Flesh and Blood (House of Comarré #2)

This is the second book in the Comarre series where we see Chrysabelle start to break the bonds drilled into her psyche over the past 115 years. While the decisions she takes are seen as minor in themselves, the culmination of those changes result in a woman who\’s decided she\’s very much the mistress of her own destiny. Her relationship with Mal also continues to grow and we see more instances where their need for each other can only end up in an explosive capitulation – whether for good or bad is yet to be seen. I totally adore Mal, he\’s so tortured yet so strong when controlling his inner demons around her. The two of them are the epitome of opposites – him so bitterly dark and her filled with glittering golden light – so delicately intertwined that one could not survive the other. Bring in Creek, a sexy-as-all-hell Seminole who has been indoctrinated into a sect (Kubai Mata) with the primary goal of protecting humans while wiping out the vampire race, and you have the makings of a very interesting love triangle. Does he balance the light and dark? Can he be trusted even though he seems pivotal to Chrysabelle\’s development? Strangely enough, they both suit her and each provide something Chrysabelle needs – gonna be interesting to see how this one pans out as Ms Painter hasn\’t given any indication on who Chrysabelle\’s main squeeze would be 🙂 … but my heart is set on Mal! With the covenant broken and the veil between humans and othernaturals down, the story is blown wide open – war is inevitable as othernaturals struggle for power, evil sees further opportunity and humans come to grip with a world previously hidden from them. I enjoyed this book just as much as the first but there were few things that I personally found distracting. On the plus side, Ms Painter is introducing so many new threads I am reassured of a long and (hopefully) enduring reading relationship as those threads come together. However, I don\’t enjoy jumping between different POV continuously – it\’s ok every now and then but this story got to the point where every few pages you\’d switch to another character and/or subplot. The subplots are so involved, and influence the rest of the story so much, there are times it feels as if Ms Painter has actually combined several books into one… Which brings in Doc and Fi. I love them, their relationship is dark, painful and yet filled with so much hope. The lengths they will go to just to be together – it breaks my heart to see Doc trying so hard, taking so many risks, just to make Fi happy. Apart from that, the book is very well written, the world building is really good and the concept is original and very interesting. I am so looking forward to starting book 3, Bad Blood, later today.

In Blood Rights we read an original story but in Flesh and Blood the author uses two tools which I particularly don\’t like a love triangle and cliffhanger . Chrysabelle and Mal have a strong connection and the other part of the affair Creek isn\’t a strong one to unbalance that no matter how much he tries. Creek is a member of the Kubai Mata a secret organization to protect the humans from all the othernaturals, they are trained and capable of facing all kinds of dangers and they have a deep knowledge of things, he is actually a cool character but around Chrysabelle he acts like a love sick puppy. Oh and I forgot to mention that the Kubai Mata wants the ring of sorrow!….. In the beginning of this book Chrysabelle and Mal are mad with each other but soon they accept the fact that once more they must work together not only to visit the Aurelian to get the answer to Mal\’s curse but also to save Doc from Dominic. Tatiana is still a bitch! Other than that, the way this books ends is the main reason for the two star review. I understand when a cliffhanger is necessary; I know when the author needs some loose ends to continue the story. In this installment everything is left unanswered, we have so many things unresolved that the final act with the witches was totally unnecessary . The unfortunate thing is that I have already bought the third one of the series Bad Blood and it\’s the only reason I\’m going to continue reading. P.S I really like Mal!

After the events in Blood Rights Chrysabelle and Mal have stayed away from each other out of pure silliness, claiming it\’s the other one who is staying away. Though it\’s clear they miss each other terribly and Chrysabelle still needs to keep her word about helping Mal they\’re just too damn stubborn to make first contact. I just wanted to see one of them break! You know, confess and kiss the other one into oblivion. The matter is taken out of their hands when Chrysabelle goes to see Dominic, yet finds Mal fighting in the Pits! Sexy Mal might have his dark-hansome-and-dangerous routine to perfection, when it comes to placating an angry Chrysabelle. But he might have just run into some competition when a mysterious man enters Chrysabelle\’s life. Creek is a human with some extraordinary abilities working for the Kubai Mata, a society dedicated to exterminating otherworlders. He\’s currently on assignment, but his interest in the comarre is definitely more than the job description. Trouble between Chrysabelle and Mal is only the tip of the ice berg in this action packed novel. The secondary plot was very good too. It\’s all about Doc trying to bring Fiona back, but to do that he has to get into some deep trouble. Trouble that involves betrayal, and deceit. Sadly the third string of the story is about Tatiana, who continues to be her annoyingly evil self. Again, I found myself skimming along her POV sections. Overall, Flesh and Blood is an exciting continuation to the Comarre novels. If you loved the first book, you\’ll definitely love this one too! More action, more drama, more sexy men, and most importantly, more Malkom! And if you haven\’t read this series yet I strongly suggest you do.

Hmm: I\’m enjoyed reading about how the long-term story is continuing and there are a few new twists, but, for me, Chrysabelle is very unnlikeable this time around, making this book a bit of a chore to read. she comes across as a spoilt child and is quick to dish out attitude to Mal, seemingly forgetting that it was her who dragged him into her mess, thous endangering his life, in the first place. Then she doesn\’t share information when she should, creating more mess, but it always seems to be someone else\’s fault, never hers. The author introduces a new character too; Creek. The alpha male thing is a major turn-off for me and his character\’s introduction hasn\’t added anything good to the story – all he is here for seems to be a stupid Twilightish love triangle. Sigh. This tired cliche is another sore point in the book for me – and as Chrysabelle openly admits to wanting both men, I end up getting frustrated with Mal too, because he needs to grow a backbone and tell her to kindly f*** off with messing both men around… Tatiana is also a disappointment. In book one I kinda sympathised with her and could see why she did some of the things she did, but in this book she has turned into a generic, half-insane uber villain. *** I\’m starting to regret having already bought book three. Fingers crossed that the charater\’s become more fleshed out, and this stupid love triangle cliche is resolved in the next book. It\’s really dragging the pace of this series down. If book three is like this, then I won\’t be bothering with book four.

I highly recommend this series, this second book is building the story nicely. It is moving on a pace, and not just a repeat of book one with different characters which often happens.

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