Review: Blood Reunited by Amber Belldene

Title: Blood Reunited
Author: Amber Belldene
Series: Blood Vine #3
Publication: January 28th 2014 by Omnific Publishing 
Genre: Adult ~ Paranormal
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5

Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Brooding vampire halfling and biologist Bel Maras is determined to create a cure for the wasting disease that plagues his vampire family. His work becomes essential as the Hunters intensify their global and bloody campaign. When Bel's cure fails, only his ancient and estranged godmother Uta Ilirije can help. But seeing the ice-cold Uta reveals something shocking--she is his bonded mate.

She may be a dangerous warrior, but Uta feels her failures acutely. She has been unable to protect her kind from Hunters, and vampires are dying out. Worse, she tied Bel to her long ago in an accident of blood, then abandoned him for his own good--a choice he has never forgiven. Many days, she is convinced Bel and the vampires would be better off if she just walked into the sun.

Biology has fated them to be mates. Now these old enemies must overcome their past to save the vampires and come to peace with the bond they never chose.

I've been so happy that I discovered this series because truly it's become an all-time favorite for me. I love vampires and I'm not kidding when I say it's one of the best ones in the genre out there.

Blood Reunited was amazing. Just like the two other books it centered on the Maras vampires, this time especially on Bel and Uta. I was so glad to finally read in Bel's point of view. Because he's my favorite guy in the series and he didn't disappoint at all. It was also very fun to be inside Uta's head. With English not being her first language, the things she says are to die for. I laughed many times. But I have to admit I had to get used to her and Bel as a couple because of the whole godmother thing but nontheless I learned to love them together and, well, they were great. 

Oh and of course we had Lucas and Pedro to read about. They might be my favorite couple in this series actually. I just really care for them as characters and they're just so adorable together. And can I just applaud Lucas for doing the thing he did (I cannot say for the sake of not putting any spoilers but seriously!). 

The story was a little bit of a rollercoaster. From funny moments to serious to happy and then to sad ones, up and down it went. There were a lot of unexpected twists and gasp out loud moments. When certain people died (not naming anyone!) I was so shocked and kinda cursing Amber Belldene (sorry, Amber!) for doing this to us but a good book can't be without this kind of drama, I guess. *sniffles* 

And that ending! You know how some authors totally screw up and ending? Amber Belldene absolutely didn't do that. It was the perfect ending for such a great series. I loved it so so much. I like how the last chapter was Andre's. It felt right. And I'm glad we got to know how everyone was doing four years later (especially Kos, Lena and their child). Nicely done!

Blood Reunited was just as fantastic as the rest of the series. Full of action, the right amount of steamy romance and so damn funny (Uta, yes I'm talking about you!).  I haven't loved a vampire series this much in a long time. It was original and I love the twists about the hunters and vampires. And one thing's for sure, I will miss these characters so much but I'm glad to have read their story! 5 stars more than deserved!

Favorite Quotes:

Bel laughed. "Sounds about right. I'll rent a car. Be there inside an hour. Cheers."
"Cheerio and tootle-loo, motherfucker."
Bel sighed. His new brother did love to provoke him. "Pedro. Make fun of my accent again, and I'll have Omar rip your tongue out, let it regrow, and do it again until you swear to stop your terrible impressions. Comprende?"

"Cards?" Uta sat down to a game of poker in play. "I hear you are something of a dolphin."
"I think you mean a shark," Zoey whispered.
Uta squeezed her eyes shut and pictured the tiny line drawing in the dictionary she'd studied. "Stupid dorsal fin."

"Bel, it is time to stop pretending you are asleep," she said.
He laughed "Not until Pedro turns off his shite music. Put on my iPod." He handed over the device.
She rubbed her eyes. "Perfect. The sun is very nearly up, and you want me to die listening to Joan Jett. Show some mercy."

About The Author:

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Amber Belldene grew up on the Florida panhandle, swimming with alligators, climbing oak trees and diving for scallops…when she could pull herself away from a book. As a child, she hid her Nancy Drew novels inside the church bulletin and read mysteries during sermons—an irony that is not lost on her when she preaches these days.

Amber is an Episcopal Priest and student of religion. She believes stories are the best way to explore human truths. Some people think it is strange for a minister to write romance, but it is perfectly natural to her, because the human desire for love is at the heart of every romance novel and God made people with that desire. She lives with her husband and two children in San Francisco.

Book Spotlight: Blood Reunited by Amber Belldene

Hi all!

I'm so very glad to be featuring Blood Reunited by Amber Belldene today.

The book is great (as are the other two!). Honestly, it's one of the best vampire series that I have ever read.

So here we go!

Oh and don't forget to check out my review of Blood Reunited tomorrow!

Blood Reunited (Blood Vine #3) by Amber Belldene

Publication: January 28th 2014 by Omnific Publishing

Brooding vampire halfling and biologist Bel Maras is determined to create a cure for the wasting disease that plagues his vampire family. His work becomes essential as the Hunters intensify their global and bloody campaign. When Bel's cure fails, only his ancient and estranged godmother Uta Ilirije can help. But seeing the ice-cold Uta reveals something shocking--she is his bonded mate.

She may be a dangerous warrior, but Uta feels her failures acutely. She has been unable to protect her kind from Hunters, and vampires are dying out. Worse, she tied Bel to her long ago in an accident of blood, then abandoned him for his own good--a choice he has never forgiven. Many days, she is convinced Bel and the vampires would be better off if she just walked into the sun.

Biology has fated them to be mates. Now these old enemies must overcome their past to save the vampires and come to peace with the bond they never chose. 

Excerpt:

She flipped the arm separating their seats up and laced her hands into his hair, pulling his ear to her mouth. Her deft, slender tongue traced a wet line around the shell before she nibbled on the lobe with blunt teeth. Tingles crawled from his scalp down his shoulders and arms, and he pulled her onto his lap. 

She whispered. "I have done many things in my life. But I am not yet a member of this club for people who have had sex on airplanes."

She was already fumbling between them for his belt, her tongue pressed between her lips in determination.

He pressed his forehead into hers and chuckled. "Yes."

He ached to be with her again like this, but he wouldn't make the same mistake as last time. This would change nothing.

Trailer:

About the author:

Amber Belldene grew up on the Florida panhandle, swimming with alligators, climbing oak trees and diving for scallops…when she could pull herself away from a book.  As a child, she hid her Nancy Drew novels inside the church bulletin and read mysteries during sermons—an irony that is not lost on her when she preaches these days. 

Amber is an Episcopal Priest and student of religion.  She believes stories are the best way to explore human truths.  Some people think it is strange for a minister to write romance, but it is perfectly natural to her, because the human desire for love is at the heart of every romance novel and God made people with that desire. She lives with her husband and two children in San Francisco

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Review: Blood Entangled by Amber Belldene

Title: Blood Entangled
Author: Amber Belldene
Series: Blood Vine #1
Publication: July 23rd 2013 by Omnific Publishing
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: e-book from Amazon
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5

   

KOS MARAS’s orderly life is in shambles—he must distribute Blood Vine to a population of ailing vampires, but Hunters block him at every turn. To make matters worse, each night he watches over a temptingly beautiful woman sleeping in his bed. He is convinced love cannot last a vampire-long lifetime and an entanglement will only cause them grief, but he doesn’t have the heart to send her away.

From a long line of blood servants, LENA ISAAKSON is destined to serve a vampire, but a string of humiliating rejections thwarts her pleasure. When Kos shows her kindness, she hopes he will claim her. Instead he proves himself a coward in the face of love and sends her to serve another.

Will the dark seduction of a rakish new vampire finally bring Lena the pleasure she desires or deliver her into the hands of Hunters who want to destroy everything the Maras family has worked for?

~My Thoughts:

After finishing the first book, I could only wait a few days before a gave in and bought the second book because the story was so stuck in my head, I was thinking about it a lot. I was so glad to be able to start the second book and be thrown back into this seductive world created by Amber Belldene.

Kos doesn't believe love can last a lifetime for vampires because of what happened to his mother and Andre. But when he and Lena get closer and closer he finds it hard to send her away to another household but he knows he has to for both their sakes. Or so he thinks.
Lena wants to leave Andre's household as fast as she can after all the rejections she got from him. But when she gets to know Kos more she realizes he's the one who stirs feelings inside of her but then he sends her away to the dark Mason who has even darker tastes.

