Blood Born

by Linda Howard and Linda Jones

From Goodreads:

When the human and the vampire worlds collide

Luca Ambrus is a rare breed: He is a vampire from birth, begotten by vampire parents: blood born. He is also an agent of the Council—the centuries-old cabal that governs vampirekind, preserving their secrecy and destroying those who betray them.

When a cryptic summons leads him to the scene of the brutal killing of a powerful Council member, Luca begins the hunt for an assassin among his own people. But instead of a lone killer he discovers a sinister conspiracy of rogue vampires bent on subjugating the mortal world.

All that stands in their way are the conduits, humans able to channel spirit warriors into the physical world to protect mankind. Chloe Fallon is a conduit—and a target of the vampire assassin who’s killing them. When Luca saves her life, an irresistible bond of trust—along with more passionate feelings—is forged between them. As more victims fall, Chloe and Luca have only each other to depend on to save the world from the reign of monsters—and salvage their own future together.


The story was good overall and I probably will continue with the series just to find out what happens to the characters. The story was a bit slow in the beginning, but by the halfway mark, the action really picks up and I was hooked. The romance between Luca and Chloe was a bit rushed, but given the circumstances of the story, I believed it.

Even though I did end up liking the book, I had a few issues. Let me start by saying that I am a huge Linda Howard fan, so when I saw that she had followed into the vampire realm, I was excited. Now that I have read the book, I have to wonder how much of the book she actually wrote. (I have never read anything by the co-author Linda Jones, so I can’t compare) I have read most of Ms. Howard’s books and she doesn’t make writing mistakes like the ones in this book. This book really needed to be edited better. The first half of the book was so repetitive. How many times did I have to be reminded that Luca was a vampire and no one ever remembered him? Or that Chloe was a human? I think after the first 2 times, I got the point. Also, there was too much inner reflection and dialogue. I know it was an attempt to give the reader background information, but it made the flow of the story very choppy at times. So, if you can get past those issues, I think the series has promise. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.