Beckoning Blood grabbed my attention when I saw that cover, and once I read the official blurb I was intrigued. Could it be that I had found what I had been craving over the past month? A rare darker MM paranormal? Yes. Hallelujah! I did.
When the reader first meets twins Thierry and Olivier d'Arjou, it is in Carcassonne, France, 1390. Their father is brutal and their sister, though younger, has assumed a maternal figure for them. They are identical but one thing is for certain, Olivier is the one most affected by his father's brutality, and as the read progresses you learn more. He also harbours affections for his twin that run much deeper than brotherly affection - and he is possessive and obsessive about him. That run much deeper than his hatred for his father - and that runs very deep.
One night in the woods outside Carcassonne, Olivier is spying on Thierry, who is off being intimate with Etienne de Balthas, when he is mistaken by a vampire for Thierry. The vampire has been watching Thierry in the woods for weeks and he wants him, only it is Olivier he takes and turns. Olivier will not be immortal without his twin. He makes sure events occur so that Thierry is immortal with him, not from an altruistic standpoint. From this point there is a love-hate relationship between the twins. They have always had a bond, deeper than the oft discussed twin-bond, and it is complicated by the transformation to vampire.
Beckoning Blood is well named as it is quite bloody. The vampires are very much seductive, dangerous beings, and this book definitely has graphic violence accompanying some psychological... games. Olivier is nothing if not a psychopathic cat after a mouse, only with humans as his quarry. During one of his games he is particularly brutal with a father and son. But there are repercussions that follow you, immortal or not...
If you like the following -
A more intense twin bond
'He sensed his brother's eyes on his back, that questioning gaze sliding up and down the gore and sweat on his skin. And the he felt that...probing inside him. Not a gentle touch around the edges, rather the full hammering of Olivier's need to know what was going on inside his brother's mind.'
Darker paranormal reading -
'They chewed through heart and liver, stomach and spleen, sucked on brains and lungs. They covered themselves with gore and blood until there was nothing left but bones. Exposed to the air, they soon turned to powder. Whatever power had resided in their dark father was now in them, or vanished on the wind.
They sat back and looked at each other, covered with blood like painted warriors of Gaul.'
'He held (him) over the edge of the window and let go.
He listened.
The sound of cracking bones and wet flesh hitting stone thrilled him, and the sensation mixed with the fresh blood he swallowed.'
Themes of a soul being reborn throughout the ages that you would just know, whether that be good or bad.
Vampires and witches and a touch of magic as well - although the magic will possibly be further developed in the next book (I am guessing)
A bit of a saga with good, solid, engaging writing over a period that covers 1390 France, 1792 Saxony, and modern day Perth, Australia
Looking for something that will carry on, because while this has a satisfying end it is left open for a following novel.
And I got a Louis and Lestat vibe from the twins
If any of that appeals, then definitely read Beckoning Blood because it is good reading from this first time published author.
More in-depth review at On Top Down Under Book Reviews
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