This one started out horribly with a neverending string of incredible bullshit.
First, she is being taught how to properly drink from a human after she lived off of humans for weeks by herself without ever hurting anyone and only getting caught on her very first drink before she even knew about compulsion.
Not by practising on someone mind you, no, by being forced to being bitten by a stranger.
Which as we already know causes an intense orgasm. WHAT THE FUCK. This crosses the borders to sexual abuse even if that wasn't actually the intension. Especially because it's completely unnecessary as she, again, is aware of all of this already, again, what the fuck.

Then, to test if she could keep behaving like a human under drug influence apparently, she is being forced to drink from a drug addict.
Not only did the master not make sure that the guy was safe to drink from by checking what kind of drugs he even consumed and how much and instead forced her to drink from the next best junky, no, instead of telling her beforehand what this was even about he just forced her to do it and then threatened her with compulsion afterwards when she started to suffer the effects of the various drugs. I can not put into words how much irresponsible bullshit is contained within this short first section of the story.
Not only that but then we are constantly told that this incompetent, inane prick is a "good teacher".
Good riddance. I pity the author for her school classes if she considers this a "good teacher".
And all this happened within the first 20 minutes of the audiobook. ( )

this series made me stay awake until 9am. So so addictive. I'm n book #3 now. review soon! ( )

Lissa is finding life as one of the few female vampires difficult – she’s in demand and forced into a relationship she would certainly not choose – definitely not the engagement. Her special powers also make her special to the Council who are more than willing to use her as their tool and instrument.

On top of that, the rules she’s under because of her unconventional siring leave her stifled and controlled and subject to harsh and deeply restrictive supervision at all times. Then there’s the werewolves, as a member of their pack she has been called upon to help the Pack leader try and fix some of the issues of the last book – leading to more duties and repeated danger as she’s again drafted as bodyguard. Danger which only becomes more acute as an ancient enemy starts to test both the vampires and werewolves

There’s a whole lot of people making demands of Lissa and she has little freedom, space or agency in which to be herself.

The ongoing conflict of this book is Lissa feeling trapped and constrained by the vampires around her. And rightly so. She is continually kept in the dark, told to follow orders, never has anything explained, is expected to drop everything and be sent across the world at a moment’s notice. She lives under a death threat from the events of the last book as well as continually compulsion forcing utter and complete obedience. She rarely goes out without escorts, she rarely goes out at all. Even Merril’s training is full of orders without explanations, unpleasant situations and only reasons why after the fact.

On top of this she doesn’t trust any vampires not just because of the death threat she’s under for existing but because of the way Gavin dragged her in to that trial – compelling her so completely she couldn’t even blink without permission and leaving her like this for three days.

Even more on top of all that we have the situation where she is one of only 16 female vampires in the world (there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of male vampires) and there for she is in high demand to marry one of them – and basically given the ultimatum to pick one for the sake of vampire peace and vampires not all fighting each other for the precious, rare womanfolk. Oh and she has to pick one based on one dance – a scenario which would only be less plausible if the picking were based on her running out at midnight and leaving a shoe behind. This leaves her with a choice that is basically a) Gavin (who scares her for the whole compulsion thing), b) French vampire who scares her and she thinks may want to kill her because of another arseholery plan Wlodek & co have come up with to test Lissa’s abilities without telling her (even after the fact because REASONS), c) strange Russian vampire who scares her and is boring.

YAY choices!

This needs more salt in those wounds – so Gavin is then ultra-super-awful possessive and has a habit of ranting and raging in several languages if anything comes near his now fiancée. He is “protective” which basically translates to screaming at her because she goes on dangerous mission which she’s instructed to be part of. And in an extreme case where Lissa was sexually assaulted he outright strips her in front of other people and scrubs her which she protests – the whole thing is revolting.

For some of this book, Lissa is duly angry and enraged by the way she is treated and realised this is forced to tolerate all of this on pain of death. She’s angry and resentful and… it doesn’t last. She’ll be angry over the way she’s treated or tried of Gavin’s ranting and raging – but still maintain a father/daughter relationship with Merril with only the odd passive/aggressive moments. She still loves Gavin (yes, really. I was bemused by the very idea that she would love this man and for very little reason), she remains very friendly with the werewolf who dry-humped her against her will. For that Lissa continually has her clothes taken from her and Gavin continually forces himself into her presence while she’s naked and this is never even remotely treated as outrageous as it is! And it’s not just because she has to put a good face on things and there’s no way out for her – this book is told from her POV, we know her opinions, her thoughts and her emotions. I’m constantly left asking myself why Lissa isn’t more mad, why she is allowing these abusive arseholes around her the pretence of a loving relationship? Why she is actually HAVING a loving, affectionate relationship with them? How does the word “honey” not turn to acid in her mouth? Why is she still maintaining an idea that these men are even close to decent people?

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Amazon tends to give away a lot of books that are the beginnings of series in hopes of hooking the reader. In the case of the Blood Destiny series, that hook definitely worked. If I thought that the first book in the series was good then BLOOD PASSAGE is excellent.

Lissa is a character that I found easy to fall in love with. She is extremely pragmatic about the happenings in her life and for the most past just adapts. She isn’t happy with the fact that she has to become engaged so that there isn’t a lot of fighting among the male vampires and she chooses the best of the lot which is Gavin even though she doesn’t trust him at all. She isn’t happy that she has to guard Winkler but she does it. She makes the best of things and then makes things better with her personality and her cooking.

This particular book was rather tense with all the close calls that Lissa comes up against yet the pacing was spot on. Ms. Suttle does a great job of balancing the danger with comedic moments. I was rather impressed.

If I was to mark this book down at all it would be for the fact that it wouldn’t stand on its own very well. This is a series that one has to read in order to be able to fully appreciate it. And watch out for those cliff hanger endings.

I rate this book a 4 and it would have been higher if BLOOD PASSAGE was more capable of being a standalone novel.

**I purchased this book thru Amazon. ( )