Blood Debt (Touched, #1) in Q&A with Dreamscape Covers

Jul 18, 2012 Marsha rated it it was amazing

"Blood Debt" is a refreshing, fascinating and unique read about the world of the centaurs. Why refreshing? Let's face it most of the books on the market are vampires, weres, angels, and demons. However, hardly anyone has explored the Greek myths of the centaurs.

22 year old Camille Chiron lives in San Diego, California and is grieving from the loss of her mother due to cancer. On her death bed, Cami's mother finally reveals the name of her father and where he lives. Most all girls love their Dads "Blood Debt" is a refreshing, fascinating and unique read about the world of the centaurs. Why refreshing? Let's face it most of the books on the market are vampires, weres, angels, and demons. However, hardly anyone has explored the Greek myths of the centaurs.

22 year old Camille Chiron lives in San Diego, California and is grieving from the loss of her mother due to cancer. On her death bed, Cami's mother finally reveals the name of her father and where he lives. Most all girls love their Dads even if they have not met them. Cami is no exception. She has fantasized about who he is. She does a background check and informs her best friend, Daniel that she is going to contact him. After stalling for as long as she can, she finally breaks down and calls him.

Will Strayer lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife and five sons. When he receives a call from Cami and discovers he has a daughter, he is estactic. He flies her into S.C. to meet her. However, when she arrives she is greeted by her half brother, Beau. He takes her to a restaurant where she gets to meet her other brothers. They all embrace her dearly without question. Even Will's wife, Gretchen embraces Cami much to the surprise of Daniel.

Will confesses to Cami that he and her mother had an affair. When her mother found out he was married she broke off all contact with him. Additionally, Cami discovers that she is a centauride (female centaur) who should have powers including reading the thoughts of others. Before she has an opportunity to learn these skills, her oldest step-brother is getting married in the garden of their estate. Prior to the wedding, Will informs Cami that her mother ran out on her fiance, Kyle Richardson 24 years ago causing a blood debt to be owed to him. Kyle has discovered Cami's existence and plans to be at the wedding. He wants to meet with her. She is nonplussed but agrees to the meeting.

Before Cami can even get dressed for the wedding eligible men are anxious to meet her. It seems that with centaurs, there are few women to go around and they hold the power and decide who they will marry. If a centaurian man is not engaged by 29 he will then marry a human but his bloodline will be diluted. While descending the stairs with her father, Cami trips and almost falls flat on her face. However, a handsome stranger, Drake Nash comes swiftly to her rescue and she extends her hand in his to introduce herself. This is a serious no no in the world of the centaurs. Unmarried women and men are not to touch or meet without escorts. They are not allowed to date and often their marriages are arranges by their parents.

Life is about to become extremely complicated for Cami because unbeknownst to her, she has other relatives that will do just about anything to get their hands on her. No matter how much her new family vows to protect her, her entire future is at risk and maybe even her life.

I truly enjoyed this book. The writing was excellent and the plot was extremely engaging. I enjoyed the characters especially Bianca and Drake. I also found that I liked Gretchen, Cami's step-mother. If I had a criticism, it would be that at times, Cami did not always make logical choices. What I mean by this is she would postpone practicing the very skills she needed to contact her mother, read people's thoughts and empower herself. Because of this, at times I felt she was weak. However, do not allow these comments to keep you from enjoying a truly good read. As I stated earlier, this book is uniquely refreshing and I cannot wait to find out what will happen next in book two.

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Jun 26, 2012 Tiffany rated it it was amazing

Bloode Debt was amazing i love every second of it and i couldn't put it down. This Girl Camille finds out by her dying mother who her father is and she also finds out she is an Centaur. I love Camille she is strong and she don't like being told what to do and with her finding out everything about being an Centaur she doesn't like a lot of things about it. She also finds out more about her mom and her side of the family and how she owes a blood debt. There is alot of different characters which I ...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Mandy Sickle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read2review, owned-books, first-in-series, read-2012, rd-reviews

