K.A. Linde

A startling new vision of paranormal romance: When a human ventures into the world of vampires—a decadent milieu of blood-bonds and betrayal—she discovers that not all is what it seems. For Reyna Carpenter, giving up her body isn’t a choice. It’s survival. In a civilization laid waste by poverty and desperation, Reyna accepts a high-paying position with the wealthy and hungry vampire elite. Her new job is as the live-in blood escort for the intimidating, demanding, and devilishly handsome Beckham Anderson. He’s everything she expected from a vampire, except for one thing—he won’t feed off her. Reyna soon discovers that behind Beckham’s brooding, wicked façade lies a unique and complex man. And that, in a dark and divided world, she is more valuable than she ever would have believed. For with each passing night, Reyna can’t shake the sensation that it’s Beckham who’s afraid of her. Note: Reyna and Beckham’s story continues in Blood Match. This ebook includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Blood Type

Lover of Romance 

*Review May Contain Spoilers*

Blood Type is the first book in the Blood Type trilogy. This trilogy is featured around one couple…Beckham and Reyna. This is a trilogy I have had my eye on for quite some time, and unfortunately I have had to wait this long to read it, mostly because I wanted to wait until I had ALL three books because the first two books end in cliffhangers so its good to note that if you don’t have all three books and prefer to wait for all three.

Our story first starts with Blood Type this is a story that begins with our heroine. The vampires have become known to the human world, and there was a period of economic fallout and now vampires control everything and the majority of human kind live in poverty. Reyna, our heroine, has only her two brothers left, and they are everything to her. They are both working double shifts at a factory to make ends meet and they don’t exactly live in a good part of town. Reyna has tried to find a good job somewhere, but there are none available. But there is one option, an option her brothers will be so furious at her for doing….become a blood donor for vampires. When she enters the facility and begins her testing, she is offered a rollout that is very new, where it would offer better benefits, double the pay but it would be a more permanent situation. So she agrees, to it and meets the vampire she will be providing for…Beckham. At first, he is closed off and a bit rude. But he doesn’t feed off her like she expects him to, he gives her a nice place to live with him, a new wardrobe and an unlimited credit card and a cell phone. She starts to realize that he is one of the good ones out there.

 “Everyone is corrupt. Everyone is broken.”
 “I’m not,” she whispered.
 “Oh Little One, this world will kill the goodness left within your beating heart.”
 “But it will not break me.”
 “No,” he agreed. He leaned his head into her hair and drew a deep breath. “I will do that.”

Reyna is able to visit with her brothers and let them know what is going on and even though they are furious, they are also understanding and why she felt she had no choice. But when she goes to a corporate meeting with Beckham and meet his boss and other associates, she starts to realize how kind Beckham really is because she sees how the other vamps treat their “humans” and it’s no more than slavery. But Beckham leaves her freedom for the most part and has yet to feed off of her but there are some characteristics about Beckham that don’t add up and she wants to know more about him. She feels a strong intensity to Beckham and doesn’t know what she is truly feeling.

Her feeling are tested for him when he takes her out in the city, to let her get some shots with her new camera (that he bought for her) and she begins to realize the real truth behind the man that hides beneath a mask of deception. She learns that while he may be working at the top in Visage, he is also working to bring it down and bring more equality and safety to humans too. But she also realizes how powerful their connection is when the moment arrives and they kiss and touch and sizzle each other but she learns that he has a girlfriend and refuses to be played. But through a set of circumstances, she learns who this “girlfriend” really is and that not everything is as it seems. She also learns why her blood type is so unique and causes a dangerous reaction with Beckham, a reaction that will plunge her into darkness, betrayed and tossed in the hands of a vampire more dangerous than she ever comprehended…

Blood Type is one of those stories that I was sucked right into and boy this world….I became so addicted. I really love the set up of the story though, so I was intrigued to see where K.A. Linde would take this world that she created and boy she threw me into a world I NEVER saw coming or expected and I love a book that can surprise me and Linde really threw me a new one with Blood Type and now I can hardly wait to grab up books 2 and 3. I am very curious about more about her Blood Type and why it causes such a reaction and I am curious about the “Rebellion” of Elle. I have a feeling this is just the beginning, just the appetizer of what is going to become more intense and I am ALL in.

