Melanie's Book Reviews

Tainted Blood was just as good as book one – Hell’s Belle – and had excellent progression in both story and characters.
I love this genre and am rarely disappointed but this definitely has all of the elements that I like in an urban fantasy. Nina, the main character is easy to understand and connect with and I like that she is very capable at what she does. She is still having problems connecting with her witch half even if her Aunt Babe is tutoring her, she knows enough to get by but I’m wondering if the witch half is being cancelled out by the vampire half or is there more for Nina to learn about herself?
The storyline this time sees someone tampering with the vampire blood supply sending normally submissive vampires into ferals, attacking people and gorging on blood then coming to a most gruesome end and with more and more being infected…. How long until all vampires are tainted? That isn’t Nina’s only mission though and she finds herself cowtowing to the Mayor as he holds Frankies’ daywalker status over her head.
I really enjoyed the direction the story went and I liked the way the vamps were put in danger. The whole vampire population is threatened by it and even Nina and Frankie are susceptible so there is a huge burden on their shoulders which turns into a race against time. There is also the job for the mayor that Nina is forced to do and introduces us to her cousin and a former fling , I liked this part of the story but didn’t really feel that it was going anywhere until right at the end because there are a lot of threads that blend together to bring this story to a climax and another shock is in store for Nina – which I loved! The romance was minimal again and the connection she had with Max has sort of waned off but we get the feeling that more than one person is interested in Nina and I’m routing for one a lot! Usually, I like a lot of romance and sexytime in my books but I found I didn’t mind so much that is was minimal because the story more than kept my attention. The book as always is filled with action, misdirection, plots, naughty supernaturals, strange behaviour and some more secrets to be discovered by Nina which is perfectly paced so there’s never a dull moment and I can’t wait for more!