'Bound by Blood' Faustin Brothers #2 by Evie BYRNE

From the BLURB:

The damned will be sucking snow cones in hell before Gregor Faustin succumbs to love and marriage. Or so he thinks. Until he ploughs his BMW straight into destiny. Madelena, with her smart mouth and her luscious ass, her old-man wardrobe and pointed questions, affects him like no woman he's ever met. Gregor can't decide if he'd rather throttle her, suck every sweet drop of blood from her body, or lock her in a room and make love to her until they both die of exhaustion.

Maddy begs the man who ran her over to keep her out of the hospital. In answer, he heals her with a kiss that leaves her haunted by erotic, soul-stealing dreams. But she's got too many problems to risk what's left of her heart on any man.

Gregor would like nothing better than to pull his usual disappearing act, but he finds himself entangled with Maddy in a way that goes beyond obsession. By tasting a few precious drops of her blood, he's bound his life to hers. Now both their days are numbered.

Gregor is living the high life. He has been dubbed the Vampire King of New York – a cheeky title that the media love without realizing how close it hits to the truth. Gregor is the second eldest of the Faustin brothers; from the Russian vampyr family line. He runs a series of successful clubs, made famous for the fact that they cater to New York’s vampire population – a publicity cachet the clubbers love, and the vampyrs appreciate. Gregor has his pick of women, and is at the top of his game, so the last thing he needs is for fate to interrupt his life. But when you’re a Faustin vampyr, you have to listen when destiny speaks . . . or suffer the consequences.

Gregor is told the name of his intended bride – Madelena. But Gregor ignores the heads-up and continues on his partying ways . . . unsuspecting, until fate intervenes with a crash.

‘Bound by Blood’ is the second book in Evie Byrne’s ‘Faustin Brothers’ trilogy. Though it is the second book, the plot timing seems a little out-of-sync with first book ‘Called by Blood’. In this book, Alex is a rampant bachelor and is yet to meet his wife, Helena. So really, it would make more sense that ‘Bound’ be the first book in this trilogy, instead of the second ...

I am really liking Evie Byrne’s ‘Faustin’ trilogy. I love the fact that Byrne is writing a modern vampire tale – her characters are clued-up about vampiric myths and fanged pop-culture icons, but there’s also an old-world vibe. Each brother finds his bride through premonition – fated by their mother who has dreams of her future daughters-in-law. In ‘Called’ Alex was ecstatic to finally find his bride, partly because his older brother had recently settled so well into holy matrimony. But as we back-track, it’s revealed that Gregor in fact found fate to be rather inconvenient. I love that Byrne marries some old-world mysticism with modern inconvenience – a New York vampire club owner who is put-out by his destined bride. Hilarity ensues when fate intervenes, brutally.

In ‘Called by Blood’, Byrne took a very different romantic route – by severely burning her Alpha hero, and leaving him looking like raw hamburger meat. Byrne does it again in ‘Bound’, this time posing a difficult dilemma before the heroine. I won’t give it away, but I really liked the hurdle before Gregor and Madelena, if only because it completely turned the tables on the traditional vampire/mortal romance.

But this is still a vampire *romance* - and the heat between the characters is the big draw-card of the book;

He turned her over for a kiss. Though Maddy would have sworn she didn’t even have the strength to pucker, she found herself moulding her body to his, smoothing her palms up his strong back, egging him on, and falling far, far down in a kiss without bottom.

When they came up for air, she gasped, “Damn! I love doing that. Who taught you to kiss, Faustin?”

“You did.” He ran a finger over her lips, his blue eyes soft and searching. “I can’t remember kissing anyone else.”

I like Evie Byrne’s paranormal romance. Once again, I wish the book had been longer, mostly because I think the really interesting part of the story would have come in the aftermath of the romance. But again, wishing a book to be longer is a fairly decent complaint.

4/5

'Called by Blood' Faustin Brothers #1 by Evie BYRNE

From the BLURB:

Alexander Faustin has always wanted to be human. Even though he comes

from a family of powerful vampires, he's fascinated with the daylight world. Maybe that's why destiny gave him a human mate.

It's not like Helena to make out with a stranger on her front porch, much less invite him into her bed. Somehow Alex makes her feel safe, even while he's dismantling her defenses. But in the wake of a terrifying accident, her faith in him is shattered.

Alex must regain Helena's trust and persuade her it's possible to love a monster. To do this, Alex must first learn to embrace his true nature. Unfortunately, he has to make this voyage of self-discovery while dodging the sheriff's department, the Rocky Mountain sunshine, and one very pissed off elk. But there's no turning back, because if Alex can't convince Helena to love him, he'll never love again.

Alex Faustin knows who is destined wife is; now he just has to convince her she’s his one.

Alex is the youngest brother in the Faustin family – an old and respected Russian vampyr line. Alex’s mother and father still adhere to the Old Ways, including the absolute belief in dream premonitions of their son’s future wives. Alex is the first Faustian to be fated with a wife . . . the only thing is she lives in Colorado and will take a little convincing (of Alex’s love for her, their bond and the truth about vampires).

It’s true; there are some bad vampire love stories out there. But Evie Byrne’s first book in the ‘Faustin Brothers’ trilogy isn’t one of them. To be honest, ‘Called by Blood’ isn’t reinventing the fang – there’s a mortal love interest, a rich and powerful vampiric family and a lot of smexing going on. But Byrne’s series is oddly delightful, regardless of the well-trod territory.

One of the great things about this book is Byrne’s tongue-in-cheek humour. Alex Faustin lives in modern-day New York and his ‘mate’ is Helena, a modern woman. These people know about vampires – the movies, myths and romantic ridiculousness – and as a result, Byrne draws on many references and pokes fun at many a legend. I liked her vampiric brevity – it was refreshing, without denouncing all the typical vampire/mortal problems.

This novel is very sexy, first and foremost. It’s from Samhain Publishing – a notoriously hot publisher. But ‘Called by Blood’ has a surprisingly veering plot; when the rich and handsome Alex is burnt by the sun and spends a portion of the book resembling Freddy Krueger. That’s right, a vampire love story in which the smoking-hot dead dude looks nasty and blistered for much of the book. It means that Alex and Helena have to connect on a personal level before a physical one . . . but when they do get physical, Byrne brings the goods (while still keeping things light and funny);

She twisted around to look at him, going serious all of a sudden. “Is this how you always have sex?”

“How’s that?”

“Like a crazed, bloodthirsty rabbit.”

He cupped one of her breasts, just to watch her eyes lose focus. “I've been crazed and I'm always bloodthirsty, but I've never wanted another rabbit like I want you.”

My one small complaint about the book was the abrupt ending – I really would have liked another 100 pages or so. Since this is the ‘Faustin Brothers’ trilogy it would have been nice to meet all of the Faustin brothers and get a sense of the family dynamic (as it is, we only meet oldest brother, Mikhail). And with an extra 100 pages we may have been able to read about Helena assimilating to vampirism and New York. But that’s a small and complimentary complaint about wanting more, more, more from Evie Byrne’s wonderful novel!

4.5/5