I haven't read Ione before, which I guess is some sort of paranormal romance reader sin right? Like admitting I've never read Anita Blake (I haven't) or enjoyed Christine Feehan (I did at one time). I just haven't been interested before. BOUND BY NIGHT possibly has changed my mind.

And just so we're clear Nuh-hun esu...vedi had better mean H and A because otherwise Ione, you and me are gonna have a talk about setting a girl up for epic romance. Oh but if G and K are in the offing I'd be happy there too. I'm not as keen on G and Z.

Also my god that cover is hot. That is a gorgeous lovely picture that does nothing to make me think of vampires, but yeah I can see why Riker made an impression on Nicole.

-----

My only real complaint, and this isn't a complaint so much as a caution, that even when the main conflict is resolved (which is Nicole's kidnapping) there's still a good quarter of the book left. There's a few more obstacles before HEA is reached--a rival gang's revenge, Riker's past kicking him in the nads, overcoming Nicole's fears and that pesky fertility problem. A couple are better fleshed out and sublty introduced throughout the novel then others.

One was downright contrived feeling, but ended much better then I could have hoped for.

Getting to the good points--which there are many--we'll start with Riker and Nicole. Neither is a prize honestly; Riker is a jerk, angry, vengeful and stubbornly stupid. Nicole is...actually fairly much the same, though less vengeful and more recklessly stupid. Granted they both have *very* good reasons to feel as they do towards their respective prejudices and Ione makes it clear that even when they say they're over their issues, they're really not.

Its the small things. Nicole flinching when Riker moves his lips too close to her throat. Riker snapping if she uses the wrong word when describing her family's former vampire slaves. Ione pushes her characters until they have that talk no one ever really wants to have.

full review to be posted at Poisoned Rationality ( )

Although there were moments when the writing got a little heavy-handed, this was a nice, fun escape, and exactly what I'm looking for when I pick up paranormal romance. The story-telling had enough darkness and stakes that I couldn't stop turning pages when I picked the book up--especially once the story got going--and the romance hit all the right beats you'd expect.

In the end, I enjoyed it enough that I was disappointed to learn that there are only a very few books in the series, unlike the author's other series, but I'll certainly be picking up more of Ione's work at some point. ( )

Bound by Night
By Larissa Ione
MoonBound Clan Vampires #1

Can I just say how much I love this cover? Yes, of course, I can say it. I’m writing this review. Silly me. There is something about it that catches my attention. One of the first things I notice is the color of the font. Isn’t it funny how when an author is well known, their name is larger than the title? Then, there is that gorgeous man lying on a....whatever that is, a coffin, a crypt or stone slab….and he contrasts with everything. I think this is one of the best covers that I have seen in a while.

I usually wait for an author to have at least three books out of a series before I start reading it but…this is Larissa Ione! And I’ve read all of her books in The Demonica/Lords of Deliverance series and all of her books she wrote as Sydney Croft so how could I resist?

After vampires revealed themselves to humans, humans enslaved them and experiment on them. It’s crazy that such powerful beings could allow a weaker species to take over but it happened. But some vampires have not let themselves become victims to the humans. They live in clans in the mountains and deep woods. The MoonBound Clan lives in the mountains outside of Seattle. They have spells that hide where they live so humans will have a harder time finding them.
Nicole Martin was a victim of a vampire uprising when she was 8 years old which was quickly squashed but not in time to save her mother or father. Nicole was also attacked and almost died. Since then she has studied the physiology of vampires to try to find a cure for vampirism. She moved to France and let her half-brother take over her parent’s business, a business that exploits vampires but she doesn’t know about that until she is kidnapped by wild vampires.

Riker is second in command of the MoonBound Clan. He hates the Martin family because 20 years ago, his mate was enslaved by them and she died because of it. Plus, the Marin’s business is responsible for the disappearance and deaths of many vampires.

When a visiting healer from another clan is taken by poachers and sold to one of the Martin’s secret experimental labs, Riker kidnaps Nicole to get leverage to get the healer back before the other clan wages war on the MoonBound clan for losing her.

Nicole hates vampires and Riker hates humans but after spending time together, they begin to change their minds. Nicole sees that vampires are not the monsters that humans make them out to be…well, most of them. There are clans out there that are violent and dangerous.

There was a lot going on in this book. At first, I had a hard time believing that humans could get the upper hand on a species that was so powerful but with the advance technology of the humans and the vampires limitations, it seemed more plausible.

I was really into this book and the developing plot. I was intrigued by the secondary characters and can’t wait to see what happens with them, especially a purebred vampire named Myne. He’s scary and a bit crazy but something about him makes me think he’s going to become a big part of this story. We shall see.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com ( )

This was... just a little too much crazy for me. The world of this book makes way too little sense. Parts of it taken separately from the rest were fine, but as a whole, it was too much. ( )

A world where humans enslave vampires, where both humans and vampires can be monsters and good guys. Origins start with Native American Indians.
( )