Blood for Breakfast

Sydney Newbern #1

by Helen Bell

Nineteen-year-old Sydney Newbern leads the typical college student life until one day her roommate invites her on a hiking trip. Little does Sydney know that it'll be the day her life turns upside down. Nothing will ever be the same.

Kidnapped by a stranger, Sydney wakes up alone in a small room with a tattoo etched on her palm in black ink: 777. Then, she finds out her family is being watched. Her kidnapper will kill them if she doesn't comply with his instruction: swallow a red pill daily. Things get weirder when she realizes the number on her hand decreases by one every day.

When Sydney finally escapes, she knows she can't go to the police or back to her family—her kidnapper might hurt them. Trying to figure out what to do next, she discovers supernatural beings exist, and one crosses her path. The enigmatic vampire needs something from her, so she strikes a deal with him. But will his help suffice in solving Sydney's problems? Will she manage to remove the magical tattoo before it hits zero?

Genres: Paranormal

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 17, 2020

About the author

Helen Bell is a new adult and paranormal romance writer. When she's not absorbed in a book, or out with friends and family, she enjoys writing, hiking, bike riding, live music, and TV shows. She also loves Italian food and has a slight addiction to chocolate, okay, maybe a major addiction.

She loves to hear from readers, so feel free to drop her a line and say hello.

Email: helenbel80@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyanandEmma/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/?lang=en

website: http://www.helenbel.com/

Reviews

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Source* Kindle
*Genre* Paranormal / Romance
*Rating* 3.5-4

*Thoughts*

Blood for Breakfast is the first installment in author Helen Bell's Sydney Newbern series. 19-year old Sydney Newbern is attacked by an unknown man while out hiking with her friend, kidnapped, and tattooed with the number 777 on her palm in dark ink. She's held for weeks and told that she must swallow a red pill every single day or he will make sure her family pays a steep price. Fate, however, has other plans for Sydney. After a series of strange events, Sydney is transported away from her captor.

*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*

https://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/20...

[MsAprilreadswhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a human girl named Sydney she is kidnapped and wakes upwith a black magic number on her hand. She is thrown into a world she didnt know existed. This book definitely kept you on your toes. With twist and turns along the way. Now I'm going to have to anxiously await book number 2.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (8/7/2020)! 🎁

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Source – PDF

Genre – PNR

Rating 3.0

I received a free copy of this book via Goodreads voluntarily.

Brief Summary & Thoughts

In Helen Bell’s book debut Blood for Breakfast (BFB), a 19-year-old human girl, Sydney Newbern, goes on a hiking trip, is kidnapped, and mysteriously tattooed. These events lead her on a journey to solve these mysterious issues before she loses her life. While Sydney tries to deal with the fact that she cannot contact her family members or friends to get assistance, she has to rely on the goodwill of supernatural strangers, like Gideon the vampire. After escaping her captors, Sydney encounters vampires, Fae, witches, dragons, demons, and gargoyles in a short timeframe despite previously being totally unaware of the existence of the paranormal world. And time after time, Sydney proves to be the luckiest heroine I have ever encountered!

BFB reads more like a UF than a PNR as the romance elements felt like afterthoughts and barely even existed. It also seemed like the author had too much plot, leaving me frustrated at times because I couldn’t always keep track of what was going on. The author did a great job of keeping me interested in most of the book and the action jumped off in the first chapter, which I truly appreciated. While there were many moments in the book where I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation of finding out what would happen next, that emotion was sometimes doused by the use of exposition, which at times seemed ill-placed and excessive. I also loved how creative Bell is in creating a world with so many races who have varying abilities. At times though, her world didn’t always make sense especially through the use of plot devices and convenient saves for the heroine. I really hope that the next book in the series addresses these issues.

Detailed Summary & Thoughts

Paranormal romances are one of my favorite, if not my FAVORITE, genre to read. It’s exciting to see how authors merge two plots into one: paranormal and romance. Because I like to view the two plots separately along with the combo, I’ve structured my review in that way.

Romance. 

PNRs tend to feel 50/50 to me with the author giving equal attention to both plots. I love this split and I can even deal with the romance being treated as a subplot. But it doesn’t feel like it’s even a subplot here. At first, I thought this would be a slow burn between Sydney and Gideon, but it just reminded me of the first book of the Kate Daniels series Magic Bites (UF by Ilona Andrews) as the romance between Kate & Curran didn’t kick off until book 3. This undetectable romance is why I felt it was more of a UF than a PNR. BFB does successfully check a lot of romance story boxes:

1. The main characters were put together early
2. the love at first sight cliché was avoided,
3. and the main Cs had practical needs for each other.

The presence of these elements had me initially excited about the romance. Because some other important elements were missing, I found myself not emotionally involved with the characters or even interested in seeing if they do get involved. I’m referring to:

1. It didn’t seem like the main Cs enjoyed being in each other’s company. I felt like the author didn’t want me to forget that he/she is just a means to an end.
2. There was no inner conflict. Sydney tries to pretend that Gideon is unacceptable because he’s a vampire after they have their first kiss (which was only out of necessity btw):

“He laughed softly. “And to your other question, yes, it was why I kissed you.” I hated that this bothered me. I gave myself a mental shake. What is wrong with you? For God’s sake, he’s a vampire. A predator. A killer.”

