Blood MemoriesThe Vampire Memories, Book 1
Barb Hendee
ROC
October 7, 2008
ISBN# 978-0-451-46229-9
Book Blurb:
Eleisha Clevon has the face of a teen angel, but she is no angel. Unlike most vampires, she doesn’t like to kill, but self-preservation comes first.
When an old friend destroys himself by walking into sunlight right in front of her, Eleisha is shocked. And what she finds afterwards points to how very sick of his existence her friend had become—piling drained corpses in the basement and keeping records of other vampires’ real names and addresses. That’s a problem.
Because now, there are policemen on the case: two very special humans with some gifts of their own. They know who Eleisha is, and, even more dangerous, what she is.
My thoughts:
Julian turned Eleisha for a reason, to care for his aging father, William, whose rapid decline was cause for embarrassment in their world among the wealthy. Sent on a ship to America, they’re met by another vampire and spend decades sharing a home with him. When he seeks to end his existence Eleisha does her best to discourage him, but his death is witnessed by Wade and Dominick, two gifted police officers who’ve responded to a disturbance call.
On the run from the police, Eleisha takes William to Maggie’s, the only other vampire she knows to contact. Just as the three settle in to a fairly comfortable existence together, the officers track them down. While Wade seeks to learn more about Eleisha and the unexpected link they’ve shared, Dominick’s goal is to destroy the vampires. The quiet, uncomplicated life Eleisha longs for may never be hers again.
Blood Memories is the first in The Vampire Memories series and is an updated reprint. Ms. Hendee pens a vampire tale that moves steadily forward, sharing glimpses of the past through shared psychic connections. Blood Memories is an earlier work that isn’t quite the strong and developed story that readers may associate with the author. There’s a cliffhanger ending, as you’d expect in a series installment, but the events leading up to it seemed very mild considering the impact those actions have on the overall story. While I may not read this a second time, there are intriguing points throughout the book that kept me engaged. I expect that the second book will have more of the strength and skill behind it that her current work does.
To learn more about Blood Memories, and to read an excerpt, please visit Ms. Hendee: Here
Kimberly Swan, Dark Reviews
