The Bloodline War
By Tracy Tappan

This series kept coming up on my Facebook feed. It irks me to no end that Facebook puts “suggested pages” into my feed. I follow several authors but that doesn’t mean I want advertisements on my feed…but anyway, I finally looked at the series. There were all kinds of hype comparing it to BDB by J. R. Ward and other famous paranormal authors. I read some of the reviews and purchased the book.

Toni Parthen is abducted by a species that must consume human blood to survive. She carries a gene that only a rare few have which can save the species from extinction because they can only breed with someone who carries her rare gene. After her initial fright, she finds that they aren’t really bad people but abducting people hasn’t endeared them to her.

Later she finds out that there is another species, more akin to demons, who also need humans with her rare gene to breed but these demons, if they ever got ahold of her, would imprison her and use her as a breeding machine. They have no ethics or morals and they are the enemy of the species that now holds her.

Jacken Brun is a warrior who is in charge of abducing Toni and making sure she is safe. Jacken is part demon so he cannot ever breed with anyone but Toni is a special kind of human. Not only can she breed with the vampires but she can breed with Jacken too.

The breeding part really was a little too much for me but I went with it just to read the book. The story of the war between the two species was interesting and I liked the developing plot enough to finish the book and start the second book.

It was the second book in the series that made me stop reading the series. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. The warriors are all macho men and the women are all sweet and nice…and that is the problem. I hate sweet and innocent characters. I like flawed and realistic characters. Also, all of the men are virgins because they can’t have sex unless they mate or something like that. The bad guys can rape and do all kinds of bad things because of their genetic make-up but it was hard to understand. Something about everything seemed too contrived to me from the sexual tension to the personalities of the characters. It might not bother other people but it does me so I couldn’t continue reading it.

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I really enjoyed this book. I'm looking forward to the next in the series. If you like the Black Dagger Brotherhood, you should give this a try! I am hoping to get sucked in the same way and the characters are pulling me in. What a great surprise. ( )

The Bloodline War is the first in The Community Series by author Tracy Tappan. It takes the lore of vampires and turns it on edge, creating a whole new and fascinating mythology. The races of vampire are different from what we traditionally see in vamp fiction, as is the fey that also play a role in the mythology of this world.

There is some delicious, and steamy, romance in this book but what I loved was that it was much more than traditional "boy meets girl, boy gets girl, the story is over" formula. The story keeps going, so much more than simple romantic fiction. The men are alpha males, yes, but they are alpha males with heart and soul and more than their fair share of baggage. The women are valued and necessary parts of the community, but often taken for granted and their personal needs dismissed as comparatively unimportant. The women are intelligent, strong, and capable and use their minds to get what they need from the men in their lives.

What was surprising was the amount of humor that there was. I didn't expect that, but there was a lot of it and I enjoyed its irreverent flavor. The blend of humor, plot, rich mythology, suspense, and action was absolutely intriguing. The entire cast of characters was fantastic as well, dynamic and interesting and entirely relatable as three-dimensional people.

Things to love...

--The irreverent humor!
--The cast of characters, especially the bad boys with gooey insides.
--The badassery of the alpha males.

My Recommendation

I really enjoyed this book! I usually don't really like the bodice-ripper reads of any time period and intense alpha males don't usually do it for me. But these guys were awesome. They were funny, they were real, and they were piles of mush on the inside! Great read! ( )

Tracy Tappan was a new author to me – probably because this is her first published work (her website lists a total of 7 books, six of those marked as “coming soon”). After this many years you would think that the whole vampire thing would be stagnant – however, Tracy Tappan has found a way to repackage the mythology and added in additional paranormal creatures to keep it fresh and engaging. The book starts out strong and just keeps going with the action and suspense! Throw in the need to fan yourself from the smexy scenes, the need to keep it down when you have to laugh out loud and the “awwwww” factor of the sweet & lovey scenes… and this will move quickly to the top of your Favorites list! With special pricing during this tour of just 99 cents, my advice? DON'T DELAY, BUY TODAY! ( )