This is BS because at this point, she’s already killed multiple vampires, so though she may not need to drink blood she’s a killer too! My point is if she’s already killed multiple vampires at this point, is this a legit inner conflict?
3. We’re not privy to Gideon’s thoughts, but Sydney’s treatment of him seems to run parallel with how she thinks. Sometimes, a character will claim not to care about someone, but their actions tell a different story. Not so here. My point, I think the author wanted to indicate there was an interest between the two, but it just didn’t come off that way.
4. There is no pursuit. I mean sure Gideon is hot and is not shy about showing his body. Additionally, he’s a shameless flirt! Outside of that, I get nothing that says he has more than a passing sexual interest in Sydney. Sydney muses about his hot body, but outside of that…I just kept getting nothing. No legit feelings.
5. No Sexual or romantic-like activity. They share one damn kiss in this book, and it was anticlimactic. By the time it happened, Sydney has had numerous inner dialogues about how he’s hot, smug, and arrogant. But I never get the impression she really likes him. Again, Gideon just seems like a freak who would jump her bones in one moment and be thinking about something else in the next. And then he makes it clear that it was ONLY to heal her! It's odd cause they spent a lot of time with one another and it seemed to not make a damn difference.

Paranormal. 

Developing a paranormal world isn’t just about coming up with a list of cool creatures, but also helps readers to see how the world itself is changed by those creatures. Bell introduces vampires, Fae, witches, dragons, demons, and gargoyles. There are multiple worlds so some of these beings live on other worlds like the Fae and gargoyles. Demons and vampires don’t get along and demon blood is like heroin to vampires. Demons eat the souls of humans and witches, so vampires, witches, & demons don’t really interact. Vampires drink human blood and choose to buy blood bags or use human donors that voluntarily provide their blood. After discovering these facts, it occurred to me (and I kept waiting for it to happen) that the author didn’t see what impact they had on their world. What society was like? What are their daily lives like and how they differ from humans? Perhaps she’ll write about this later.

Here’s one thing that really vexed me. Both Sydney and her sister, Zoey, are gifted humans, meaning they are born with a supernatural gift. How and why Sydney and Z are gifted remains a mystery, but sis has been seeing vampires and Fae since she was a kid and thus has always believed in the supernatural world. [Side note: if humans are largely unaware of the existence of supernatural creatures then how would Zoey be able to identify vampires and Fae? (eye-roll)]. So, here’s my issue. In all the first 18 years of Sydney’s life, she never sees anything or person to support her sister’s imagination that supernatural creatures exist. But after getting kidnapped, in the span of approximately 2 weeks, she comes across EVERY SUPERNATURAL CREATURE THAT EXISTS?

Deus Ex Machina.

Sydney gets herself into a lot of situations that spell deathly trouble. She needs skills or information to get her out of those situations. Throughout this book, there are a series of characters that IMO exist only to give her skills, information, or to solve an unsolvable problem. If Sydney is going to survive this crazy world, she needs skills, so I won’t comment about that. It’s understandable. But by halfway through this book, I became weary of the characters that were introduced for the sole purpose of exposition. It doesn’t add up that perfect strangers are willing to share personal stories about themselves or other characters like Gideon, just because Sydney asked. Sometimes, she didn’t ask; they just volunteered it because it was needed to move the plot forward, I guess.

This formula gets used again and again and by the end of the book, I was just so tired of it. Additionally, there’s Herit, a being no one knows who or what she is. But she’s a very powerful being that’s the answer for so many convenient saves to potential plot holes. Who made the rules for vampires, demons, & witches – Herit. Who created the Ice Prison which consists of rules that are just so convenient for Sydney’s survival – Herit.

Overall & Conclusions.

I really was excited to read this book as I love NA PNR (or UF), but some of these issues made finishing up a bit of a challenge. I love reading book series and Bell has a great imagination, so I’m curious to see how different the 2nd book is. If it’s a lot like this, I may not be able to finish.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blood for Breakfast
ARC
⭐⭐⭐⭐
What an interesting book. BFB is the introduction to Sydney, a human female that's kidnapped, tagged with black magic and then goes on a wild ride. This book is one event after another with very little downtime. I mean a lot happens to Sydney.
After being kidnapped her world gets turned upside down. She is thrust into the world of vampires. She known nothing of this world yet is able to navigate through it. This is where I took a star off. She knows nothing yet blindly follows people. She is also a martial arts expert yet had no previous training?.?. The black magic just takes over to protect itself. Making her a badass, which is ok, even if it did seem weird at first.
Her sister is involved in the Hidden World as the supernatural call it, and winds up missing. So not only is Sydney trying to understand what's happening to her she is also looking for her. Which only makes the story more involving. Like I said a lot of things are happening.
I did enjoy how all the characters interacted. They were all well thought out. Sydney though was a tough character for me to get behind. I'm not saying I disliked her, just she left me thinking what in the world... I will enjoy reading more about her and the growth in her character.
This book left a lot of questions in the end. Since so much happened in the book not everything had a conclusion. Not exactly a cliffhanger, it doesn't leave you with an "omg what happened" type of feel. Yet it does leave you with questions.
This book was given to me to read for an honest review.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was one of those rare cases: I downloaded a sample and was gripped by the author from the very first paragraph, and I'm glad to report that later the author kept me hooked and fascinated throughout the entire book.

