Review: Born in Blood by Alexandra Ivy

Born in Blood: Sergeant Duncan O’Conner and Callie Brown

(The Sentinels #1)

Summary:

Born In Blood

Sergeant Duncan O’Conner has seen it all before. A beautiful erotic dancer is found murdered in her home—no suspect, no motive. But there’s one clue: she’s missing her heart. It’s enough to make the hard-bitten Kansas City cop enlist the help of a necro—one of the dead-channeling freaks who live in the domed city of nearby Valhalla. It’s a long shot, but desperate crimes call for desperate measures.

Unlike the other “high-bloods” in Valhalla, Callie Brown considers her abilities a gift, not a curse. But when she reads the dancer’s final thoughts, she senses a powerful presence blocking her vision. This is no ordinary homicide. This is the work of a legendary necromancer who controls souls. A ravenous force that will put Callie’s skills to the test, O’Conner’s career at risk, and both their hearts on the line…literally.

Review:

Born in Blood is the first in a new series by Alexandra Ivy, in a world where “high bloods” people with special powers are out but separate. They prefer to stay in their own closed off city called Valhalla. Occasionally the regular humans need assistance of the high bloods such as Callie. Callie is a powerful Necro, she can get into the mind of the recently deceased and see their final moments. When she is called in to consult on this new case, she has never seen anything like it, a powerful necro still in the woman’s mind. This start a string of disturbing questions and danger for Duncan and Callie, especially Callie as she must reach her full potential to battle this more powerful necro.

From the start I was pulled into this new world, Alexandra Ivy was actually one of the first paranormal romance authors I read and I continue to enjoy her books and characters and this one is no exception. Now as I write this review, please bear with me as I read this book a while ago but have been sitting on this review until closer to the release date. I really enjoyed both Callie and Duncan. Callie and Duncan have actually been working with each other for quite some time on random cases so, their meeting on this case and subsequent attraction is not so abrupt; which works for me as I'm not a huge fan of Insta-Love. From the beginning the attraction is fierce; Duncan has been biding his time with the icy red-head just waiting for the right time to make a move. She’s been filling his dreams for a while and since they are working more closely, he realizes that there is no time like the present to go for it. Callie has been attracted to Duncan for quite some time but she figures the handsome cop would never look her way; after all she is a freak. So almost from the beginning we have some fiery passion going on, which I’m not going to complain about. In the romance department we get a bit of role reversal in this one. While Duncan an alpha male in this story its Callie who ends up being the one to fight the relationship and to be commitment phobic enjoyed reading the female as the commitment phob for a change. Hey women can be commitment phobs too! She is terrified to ever meet Duncan’s normal family and his teasing makes for some humorous moments. Duncan’s family may be normal but Duncan is not, he has something he has not been sharing with the outside world.. he has a few abilities of his own. As characters both are quite likeable and fleshed out. You feel like you know what makes each tick by the end of the book.

This is the first book in the series, so there is a lot of world building, bringing you in, making you comfortable with this new world. I’m ok with this, first books in a series aren’t always necessarily the most exciting in the series but this one holds its own. There is still quite a bit that goes on to keep you plenty entertained. We build up to that final battle and I didn’t find myself disappointed with an anti-climactic last battle scene. This book has a lot of side characters that we are introduced to, some we get to know better than others but you know as the series moves on you will get more time with the High Bloods. Four characters in particular are working towards their own books and I can’t wait to see what happens. I am really looking forward to seeing where this series takes us.