Blood Rights – In this instance, you *can* judge a book by its cover

It is always touch and go when you decide to dive into a new series.  I approached the first book of the Comarre trilogy with a little trepidation thinking that it could just be eye candy and little else.  I’ve been burned before on that one.  Thankfully, this is worth a read.

It primarily follows Chrysabelle, a member of a special breed of humans known as the Comarre.  Their blood is especially potent, making them ideal companions to vampires.  Once their “blood rights” are claimed, a Comarre or Comar (for males) can only be released from their bond by their vampire patron’s will or if their patron dies.  Crysabelle’s patron…dies, but it turns out he was murdered and it is looking like she is the culprit.  That is certainly a no-no in their society, so Crysabelle goes on the run until she can figure out his murderer and clear her name. She runs into Malkom, a vampire who has remained far removed from their society. He has his own demons to fight and as they work together, they have to stop an even greater evil from gaining power that could destroy mankind and the vampire society alike.

I read this book coming off the heels of a super fast-paced series.  I can say that the slower pace was welcome.  It’s not too slow, but it’s just right to keep you from becoming bored.   I can be easily annoyed by the female leads when it comes to urban fantasy series, but thankfully Crysabelle is a likable heroine and the Comarre society is interesting. I enjoyed the build up of tension between Crysabelle and Malkom and I expect that to continue through the other two books in the series.  The supporting cast could be improved.  There was one character I rather liked, but everyone else seemed more generic and disposable.  

The biggest plus to this series is that each new installment is only one month apart, so there will be no significant waiting to see what happens next and no long-term commitment.  It only gets 4 stars because it wasn’t super intense to the point of where it was hard to put the book down.  The story is still pretty good though and because of that, I certainly plan to keep up with this one.