57 points/100 (3 stars/5)

When a packmate is taken and notes are left saying to follow, Jessica knows what she has to do. She knows this will end in sacrifice, but can she pay?

Yeah, you can call this the ending to the series. I mean, things got resolved, after all. Did all the things get resolved? No. Did it still somehow set up more? Yes. There was a large portion of this book setting up spinoffs that, two years after coming out, there are still no real news on. Carlson knew she didn't have the time to wrap it all up, so she decided to plan spinoffs to wrap it all up with. Therefore, this just doesn't feel like a complete series.

We spend a large portion of Blue Blooded once again being led around by someone else for their own purposes. On the one hand, that is probably a good thing, because I don't trust Jessica to lead anyone anywhere and actually get there on time (or within the next hundred years without getting distracted). On the other, being dragged around everywhere for the whims of others is really, really annoying. It gives the protagonist no way to act on their own, they have to act in some preordained manner.

Which basically sums up this series, really. Everything is in accordance with fate. A fate that changes at every turn that we take because apparently that is how fate works. This ability of fate to somehow change when it decides to fate itself (which really isn't fate is it?) means that the series twists and turns. It goes nowhere while at the same time doing things that don't make sense because it feels like it is made up on the spot.

Meanwhile, Jessica is still not being told anything until the last possible second. Again. And again. And again. A hundred years from now, Jessica is still going to be told things that she should have been told during the course of this series. The characters are literally telling her they will not (or cannot, depending on how you look at it) tell her everything. Things are constantly being held back, and Jessica has to magically make some leap of logic that manages to solve the mystery at the last moment without them.

Everyone acts like Jessica's acting like a human is the best thing about her. It is even explicably said at one point, that it was something that is special about just hr in the supernatural races. This still feels so forced and wrong. It isn't like any of the others are particularly nonhuman. In fact, it is the opposite. They're just insular, they don't spend a lot of time with humans so they don't really care about them. That isn't the same thing.

None of the characters in this book acted like they did when they were first introduced, for the most part. They have all molded into some cohesive whole that act the same and could easily be interchangeable with any other. The most apparent is Ray, who acts like a 20 year old frat boy half the time, instead of the cop he was.

I asked in the review for Pure Blooded whether everyone would end up mated with someone else. Welp.... The level of interconnectivity between these characters is...quite frankly it is frightening. I don't think anyone was left unpaired. If there was, it is only because both me and the author forgot about them. Doesn't mean that all of them are actually suited to one another. For something so rare, it sure happened an awful lot.

This acts like an ending, despite how much it wishes it wasn't one.

Read more reviews in this series and others at keikii eats books. ( )

*I was offered a copy of this book from the author or publisher for review.

Jessica is on her fight to survive and live with those she loves. I love how she never stops trying and caring for those around her. Jessica has really collected quite the entourage of friends. All are special in their own ways and match perfectly to their mates and Jessica. Yes, everyone (well, just about) ends up paired up with a mate.

We get the fun interactions and magic all characters have to share in this book. Everyone is at their best and shows it. We even get the great fights that have been part of Jessica's stories. However, I was a little bummed at the big battle. I was expecting more. The ease of the death of one character... There was so much troubles with another of similar status, and this one was quickly dispatched. I know she was of a different origin in her area of expertise, but still that easy? I understand Jessica is being protected (for reasons I can't say - you'll just have to read!) so that keeps the scene to a limited view as well.

I love that all the characters we've crossed in previous books show up here in name and more in person. It's great to see how all the previous books trickled in to bring Jessica to this point in her life. And a great reminder of all she's been through. And all have brought Jessica to this point, all friends and actions of previous books. We read the connections to all that Jessica's been through to get to this point in her life, what has formed Jessica to be who she is. I love when these connections are made in a series, it shows how all of it was needed to be lived through.

Amanda did a wonderful job of tying all the books, events, people, and more together here to end the series. Amanda has once again created a high octane read that I didn't want to stop reading. I wanted to see/hear about everyone and learn all I could with why Jessica and how it would fit together for the new Coalition. And I got that!

In the end, we have a conclusion. But the world of supernatural is never at ease. This leaves a window opening that could bring us back to the world in the future, but this is the concluding book of the series arc. ( )