URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: Blood Rights by Kristen Painter

Blood Rights 

by Kristen Painter

(House of Comarré #1)

The lacy gold mapped her entire body. A finely-wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers.

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

I’ve had Blood Rights on my TBR list since its release day. I figured I would get around to reading it in the near future but then I signed up to attend AADNOLA and saw that Painter is one of the authors attending so I figure no time like the present to start this series.

Blood Rights is an Urban Fantasy book with a mix-mash of supernatural creatures; Fae, Fallen Angels, Varcolai (shifters), ghosts, Comarré and vampires. All these creatures live in secret from the humans.

The Comarré is a human hybrid species that is bred to serve the blood needs of the noble vampires. The noble vampires are the upper crust the vampire food chain. Nobles are the only ones that can afford the blood rights of the Comarré and keep one on staff to fill their blood requirements. After the Comarré has stayed with their patron (vampire master) for 100 years they can earn their freed to leave that vampire if they wish.

That’s where we meet Chrysabelle; she is on the run after finding her patron, Algernon’s body in his study after a ball where he refused her, her freedom. Chrysabelle has lived the sheltered life of the Comarré and finds herself in a new world when she leaves Europe to go to the Americas to find help from her aunt in clearing her name in the murder of her patron.

Chrysabelle meets Malkolm, an anathema vampire (a noble vamp that has been shunned) while looking for a contact her aunt has told her that might be able to help her. One thing leads to another and Chrysabelle and Malkolm find themselves in a sexual tension infused partnership to fight the evil doers in the book.

I recommend Blood Rights to Urban Fantasy fans that like plot twists and sexual tension that keeps you hanging on for the next installment in the series.