Wednesday, July 18, 2012

BOOK GIVEAWAY & Toni's Review of Blood of Innocence by Tami Dane ***4 Stars***



Gifted profiler Sloan Skye joins the hunt for an elusive serial killer--and discovers a breed of criminal few know exists . . .


A cynic by nature, Sloan Skye wasn't thrilled when she was assigned to the FBI's Paranormal Behavioral Analysis Unit. But her doubts are slowly easing, especially when she sees that working on the fringe allows her to use some of her more unconventional tactics. Most of all, Sloan's grateful her career is on track--because her love life, if you can even call it that, is in shambles.

Sloan is searching for a suspect who slays his female victims at night, and bizarrely drains their bodies of blood. Bad enough, but when Sloan learns what the killer is really after, she can barely sleep at night. When the suspect guns for someone very close to Sloan, it's time to throw out the rules and face her deepest fears . . 

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Blood of Innocence is book #2 in the Sloan Skye series.  About week after her first grueling case as an intern, Sloan is thrust into another disturbing case.  Pregnant women are dying of blood loss and their babies are missing.

The Paranormal Behavioral Analysis Unit (PBAU) is brought in for another grisly case.  Women are showing up dead in their beds, drained of all their blood and their babies removed from their bodies.  All done without a drop of blood wasted.  There is no sign of forced entry and most of the time; the fathers are sound asleep right next to them. 

Sloan is also learning about the other side of her family tree.  Since discovering she is part elf and that she has been betrothed to the Prince of the Sluagh’s, she is on a mission to find him a different more suitable wife.  She has a year and she hits the ground running.

If she doesn’t have enough trouble with her so called fiancĂ©, she is also attracting two co-workers and another prince.  What is a girl to do?  Why help her mother plan a wedding to her father, of course.  Sloan’s life just keeps getting crazier and crazier and the only thing she really wants to do is focus on stopping this perp before another mother and baby is lost. 

This story was a slow burn.  Was there heart pounding action?  No.  Was there hot steamy sex?  No.  Or what about the usual paranormal suspects?  Nope not really.  What you do get is a steady story that I personally couldn’t put down.  Blood of Innocence really held on and I found I had to force myself to put it down at 4am.  I just couldn’t find a good stopping point and eventually had to say – ENOUGH!

Another aspect I enjoyed was that this story didn’t give you ordinary vampires.  The usual vampire; has fangs, can’t go out in daylight and is evil.  Ms. Dane’s plot dove deeper.  She is taking the paranormal into folklore.  You are meeting creatures that can be labeled as vampires, but are different creatures all together.  There are no standard paranormals making visits in her novels, no indeedy.  Ms. Dane is making Urban Fantasy all her own and she is owning it.

Ms. Dane also keeps you on the edge of knowing Sloan.  You can feel that Sloan is on the cusps of something remarkable and there are many signs that pop up.  But Sloan still has no idea who or what she really is and neither do you.  I kept expecting and wanting Ms. Dane to slip and tell me.  Well she doesn’t, but I’m not too terribly disappointed, I think a little mystery makes all the more fun.

If you want a unique Urban Fantasy novel that still gives you a touch of paranormal, but with a folklore twist, pick up Blood of Innocence.  It is a really nice change of pace from the norm.  I personally can’t wait to see what she has next in store for Sloan Skye!


Want to know what I thought of the first book - Blood of Eden.  Check it out here!



Book Giveaway
Kensington Publishing is kindly giving away one (1) copy of:


Open to US and Canada Only.
Thank you to our sponsor - Kensington!  Be sure to friend them on Facebook and check out their website.  

You can also visit their Facebook app to find some great contests and excerpts, along with polls and quizzes about their books. The direct link to the apps are here:
http://bit.ly/xGzDj5 (Kensington)
http://bit.ly/xdiiXK (KTeen)


I also have a little extra for you!!  The winner will also get the extra copy of Blood of Innocence that was sent to me by accident.  
Yes, that means the winner will have the complete series to date!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

25 comments:

  1. I love reading about vamps especially when it is changed a little....they can be outside, they can't, etc
    Yvette
    yratpatrol@aol.com

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  3. I am always looking for a new idea about vampires. They are one of my favorites and finding a new twist is great.
    Thanks for a great giveaway and a new author to follow.

    laura thomas

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  4. Absolutely! Vampires have always been my favorite so it's a refreshing change when there is a new spin put on the myths.

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  5. Sorry, I hit the Leave a Blog Post Comment button on the Rafflecopter too quickly before I could fully make out the question. So I Tweeted: https://twitter.com/StatesOfDecay/status/225570719709413378 (and didn't click on the Tweet about the Giveaway button)

    Thank you for the giveaway!

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    1. That works!! Thanks for stopping by and entering.

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  6. A definite yes to having a new take on vampires. The heroine with the ultra-high IQ sounds interesting too. Thanks for the chance to win both books.

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  7. Yes. I love all of the different takes on Vampires.

    Ashley

    smartmouthtexan(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  8. yes I love reading anything to do with vampires.

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  9. yes. I love for them to come up with something new and original. They can tire out old vampire stories pretty quickly. super excited. and thank you for the giveaway.

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  10. i love reading something different about vampires.. think it makes it more interesting.. in fact, those are the ones i prefer to read..
    the giveaway looks awesome! thanks for the chance to win!

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  11. I'm fairly new to the vamp genre, so I'm pretty open to all variations.

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  12. I'm always excited to find a vampire book that is different from others. It gets kind of tiring if they all have the same characteristics.

    Thanks for the giveaway!!!!

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  13. I love reading all kinds of vampire stuff, love the variations :) jaimecr76@gmail.com

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  14. Yes I love reading variations about vampires =)

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  15. I love getting to add new authors to my growung list. I also love reading different versions of vampires.

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  16. I think a new twist on the vampire mythology is just what will breath fresh life no pun intended lol to the genre

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  17. thanks for a great post and giveaway! I'm so excited cuz I just got book 1!

    I love anything new on/about old tropes. As long as it's well written, I say bring it on :)

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  18. I like reading about different variations of vampires, sometimes it gets confusing reading different authors and different takes on vampires.

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  19. i love all the different versions of the vampire mythology.... it's interesting to see what new rules (or old ones) the characters will have to adhere to when i read a new series.... i especially like it when the vampires laugh at the stereotypes :)

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  20. There is so much that can be done with vampire mythology, and I LOVE seeing the many different takes on vampire lore that authors create.

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  21. I actually look for authors different and new takes on existing mythology. If it is all the same then it all bleeds together. Make it memorable for me ;)

    Kassandra
    sionedkla@gmail.com

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  22. I've read loads of different vamp stories where their born, made, immortal,etc. Love them all aslong as their well written

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  23. Love this so much! Can't wait!!

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  24. Yes, variety is the spice of life, is it not?

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