Friday, September 14, 2012

Review: Shades of Blood by L.M. Pruitt


Shades of Blood (Book three):

If it's not one thing, it's another.

Felipe, one of New Orleans's most infamous—and crazy--vampires is back in town. And to say he's unhappy is an understatement.

Duprees and Williams have to track down Felipe, fast, before he claims any more victims. If that means making a deal with the Devil--otherwise known as St. Germaine--and using an untrained dhampir, so be it.

If that wasn't enough, I've also got rebellious teenagers, feuding couples, and a suddenly full social calendar.

The more things change....

Excerpt:
“I’m going to kill her.” I didn’t throw the phone across the room like I wanted to, but instead, set it down gently on the coffee table. I took a deep breath and held it for a long moment before releasing it. “I’ll just have to owe Williams another favor.”
“That would put you at owing him three times, which is three times too many.” Theo slid the phone out of my reach. I’d already thrown two phones this month, so I didn’t begrudge him the action. “What exactly did Danie do this time?”
It’d been almost a month since Williams had shown up in the foyer and left his niece—Hart’s daughter—in my care. Not that I really wanted her here or that she wanted to be here. Things were just getting back to normal after the terror of Halloween, after darting around the city trying to find Hart’s other psychopathic brother. Having Hart’s daughter under my roof made me more than a little uneasy, even though he was still at the bottom of the Mississippi.
I’d argued with Williams. Danie had argued with Williams. Even Mickeal, Williams’s second-in-command and currently stationed at the Crossroads, had argued with Williams. He refused to budge. And my conscience wouldn’t let me throw her out without a definite place to go.
So Danie stayed. And did her best to make all our lives a living hell.
“Shoplifting. Again.” I drummed my fingers over my stomach, then stopped when one of the bumps kicked a little. Theo and I still called them the bumps, even though it was starting to look like I’d swallowed a small beach ball. At the rate I was going, I’d be as big as a cow by the time I delivered in May. “Down at that tourist shop.”
“Which one? There’s only half a million or so.” Theo made a little circle motion with his finger and I gave him my back. I always seemed to have a knot between my shoulder blades these days. Whether it was from Danie or from the bumps, I couldn’t begin to guess.
“Voodoo Blues. The owner recognized her, so instead of calling the police, he let her go and called me. I’ll send Elizabeth down tomorrow to take care of it.”
“Have you ever thought about letting her get picked up by the police? Seeing if having the law come down on her would actually make her see how stupid she’s being?” Theo pressed a kiss against my bare shoulder. I shrugged half-heartedly, tapping my fingers on my knee.
“Maybe it would work. Or maybe she’d go nuts on them and then we’d have a serious problem.” Restless now, I stood up to pace in front of the fireplace. It was just now ten p.m. and most of the house had been up long enough to start getting into trouble. Any minute now, someone was going to knock on the parlor door and tell me they needed help with something.
I wasn’t psychic. It had happened often enough that it was a given.
My thoughts:
Another great story by L.M. Pruitt!  Action, adventure, romance, good vs. evil - a little bit of everything that makes a reader thrilled to keep turning the pages.  The characters are wonderful!  The relationships are tricky and endearing.  The interaction between the characters keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.  The reality of "the bumps" is an intriguing twist!  I can't wait for more!


About the Author:
L.M. Pruitt has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember. A native of Florida with a love of New Orleans, she has the uncanny ability to find humor in most things and would probably kill a plastic plant. She is the author of the Jude Magdalyn Series as well as New Moon Rising, featuring Cari Gravier, and Taken, featuring Frankie Post. She is currently at work on the next book in the Moon Rising series, Harvest Moon Rising, due out April 2012. Ms. Pruitt makes her home in Florida with two cats--one smart, the other not so much.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/lmpruitt

Don't miss the first two books in this great series!
There's a free read too - Hole in the Wall.

Hole in the Wall (#0.5)

Before Jude could throw fire...Before she could heal...Before she chose between two men...

She was a bartender.

Find out what Jude was up to the night before her world went nuts.

Hole in the Wall is available as an exclusive ebook to celebrate the release of the second edition of Shades of Gray.


Shades of Gray: Book One
Jude Magdalyn Henries lives what many would call an unconventional life. 

Orphaned at birth, raised by nuns, a teenage runaway living on the streets... she now earns a living at odd jobs, including one as a fake tarot card reader. Very little about Jude's life appears normal, by any scale. 

When she accepts a gig to do a private reading, unconventional takes on an entirely new meaning. Life as she knows it ends when she's thrust into a world she never knew existed-one filled with magic, vampires, and her beloved New Orleans on the verge of an underground war. 

To make matters worse, she's got two men in her life vying for attention, Williams and Theo. Both call to a different part of her, but one scares her just a little bit. 

Can she step up to the challenges set before her and make the right choices for the greatergreater good?
Click HERE to see my review of Shades of Gray.

Shades of Desire: Book 2 Jude Magdalyn Series
All I wanted was a little peace and quiet.

Instead, I've got dead Covenant members and a steady stream of letters from the new guy in town. His beverage of choice? A 2002 Merlot, with a shot or two of powerful virgin blood.

On top of that, I'm breaking in a new police liaison, failing at playing matchmaker, and fighting nausea like it's a full time
job. All I wanted was a little peace and quiet.

Instead, I've got dead Covenant members and a steady stream of letters from the new guy in town. His beverage of choice? A 2002 Merlot, with a shot or two of powerful virgin blood.

On top of that, I'm breaking in a new police liaison, failing at playing matchmaker, and fighting nausea like it's a full time job.

Did I forget to mention that I've also got enough girls living at the Crossroads to start my own boarding school?

Peace and quiet? Out the window.