Blood Entangled is mostly about Kos and Lena. I loved how Amber spread the seeds for them in Blood Vine already so that their story wouldn't come out of nowhere. I loved that.
I actually didn't expect to like this book as much as I did the previous because I didn't like Lena there but as a main character and reading her point of view I actually did like her. So surprising but great. 
Kos I've always loved and he was even more amazing in this book. Although I was getting frustrated sometimes with him when he wouldn't admit his true feelings for Lena and being kind of a coward about it, I did like him. He and Lena were perfection together!
Lena and Kos being what the story really is about, Pedro and Lucas took also a huge part of the book. And I'd be lying if I wasn't secretly reading Blood Entangled exactly for them. I wanted to know where their story would go and, boy, it was so good! They're definitely my favorite couple so far. I love how this book and the series doesn't shy away from gay couples. More books should have this. 
And as always the romantic scenes were scorching hot and sexy! Gotta love that.

Besides the usual characters, there were a few new and interesting ones. Gwen for example. Yeah, I did not like her. I mean, okay, she's kind of screwed up because of Mason and she doesn't know exactly how evil Ethan is but still... Then there's Uta. She was awesome. The oldest vampire the gang knows and she kicks so much butt. And she reveals of lot of pretty shocking things that I didn't see coming. I hope she'll be in the next book too. I like her. Oh and Mason. What a sick fuck he is! I got such a bad vibe from him from the beginning. Poor Lena. 
And as for Ethan... He's still a motherfucking asshole. I found myself not liking reading his point of view. I really didn't want to know what the "bad guy" was up to but it wasn't as if it made the story bad. I just really dislike that guy. But overall the new characters (all of them and not only the ones I mentioned) were pretty good for the story.

If you'd ask me what book I like the best, the first or the second, I couldn't really say because I like them both just as much. Amber Belldene is such a good writer that manages to suck me into the story and that's hard to do. I need to be really hooked to like a book this much. So that says enough.
As for the next book, I'd love the story to be either about Pedro and Lucas or Bel. Bel would be an interesting character I think. There's a lot of mystery around him and with everything that got revealed... Damn!


All in all, Blood Entangled by Amber Belldene was an awesome sequel to Blood Vine. Sexy vampires, sizzling hot romance and a lot of action. What more does a reader need?

About The Author:

Amber Belldene grew up on the Florida panhandle, swimming with alligators, climbing oak trees and diving for scallops…when she could pull herself away from a book. As a child, she hid her Nancy Drew novels inside the church bulletin and read mysteries during sermons—an irony that is not lost on her when she preaches these days.

Amber is an Episcopal Priest and student of religion. She believes stories are the best way to explore human truths. Some people think it is strange for a minister to write romance, but it is perfectly natural to her, because the human desire for love is at the heart of every romance novel and God made people with that desire. She lives with her husband and two children in San Francisco.

Find Amber also on:

Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter | Website

Purchase Blood Entangled on:

All Romance | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Review: Blood Vine by Amber Belldene

Title: Blood Vine
Author: Amber Belldene
Series: Blood Vine #1
Publication: January 8th 2013 by Omnific Publishing
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: Paperback
Cover Rating: 5/5 (so pretty!)
Overall Rating: 5/5

Review copy provided by author in exchange for an honest review.

   

In Blood Vine, bites are an inconvenient bliss, exiled vampires are wasting away, and the fate of their kind depends on the perfect PR campaign.

When public relations pro Zoey Porter arrives at an enchanting California winery, she discovers her sexy new client is the almost one-night stand she can’t forget. After her husband’s suicide, Zoey has vowed never to risk her heart again. But can she walk away from the intriguing winemaker a second time?

Driven from Croatia by his ancient foes, vampire Andre Maras has finally made a blood-like wine to cure his fellow refugees. Now he needs Zoey’s PR expertise to reach them. After his wife’s death, Andre has a vow of his own—never to risk another painful blood bond. And one taste of the tempting Zoey would bind him to her eternally.

His secrets stall her PR plans. Her jealousy is stoked by the blissed-out beauties leaving his bedroom. At every turn, he utterly fails to resist her. When she discovers he is a vampire, will she be lost to the golden-eyed Hunters, or lose herself to the emptiness in her heart, before she can help him save his kind?

