by the 'evil' vampire, she makes a big deal of not screaming when he bites her, and the she dares him to kill her. WTF?
One thing that really bothered me was the fact that I couldn't get a clear picture of the structure of the Cara's world. There was little to no world-building, and none of the characters took the time to muse about the strange and new occurrences that appeared or even explain how these things were happening or why these Otherkin exsisted. Brief references to Otherkin were presented through dialogue but it seemed really inconsistent. For a while, I thought maybe I'd missed a previous book in this series, but no, Blood Drive appears to be the first book. Also, I always feel personally offended when a vampire doesn't know a whole lot about being a vampire, so to find that Johnathan was completely clueless was rather disappointing.
The writing was very mechanical and the narrative read more like an instruction manual. POV shifts weren't very clear or concise, and more times that not, I didn't know who was speaking to whom. Blood Drive also ended rather abruptly.
Overall, this story was just not for me. Though it was a short book it took me over a week to finish it because I lost interest many times and put the book down. The plot didn't really build up to anything exciting or unique, but rather drag on with the team getting their asses handed to them repeatedly and having to regroup at their magical safe house. Yes, there were a few interesting concepts, but they just didn't quite reach their full potential.
I read an ARC copy of this that I got from the publisher to review for openbooksociety.com
I thought the storyline had a lot of potential but overall I could tell this was a debut novel from a new author. I found the characters to be undeveloped and everything seemed rushed, which made what was going on confusing at times. I've read worse books this but better ones as well. I think with a little more detail this book could be really good.
*2-2.5 stars* I really wanted to like this book more, but unfortunately I never fully connected with the characters. I needed more character development and more detail in the story :(
Blood Drive is Traci Houston’s debut novel that is due to be released in October of this year. In it, we are introduced to Cara Evens, a police officer with psychic abilities that she has been trying to hide most of her life. She and her partner have worked hard and are about to be promoted to detective when they go to answer a call where a silent alarm had been triggered at a blood bank. While investigating the scene her partner, Danny, is murdered. Cara finds an ominous looking metal object at the scene and takes it along, thinking that it will help aide her in finding Danny’s killer.
While conducting interviews with the people in charge of the blood bank she meets the owner, Jonathan, who she later discovers is a vampire. Before long, Cara and Jonathan discover that there is some major chemistry between them.
Cara is being watched and followed by Jonathan’s enemy, Christian, who is waiting for the perfect time to use her to hurt him. After Christian shows himself to Cara, she only escapes because of her lack of fear, sending Jonathan’s protective instincts into action. From then on, he always has her guarded by either himself or his associate, Thomas.
Then one of Cara’s co-workers, Mason, comes by and is worried when he sees her busted lock on her front door. He decides to stick to her as well.
Cara takes Mason with her to visit her friend, Beth, and to try to get some answers about the metal object she recovered. Thomas follows her there, but Beth senses his presence and eventually has him invited in. Once Jonathan arrives he informs them that the object is in fact Christian’s. Therefore, Christian must be the one that killed Danny.
Beth, Cara, Mason, Thomas, and Jonathan work together to try to find away to kill Christian before he can kill them in order to recover his property and get his hands on the ancient book on vampires that Jonathan possess. And they have to overcome conflicts among themselves in the process.
I thought this book had a lot of potential. But, there were places in it where I wish the author would elaborate a little more. For instance when Cara is explaining to Mason that she thinks Danny was killed by a vampire. Instead of saying that she told him her theory or actually detailing the conversation she tells him that he wouldn’t believe her if she told him and he says try me and, then it says; “She Did”. Then he instantly knows about the vampires and I totally missed it and had to re-read the section to understand what transpired.
The growing relationship between Cara and Johnathan is nice and I even like what is starting between Thomas and Beth. Mason was a very likeable guy that any girl would want on her side.
I felt while reading this book that it was obvious that this was the author’s first book. I would have liked to have seen this book to have been a bit longer and the characters to have been a little more developed.
I assume this is the first book in a series since the book drops off in a cliffhanger. I thought the book was middle of the road….not the best I’ve read but not the worst either. But I honestly can’t say if I would read the remainder of the series or not. I guess time will tell.