 She wanted more. She craved him like an addict craved the next hit. She didn’t know what he did to her, but when they got like this, she didn’t care. It didn’t matter how infuriating he was, she was caught up in the whirlwind of their desires.

The romance that develops between Beckham and Reyna is pretty intense. At first, they have this enemies to lovers trope, where they are obviously enemies. Because vampires are not looking highly upon by human, which makes sense and considering they are living in luxury while humans are barely surviving and many are destitute. But Reyna is not like other humans, she doesn’t judge vampires based on some bad apples, she sees the good in Beckham and even though he has a dark past, she doesn’t judge him for his past actions, only on the person he has become.

 “She could tell he was fighting with his inner demons, and she felt horrible but she hoped they won out. She wanted him so desperately.”

We do have some scary main villains and boy they crack a punch in this book. They are the type of villains that will give you the shivers and might give you a nightmare or two. ( I know because I got one last night) The way that K.A. Linde wrote this book was so intense and full of intrigue and suspense that you never knew what she would be throwing at you next.

The ending was pretty fantastic, and yes I know it ends up in a cliffhanger, but even though I was still expecting it, it still threw me a curveball and yeah I wanted to just SCREAM because it was so dang good and leaves you hanging.

Candyce Kirk

I wasn't really sure what to think of this author writing a paranormal romance, but she left me wanting more. It's been awhile since I've read a book with a vampire and I was impressed. Beckham is definitely a vampire I would want to meet. The world in this book isn't the greatest, the fact that you have to become a blood escort to really even make a living is really sad. There is so much poverty. It's really sad. This book wasn't just about romance, but with a lot of politics as well. Besides the relationship growing between Beckham and Reyna, there is a lot going on. They want to make a blood consensus. That seems like a big impact on privacy. While it seeems like Beckham is all for everything, there is a lot more going on. I definitely wouldn't want to visit The Vault. The only reason Reyna is doing this is to help her brothers. I wish we would've seen more of them. Who knows? Maybe we will in the next book. Most of the book is building to something, but the last part is non stop action. This book had me on the edge of my seat wanting more! I knew it would end with a cliffhanger, but that was not what I was expecting. If you like romance, with some politics and soms twists, this is definitely a book for you!

My full review will be on my stop of the blog tour tomorrow. You can find it on thebookdutchesses.com

Totally Addicted to Reading

Blood Type by K. A Linde is the first book in the Blood Type series. I thought it was a great start to the series and I am looking forward to delve further into the world the author created. I found the author’s perspective of the vampire world unique and addictive.

In this world vampires rule and are affluent while humans live in constant state of poverty and fighting hard to survive. Corruption was rampant among the vampire hierarchy and they rule the human population with a heavy hand.

The story introduced Reyna Carpenter one of the many humans struggling to make ends meet. She dreams of going to college but does not have the means to do so. Unable to get a job, she depends on her brothers to support her. Her brothers are struggling as well and so she felt she had no choice but to sign to work for Visage to become a blood escort. Being a blood escort meant temporary placement with a vampire who will feed on her whenever he desired. However, on entering the program she was selected for a special project where she would be permanently paired with a vampire. She would be paired with the powerful and enigmatic Beckham Anderson.

Reyna found herself in a situation, which she did not understand and so she had a lot of questions. However, there were times I wished she would exercise wisdom and hold her tongue. I found her actions somewhat annoying and I lauded Beckham for his patience. Despite this I admired her strength and caring attitude.

There was more to Beckham than meets the eye. His character was shrouded in secrecy. I admired his self-control, which came under threat when Reyna entered his life. Figuring out his agenda proved a challenge, however as the story progressed his motives were revealed.

There was a lot happening in the story to keep me on my toes. There were quite a few twists, some of which I saw coming and some that bowled me over.

