Review: Blood Born by Renee Lake

Blood Born by Renee Lake
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions included in this review are my own.

This book is aimed at a New Adult audience, which is obvious from the start, as the book opens with snippets of social media messaging between the main characters. It felt a bit gimmicky to me, but then I’m old and not the target audience, however, it did show communications between the characters and as such were part of the story and introduced the main characters.

The story was about a group of young women who roomed together at university. They were living in a big beautiful house that was filled with history. Two of the women with rooms were Jo and Maddie who became girlfriends in High School. Maddie’s twin brother, Lucca was also starting at the university but was staying in a dorm. Maddie is a touch idealistic and is a passionate women’s rights activist. Jo is much more intellectual and plans to be a lawyer and work with her father on graduation. They spent the summer apart and this has exposed a few cracks in their relationship, even though both still love the other.

They find out that a professor of Jo’s actually owns half the town as well as the house they are renting. She is originally from Romania and oozes sex appeal, power and mystery. When Jo and Lucca start working at her mansion on a cataloging project, Jo begins to be very wary of Valora and her strange interns. At the same time Maddie becomes captivated by her, meeting randomly and spending time together without Jo’s knowledge.

Jo and Maddie’s room mates are also very wary of Valora, Queenie in particular is frightened of her and states her uncle believes Valora to be very dangerous indeed. It becomes obvious, as the book progresses, that though Queenie’s uncle may be right, he is quite a dangerous man himself.

The reason I gave this book 3 stars is because whilst the book is incredibly plot driven, there is a distinct weakness in the characters. It felt like the author had no sympathy for anyone, so the telling of the story was cold and distant. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters and it isn’t just because I’m old because I have read plenty of NA books where I find the characters sympathetic and remind me of myself at that age. Sadly none of these characters had depth, they were all self absorbed and shallow. Blood Born is definitely a plot focused story rather than one that is character driven.

This book felt like a ghost story told round the campfire like Queenie’s when she told them about the monster who protected a castle and it’s lands. This kind of story has it’s place, and maybe a younger reader may it enjoy the book more than I did, but I felt like the book could have been much more if the characters had been more sympathetic.

Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US