Blood Drive - not about an actual blood drive but does have vampires and cool creatures...
* ARC received via Writers of the Round Table Press and Once Upon a Twilight Book Tours for the blog tour of this book.
3 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes for this fine look at a world where a lot of magical forces seem to be at work and for having a ton of interesting characters all in one place.
This is a great quick read and has a bunch of characters that are full of surprises. There's magic, mystery, vampires, and a whole host of complications that play out for all of the characters. It's also great to have multiple perspectives instead of just one point of view, this lets you invest in all the characters more and is great especially if certain characters are becoming annoying.
There were some awkward misspellings/wrong words in some places in the book. They didn't hamper my reading experience but they do take you out of the flow of the story a bit. The overall flow/feel of the book was kind of like one of the early Anita Blake books, Cara kind of reminded me of her because she isn't really sure what the full extent of her power is either.
Cara is a hard character to figure out at first because she doesn't like to let her emotions show. You'll start to understand why the more you read about her. She seems to become more sure of herself when she's in danger and protecting others.
Jonathan doesn't seem all that likable at first either but he definitely grew on me while reading. He's an interesting take on vampires. He kind of has the whole Angel attitude, because he's remorseful for everything that he's done and seen. He is automatically intrigued by Cara and wants to know what exactly she is. There's a definite chemistry between them that's fun to read and with the ending of the book promises to become even more interesting in the future.
Thomas and Beth are my favorite characters because they are so different yet perfect for each other. They are anathema to each other at first but their relationship looks to be leading into something more. There are a lot of secrets between them and I can't wait to find out more about them.
The bad guy is one evil dude. He has some real delusions of grandeur and will do pretty much anything to attain his goal. There's loads of violence and he is very fond of killing people not matter who or how important they are. He of course wants to kill Cara and her friends.
Action, suspense, and trouble abound as these characters go through a heck of a lot of trouble together. The ending leaves some great questions and possibilities for where all these relationships are headed. This world is intriguing and Traci Houston absolutely know how to write a story with a great mix of action and mystery.
I was immediately drawn to this book because it set in Miami, that's my hometown. The cover was also very intriguing. I like how they did the yellow smoke/fire effect. It really draws your attention to the book. I was excited when the publisher contact early on about reading Blood Drive and giving my critique on the book.
Trace Houston is definitely a author to watch for. Blood Drive shows her potential in story building. In Blood Drive Traci has written in detail this new world of hers set in Miami with some Vampires and detectives. What is the strongest point in the book, I can say its the action. You can easily picture all the action sequences in your mind while reading. Being a first book in the series and a debut novel. I believe their was a lot Traci left off to leave for the next book in the series. There are parts of the books they seems to lack a bit of luster but I figured it was to leave room for the next one. I would have enjoyed the scenes better if Traci could have elaborated more detail about Miami or its surroundings. So I'm curious to know what happens next after the cliff hanger in this book.
Blood Drive follow Cara Evens, she is a police office for Miami. She is not your typical police office. She is psychic and her abilities help her in her line of duty. Cara and her partner get called to go check out a triggered alarmed at a blood bank. Well the call which they though would have been a regular call, ends up taking the life of her partner. Danny is murdered and Cara find a odd object she takes with her without reporting it. She is sure this will help her find who murdered her partner. The process begins for Cara to find the killer, she begins interviewing suspects including the owner of the blood bank, which what do you know end sup being a Vampire. This marks Cara and now Johnathan's enemies begin to track her. No one can deny that Johnathan and Cara have some chemistry and her enemies have noticed. They plan to use her against Johnathan. Well not over Cara's dead body they wont. Now Cara and her friends including Johnathan must work together to solve why her partner was murdered and about the object Cara kept. This all while trying to stay alive.
Blood Drive was a good beginning to the series and I see a bright future for Traci Houston.
I received an ARC of this novel to read for a blog tour.
I joined this blog tour for 2 reasons. 1, I love a good vampire novel as much as the next person. 2, this novel is Traci Houston's debut novel, and I love to support new authors.