The romance between Beckham and Reyna took a while to build up. There was a lot of push and pull that I began wondering if they would get together.

This installment left me with several unanswered questions, which will more than likely be addressed in the sequels.

Conclusion/Recommendation
I enjoyed this installment and I am looking forward to picking up the next book. I would definitely recommend this to fans of paranormal romance.

Narration
Caitlin Elizabeth did an okay job with the narration. It was my first time listening to her. The voices were not distinguishable, except for the character with the French accent. I found her voice to be pleasant, which made it easy to listen to the book.

Jolie

When I saw that this book was up for review on NetGalley, I almost passed it by. But something about the blurb caught my attention and made me look twice. I thought it was going to be your typical Twilight knockoff. Not only am I glad that I requested (and got) the book, I am glad that my assumption was so wrong. This book is nothing like the Twilight knockoff. NOTHING like it. So don’t expect a book like that. Expect something that is much darker and grittier. These vampires don’t glitter.

Blood Type takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Vampires came out to the humans years before, sending the world into a tailspin. After the dust settled, the vampires had taken over the world. People were left fighting for food, shelter, and jobs. Reyna grew up during that time and is struggling to survive in the new world the vampires created. Her way out is to become a blood escort. Someone who lets the vampires feed off of her in exchange for money. But, she gets chosen to test out a new role. A role as a live-in escort. Her sponsor is the VP of the escort company, Beckham Anderson. As heat and lust sparks between Beckham and Reyna, she can’t feel that there is something off. Something that she doesn’t know about. Something that could make or break her world if she finds out.

Like I mentioned above, this book was gritty. It was not written to make you think that vampires where nice people who happened to want to drink your blood. Nope, these vampires were evil. Even if they had good intentions, like Beckham. I loved it!!! It was a refreshing read and different from other vampire books. I was not bored reading it.

I felt bad for Reyna. She tried everything in her power to get out of where she was staying. The escort service was her last resort. She didn’t want to be known as a blood whore. She was ashamed of it. I did get a laugh out of her wardrobe and her reaction to it. What was running through my head was Julia Roberts wardrobe before Richard Greer picked her up in Pretty Woman. Except Reyna had the opposite reaction.

I couldn’t get a feel on Beckham until almost the end of the book. Normally, that bothers me but in this case, it only added to how much I like the book. He is a vampire. I shouldn’t be able to read him like a book. I should have to work, like Reyna did, to see what he was like underneath. It wasn’t until the bombing that I even began to understand him. I loved it!!!

The sexual tension in Blood Type was through the roof. Reyna and Beckham do not actually have sex until towards the end of the book. I thought that the author did a great job keeping the sexual tension up until then. When they finally had sex, it was explosive. I swear my Kindle’s screen fogged up a few times.

The end of the book was insane. Not going to get into it, but I was not expecting what happened. There is a cliffhanger. I don’t like cliffhangers but this one made me eager to read book 2.

What I liked about Blood Type:

A) Vampires were what I thought they should be. Not glittery freaks.

B) Reyna and Beckham’s sexual tension

C) The plotline

What I dislike about Blood Type:

A) Reyna being forced into being a blood escort

B) The other live in blood escorts. They annoyed me

C) The judgey peeps that Reyna met

I would give Blood Type a rating of Adult. There is explicit sex, explicit violence, and language. This is a book that no one under the age of 21 should be reading.

I wouldn’t give this book any trigger warnings.

I would recommend Blood Type to family and friends. I would give a warning about the sex, violence, and language. This is a book that I would reread. This is also a series that I am going to enjoy reading.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group and Loveswept for allowing me to read and review Blood Type.

All opinions stated in this review of Blood Type are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Lacey

3-3.5 stars! Blood Type has some great potential to become a GREAT series. It started off strong, but it did feel a little predictable and overdone towards the last half. But I am intrigued to learn more about this new world and the characters KA Linde has created.

Review to come!

Thanks to the publisher for generously providing me an ARC to review.

Blood Type

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