Awakened: A Slow-burn Paranormal Romance

Blood of the Chosen #1

by D.L. Blade

*As of September 13th, 2024, the publisher changed the title of this novel to Awakened to reflect the original edition's title.*

Three years ago, Mercy was the victim of a brutal attack. Now, she faces a new threat that lurks in the shadows of her fear, and there’s no one to trust.

Secrets begin to reveal themselves to Mercy, and she’s thrown into a haunting, supernatural world. Vampires, witches, and werewolves roam the land, and as newfound power grows within her, Mercy must decide where her heart and strength lie. To become a warrior and fight the monsters who thirst for her blood, or to open her heart to love and the man in her dreams—visions of her past life she doesn’t remember.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Vampires, Paranormal, Witches, Magic, Paranormal Romance

357 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Author also writes under Diana B. Lynn

Hey readers! I'm D.L. Blade.

I've always had a passion for creative writing, starting my career as an author with somewhat milder books and now exclusively writing dark romance. I love looking for ways to take my readers on a journey into a world of unconventional love, morally gray men, and villains who get the girl.

When I’m not writing, I enjoy reading, spending time with my family, attending rock concerts, and exploring new restaurants in Denver.

I dream of continuing to create exciting novels for my readers and taking them on a journey through the magical realms that spill from the pages of my books.

***All three of my young adult novels are written under Diana B. Lynn. Please note that if you see the titles The Dark Awakening, The Dark Underworld & The Dark Deliverance out there, these are NOT adult, dark romances, like I write today. They are young adult romances.

Follow me!

https://linktr.ee/dlblade

Reviews

[Helen Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book Slayed Me (In the Best Way Possible). If you're even remotely into vampires, werewolves, witches, reincarnation, or love triangles that rip your heart in half, read this book immediately.

The story follows a fierce yet vulnerable FMC who survived a brutal attack and now finds herself caught in a supernatural world teeming with danger, secrets, and power she didn’t know she had. She’s lost her memory, but here’s the twist: she was reincarnated by one of her lovers because she’s the key to defeating the vampires. Yeah. And the vampires? They’re after her blood.

And the love triangle? One of the BEST I’ve ever read. There’s emotional tension, mystery, angst, loyalty, and betrayal. You never quite know who to trust or who she should give her heart to, and the stakes feel high from start to finish.

There’s so much going on in this story, but it never feels overwhelming or chaotic. I couldn’t put it down, and honestly? I didn’t want to. No dull moments, no filler, just pure dark fantasy goodness with a romantic punch to the gut.

[Laura M. Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exhilarating twist to the story that kept me on edge all over again.
I had read the original YA trilogy and loved it, but the spiciness of the characters, the new vampish scenes, and the sexy cover quickly drove this book into my Top 5! I can't honestly settle on what is my absolute favorite aspect of this book. The magic, the romance, the hair-raising hot villain... All I can say is...I can't wait for the sequel!!!

[Courtney Caccavallo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the retelling of Mercy's story. It's gritty, it's powerful, and it has just the right amount of spice. Once you start reading, it's impossible to put the book down!

[Danielle Zipperer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book definitely kept my attention. I can't wait to see what Mercy does next and how she will grow into her new reality.

[Hannah The Awkward · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had me on the edge of my seat! I absolutely loved The Queen of the Damned vibes so much. Mercy is just a normal girl that has things happen to her that can’t be explained and suddenly her world tilts when she finds out that she’s not as normal as she once thought. Through discovering her powers she opens a door of hundreds of years of war, destruction, and heartbreak. Her struggle to find out who is friend and who is foe makes it difficult to find out who to trust. I gobbled this book up in a day because I just couldn’t put it down. What an amazing story! So excited to read more

[stephanie cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stalked: Blood of the Chosen is the adult (spicy) version of the original young adult trilogy, which is amazing. The spice, the characters, and the eye-catching cover are all wrapped up nicely in this book. We follow along with Mercy, a normal girl, who has unexplained things happening to her, changing the world she once knew to something magical. I love that I found this adult version of the trilogy, I love this author for it.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Susan Wells · Rating 1 out of 5]

I decided to do a speed read of this one, but only made it to 69% (nice)

So there’s a lot with this book. The structure of the writing is pretty rough. It was like reading an essay from a high school freshman. I think the story in general had a lot of potential, but felt like it was published from the first rough draft.

