Midnight Conquest (Bonded by Blood Vampires Chronicles 1) by Arial Burnz

Hello to all!!

I thought  to take a break today since it’s an holiday here but I couldn’t do that to you….why? Because if you read this today you can enjoy some free books!! Yes you read right Arial Burnz is offering during this week book 3 in this series for free ( until 18th august only) so I wanted to share this with you to give you the time to grab it.

Since it’s not enough.. She is also offering book 1, making it free on all eretailers ( oki that will perhaps take a few days so I will give you direct links after the review) Kind isn’t it?

It’s an excellent opportunity for you to discover this series so jump on this opportunity while you can. If you prefer print edition ( I know I do and the print cover for this one is simply gorgeous) you can get them on amazon or bookdepository but if you are international and have paypal you can order them to Arial directly which is a lot cheaper!

But now that you have learned what you can get it’s time to tell you more about the story!

Happy Reading!

Publisher: Mystical Press

Publication: 2011

ISBN:  0373277210

Genre: historical paranormal romance
Violence: strong
Language: normal
sex: strong
Public: 18+

Source: ebook received in exchange for an honest review

Short description from goodreads :

 Masked in a Gypsy guise, Broderick MacDougal hides his vampiric identity while seeking to destroy the man who slaughtered his family. When an old Clan rival ensnares Broderick in a trap using an enticing widow, he is compelled to discover if she is bait or an accomplice, and the cinnamon-haired beauty is his next conquest.

Widow of an abusive husband, Davina Stewart-Russell clings to the only image that gave her strength during those dark times--the Gypsy rogue who stole her heart as a youth. After nine years, she is finally face-to-face with him again, but reality clashes with fantasy as she is confronted with Broderick's passionate pursuit.

When Davina's past returns to haunt her, Broderick is forced to reveal a dark secret worse than anything Davina thought possible. The challenge before them has fatal risks and neither of them is prepared for the sacrifices expected for the sake of eternal love.


Reader Advisory: This story contains explicit love scenes, described using graphic and direct language. This story also contains explicit, nail-biting scenes of violence and domestic abuse. (Don't worry...the bad guys get it in the end!

My opinion:

          When Brenda says I will like a book she is right (so far at least^^), so when the author kindly gave me a copy for review I was so, so happy!! Perhaps I missed vampires’ stories or perhaps it’s because it’s a historical one and I haven’t read a lot of them but I loved it! Broderick is such a cute and lovable hero… now I will perhaps start at the beginning.

Arial’s writing style is really easy to delve into and while the story is a historical paranormal romance, you could easy forget the historical part since it’s just part on the setting and not really centre in the story here. Now I do love history so I wouldn’t have minded but here is was even more easily forgotten because you focus on the characters and the story which could have happened anywhere, anytime.  The rhythm is just what he should be not too fast, not too slow and action and romance are well mixed ( some really steamy scenes too!!)

This is the first book of a series (which will count 6books) but there isn’t a cliffhanger at all, you are left wanting more but have closure for this part of the story so you can be happy. Oh I want to read more and I’m glad to have book 2 and 3 but even if I have to wait I have a feeling of satisfaction which is a great thing once you turn the last page of a story.

You have 2 villains in this one… one immortal and one mortal… the immortal one, Angus, is important for the rest of the story and here we learn part of his motivations. Now he does act cruelly, he has a tortured and twisted mind but t the same time, in this first volume, I couldn’t really hate him. I don’t approve what he has done, far from it, I don’t like him for sure but I expected more from him I guess^^ (yes I have sadistic mind more important than the author sometimes;)) …he could have done a lot worse but didn’t so when you takes that into account and you compare with the human Villain Ian…you don’t take long to choose who to hate.

Ian, is human and married to Davina but he is all what a man shouldn’t be.. he is cruel  , he tortures small animals ( I hate that!!) but also his wife and he doesn’t hesitate to beat her even when she is pregnant… worse even baby are not safe from him….he is the monster without a doubt…

Also he is greedy and his motivations are simply that power and money….while I could partly understand Angus motivations those from Ian are simply inexcusable…. I’m not even sure Angus would tolerate him and that saying a lot (but don’t worry like précised in the summary this book does have a Happy end and that include revenge on Ian)

I was really interested in the story and it’s only because I had to go to sleep that I stopped reading…the gypsies are interesting characters too, and welcoming and open minded.  I hope we will see more of them. .. oki Veronique is the exception but she paid the price so she doesn’t count. Now curiously…one I didn’t appreciate immediately was Davina’s Father…he sounded wrong to me especially since at that time he could have cancelled the marriage after the first hit no question asked. She wouldn’t have lost her dowry (yes that’s something we often forget, at middle age, women had more rights and more protection than later (sometimes we regress… Napoleon fault) he tolerated it just for his advantage and then we learn he was probably even worse. Kerh is loyal brother and he tried to do his best to protect her sister like he did as a child… he would have made a great lord.

We also get some information about the vampire system in this universe.. the vampires called Vamsyrian must obey some rules… it’s forbidden to change someone in vampires…each one must make the willing choice, after having heard from both side, to become a vamsyrian  or a member of the light, of the army of God,  their opposite. One group is immortal, fears the sun and is “ dead” during the day, the other is mortal but has some powers and protection. We don’t really learn a lot about them yet but in  next books probably, only that there are some prophecies for both groups.

If you love vampires romance, it’s really an excellent book and the author is really kind which is only a great bonus….also since it’s free you don’t have anything to lose so to try. To recommend

Score:  4/5

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and no compensation was received in exchange for this review

Challenge:

Now the even more interesting part: Free book(s); book 1 could take up to 2weeks before being free everywhere so until then you can get book 1 and 3 free in the digital  format of your liking.

• on the author's Website
•  on All Romance
• on Smashwords

Hurry and get them! You will be surprised.

Until next time!