Audio Review: Flesh and Blood by Kristen Painter

Flesh and Blood

by Kristen Painter

House of Camarre #2
Narrated by Abby Craden

Source: Purchased from Audible.com

With the ring of sorrows still missing, and the covenant between othernaturals and mortals broken, Chrysabelle and Malkolm's problems are just beginning. Chrysabelle still owes Malkolm for his help, but fulfilling that debt means returning to Corvinestri, the hidden vampire city neither of them is welcome in.The discovery that Chrysabelle has a brother could mean reneging on her promise to Malkolm, something that might make him angry enough to loose the beast living inside him. And fulfilling her vow could prove devastating for Chrysabelle-especially when you throw in power hungry witches, dead fringe vampires, and the Kubai Mata.

Normally I save my thoughts about the narration of the audiobook to the end of the review. But since I almost gave Flesh and Blood a 3 star rating based on the narration I going to talk about it first.

Abby Craden's narration of the main characters was pretty good and her "reading" voice (non dialogue narration) was good. Where I had a problem with the narration was her choices for A LOT of the secondary characters more to the point the minority characters. For example Katsumi is an Asian vampire and Craden's narration of her sounded like siamese cats from Lady and the Tramp. I had that song "We are Siamese if You Please" stuck in my head whenever Katsumi can on scene.

Doc

Another character I had problem with was Doc. I read the first book, Blood Rights and I didn't either remember or picked up on the fact that he is Africain American but listing to Carden's voice for him I thought, is Doc black? So I asked my two read along co-hosts that recently read Blood Rights and they were not sure either. I looked him up on the House of Comarre website and saw a picture of the character. Yep, he's Africain American. But I didn't enjoy the stereo-type voice that the narrator gave him; she made him sound like a street thug mixed with a white raper (Vanilla Ice). I thought he would say Yo-Yo at any moment.

I was so focused on how much I disliked the narration of the minority characters that it took me out of the story many times. But I thought it was unfair to lower my rating of the writing that Kristen Painter brought to life. It's just a case where I will read the rest of the series instead of listening. It happens.

Ok now that my rant about the narration of the audiobook is over I'll talk about the book.

READ-A-LONG: Blood Rights by Kristen Painter

This month kicks off the read-a-long 

with the 1st book in the series,

Blood Rights.

Jenese is hosting this month.

Head over for the discussion.

But before you go check my review. 

You can also check out Laura's review.

Read-a-Long Schedule:

May 3: 
Hosted at Readers Confession
 Chat/Discussion on Blood Rights

 June 7: 
Hosted at Little Read Riding Hood

 Chat/Discussion on Flesh and Blood

 July 5: 
Hosted at The Book Nympho
Chat/Discussion on Bad Blood 

 Aug 7: 
Hosted at Readers Confession
Chat/Discussion on Out for Blood 

 Sept 6: 
Hosted at Little Read Riding Hood

Chat/Discussion on Last Blood  

Read A Long: House of Comarre by Kristen Painter

5 Books - 3 Blogs

Readers Confession
Little Read Riding Hood

The Book Nympho

Read-a-Long Schedule:

May 3: 
Hosted at Readers Confession
 Chat/Discussion on Blood Rights

 June 7: 
Hosted at Little Read Riding Hood

 Chat/Discussion on Flesh and Blood

 July 5: 
Hosted at The Book Nympho
Chat/Discussion on Bad Blood 

 Aug 2: 
Hosted at Readers Confession
Chat/Discussion on Out for Blood 

 Sept 6: 
Hosted at Little Read Riding Hood

Chat/Discussion on Last Blood  

On the FIRST Friday of every month starting in May, our discussions will go live for you all to voice your opinion on the books.

If you’re interested in joining us in our House of Comarre series read-a-long, grab a copy of Blood Rights and meet us at Readers Confession for the 1st discussion on May 3rd.

The series is also available on audio so listeners are welcome too.

Please follow my co-hosts:

Cover Releaved x3

Tempest Reborn
by Nicole Peeler
Jane True #6

Expected publication: May 28th 2013 by Orbit 

Anyan may be trapped in an evil dragon and Blondie may be gone, but Jane knows one thing: she's not about to give up. She's ready to tear down heaven and earth to save her lover, despite those who believe he's lost.

Luckily for Jane, those who've given up on Anyan do not include those closest to her. Defying The Powers That Be, Jane and Company form their own crack squad of misfits, in whose hands the fate of the world may well rest.

With a little help from her friends, the Universe, and lots of snacks, Jane embarks on her greatest adventure yet, confident that with great sacrifice comes great reward. The question is, who will be that sacrifice?

Last Blood

by Kristen Painter

House of Comarre #5

Expected publication: 2013 by Orbit 

The fifth and final book of the House of Comarre series.

No blurb or release date yet.

The Jane True series covers are always fun. 

And the House of Comarre covers are just beautiful.

What do you guys think about the covers?

I've read the 1st book in both series and plan to get update very soon on both.

Have you read these series yet?

Dead Ever After

by Charlaine Harris

Sookie #13 (final book)

Expected publication: May 7th 2013 by Ace

Sookie finally comes to an end.
IMO a few books to late.
The last release Deadlocked was a DNF for me after only 3 chapters.

Looks like every love interest for Sookie over the series is on the cover....
Bats for Bill and Eric
Wolf for Alcide
Dog for Sam
Tiger tail for Qhuinn (eew! Not my favorite)

I've loved this series until the last two or three books.
I doubt I'll read the last one.
I'll just ask my friend to give me a run down on how it ends.

Do you think Sookie will get a HEA with one of the guys?
Who do you think it will be?
Who do you want it to be?

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.