4 "Hunter or Hunted" Stars?

Please note this series must be read in order. If you have not yet read book 1, Aurora Sky, please see my review for that title.

Book 3, Bad Blood, picks up a short while after Book 2, Northern Bites. Aurora has been away at vampire hunter agent training camp for six months, and she's about to take a test to see if she passes and can finally go back home. Meanwhile, Aurora's past hunts are coming back to haunt her--not literally, but by at least one "family" vampire member, and a separate vampire--who she already knows--conducting an investigation into Marcus' death. Can Aurora evade those who are after and investigating her, or will the vampire hunter become vampire prey?

As if things with her job were not bad enough, more evidence comes to light that certain individuals at the government agency she works for may not be who they at first seem. Will they protect Aurora or do they have her true interests at heart? As part of her job, Aurora also has to once again work and get along with Valerie and Noel. But can she trust them?

Last but definitely not least the love triangle continues to flourish with both Dante and Fane vying for Aurora's attentions. But just who makes her heart beat faster?

Em Eldridge continues her well done narration in Bad Blood. Having not only the same narrator but also a narrator who makes a concerted effort to maintain consistent character voices across books really helps the listener settle right into the story. In addition, Bad Blood tests Ms. Eldridge's ability to deliver French phrases and French accented voices with the appearance of a French teacher who draws Aurora's suspicions.

This third book was a little slower in the beginning with so many plot lines tempting and tantalizing us with potential plot twists. However, the last quarter of the book really heats up with potential directions, from what Aurora really is to what she really wants to accomplish. My mind is swirling with possibilities. Now I can't wait to see which direction Aurora decides to take, and who she decides to align herself with from a friends and allies perspective. Nevermind, who she will ultimately end up with from a love perspective: Fane or Dante? I can't wait to listen to book 4, Hunting Season, to keep piecing together how Aurora's story will ultimately end.

Source: Review copy provided for review purposes. ( )

Aurora is back from bootcamp and ready to start college. But she is still working so she, Valarie and Dante are assigned to work the vamp parties know as Tastings. But Aurora and Valarie are being stalked by the lone survivor of their last mission. Never mind that Aurora and Vall saved her, this vamp is out for blood.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing seemed a bit tighter and I like the way the characters are developing. Yeah, Valarie is still a bitch, but you want her on your side in a fight. I am looking forward to seeing what happens. Warning: it does end in a cliff-hanger. Lots of unresolved stuff. ( )

Sweet freaking gravy! I couldn’t get enough of Aurora in this installment.

I love how Aurora grows throughout the series. She’s learning more about herself, and the people surrounding her. I was a hardcore Dante fan, but after reading Bad Blood, I think I’m a bigger fan of Fane. Because…… reasons! I also want to know that I still don’t care for Valerie. She drives me freaking crazy with being such a bitch about everything! And talk about a complete turn around with Noel. Daaaannnng. I don’t care about the drama between her and Aurora. I still adore her.

There isn’t as much action in Bad Blood, but we find out some very interesting things. Puzzle pieces are finally starting to fit together, and some of my suspicions were kind of answered. So many revelations. I also love that Aurora finds those she can trust, and those she can’t.

I’m going to end this with, I think we need a short story about Dante during this time period…. Because I want to know how he’s dealing with everything. ( )

ABR's original Bad Blood audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Bad Blood by Nikki Jefford is the third novel in the series called Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter. This book continues the story of Aurora Sky, a young adult vampire hunter who returns home from a summer long boot camp having finally been trained to be the vampire hunter that she has already been “employed” as. After a traumatic end to the previous year which lead to a betrayal by her friends and a murder of a prominent vampire, Aurora returns home with no one she can turn to other than her vampire fighting team. As she tries to come to terms with her changing relationship with the government agency controlling her life, she must also try to make sense of her relationships and keep her family safe. On top of all that, she is finally starting college and living on her own with a roommate.

As in the previous books, the concept of relating vampirism, fatal diseases, and blood types to the origin of vampirism and the method for killing vampire is one that I haven’t heard of before this series and I think it’s quite unique and interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. The plot was intriguing, action-filled, and tied in seamlessly with the previous novels. As before there is a lot of focus on how the relationships between the characters change. I thought it was well done here. The vampire hunting action was exciting and it was well intertwined with how Aurora’s relationships changed. I really like the unfolding plot-line and was not expecting all of the information that was revealed in this novel. It is intriguing and made me want to know more. The one thing that really bothered me throughout the novel was that for the most part I personally found the relationship between Aurora and her fellow vampire hunters to be frustrating. While there are hints at the other hunters/informants as having more depth, their behavior and Aurora’s flat interactions with them seems to indicate otherwise. Noel and Fane seem to be better defined. This novel was able to incite a lot of different emotions from me through the behavior of the characters, which is a good trait for a story to have.

The narration by Em Eldridge was good. While I’ve been finding Aurora’s voice a little whiny, and one of the hunters, Valerie’s voice, made me want to throttle her (which, I suppose might be the point), but in general the voicing for the characters was great. The production quality was good. I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes young adult fiction and vampire stories.

Audiobook provided for review by the author. ( )

Bad Blood takes place six months after Northern Bites when Aurora returns from boot camp.

Aurora’s character changed a lot over that time, she has been toughened up. She’s not the only one that changed: her mom and Noel also made a considerable transformation.

It was interesting seeing Valerie and Aurora hanging out so much. They actually seemed to occasionally like each other. It was almost as if they were becoming friends.

Speaking of friends, Aurora and Dante's relationship becomes fascinating. Dante wanting a relationship with Aurora, the boy clearly has it bad for her. I love that he helped out her mom and grandma while she was at boot camp. Of course,
Fane is still in the picture so it complicates things.

I love Dante’s dog, Tommy. What Melcher did really ticked me off, anyone who messes with an innocent animal is not someone I trust or have respect for.

Bad Blood has a great plot with a ton of stuff going on. The blood tasting parties are an interesting case. Plus, things are not finished with Jared and Giselle. They have cases to solve and personal missions to resolve. The ending left me wanting to start the next book immediately. Good thing for me, I had it.

Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )