Bloody Annoyances

Chi no Ai #1

by Marie McKinley

The human who has nothing left to live for and the vampire who thinks he's a tasty treat. That's a terrible reason to keep living.

For a long time Nathan Hayashi had cut himself off from the rest of the world and committed himself to avenging his family's murder. Is a chance encounter with a happy, persistent vampire enough to distract him away from his dubious goals?

Nobuhiro Kurosawa has been alone among humans for a long time. All Nobu wants is to convince this silly, stubborn human to stay with him so they can live happily ever after together forever and ever.

Genres: Fantasy, M M Romance, Vampires, Young Adult, LGBT

371 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 8, 2014

About the author

Marie McKinley was born and raised in Southern California. For college she moved to Northern California to study Opera; however, fate intervened and after a tumultuous changing of majors she ended up in Asian Studies. Her major took her across the ocean to study abroad in Japan for her senior year. After receiving her degree, she returned to Japan for another year as an English Teacher. Her time abroad led to her love of writing. Marie currently resides in Northern California where she continues to pursue writing in her free time.

Reviews

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, I really enjoyed this book. I especially like how it was different, in the sense that Nobu wasn't just some huge, strong, and manly vampire. He was actually really adorable--albeit sometimes annoying xD
And Nathan, dear Nathan, well i'll be honest and say that he got under my skin several times. He just made me want to transport myself into the book and yell at him for the stupid choices he thought were, "for the best."

But there were more positives than negatives, and I look forward to the second installment of this series. I really thought that they made such a cute couple, so I hope to see how they stay together and pull through.

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took some getting used to the writing style, but the book won me over after a while. Mainly Nobu won me over, with his cheerful nature, his refusal to give up when most of us would have thrown Nathan far away.

It can feel a bit all over the place, conversations start but don't really finish, it's difficult to get proper answers to what is happening and who Nathan really is.
Which I assume is part of keeping the suspense up because the book end up on a cliff hanger, though it could be annoying.
But still. I'm continuing on the second book, I need some more Nobu cuddling and adorable pouting.

[Jeanne 'Divinae' · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this story for free on Amazon. It looked interesting and decided to give it a chance. After starting a few other stories, I finally settled on this one. It seemed intriguing and wanted to see where it would lead. Well, there were moments while reading this, it came across as very clear. But other times, it came across as a bad translation(in my opinion). But still, I liked where it was going, so I continued on.

The story is about Nobu, a vampire and Nathan, a 'special' human. I really liked their relationship. Especially, Nathan, as he came to terms with things as the story progressed. First, that Nobu wasn't going anywhere, then his love for him, and then the truth about his family. Nobu is great for Nathan and loves him completely. He always threatens(in his inner thoughts) that he is just going to lock up Nathan and never let him go. He could if he wanted too. He is a vampire after all. But he doesn't. He wants Nathan to choice him on his on free will. Though Nathan tries to push him away, Nobu won't budge. He is stubborn and he is determined that he will stay by Nathan's side no matter what.

Nathan tries his hardest to push Nobu away, but it is easier said than done. Finally he admits that he loves his vampire, even though he shouldn't. Nobu isn't evil. He loves to cook and garden and spoil Nathan. I almost added the sweet-no-sex tag, because their were hardly any details at all. But it wasn't necessary. They both seem have to settle on being together and Nathan is still set on getting revenge on his family's murderer. The story is left on a cliffhanger of sorts, so we shall see where it goes with the next book.

I had a few questions that were confusing or just not answered in this book.
Is Nathan an empath because he is hunter, or is he unique. Nobu's sire seems to understand why Nathan's scent is so alluring. Is that the reason?
Why didn't Nobu's sire want Nathan to kill that shape-shifter??
Some parts of the story referred to Nobu being just around a hundred, but then other parts were talking about him being older.

[Alisa Pack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not the unbiased source for this book, I am the editor who has read it five or six times through multiple versions and drastic changes. I am the one who has waffled over every comma and did the final "find and replace" to make sure Nobu always calls Nathan "Nei-tan" when speaking to him.

I love this book.

I love this book for its characters, and its heartbreak, and how much of a stupid-head Nathan can be.

I love this book because it leads to the second (and possibly third) book in the series that I think I'm the only one who is getting to read any of right now. And I'm crazy, but I might love the sequel more than the first book.

I love this book because it was written by my friend and the two of us have sent it out into the world to see if we can find other people who love it too.

And I love the crazy retro vampire on the TV on the cover of the book. It quickly became my favorite bit of that artwork. That and the naked version. Because our artist saved a version of the cover where Nathan and Nobu's cloths are on a separate layer, God bless digital art.

I figure that if I still love this book after reading it a dozen times in less than a year and questioning everything about it, then maybe other people might like it too.

And for those few people out there who might not read digital book it is okay, because we are making the book available as a print-on-demand book for three times the money. Mostly we are doing this because WE want physical copies of the thing we worked on for so long, but if you want a copy to put on your shelf then you can order one too.

Thank you to everyone on Goodreads who has left us a rating or a review, you are helping us find people who will honestly like our crazy little book and that is what we really were hoping for when we started editing the heck out of it forever ago.

Finally, if you hate vampires, gay romance, Japan, or gay sex please never read our book. This was not meant for you. If you love those things then please do read our book, we published it just for you.

[Jamie Lynn Lano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marie McKinley has been a friend of mine for a long time, back from when we both lived in Japan. I just want to get that out of the way, so that this doesn't seem insincere. What follows is my honest opinion of Bloody Annoyances.

The eager seme/ reluctant uke dubcon is one of my favorite tropes, and Marie delivered on that pretty darn well. The relationship was slow to develop, which I like, and felt fairly natural. The midpoint climax that actually led to consummation, and the next chapter, were believable (as much as vampire/human relationships can be) and well-written. I loved the use of descriptive language.

If I have to be critical of anything, it's that while the book moved on at a brisk pace, it took a long time to read. I think that it could have been edited a little more tightly. That said, I'd definitely recommend it, especially to yaoi fans, and will reread again for sure! I am looking forward to the next one eagerly. :)

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This vampire wins my vote for one I'd most like to cuddle. The story could have been tighter but it was an enjoyable read, light hearted for the most part. I think there were emotions that should have seemed stronger but I prefer the light hearted version in my mind. What I didn't like is that it ended in a cliffhanger.

[misszaria22 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprised

I didn't know what I was getting into when I started reading this book, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I'm ready to start on the next book.