I received this book in return for a honest review. The story is about Camille who loses her mother to cancer and in her mother’s dying breath is given her birth fathers name. Tempted by the desire to know her father, but skeptical because her mother kept the secret her entire life. Camille decided to think it over for a few weeks before calling her father. He immediately requests that she take the next flight out, excited Camille heads to Charleston South Caroline to meet her father. She's surp I received this book in return for a honest review. The story is about Camille who loses her mother to cancer and in her mother’s dying breath is given her birth fathers name. Tempted by the desire to know her father, but skeptical because her mother kept the secret her entire life. Camille decided to think it over for a few weeks before calling her father. He immediately requests that she take the next flight out, excited Camille heads to Charleston South Caroline to meet her father. She's surprised to learn she has 5 half brothers and her step mother welcomes her with open arms. They all want her to stay with them for good but for Camille it's all a little stepford wife.

The secrets comes out that Camille comes from a long line of Centaurs dating back to the Greek gods. She learns that her mother ran away from the Centaurs, when her mother arranged a marriage between her and powerful herd. Since her mother skipped out on the wedding he is demanding a blood debt for her mother’s abandonment putting Camille in a position where she will have to accept the deal or face possible death. As if that isn't enough to worry about her possible upcoming wedding she has to deal with the fact that she's fallen in love with a man she can't have. She learns more about why her mother ran away from her mother, and more about her destiny.

I loved the concept of the Centaurs it's a great idea and I'm so happy I had the chance to read it. I love that it dates back to the Greek gods because I love mythology. I enjoyed watching Camille grow in as a character, dealing with learning about who she is, as well as her forbidding love. She's such a strong character, she's her own person and doesn't let anyone tell her what to do. The romance is sweet like a love story should be in my opinion, and I love a sweet love story. I read this story in a afternoon, I had a hard time putting it down and now that I'm done I just want the next book even more. It's a great first book and I can only imagine the rest of the series will be amazing as well.
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Dec 12, 2012 Kristin A rated it really liked it

Shelves: kristins-reviews

Sorry guys! I meant to get this up earlier this evening, except...the 11 year old turned 12 and, believe it or not, she thought she deserved a birthday party! Can you imagine? Anyway, all is quiet now (FINALLY) so I thought I'd jot down my review of Nancy Straight's Blood Debt!

Okay, so I'm perusing this tour request I received and saw the word "Centaur" and I'm thinking, hmmmmm? A book about half-men/half-horses...no freaking way. Right? But then I thought, if anyone can pull this off, it's Nanc Sorry guys! I meant to get this up earlier this evening, except...the 11 year old turned 12 and, believe it or not, she thought she deserved a birthday party! Can you imagine? Anyway, all is quiet now (FINALLY) so I thought I'd jot down my review of Nancy Straight's Blood Debt!

Okay, so I'm perusing this tour request I received and saw the word "Centaur" and I'm thinking, hmmmmm? A book about half-men/half-horses...no freaking way. Right? But then I thought, if anyone can pull this off, it's Nancy because I've read many of her other books and they are all amazing. Needless to say, she managed to pull this one off perfectly and there weren't even any hooved men stomping about.

The first thing that pulled me into the book was Camille's friend Daniel. A little weird since he was far from the main character, I know, but something tells me Daniel's a little more than just Camille's best friend. As of this moment, I know nothing more, but I'll keep you updated. HeHe.

So, Camille's mom, Angela, is a powerful Centauride who escaped a horrific fate and managed to keep Camille hidden from the most influential Centaur Herds. Angela only told Camille her father's name on her death bed, leaving Camille alone to search for a man she had never met. Once Camille and her father meet the secrets start flying. Can you imagine not only finding out you are of a magical race, but because of something your mom did, you owe a blood debt to another family? No thank you.

I loved the matriarchal society that the Centaurs revolved around, though there are many things about their lives I disagreed with and hopefully Camille will resolve some of these issues. But I must say, the most impressive thing is how the author managed to keep up with all Camille's half-brothers. Each of their names started with a B and each seemed swoon-worthy in their own way. I'm wishing them all the best of luck in the coming years, because I think they all deserve a good mate.