The characters were really flat, to the point of being caricatures of themselves. There was a point when the villain actually throws his head back and cackles in the middle of his evil plan monologue. Like what? Everyone’s reaction, or lack thereof, to new info about the supernatural world is similar to the way someone would react to being told it’s going to rain.

The romance…… after several man hours dedicated to this book I finally had to call off the search. We get teased with a past love who feels like they are the main interest but then is never seen again throughout the next 60% of the book. The other two are defined as a simp, and, in my opinion, a predator. MAJOR ick from guy number two! And we get, in the grand total of the 69% that I did read, 1 semi spicy scene that was ironically anticlimactic.

The FMC has a thought process that would give any poor soul reading it whiplash, and I feel entitled to file a claim with my health insurance over it. I genuinely have no idea how we get from point A to point B in her decision making process, nor do I understand how sacrificing herself is simultaneously the right and wrong answer all the time 🥴

Now let’s get to the part I really want to talk about: the dialogue! Listen, I can understand how conversations are written to add more drama to the scene because at the end of the day we are telling a fictitious story……… but my God this was bad! Even in the fantasy world that we are working with, I could not retain my immersion in the story because of how awful the dialogue was. Most of the lines delivered by the characters would not make sense spoken aloud, and I don’t mean the fantasy world mechanic bits. I mean like, “I’ll continue to fight by my coven’s side until each and every last one of you becomes a pile of ash. Starting with you, the pathetic monster who can’t even harm a fly.” 😑 this is the FMC and bad guy squaring off, but like they’re literally just standing and glaring at each other when she says this. This guy is also supposedly super ancient and powerful, and she takes him out with a spell she made up on the spot, no training, and puts a bit of tree branch in his heart while he’s stuck. Literally kills him after 2 pages.

Anyways, this one is gonna be a no for me. And, if you did like this book I just want you to know I’m glad it found its audience. It wasn’t for me, and that’s okay.

[Crystalclearwpg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mercy is not your typical girl once you get past her outer exterior. She survived a horrible attack that change her for life and it was about to change ever more...whether it's for the better or worse we will see. Mercy was thrown into a world she thought was only on pages she read and is now the center of it all...vampires, witches, werewolves and many more paranormal. She will be put to the test of time and become who she was destined to be but at what cost is the question. Mercy is a strong person but like any other young adult she has her doubts about who to trust, love and follow. You will find lots of family bonds, friendships and growth within this first book and will want to continue on to see how Mercy makes it through.
The steamy scenes in this edition are minimal but a good add in from the original.
I received a free ARC of this story and give my review voluntarily.

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING!!!

This first book was full of twists and turns that kept me hooked and wanting to know more. The book is so well written with detail, I felt like I was watching it all happen in my mind while reading the words. DL Blade is an amazing writer and I can’t wait to find out what happens in the next book!

[Elizabeth Galindo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another tantalizing tale by D.L. Blade! I LOVED every page! Following Mercy along as she learns the truth about who she is and faces danger at every turn kept me on the edge of my seat! I need MORE of this incredible world!

[Sydney McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD. Kept me engaged the whole time. Loved every second of this book. My favorite author!!!!!

[Nicole Chávez-Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I’ve read the YA series and this rewrite was just as exciting with a side of SPICE 🔥 Following Mercy on this journey was a page turner! Highly recommend!

[Pat Labrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I absolutely loved this book. I fell in love the characters and storyline all over again. Can't wait for the next installment

[Rebel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first book was full of twists and turns that kept me hooked and wanting to know more. So well written with detail. Following Mercy along as she learns the truth about who she is and faces danger at every turn kept me on the edge of my seat! Can't wait to read book 2.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

almost 3 stars

[Bethany Fletcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 70% cause I literally could not deal with Caleb any longer. Creepy, controlling dickhead.

P.S, for anyone thinking, ‘she read a book called Stalked and didn’t like the stalker 🙄’ Caleb isn’t even the stalker. He’s just an extra problem. Arguably, she’d be better off with the stalker.

