Bittersweet Blood by Nina Croft

One of the many things I love about receiving advanced reader's copy's from publishers is the opportunity to be introduced to new authors.  My reading addiction started many years ago with a little book called Twilight.  You may have heard of it?  No?  Anyway...after reading it, I was hooked on reading, but I wanted something more "adult".  So I hunted down every paranormal romance author I could find.  After  few years, I think I had read literally every known book and series about vampires, witches, fey and every otherworldly creature known to man.  There was a point where I would browse the Barnes and Nobles website, and look at the Nook Book section for Paranormal Romance, and I literally owned all of them.  That was around the time I branched out, and began reading contemporary romance which is my new addiction.  Paranormal is still my first love.  It was why I began reading in the first place, and I am always excited to find new authors in the genre.

When I received Bittersweet Blood - the first book in Nina Croft's new series "The Order", I was super excited.  I haven't started a new paranormal series in a while.  Beginning a series in this genre is like entering a new world.  There must be about a million vampire series out there by now, but none of them are identical, which is why readers keep coming back.  Each author has their own spin, or signature, and seeing the world they've created is always magical.  I always have a serious case of envy for authors who write paranormal because I think it takes a certain type of talent to write fiction in which you create a world outside of our normal existence.  The author is literally creating life on the page.  It isn't just creating a hero and heroine with secondary characters, but also creating an entire world for them to live in.  It's very inspiring.

Nina creates a world which feels familiar to me, but in a way in which I feel like I'm coming home.  She creates characters you can relate to, even though they live in a very complex and different world.  She also adds mystery to the story that is subtle and revealed at just the right times to give the reader the perfect amount of suspense.  At first, I thought this was solely a vampire book, but I quickly realized that Nina had created an entire world filled with demons, fey, werewolves and just about anything else you could think of.

Bittersweet Blood revolves around Tara who has been a recluse her entire life.  Living with her very strict aunt until 22, she was always kept indoors and forbidden from leaving the safety of home.  After her aunts passing, she is now free to leave her home...and wants to go out and create a "normal" life for herself.  Unfortunately for her, normal is about the last thing she finds.  Instead, she finds herself hiring Christian, a private investigator/vampire to look into her past and locate the identity of her parents.  In doing so, they discover Tara is anything by normal and is in serious danger if found.  Now it's Christian's job to protect her.

"All my childhood, I watched from the sidelines, never belonging, never joining in, and I thought that was going to change.  All I ever wanted was to be normal."

Tara discovers there were very specific reasons she was locked away from the world and as she and Christian dive further into her past, she realizes she's the furthest from normal as you can get, and she's not sure a life in hiding is for her.

""I don't want you to have to take care of me.  I'm never going to be normal - I've accepted that, but it doesn't mean I've resigned myself to hiding for the rest of my life.""

I really enjoyed the characters in the book - Christian especially.  One of the reasons I enjoy paranormal novels, vampires especially, is the history.  There are very few instances where an author can create a character, besides a vampire, that can live that long.  Christian is over 500 years old, and has lived and breathed history, but also carries centuries of pain and loss.  With Tara, you see him heal, and become whole, for probably the first time in his entire existence 

"I don't know, but don't be afraid to look inside yourself.  I've come to believe there is no such thing as pure evil or pure good, and maybe no such thing as a normal life.

Christian is also some kind of hot.  He's got the whole romance book package down - tortured soul, fierce protective instinct, total badass, sex on a stick.  And I don't know what it is, but when the hero in a book says the word "Mine", it's just jaw dropping.  She drops a couple of those in there.  Good job Nina Croft.  

""You can't get out," Christian said softly. Don't bother trying."
She glared at him through narrowed eyes.  "Neither can you."
"Ah, but I don't want to.  I have everything I want right in here."  He sauntered toward her, circling, sniffing the air.  Halting less than a foot from where she stood, he started to unbutton his shirt.  He gave up halfway down, ripped it open and dragged it off his shoulders, throwing it on the floor.  "Sex and food.""

 Bittersweet Blood is a fun read, and it's a great start to an exciting series.  I'm looking forward to reading more books in the series and diving deeper into the world Nina has created!

Purchase Bittersweet Blood (The Order) - Kindle Edition
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