Bonded by Blood by Laurie London (Sweetblood #1)
Paranormal Romance
January 18, 2011
Paperback, 384 Pages
Harlequin

Reviewed by Mandi

Mackenzie Foster-Shaw enjoys spending her time taking photographs to scout for movie locations. On this particular day she has found herself in a cemetery taking pictures, which is creepy enough – until she hears a man moaning. Cautious, she sees a man slightly buried beneath leaves and sticks and he is injured. This will be the last memory she has of him.

Dominic Serrano, or Dom is a vampire – but he is one of the good guys, although when he catches Mackenzie’s scent, his baser instincts take over. Although Mackenzie is human, she is a Sweetblood, unknowingly carrying blood that is irresistible to vampires.  Dom has no other option than to taste her, and he somehow finds the strength to stop drinking from her before she dies. He ends up giving her a few drops of his blood to make sure she will live, before wiping her memory and returning her to her house.

Dom works for the Agency, a group of vampires who fight against the Darkbloods, those that seek out the Sweetbloods and usually drain them dry. Although he was able to stop drinking from Mackenzie, he knows if a Darkblood picks up her scent, she will be in grave danger. He not only feels protective of her, but because they had a blood exchange, he is now picking up her thoughts and emotions. He feels a pain in his chest if she travels too far away from him. He has only heard rumors that a bond like this could exist.

Mackenzie has lived with the “Shaw family curse” her entire life. Family members have gone missing with no explanation. As Mackenzie starts to unravel this mystery, the Darkbloods start to organize in the Seattle area where Mackenize lives and Dom knows a fight is on the horizon.

Bonded by Blood is the debut book by Laurie London. When Dom and Mackenzie have their chance encounter to start the book, it is pretty explosive. Dom physically can not keep from drinking Mackenzie’s blood. I enjoyed that he is the good guy, yet his vampire tendencies still shine through. After this first encounter, even though it is mentioned that Dom struggles with not drinking from her, I kind of wish he would have lost it again. Or showed more struggle. For the next 150 pages the pace really slows down. Mackenzie and Dom end up running into each other again and because they are bonded, (although Mackenzie has no idea he is a vampire) they are definitely attracted to each other. But it felt like it really took awhile for things to start moving again.

After a while the pace picks up. Mackenzie starts to uncover what Dom really is. When the Darkbloods start hunting her and those close to her, the book became very entertaining. We only see a glimpse of the head villain a few times, and I think we definitely could have benefitted from more scenes from his point of view. The ending conflict with him is wrapped up way too easily as well. We are told of all of these evil things he has done in the past, but we really don’t get to see a lot of him in the book.

The strength in this book lies with Dom and his relationships with his fellow team members. Lily, Jackson, and others have some nice banter – and made me laugh more than once.

“Dom. Lil. Hey, Mackenzie,” Jackson said. “We’ve never really met, but I know you.” He pulled his hand from his crotch and extended it to shake hers.”

“For God’s sake, Jackson.” Dom knocked his had away.

“I was just scratching an itch. Sorry.”

There is also a nice twist with Dom’s brother that sets up the next book in the series.

Besides a couple of reservations, this is a fun world. Laurie London writes a book that is very easy to get into. It flows really smoothly, the romance scenes are pretty steamy and I really enjoyed the interactions with the supporting characters.

Rating: C+

Recent Reviews
Paranormal Haven – 3.5/5
All Things Urban Fantasy – 4/5
Nocturnal Bites – 4.5/5
Demon Lover’s Books & More – 5/5
Goodreads

Author’s Website l Series Listing

Amazon l Kindle l Book Depository l Nook l Sony