[Helene Black]

DNF @ page 43

[Mary Jean Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been in such a reading slump this is the first book I’ve read in months that didn’t take me forever to read

[Brenda Moser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome story filled with twists and turns and a bit of steam. The author take's you into Mercy's life as she learns of her past and is trying to adjust to all the changes. It's well written with perfectly painted scenes and had me hooked right to the end. I'm looking forward to the next book.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.

[Mariaan Belinfante · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. The writing style, the pace, the characters made this into a page turner and I didn't want the book to end. Intrigue, lots of magic and action kept me reading with enthusiasm. Recommended yes
I received an advanced review copy and leave this review voluntary Thank you BookSirens

[Emz sirenreadssmut · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay. I had to DNF. I don’t normally DNF especially making it so far into a book. I made it 74% through the book. I still gave two stars because the storyline & plot is actually great, this book had so much potential but lacked idea & imagination. As much as I wanted to continue & see what happens I just can’t. Things were rushed , plot holes , & situations in certain scenes were just so unrealistic & unbelievable that I physically cringed & laughed ..
For example Ch. 20 page 232 , a fight scene (with an ancient vampire) while they were in a “stand off” goes as follows ; “ I took that moment to grab and chuck the dagger toward the water as far as I could. As he dashed for it …” after I read that I was like wait what lol ?! Are we talking about a smart ancient vampire or a golden retriever playing fetch?! .. This was just ONE example during that whole “fight” scene that was cringey & laughable because it lacked idea & imagination & was just straight up unbelievable in a fantasy story like this.
I really wanted to love this book , I wouldn’t have stuck with it for as long as it did if the general idea of the plot wasn’t actually really good .

[Steffy's Reading Corner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this. I just couldn't get past the fact that she told him repeatedly that her current body did not know him and yet he still continued to pursue her. Also the fact he has known about her since she was in the womb and watched her grow and told the mom he would come for her when she was of age. It just have me to much ICK. I gave it till chapter 12 and just couldn't make myself continue.

[Chantelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like it

I just didn't like anything about this book. I didn't enjoy the plot, it was boring and slow and the characters were unrelatable and obnoxious. There really wasn't anything to grab my attention which is why it took me so long to get through it. I won't be reading the next book.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this as a YA (still do) but it was taken to a whole new level! D.L Blade upped the romance and spice! Ive loved to be able to dive into the series again! Can’t wait to start book 2!

[Tiff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t even know what to say. Plot had so much potential and I feel disappointed.

[p_a_u_l_a · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨ 𝑨𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑫.𝑳. 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆 ✨

𝐴 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟, 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔

⭐ 4/5 stars | dark, 🄸🄽🅃🄴🄽🅂🄴, and laced with supernatural secrets

Book Series: Blood of the Chosen one (1/3)
[E-BOOK]

| unpaid review |

🦇 General facts about the book
Awakened (previously Stalked) is the first book in the Blood of the Chosen series by D.L. Blade. It's a revised and steamier version of her earlier YA trilogy The Dark Awakening. This book kicks off a dark urban fantasy romance filled with vampires, witches, deadly bloodlines, and a heroine discovering her destiny.
I picked it up as a random read and ended up completely loving it. I read it in just a few days because I couldn’t stop turning the pages. The mix of emotional tension, slow-burn romance, and danger kept me hooked from start to finish.

🦇 Story (spoiler-free)
Mercy is a young woman haunted, both by her traumatic past and the growing sense that something isn't right around her. After surviving a brutal attack years ago, she’s finally finding her footing again... until strange dreams and even stranger events start to unravel her reality.
As new people enter her life, including a dark, mysterious man with his own secrets, Mercy begins to question her sanity, her memories, and ultimately her identity. There’s a dark force watching her, and the world she thought she knew starts to fall apart as she discovers a hidden supernatural war she never knew she was part of.
The story is fast-paced and builds tension chapter by chapter. The blend of romance, mystery, and paranormal intrigue works beautifully. I was especially impressed by the emotional tone of the story, which balances Mercy’s personal trauma with growing danger and desire.
I also loved the twist near the end, it genuinely caught me off guard. Mercy's final decision gave the story real weight and sets the next book up perfectly. It felt like a true turning point not just in the plot, but in her character arc as well.
And while I do wish a few scenes had more descriptive depth, especially around the magical system and emotional flashpoints, I still felt connected and invested. The story never dragged, and the worldbuilding left me wanting more.

