The action and romance continue as the Drakes face a new vampire with a 200-year-old grudge. It’s been centuries since Isabeau St. Croix barely survived the French Revolution. Now she’s made her way back to the living and she must face the ultimate test by confronting the evil British lord who left her for dead the day she turned into a vampire. That’s if she can control her affection for Logan Drake, a vampire whose bite is as sweet as the revenge she seeks.
The clans are gathering for Helena’s royal coronation as the next vampire queen, and new alliances are beginning to form now that the old rifts of Lady Natasha’s reign have started to heal. But with a new common enemy, Leander Montmarte—a vicious leader who hopes to force Solange to marry him and usurp the power of the throne for himself—the clans must stand together to preserve the peace he threatens to destroy.
This second adventure in the Drake Chronicles—told from both Logan’s and Isabeau’s perspectives—has all the same butt-kicking action, heart-pounding romances and snarky humor that readers loved in Hearts at Stake, as well as exciting new revelations about the vampire dynasties to keep readers coming back for more.
Blood Feud
builds nicely on the first of the Drake Chronicles, giving more detail about the world it is set in, the vampire lore and hierarchy. The story is again told from duel points of view, although this time it’s Logan Drake (one of Solange’s brothers) and newcomer Isabeau St. Croix. Isabeau is a Hound - a group of vampires who live separately to the others. The two groups are making alliances to team up against a third vampire group, the Hel-Blar, led by Montmarte (the vamp who wants to become ruler by marrying Solange). Isabeau is originally from the times of the French Revolution and only recently woken so is also having to deal with the vast changes in the world. Naturally there’s a connection between Isabeau and Logan (what with them being the narrators) which is cute and at times humorous because Isabeau’s kick-ass and used to looking after herself while Logan’s a little old fashioned - both in his dress and mannerisms - so he tries to watch out for her all the time, resulting in some witty banter between the two.I liked that this book changed narrators from the first one. There are so many characters it would be hard to get to know them all if it was just told from one point of view. With this series there’s two for each book (and I assume this will continue throughout). There was also a third dimension to Blood Feud as periodically there was flashbacks to Isabeau’s past life which was told in a third person point of view (whereas the current story is told in first person) this took a little getting used to but actually worked well. I think it was easier to switch between past and present this way.
Another thing I like about these books is that they’re quite short at around 250 pages, which makes them action packed. I often find longer books are just dragged out or spend too much time explaining everything. If I’d had the time, I would have quite happily sat down and read this book straight through in one go. As it was I’ve only been able to grab short periods of reading time recently but the short chapters in the book were perfect for this as well.
The Drake Chronicles is fast becoming one of the series’ that I really enjoy reading and I’m just glad I have the third book ready to read straight away.
Out For Blood
(Drake Chronicles #3) was released this week and I will be reviewing it in the next few days.