~My Thoughts:

I received this book a while back for review from the author and though it took me quite some time to actually get to it (you know, so many books, so little time...) —and trust me, I wish I had read it sooner now — I finally read it! I just want to thank to author again for being so nice to send the paperback version to me. This book was quite a ride for me and I really feel like I found a new favorite series to add to my shelves! <3

31-year-old Zoey Porter who works as a PR person. Every since her husband died, she puts up a wall trying to keep people, especially men, at a distance. She doesn't even let her boss, Ethan, who she's sleeping with, get close to her. When her firm sends her to the winery of a new client, Andre, she's startled to find out he's the one she had an almost one-night stand with him over a year ago. Surprisingly, Andre ignites feelings within her she thought died along with her husband. But Andre isn't an ordinary man and has secrets... Secrets that will change everything for Zoey and that will drag her into a world of blood, passion and possibly love.

Age-old Andre Maras is a vampire who has been driving from his homeland in Croatia a long time ago and suffers from the wasting disease but thinks to have finally found a cure in the wine he makes. He wants to not only cure himself but also his fellow refugees. When Zoey arrives at his estate to help them with the PR of the wine, he has to control his urges to bite her in fear of blood bonding with her. The one thing he vowed to never do again is bond with someone after the dead of his wife. But the thing about Zoey is, he can't stay away from her. 

Zoey was an engaging main character to read about. I liked her from the start and all her reactions to Andre, also when she found out what he is was nicely done by the author. I also loved how she made friends with the women in Andre's household. I liked that she opened up a little to them too and not only Andre. 
I must admit though as a character on his own Andre wasn't my favorite character from everyone in the book but it wasn't like I disliked him or anything. I did love him and Zoey together. They had so much chemistry and some very passionate romantic scenes. Gotta love that! And, damn, I loved the ending! 

I haven't been this excited about a vampire book in quite a while, obviously. Lately all vampire books I read were mediocre to say the least. But Blood Vine? It was amazing! I was really surprised by how good it was and how fascinated I was by the story. Amber Belldene did such a great job making the book so interesting to read, not only about the vampires but also about all the other characters and the winery too. Blood Vine is definitely different compared to other vampire books. It's such an original story and it does not only feature Zoey and Andre. And though I love reading about both of them, I am also so intrigued and excited to learn more about the other characters like Andre's sons, Kos and Bel. I admit I was the tiniest but obsessed with them. *fans herself* I also loved Pedro (he's a riot!) and Lucas (who's Ethan's brother) so so so much. I can't even start to explain how much I hope they're going to end up together. With some unexpected events their whole relationship has become very intriguing.
Ethan is a whole different story. He's what we would call the bad guy in the book. And being a vampire hunter he has his own twisted reasons for wanted Andre, his sons and his whole household dead. Basically, he's a bastard. But damn it if I don't love reading about bad guys. I wonder what he's going to be up to next and how it will continue all!

There were a lot of facts about how a winery works that I never knew before. I loved the aspects about it and how it all fits together with vampires and what they discovered about that wine. Obviously the author knew a lot about stuff like this and did good research and that's what every author should do.
Amber Belldene's writing was flawless. Yes, it was. I have no negatives to say It was fast-paced, always entertaining and I loved the multiple points of view so we could learn more about the others too. Much love for that!


An imaginative, romantic and absorbing read, Blood Vine by Amber Belldene had me quickly hooked with its intriguing story about vampires and vine yards. In short; I loved it. I was captivated by the story and the characters the autor created. It was one of the best books I have read so far this year and can't wait to get my hands on the second book because I just need more. I would highly recommend Blood Vine to everyone!

About the author:

Amber Belldene grew up on the Florida panhandle, swimming with alligators, climbing oak trees and diving for scallops…when she could pull herself away from a book. As a child, she hid her Nancy Drew novels inside the church bulletin and read mysteries during sermons—an irony that is not lost on her when she preaches these days.

Amber is an Episcopal Priest and student of religion. She believes stories are the best way to explore human truths. Some people think it is strange for a minister to write romance, but it is perfectly natural to her, because the human desire for love is at the heart of every romance novel and God made people with that desire. She lives with her husband and two children in San Francisco.

Find Amber also on:

Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter | Website

Purchase Blood Vine on:
All Romance | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Fishpond