🦇 Characters
Mercy is one of those protagonists you quickly grow attached to. She’s been through so much, but she’s not broken. Her strength lies in how she continues forward, even when everything feels like it’s falling apart. She’s questioning, evolving, and emotionally vulnerable in ways that felt very real. I appreciated how her trauma was portrayed honestly, without making her feel weak or overly naive.
The male lead is dark, protective, and not without his own shadows. He walks a fine line between danger and desire, and the way their connection grows had just the right amount of tension and slow burn. I’m very curious to see how his backstory deepens in the next book.
Side characters like the witches and wolves were intriguing, even if they remained more in the background for now. I’m hoping we explore them more in later installments, there’s a sense that each holds pieces of Mercy’s larger truth.

🦇 Writing Style
D.L. Blade’s writing is atmospheric and emotionally rich. Her scenes have a cinematic quality, especially the dream sequences and emotionally intense moments. The dialogue felt natural, and I liked how the pacing always kept a thread of tension running through the book.
That said, there were moments where I wanted a bit more description or clarity, especially when big revelations happened. Some transitions felt slightly rushed. But overall, I enjoyed her style, especially how she balances romantic and suspenseful tones.

🦇 Cover & Atmosphere
The cover fits the tone of the book really well: dark, mysterious, and quietly dangerous. It hints at secrets and shadows without revealing too much, and that’s exactly what the story feels like. The atmosphere throughout the book is moody, tense, and emotional. If you love books where you can feel the fog creeping in, the magic humming just under the surface, and the emotional stakes rising with each chapter, this one's for you.

📌 Awakened is a compelling mix of dark magic, buried secrets, and emotional awakening. The mystery had me hooked, the romance was just the right amount of tension-filled, and the twist left me reeling.

💬 Have you read it? What did you think of Mercy’s decision at the end and are you ready for Book 2?

[Beba Andric · Rating 5 out of 5]

The year is 1692, Salem witch trials are in full force, a man desperate to save his love at any cost. This man is not really a man, well he is, sort of, he's a vampire, his love, a human. This prologue just whet my appetite for more! And the "more" that followed was even more exciting! Fast forward to present day and we find Mercy clueless of her past, clueless to who she is. She has these strange dreams involving a man she feels she knows, yet doesn't, a man who she's dreamt about for a year, rather steamily I might add... what a strongly crafted MC! She takes everything on the chin, not allowing herself to play by anyone's rules, heck after what her own mum did, well, yeah, suspicion is a given! She has the most awesome friends, the support they give each other, what they're prepared to do for one another, is stunning. As she discovers the truth of who she is, what she is, she knows she and they will never be safe. To complicate her life even further, her feelings for Caleb and Dorian have the power to unravel her, but does she give in? Absolutely not! When faced with the truth, when faced with apparent betrayal and lies, she sifts through it all and does it Mercy style! You'll definitely want to experience that for yourselves.

I loved Dorian right from the start, a Vampire with a heart, what's not to love? Caleb, well he's a tad more complex... my emotions towards him keep changing, even by the end of this book I couldn't pinpoint if I liked him or not. The other characters are incredibly cool, her aunt Lucy, her uncle Joel and Riley. Riley, her once love, now her best friend stands by her through it all. I was taken aback at his... well, let's just say, transformation. I was propelled into a dark world of immense power, of immense lies, of immense struggles, not only in battles of the flesh but battles within the flesh.

This author blew my mind! A rollercoaster ride? Gee whiz, it felt more like the rollercoaster has completely derailed and I was flying through air, desperately clutching at the bars trying to hang on! From Witches to Vampires to Werewolves to Angels, to a magic system so unique and cool, yep, this was a book I devoured in one sitting! The excitement, the action, the convoluted paths, so numerous and tantalising, I was almost drooling from my mouth hanging open! And good heavens, the ending almost undid me! I have a compulsion now, a compulsion to read the next book and scrounge for every book written by DL Blade!

[_chroniclesofabookworm_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

💥Overall opinion:
Such an amazing read full of suspense, action, some drama, and romance. This author put such an original take on vampires, which I absolutely loved. It had a great plot and the world building and characters we're truly perfect for this story.

