Shifters - R. Vincent

[Angela]

I unpacked my books today...Stray is still in my to-read stack and I hope to get to all those soon

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

Saw this posted in another group, taken from Vincent's blog. It's about her new adult series :

Series name: The name of the new series is “Unbound.” As in, “An Unbound novel, by Rachel Vincent.” Or something like that.

Title: The first book, currently scheduled for September 1, 2011, will be called BLOOD BOUND.

I know, I know, there's already a Patricia Briggs novel of that name. (I read it years ago. It was awesome.) But because my novel is coming out years after hers did and because the subject matter of my book is NOTHING like hers, I’m not anticipating much title confusion. My original working title for the book was “Bound In Blood,” and we went through literally a dozen or more title possibilities with the awesome people at Mira before finally deciding (unanimously, as far as I know) that nothing else captures the feel and subject matter of this book better than BLOOD BOUND. So, BLOOD BOUND it is.

Genre: The Unbound series is paranormal. It’s a little more romance-heavy than the early Shifters books are, and about in line with romance/relationship content of the last couple of Shifters books.

Audience: The Unbound books are intended for adults. As my editor said, BLOOD BOUND is “twisted.” (Is it wrong that her quote makes me smile? ;)) If this first book is any indication, these books will be very dark and gritty, violent, and tense, but with some humor (mostly dialogue) to take the edge off.

The world: The idea behind the Unbound world-building is simple. The execution is a little more complicated. For me, it all started with the cliché “a man’s word is his bond,” then grew to include, “the pen is mightier than the sword” and the concept of “word of mouth.”

“What…” I thought, as I was brainstorming, “…if those clichés could be taken literally?”

What if a person’s word really was his or her bond? What if, once given, a promise could never be taken back? Would you be more careful what you say? Wouldn’t we all, if we were bound to our words?

Then I took it a step further. If the spoken word carries that much power, how much more would the written word carry? What about words written in (or sealed in) blood? What about words written in (and sealed in) flesh? Tattoos and graffiti take on a whole new meaning, huh?

Needless to say, once I headed down that thought-path, the world-building exploded—there’s much more to it now (but I’m not going to give you any more just yet). The story lines grew from the world-building possibilities and conflicts. The characters developed based on the experiences they would've had, growing up in this world.

The bad guys are bad (twisted, according to some…), but they have very human motivations.

The good guys are…not exactly wearing white hats. But the innocent are still innocent, and someone has to fight for them. (This may, in fact, be the only thing Shifters has in common with Unbound.)

The characters:

Olivia Warren owes her friend Anne a favor. Anne needs someone found and brought to a very quick, private justice.

The catch? Olivia must work with Cam Caballero to complete this favor. The problem? Cam is Olivia’s ex—the man prophesied to either kill her or die by her hand. It's a tense reunion, at best.

As Olivia and Cam chase their target through public streets, private lives, and a dangerous criminal underworld, everything they thought they knew comes into question. In the end, they can only be sure of three things…

No one can be trusted.
Everyone’s lying.
And someone’s going to pay.

[Darcy]

It sounds like it could be interesting.

[Carina]

I LOVE this series! So far I've read and . I should be back to reading the rest as soon as I finish This Side of the Grave.
Cant wait to find out whay happens next!
Marc, I love you!

[Whitney]

listening to stray.... what is wrong with her.

[Ahmya]

Chakara wrote: "listening to stray.... what is wrong with her."

How is it? a couple of years ago i went on a reading marathon of shifter books. Because of that i couldn't finish reading stray by rachel vincent.

Thinking of reading it again. BUT with NO marathon or anything. Am gonna mix it all up and shake it round and pick one and read. :D

[Whitney]

i don't like the actor or the storytelling it seems to be one big info dumb.

[Ahmya]

Chakara wrote: "i don't like the actor or the storytelling it seems to be one big info dumb."

aahh.... i thought it was just me and my marathon of paranormal books but somehow halfway... no no...i got to a couple of chapters before i stopped reading. Thing is a lot of readers loved the book and it seems like i was the only one who didn't like it.

You finish it??

[Whitney]

not yet. i started it 3 times though. Being that the book is so long, once I really do finish it I probably wont return to this world. What really bugs me is the dumbing down there will be two sentences in the here and now and then pages and pages of backstory and info dumping and the main character is a butt hole.

[Ahmya]

wow. good luck trying to finish that one. i couldn't take it after couple of chapters. Didn't like the main character. And the too many information at one time was too much.

[Whitney]

Salisa wrote: "wow. good luck trying to finish that one. i couldn't take it after couple of chapters. Didn't like the main character. And the too many information at one time was too much."

Main characters an Immature spoiled Brat which I think makes it all worst. She's not even funny...just no...

[Ahmya]

Yeah... I know Rachel Vincent's other series are better than this. But this one....

[Whitney]

Salisa wrote: "Yeah... I know Rachel Vincent's other series are better than this. But this one...."

I agreed I only read her novella in her other series but it was really good, great characters and plot. I have no idea what happened here.

[Ahmya]

NO Idea! but there are some readers who really love this one. however, i won't recommend it.