Review: Cat O'Nine Tails by Patricia Leever

Cat O’Nine Tails
By Patricia Leever
Available Now
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Format: Review Copy
Source: Publisher
Challenge Met: Historical Romance

FIRST LINE

“In a tavern just off the docks of the small port village of Oaksbridge, Orrin Walsh sipped his ale at a corner table.”

REVIEW

Orrin Walsh has been hired to seek out and capture the elusive pirate, Aeron Lynch, by Queen Winifred. Even though Orrin has a sneaky suspicion that the Queen’s intentions are not on the up and up, he still accepts the challenge because secretly he has made it his goal to find the sea witch for his own vengeance. Orrin and his brother, Kale, have been hunting pirates since their village was attacked and their mother and sisters were murdered by a particularly malicious band of pirates.

Once Orrin discovers where Aeron is hiding he finds that she isn’t anything like what pirates are suppose to be. For starters it seems she is saving people not destroying them. Once he finds out Aeron’s secret and why the Queen wants her back, he vows to help Aeron and her crew to take Queen Winifred down.

Lots of adventure loaded into this swash-buckling read. Aeron holds her own and is highly respected by her crew and village. Her attraction to Orrin has been ongoing since their first meeting many years before so when the meet up again they are able to capitalize on their magnetism. Orrin’s brother even finds a surprise on the island for himself. Queen Winifred’s character is one nasty witch who abuses girls. Definitely for the adult readers of historical romance.

RATING

 

PURCHASE CAT O’NINE TAILS 

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Review: Tainted Blood by Mary Ann Mitchell

Tainted Blood
By Mary Ann Mitchell
Published: July 2003
Publisher: Leisure Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Challenge: TBR

BLURB (from back cover)

The infamous Marquis de Sade has lived through the centuries, spreading his evil and perversion over two continents. This master vampire cares little for his human playthings, seeking them out for his amusement...and nourishment. Once his dark passion and his bloodlust are sated, he moves on, leaving another drained and discarded toy in his wake.

Now Sade's travels have a definite purpose. He is determined to find the woman who has made his life hell for two hundred years - destroy her once and for all. His journey leads him back to America, to a seemingly normal suburban house. But the family who lives there is far from normal. They too are undead, vampires as dangerous as Sade, despite their wholesome appearance. And when the notorious Marquis meets the all-American family of vampires, the resulting culture clash will prove fatal, But for whom?

FIRST LINE

“The Hugheses were dead and resided in a contemporary four-bedroom house with hardwood floors and granite-top kitchen counters.”

REVIEW

Overall this book is dark and demented. These vampires are not your young adult romantic vampires. These vampires consist of a dominatrix, a baby vampire named Chuckie (shudders), two hideously evil child vampires, wacky mom and dad vampires (who brought their children over to the undead), a psychotic “vampire slayer” wanting to do nothing but die, and of course the perverted Marquis de Sade .

The creep factor hits high in the Hugheses family. Mr. Hughes had an affair with Marie, the dominatrix and Marques de Sade’s mother-in-law, and ended up being turned into a vampire. He then proceeds to turn his wife and two of the older children. His wife couldn’t help herself and turns the baby of the family also. So now you have a family that only ages in mind (which makes Chuckie the baby extremely creepy). Now Marie is coming for visit to her “American family” and she has a hidden agenda that involves payback to Marquis de Sade in the form of a “vampire slayer”. She knows he will follow her to Hugheses because he just can’t resist the temptation.

One paragraph pretty much sums up this book. From page 188:

“Everything seemed to be in upheaval. His sister was preparing to kill his brother. His brother had killed a little girl. Aunt Marie, who was afraid of nothing, was terrorized by the sight of his little sister. Babette was bonkers. His father wanted to kill his brother, and his mother might be in the basement with a naked Uncle Louis.”

This is my first book (that I can remember) that I have read of Mary Ann Mitchell’s and I do think I need to read some others that involve her Marquis de Sade characters just to understand them. Definitely for the horror vampire genre lovers and for adults only.

RATING

 

PURCHASE TAINTED BLOOD

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READ CHAPTER ONE HERE

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