⛔️Brief Story Summary:
Three years ago, Mercy was the victim of a brutal attack. Now, she faces a new threat that lurks in the shadows of her fear, and there's no one to trust. Secrets begin to reveal themselves and she's thrown into a haunting, supernatural world. Vampires, witches, and werewolves roam the land, and as newfound power grows within her, Mercy must decide where her heart and strength lie. To become a warrior and fight the monsters who thirst for her blood, or to open her heart to love and the man in her dreams/visions of her past life she doesn't remember.

💋Tropes:
Hidden Identity
Vampires/Witches/Shifters
Amnesia
Reincarnation
The Chosen One
Enemies to Lovers
(Small) Love Triangle

💣Main Character Rating:
Caleb - 4⭐️ - he was a mysterious character that watched over her like a guardian, which reeled me in. When he was finally introduced, I found myself rooting for him. Then, he kept letting me down and for that he loses a star. He's a 5 star character with 4 star behavior. Hopefully he redeems himself in book two.
Mercy - 5⭐️ - this girl took everything that was thrown her way like a champ. She was truly resilient and such a strong character. Loved seeing her growth through the story on page and I'm excited to see her kick some serious a*s in book two!

🌶Spice
1/5

🚫Closure:
This book was exhilarating and hooked me from the very first page. I'll be reading every single book in this series. The way I devoured this book in less than three hours, should tell you something. These characters have pulled me into their world and I'm excited to see what happens next. I loved that I didn't know what would happen next and the twists the author put on vampire lore!

⭐️Overall Rating:
5 freaking stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Tabitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, this was not as advertised. Blurb said slow burn, fated mates, vampire romance. It’s not a slow burn when the only two guys she’s close with aren’t even the so-called love of her life. It’s not a slow burn when she’s falling all over some other creep with a veritable mountain of red flags. The FMC doesn’t exchange but two sentences with her vampire past-life lover throughout the entire novel, and she doesn’t even have her past life memories of him until 60% of the way through the book, and we don’t even get to see those memories as flashbacks, so there’s literally no romantic content between the two of them at all.

There is nothing in the entire book that suggests they’re fated mates. If anything, she’s more fated to be the chosen one, her and her red-flag creeper buddy and the three other randoms we barely know.

The FMC does the stupidest things, like surrendering to the villains thinking she can save herself with her magic, attacking an 800-year-old vampire king in his own lair while her powers are suppressed with her 1 afternoon of kickboxing training, loudly talking about her escape plans with other prisoners in front of vampires with super-hearing, and allowing herself to be killed by an angry mob in a past life. In the end, her genius solution to having too many feelings for her boyfriend and her ex is just to magically delete her love out of herself so that she can focus on her dumb quest to end vampirekind forever. Wtf kind of message is that supposed to send, in a so-called romance novel?

Lord, I hated this from top to bottom. I only didn’t give it a one-star rating because I try to save those for actual garbage, and this book was at least competently written. Author had a real bad habit of forgetting quotation marks at the ends of paragraphs, though.

[Liz Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stalked - D L Blade

Mercy the main female character is a reincarnated witch that choose to hang herself in a past life in order to stop vampires getting her.

Mercy comes back and finds out she's part of the 'Chosen Ones' to protect earth. She is the leader with the element of spirit - giving her ultimate control over the other witches powers in her coven.

Her coven have also found her again as they are all immortal. Mercy goes through her awakening and becoming immortal when she turns 21, that's what everyone has been waiting for.

Your first introduced to Mercy as someone who has trouble handling her past due to her mother stabbing her, it is later revealed that her mother knew about her powers and wanted to save Mercy from her fate, but she also wanted to gain powers for herself.

There is obviously a top vampire within this story - Maurice who is lead to believe that with Mercy's powers and now immortal blood that he can walk in daylight. He's in for a surprise when that's not the case! Major twist there but won't spoil it!

There is also a love triangle between Mercy, Dorian and Caleb which ultimately leads to Mercy making the ultimate sacrifice.

This was a very easy quick read book, however the twist involving Maurice threw off what was looking to be a predictable storyline, making it a great read.