Early Review: Bound by Night by Larissa Ione

Bound by Night
(MoonBound Clan Vampires #1)
Larissa Ione
Release: September 24, 2013
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A WOMAN OUT FOR BLOOD
Nicole Martin was only eight years old when the vampire slaves rose up in rebellion and killed her family. Now she devotes her life to finding a vaccine against vampirism, hoping to wipe out her memories—along with every bloodsucker on the planet. But there’s one thing she cannot destroy: her searing, undeniable attraction for the one man she should hate and fear the most . . .

A VAMPIRE OUT FOR REVENGE
A member of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan, Riker is haunted by demons of his own. When he recognizes Nicole and remembers how her family enslaved his loved ones, his heart burns for vengeance. But when he kidnaps Nicole and holds her in a secret lair, his mortal enemy becomes his soul obsession, his greatest temptation, and, perhaps, his only salvation—a hot-blooded lover who could heal him with her touch . . . or bury him forever.

Review:

Bound by Night is the first in a new Larissa Ione paranormal romance series. So far, we've read Ione's demons and riders of the apocalypse, but I personally was ecstatic to read her take on vampires. We all know what Ione is famous for - characters that can banter with sarcastic quips for days and seriously (seriously) steamy PNR. This new series is no exception.

The vampire mythology in Bound by Night is really new and different from that of similar series in that it takes what we typically read as the lore of werewolves and turns it into that of vampires. Original vamps are mostly Native American as that is where the origin of the species came from, the vamps live in clans together and often don't get along with other clans, and some vampires have been 'domesticated' to be like slaves or are being experimented on in labs. All of these are things I've read in various shifter books, but are new when applied to vampires. We still get our dark and sexy vamps, but there is a lot more negative history fueling the vampire clans in this series.

The hero, Riker, has a tortured past and has been planning for years to seek revenge on the family that ruined his life and caused the death of his first mate. That family happens to be Nicole's, our heroine. The love/hate relationship between the two is based on their clan-family history, the general negative feelings between humans and vampires, and a lot of misunderstandings about what each of them perceive happened during a specific event in their past.

I do think misunderstandings surrounding this particular 'event' were a little bit too much of an obvious plot device for me, as it seemed to be the only thing really keeping them apart and then all of the sudden they were in love. But, Riker and Nicole were actually great PNR characters - especially Riker. He had such a rich and painful background that I felt really connected with him. Nicole was a bit wide-eyed about her family's company when some of the clues as to what her company was doing should have been rather obvious, but as I crossed the halfway point of the story, Nicole became more likable and believable.

The best part of this book, besides the delicious steam Riker and Nicole made rise up off my Kindle, was the fantastic world the author created. The world of the MoonBound Clan of vampires has an equal balance of enough stereotypical vampire tropes to feel familiar (drinking blood is sensual, men are often higher up than women, they go out at night) and new mythology to feel fresh and original (all of the Native American history, the varying beliefs among the clans, and the confusion among the vampires as to their specific origin).

I look forward to where this series will go next, especially with some of the curious plot threads that Ione left open at the end of Bound by Night.

Recommended for fans of: new vampire mythology, Ione's other paranormal romance series, caves, other PNR series with clans or groups.

This review is based on an advance copy of the book provided by the publisher. 

   1/2

  3.5 / 5 stars