Fantasy Fun Reads: Blood In Her Veins: Review & Giveaway

I consider myself very fortunate to be able to host a blog tour stop for one of my favorite authors, Faith Hunter. Back when I was an AGM for BAM I was sorting a shipment and one of the covers in the Jane Yellowrock series caught my eye. I think it was #3, Mercy Blade. I bought that one, read it and immediately went back and read the first two in the series. From that point on I have been a fan, grabbing each new one within days of it's release. I was really excited to get an ARC of this latest, a collection that will blow you away! I'm so excited about it that I am going to lead off with my review.

Review: Wow, Just WOW!

First, this is a lot of book, 560 pages jammed packed full of all my favorite things. Action, magic, more action, vamps, shifters, & supernatural creatures followed by more action, and just the right touch of romance. It goes in chronological order from the early years, even before the first book in the series, all the way up to just past the last novel and preceding the next one due out in a couple months. We not only get a lot of Jane and Beast, there is also a nice focus on some of the side characters in the series like Rick, Molly, Angie, and even Edmund Hartley. There are some short shorts, long shorts, & novellas. This is a collection that should be savored as it fills in the gaps between books and gives a deeper insight to the main stories.

Being a fan, I found I had read a few of these previously but many were new to me and the last two stories are brand new ones for everybody. As in any anthology, I have some favorites although all are good and I was not disappointed in a single one.

The first three stories are all "early" ones, covering the times before the start of the series. I love this and I learned even more about Jane, leaving me wanting even more from these times in her life. Dance Master will always be one of my favorite stories and I enjoy it every time I read it. Off the Grid is terrific and introduces us to Nell, who is getting her own series beginning in August of this year. Faith Hunter teases us with this, giving us just enough information that we can't wait for the chance to read more about Nell. I think my favorite of those I had not read before is Not All Is at It Seems. Angie Baby is going to be more that a handful when she grows up.

The last two, Cat Fight & Bound No More, give you a great lead in for the next novel in the series, Shadow Rites, due out in April. I am so lucky, LOL. Yeah, I got an advance copy of that one as well. Loved it, but you are going to have to wait a month or so for that review.

Blood In Her Veins gets 5 Stars from me, my highest rating. It's tough to put an anthology together where every story is superb. Faith Hunter does it in style. Jane Yellowrock rocks!

BLOOD IN HER VEINS | Faith Hunter | Roc Trade Paperback | $16.00 | 560 pages | February 2, 2016 | ISBN: 978045147576
Blurb:

In this must-have collection of stories, experience nineteen thrilling adventures from the world of vampire-hunter Jane Yellowrock, including many fan favorites and two all-new novellas. Read about the first time Jane put the pedal to the metal in “The Early Years,” and the last thing a werewolf will ever see as Jane delivers justice in “Beneath a Bloody Moon.” Get a searing look into the pasts of some of the series’ best-loved characters: Beast in “WeSa and the Lumber King,” Rick LaFleur in “Cat Tats,” and Molly Everhart Trueblood in “Haints.”

In the brand-new “Cat Fight,” the witches and vampires of Bayou, Oiseau, are at war over a magical talisman—and Jane must figure out how to keep the mysterious artifact out of the covetous hands of the Master of New Orleans. And in the never-before-published “Bound No More,” Jane welcomes a visit from Molly and her daughter, Angie, who is about to prove she’s the most powerful witch in Everhart history....

From the Big Easy to the bad bayou, from the open road to a vampire’s lair—with Jane Yellowrock, it’s always a given: have stakes, will travel.

Get your copy here:

Amazon

B&N

IndieBound

Book Depository

BAM

iBooks

Giveaway:

The publisher will ship a copy of Blood In Her Veins to the winner. Open to US residents only 18 years or older. To enter, just comment on this post. If you want to enter add (US resident) at the end of your comment. I will select a winner at random this Saturday February 6th so please come back then to check. You might want to follow comments and replies as well to make sure you don't miss out on this great book.

There is also a serial story in three parts at some of the blog stops. Here you can find a list of all the stops and check out all the posts.

Faith Hunter has a $25 Starbucks gift card for ONE commenter who comments on all the blogs who're hosting the story parts (i.e. guest post stops). Blog tour schedule is here: http://www.ltpromos.com/2016/01/04/faith-hunters-blood-in-her-veins-blog-tour/

About Faith:

Faith Hunter, fantasy writer, was born in Louisiana and raised all over the south. She writes three Urban Fantasy series: the Skinwalker series, featuring Jane Yellowrock, a Cherokee skinwalker who hunts rogue vampires. The Soulwood series, featuring earth magic user Nell Ingram. And the Rogue Mage novels, a dark, urban, post-apocalyptic, fantasy series featuring Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage. (There is a role playing game based on the series, ROGUE MAGE.)

Under the pen name Gwen Hunter, she writes action-adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. As Faith and Gwen, she has 30+ books in print in 29 countries.

Hunter writes full-time, tries to keep house, and is a workaholic with a passion for travel, jewelry making, white-water kayaking, and writing. She and her husband love to RV, traveling with their rescued Pomeranians to whitewater rivers all over the Southeast.