Book Review: Blood’s Voice by Áine P. Massie

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Blood’s Voice
Author: Áine P. Massie
Series: House Millar #1
Heroes: Anya/Nicholas/Declán
Genre: New Adult F/M/M Paranormal
Length: 287 pages
Publisher: Crushing Hearts & Black Butterfly Publishing
Release Date: March 15, 2014
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Anya Millar had no memory of her life or an instruction manual on how to navigate the insane world of humans, biting, and reality. Instead, Anya has had to learn to navigate the world of love, life, and sanity while avoiding those that would see her dead or enslaved.

This is the ongoing journey of Anya and Nicholas, human loving vampires and the human they love, Declán. What makes it all more complicated is that they are abominations in their own world and Declán is a natural born vampire hunter called a Guardian.

Anya must come to terms with who she is and her missing past, Nicholas must win back the object of his eternal love while dealing with new cravings in his silent heart, and Declán must learn to destroy the very creatures that he has unequivocally given his heart and blood.

Review: 

This was a refreshingly different take on vampires that is quite interesting.  In this story, there are basically two kinds of vampires – those who feed on humans, and those who don’t.  Anya is one of the latter.  She is a teenage girl, though centuries old in vamp years, who is trying to live among the humans by attending high school.  Anya has a very mysterious past, of which she has no memory, other than she knows she is a vampire that does not want to harm humans.  She lives with another non-vampire immortal, Star, who has been helping her adjust to life among the humans.

Early on, she meets Nicholas, a vampire who claims to have known her very well before she disappeared 30 years ago.  Nicholas and Anya rain some of their closeness, and he fills in some of the gaps, although he has no idea what has happened to her.  They share a rare blood bond relationship and are quite close.

Anya has three human friends at school – Skye, Kayla, and Kayla’s twin brother, Declán.  Kayla and Skye are actually in a relationship, but Declan helps them to cover it up for a while, or at least until he starts having feelings for Anya.  Declán and Anya share a bond, of which Nicholas is made part of due to his connection with Anya, thereby creating the triangle.  All three are aware and ok with the relationships.  Unfortunately, Declán turns out to be a Guardian, or vampire hunter.

There are a lot of details surrounding all of these events, and many involving Anya’s past and what was done to had her, and why those who had her still search for her.  She is very powerful, though she has no clue how, why or what to do with it.  Nicholas, his “parents” and her other friends try to help her gain control and keep everyone safe.

I really enjoyed the different paranormal aspects brought into play here.  The writing style takes a bit of getting used to, and I found it difficult to picture the characters speaking as they did when they were supposed to be so much older.  I haven’t read very many young adult stories, but this one was quite enjoyable in that respect.  Some parts seemed to drag on a bit and most of what happens is told through dialog.  I think if you enjoy reading young adult paranormal, this would be a good one to give a try.

Overall Impression: I liked it

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.*