When the book opens, we meet Cara, our leading female, right away. After she finds her partner murdered, she takes on the mystery of discovering the truth about his death. She quickly realizes that there is more involved in this case than just a simple murder. When she meets Jonathan, a part of her that she was trying to hide suddenly resurfaces.
Cara must now learn to control her powers, while still trying to solve her partner's murder. As if that wasn't enough, there is the small matter of Jonathan, the vampire who is distracting her with lustful temptation.
Luckily, there are others out there like her, others who have powers beyond a normal human. They must all learn to get along (like first graders) and use their powers together to stop Christian, the vampire who is trying to basically take over the world. He wants something that Cara and her friends have, and he has resources that they don't have. If the otherkin can't collaborate and accept each other (and themselves), then Christian will enslave the human race and allow vampires to rise to power.
I love Cara as a character. It is so rare for female leads to be powerful and confident, while still feeling human emotions. Cara has her inner struggles, for sure, but she doesn't let them interfere with her goals. More importantly, she doesn't let passion take control. She keeps her focus on what is important.
What I didn't like: some of the powers of the otherkin are not fully explained or developed, merely mentioned in passing. Additionally, I felt that the middle chapters were drawn out, while some of the fight scenes were rushed. The abrupt ending turned me off a bit, as well.
Overall, I gave this novel 4 stars because I really like the complexity of the group, and how they interact with each other. They all seem to counter each other's strengths and weaknesses, and they are all truly loyal to each other. While vampirism is the underlying platform, themes like friendship, tolerance, and acceptance are interwoven within the plot to make this quite a contemporary novel.
This novel had some of the most interesting supernatural creatures I've ever experienced. Not only do we get vampires and witches, we get a Vishka, a gremlin, some Treshcans, and a grounder (which I still don't really understand...I think it is some kind of helper witch. If anyone has information on grounders feel free to enlighten me on this topic). This world of otherkin was very fascinating. I wish the author would have gone into a little more detail about this world though. There were so many interesting creatures and I would have loved to see how they all connected. I did enjoy the vampire lore and learning how vampires transcended from guardians to being blood thirsty killers. Maybe we'll learn more about the other creatures and their backgrounds in future books.
Cara's group of friends turn out to be a really kick butt team. I enjoyed Mason, Thomas and Beth and I think they added a lot of depth to the story. I felt as if we got to know these characters more as the story unfolded. Beth was a very selfless women who would make a great friend. She was caring and wise. I felt like she was the Brains behind the whole operation. Without her they would have failed miserably. She still has this secret that she is hiding though, and I'm interested to find out what it is.
As for Cara I felt she was a very closed off character. She has some psychic and empathic abilities so she learned to shut down her emotions. I can't imagine the burden she had to carry with these special "gifts" of hers and they are not something I would wish on anyone. I knew that throughout the story, her tough exterior shell was cracking, but for me it was not enough to truly connect with her.
Overall, this was a quick read that introduced me to a intricate world of new creatures, with a fast paced plot and enough of a cliffhanger to leave you wondering what Traci Houston's next books will hold.
BLOOD DRIVE, by Traci Houston is full of non-stop action, romance, magic and pure awesomeness! I read this in one sitting and I feel desperate for more!
I loved Cara! She was absolutely amazing, and her wit had me laughing as she navigated a men's world. Her personality was so strong and she inspired me as a woman. I got the feel of girl-power the whole novel which made it so much more fun to read!
I loved the sexual tension between Cara and her new vampire big shot companion! It was so realistic which was great because more often than not the love/sexual tension seems unrealistic and staged almost, but I was impressed by Traci Houston's ability to put me into realistic situations!
One thing in this novel that really kept me interested was it was SO action-packed! There was not a single dull moment in this and honestly, Houston kept the action flowing flawlessly. I am so eager for the next one I'm practically jumping up and down. Cara's attitude has inspired me and made me laugh, her romance is complicated but wonderful, her friendships are amazing and I wouldn't think twice about having her as my wingman!
An entertaining read. It reminded me of the fantastic four, but (there are five) with a vampire,a witch, and other imaginative people with various powers. They are living and working together to rid the earth of a very bad guy, who is trying to kill them.
To warn more sensitive readers like myself, there is a very graphic sex scene and foul language throughout.