ARC Review….Bound by Night by Larissa Ione

Bound by Night releases September 24

Bound by Night COVER

Book links:

Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble  ~  Goodreads 

 

Synopsis:

The first installment in a sexy new paranormal romance series by Larissa Ione, author of the bestselling Demonica series!

A WOMAN OUT FOR BLOOD

Nicole Martin was only eight years old when the vampire slaves rose up in rebellion and killed her family. Now she devotes her life to finding a vaccine against vampirism, hoping to wipe out her memories—along with every bloodsucker on the planet. But there’s one thing she cannot destroy: her searing, undeniable attraction for the one man she should hate and fear the most . . .

 

A VAMPIRE OUT FOR REVENGE

A member of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan, Riker is haunted by demons of his own. When he recognizes Nicole and remembers how her family enslaved his loved ones, his heart burns for vengeance. But when he kidnaps Nicole and holds her in a secret lair, his mortal enemy becomes his soul obsession, his greatest temptation, and, perhaps, his only salvation—a hot-blooded lover who could heal him with her touch . . . or bury him forever.

 

My Review:

Let me start out by saying I am a HUGE Larissa Ione fan so when I found out she was writing a new vampire series, I died.  Larissa’s vampires rock my world.  Bound by Night is the first in her new Moonbound Clan Vampire Series and it…freaking…ROCKED!

In this story, current day vampires don’t have the luxuries, wealth and jet-setting lifestyles that a lot of vampire novels portray….in fact, quite the opposite.  Vampires have been dominated by humans for years and are used as slaves within human households.  If you weren’t enslaved, you were a rogue living almost as an outlaw to society and the vampire clans that still survived lived off the mortal radar. For me, this was a fresh look at vampire society and I really enjoyed the change of pace.

Nicole Martin has had quite a love/hate relationship with vampires her entire life.  Love, because the nanny that took care of her until she was eight years old gave her some of the fondest childhood memories and helped shape the woman she was today.  Hate, because it was that nanny’s mate that killed her nanny….the same night vampires raided her home and killed most of her family.  Now, Nicole has taken over her family’s biotech company, Daedalus, and has vowed to help create a vaccine to stop the virus that causes vampirism.  Her mission is to make sure no one has to endure the pain she has and with the advances her company has made, they are one step closer.  In an instant all of that changes when she is kidnapped by the very monster that killed her nanny….Riker.  Now she finds herself in the middle of a combustible situation between clans and her company responsible for the war the clans are about to wage on one another. And as she learns more about the day-to-day lives of vampires she also soon finds herself questioning the hate she has harbored toward the vampire race.

Riker and his clan have a dire situation.  They borrowed something of great importance from another clan and the deadline to return it is looming….the only problem is that what they need to return is now in the hands of The Daedalus Corp..  The same company that kills and tortures vampires in the name of science and the same company that is owned by the family that held his dead mate as a slave.  Riker comes up with a plan that his chief isn’t exactly thrilled with but he knows is the only way.  Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans, right?  Riker’s plan goes to hell and he ends up kidnapping Nicole Martin.  The same Nicole Martin that now runs Daedalus.  The same Nicole Martin whose family is responsible for murdering his mate.  Maybe he should treat Nicole the way her company treats vampires?  The way her family treated his mate? Surely that would help ease some of the rage and pain he’s felt since his beloved’s death twenty years ago.  He’s had twenty years to think of all the ways to exact revenge and now it looks like he will get his chance.  The problem is, after spending some time with her he starts to think maybe she isn’t like the rest of her family and that maybe she’s just innocently caught up in this whole mess.

Riker and Nicole have a whole lot to figure out and they have no choice but to work together….for survival and for revenge.  Riker and Nicole have their separate reasons for both but they both need them just as much.  As they are forced to spend more and more time together, they are soon realizing they will need to put their differences aside.  Riker and Nicole also start to realize they each have misconceptions about the other’s race and start to open up to the possibility that they were wrong about one another.

What a book!  I mentioned earlier that this took a fresh approach to vampires and I really enjoyed it.  There was a lot of Native American influence and the legend of how vampires came to be was also refreshing.  There were more than a few twists and turns in this story and I was so glad Riker and Nicole, even if it did take a while, were able to open up to the possibility that what they’ve known of each other’s people were wrong.  The characters in the story were done in typical Larissa fashion….brilliantly.  Riker broke my heart.  His warring emotions were a constant and they were intense.  He’s a warrior and soldier with a loyal and soft heart.  Nicole totally surprised me.  She was a fantastic heroine with the ability to realize when she needed to take a step back and look differently at a situation.  She was always open and willing to accept she may have been wrong about a multitude of things.  I appreciated that.  Together, the push and pull between them was fabulous….without giving anything away, I will just say that I was really happy with how the book ended for them.

The other characters were just as great.  The chief, Hunter, is already painted as a man of more than a few extremes.  The all-important clan chief that loves to play video games as just an example.  Myne, Riker’s best friend, has a wit about him that had me laughing more than a few times but also, from the sneak peek we got, has a heartbreaking story.  Then there’s Bastian.  Good Lord, don’t even get me started.  Broke. My. Heart. I can’t wait to see what Larissa has in store for the clan!

Thank you, Larissa, for giving us more of your creative mind and your new vampires.  I am SO looking forward to more!

 

4andahalflovesFour-and-a-Half Loves

 

About the author:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Larissa Ione penned her first novel at the age of 13 and hasn’t stopped writing since. She has been a U.S. Air Force meteorologist, an EMT, and a professional dog trainer, and you never know when one of those interests will pop into her novels.

She lives a nomadic existence with her U.S. Coast Guard husband and son, so her writing career has been a blessing — a job that moves easily.

She writes dark paranormal romance for Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books,) and contemporary romance for Red Sage and Samhain. Under the pen name Sydney Croft, she writes erotic action adventure romance with partner Stephanie Tyler.

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