I really did not care for this one. I think I erased it from my mind, cause I can't remember much about it except a whole lot of angst around the hero not being able to marry the human he loves cause he has to marry a female vampire to continue the line. So, instead he spends most of the book trying to convince the heroine to be his mistress. There's also some NCIS-ish covert operations going on. My dislike of the book came primarily from the hero who pissed me throughout the whole book. However, it didn't help that the heroine was a huge pushover. Least it to say, I won't be picking up the rest of this series. ( )

Chosen by Blood takes place in an alternate world where humans and supernatural creatures live side by side in an uneasy peace. In an effort to reduce the threat of vampires during the second American civil war, humans created a vaccine which deprived human blood of the nourishment that vampires need to survive. Vampires have a hard time reproducing and with their members now dying of starvation, it is imperative that a cure be found.

When dharmie (half human/half vamire) Knox Devereaux the leader of a small group of vampires is contacted by the FBI to join a an otherworld military group created specifically to hunt down a cure, he simply cannot resist participating. The job comes with the added bonus of finally getting close to his soul mate Special Agent Felicia Locke. As much as Knox wants to be with Felicia, he is driven to protect her. With various supernatural creatures having a different idea of how human and otherworld relations should be, this mission might just bring an end to their love before it has a chance to grow.

Chosen By Blood is technically under the category of paranormal romance, though parts of it read like cheap erotica. It really is a shame because the alternate world setting was absolutely creative and the novel could well have stood on its own with the forced romance running through it. We are told that Knox and Felicia are soul mates but we really don't have a romance or an incident that draws them together other than lust. The major spike in their relationship is that when they first meet, Knox is married to Felicia's best friend and though vampire culture has no problem with polyamory, Felicia is far from comfortable with it. Polyamory is something we seldom see in these kinds of novels but I found that I could not embrace it simply because it was framed as something that is unacceptable and even otherworldly. Monogamy in particular is posited as the right and only way to live. In the end Knox gives up on the idea of serial monogamy for Felicia because he just doesn't want to sleep with anyone else despite growing up with Polyamory as the norm.

I know that Chosen By Blood is paranormal romance but I am tired of women losing the ability to think when the man they love walks in the room. We get that you think he is hot and have been fantasizing with a vibrator for awhile but why does this mean that common sense has to fly out the window? While it was great that Felicia is no shrinking violet and is more than willing to prove her skills her reduction to blathering fool around Knox. This is especially true when we are given no reason for her absolute devotion to this vampire.

Read more ( )

This one was very, very good. I wasn't a fan of how it ended, to me, it wasn't a happy ending, or at least not as happy as it could/should have been. I know it's nitpicky but c'est la vie. The emotions were so strong you could feel them. There were times where I was gasping or choking back tears. Felicia was a woman of her convictions, and I appreciated that, and Knox was uber sexy. Will I read the others in the series? Probably not, but that's only because I do not like series where I start off with one couple and than the next book is a different couple. When I get invested in a couple, I like to stick with that couple. Give this book a try, you won't be sorry. ( )

This book is complicated to rate. At first I was enjoying it a lot, but then...
I recommend reading it to the end, but be warned: this book is good but not so good at the same time. :P ( )

Bought for myself
Overall Rating 4.25
Story Rating 4.50
Central "Romance" Characters 4.00
Review Posted on http://www.geekybloggersbookblog.com/2011/05/review-chosen-by-blood-by-virna-dep...

Note: I initially bought this book because the lead character shares my name. I stayed with the story because it was richly detailed and fantastically written.

What I Loved: This is going to be one of those rare occurrences where the side characters are really who made me love Chosen by Blood: O'Flare, Dex, Wraith, Lucy, and Mahone were all fantastically written. I felt they were all a nice combo of tortured souls and good solid backbone. I cannot wait to see how they flesh out as the series unfolds. The other part I loved was the thought of all these different creatures coming together to form a special-ops unit. They each brought something unique to the table (talent, ability, strength, weakness) and that made the organizational unit outstanding.

What I Liked: Felicia and Knox both were great core characters and were a spectacular first in series couple. They were both leaders, stubborn, and their chemistry was smoking hot. It took awhile for me to warm up to them but in the end, I thought they were perfect for each other!

Complaints: None

Why I Gave it a 4.25: I thought this was a very strong first in series book and they are usually my least favorite. This had great character building, story arching, good villains, great twists, and a solid beginning for a series!

Who I would recommend this too: PNR readers who like contemporary special ops twists and turns. ( )