And Drake...OH YUMMY!!! He's amazing and kind and courteous and good. I love the way his and Camille's story is woven together and how many obstacles they each have to overcome in order to try to be together, and that's still up in the air. Still! Bianca and Gage are interesting characters and I cannot wait to know more about Gage and his family. Some things pulled together, but as with every well written series, some questions were answered while others were presented.

The only thing that kept me from giving the book a complete 5 stars is the frequent changing of POVs. Usually this is not a problem for me, but when you get more than two or three going at the same time, I tend to get confused and have to go back and reread things to make sure I understand who is saying what.

Nancy takes different mythologies and mixes them all together to create a fascinating, spell-binding, and nail-biting novel. I'm still rocking on the edge of my chair after that ending. She attacks political and social issues in an interesting manner and keeps your brain thinking far after the last page has been turned. If you are a fan of romance, mythology, and unique literature...Blood Debt is a must read. Be sure you run over to the giveaway and enter to win an ebook copy of Blood Debt.

*I received a free ebook in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. No money or other compensation exchanged hands. ...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Maghon Thomas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal, review-4-author, fantasy, young-adult

THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I’VE READ-NOT JUST THIS YEAR, EVER!!! It’s a gut-wrenching, heart pounding, fairy tale building, fantastic love story! I can’t lie, it’s not sappy. It’s got several hard concepts and terrible moments in this book. I am pretty sure Camille had me in tears in half the book. This poor kid has a tragedy after tragedy, and finally gets a break, and then WHAM, another tragedy. This is Camille’s story.

It starts off with a girl who is so depress THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I’VE READ-NOT JUST THIS YEAR, EVER!!! It’s a gut-wrenching, heart pounding, fairy tale building, fantastic love story! I can’t lie, it’s not sappy. It’s got several hard concepts and terrible moments in this book. I am pretty sure Camille had me in tears in half the book. This poor kid has a tragedy after tragedy, and finally gets a break, and then WHAM, another tragedy. This is Camille’s story.

It starts off with a girl who is so depressed as her world revolved around her mother, who dies. She then gets one of those death bed confessions about her father, and it literally turns her world upside down. She gets the courage to find him, and his family is wonderful-but nuts, as supernatural beings usually are. I think I have a secret crush on one of her new brothers LOL and the story really takes some turns when she meets her new BFF Bianca. AND Bianca’s fiance’, Drake… *swoon right now!!* And then she finds out her mother has a Blood Debt to repay… NO SPOILERS, sorry you gotta read to find out all about this…

The writing is beyond wonderful. I literally inhaled this story, and then cursed myself as the book ended and I was left in a drooling pile of mush, as I needed so much more-RIGHT NOW!!! *hint, hint* Things are effortlessly put together, and I swear, as long as Ms. Nancy writes this story down, published or not, she can send me copies of torn paper with notes on them, just so I can have these characters FOREVER!!!

I don’t want to reveal anything that would ruin this impossibly creative journey for you, so I will now BULLY YOU, AND TELL YOU GO GET IT!!!! You are nuts if you find anything wrong with this story, and I can no longer be your friend. LOL I love everything about the men in her family-her dad and her brothers. They make me smile, and make me think that there are some good things left in the world. I am not sure if I really like her step mom yet, but right now, I am on yay-team-step-mom. I really like Bianca, and I REALLY LIKE HER BFF, from back home in California, BUT NO SPOILERS for that either. I have some assumptions going in my head that I cannot help but think some crazy things LOL also, if there is ever a guy who is fiction but comes to life- HE’S MINE!!! Do you hear me, MINE!!! He’s so going on my book boyfriend harem list-Nikki you’ve got another to keep track of

I can now only say THANK YOU MS NANCY!!!! Thank you for writing something that is fresh, new, unique, wonderful, beautiful, tragic, romantic, and completely satisfying to me!!! You are now on my hero author list for life, and to top it off, you are one of the sweetest, funnest, most generous people I have ever had the pleasure of internet-meeting hahahaha My ratings only go up to 5 PAWS… But you can think of getting a 10 PAWS FROM ME!! yep it’s one of those great moments when I realized I would have lost something wonderful if I never read this book!!! ...more

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