Sometimes I roll my eyes when I come across yet another book mentioning vampires, as it has that "here-we-go-again" feeling to it, but this one was original and refreshing.

Am very much curious and looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Lizy Pitman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel was very interesting and keeps you on your toes as to what is going to happen next. I only wish I wouldn't have to wait until the next novel is publish, hope it wouldn't take too long. I’m hoping it well happen very soon. Thanks again for creating this series.

[Litisia Aiizik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow cant wait for book no 2.

[Sarah Thibaudeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

From beginning to end this book has twists and turns you will never expect. It has all the supernatural kinds (demons, fae, vampires etc) that you would expect, however there are a ton of unique twists that I loved. It is always refreshing to have new takes or ideas brought to the supernatural world. While this book may seem overly fast paced and focuses slightly less on character development it reads well and keeps you very entertained- in fact I read the whole book in two days!

I would love to see more development from Sydney since she has gone through so much- it would have been great to actually read through her development of her abilities rather than start training and two weeks later she is trained. I would have preferred it to be either slightly longer with more room for character development or have slightly less action within the pages. While it was highly entertaining and there is a great set of characters there is so much happening so quickly that it can become difficult to get invested in any character or remember everything fully. Often, I felt I had to go back and re-read as a major plot point had occurred in two sentences. Hopefully this is the first book in a long series that will allow us to understand more about all the characters and lead to a little more development in their backstories and personal/relationship growth.

Overall this is a great and very quick read- with action starting immediately there is never a dull moment.

[Cindy Rawlings · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Through a series of events, Sydney becomes privy to a paranormal world full of dragons, vampires, demons, and fae, as well as, searching for her missing sister. During her journey, she has to be cognizant of keeping her family safe while traversing this hidden world. Oh, and she has this dark magic tattoo on her hand and has no idea who put it there. This tattoo seems to count down her days left to live while giving her super martial art moves to battle the paranormal beings.

On her quest for answers, Sydney meets Gideon, who is a vampire with skills normally only available to the ancient vamps. Gone more often than not, he tries to protect Sydney even from herself. There was a hint of a romance between Sydney and Gideon, but that is never addressed (maybe it will be in the next book). In fact, he was absent through a lot of her ordeal. I reeeeeally wanted them to be an item.

While this book was entertaining, I really struggled at times to continue reading. Character development was good, but some ideas just did not fully form. You end up moving on to another sequence/idea before the previous was truly developed to its potential. And good grief, how many times does Sydney have to make decisions that cause her to get herself into sticky situations? Argg!

Thanks for allowing me to read and review!

[Holly Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

**** I’m volunteering to review this arc ****

Sydney doesn’t realize that there are supernatural creatures that exist in the world. Until she is taken and is saved by some. Her and her friend go on a hiking trip when she gets kidnapped and wakes up with a tattoo on her hand. She finds that she has to take a pill that has blood in it and that her tattoo keeps counting down. She doesn’t realize that Vampires, Fae’s and Witches are real. One vampire in particular named Gideon has seemed to protect and she finds that she has feelings for him. They must find out what happened to the missing girls and along with her sister. She must figure out who kidnapped her and why she has black magic in her body. Will she figure out what has happened to the missing girls and her sister? Will she figure out who and why she was taken? Will her and Gideon follows through with there affection for each other?

I look forward to the next book.

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

[Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood for Breakfast completely pulled me in from the very first page. Sydney Newbern is such a relatable character, just a regular college student thrown into an extraordinary, terrifying situation. The tension of the countdown tattoo had me turning pages late into the night, needing to know what would happen when it hit zero.

I loved the mix of mystery, suspense, and supernatural elements. The way Helen Bell weaves in the paranormal world feels fresh and intriguing, especially the deal Sydney makes with the enigmatic vampire. The pacing is spot on—fast enough to keep me hooked but with enough detail to really build the atmosphere.

This book has everything I look for in a paranormal thriller: danger, secrets, supernatural twists, and a heroine you can truly root for. It’s gripping, imaginative, and sets up so much potential for the series. I can’t wait to dive into the next Sydney Newbern book!

[Caroline Doig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what an amazing story I loved Sydney’s story and I can’t wait to read the next book in this series. Sydney is kidnapped she wakes up with numbers on her hand it’s powerful black magic and it’s caused Sydney to get a disease which will eventually kill her but the red pills help keep the disease at bay. Sydney is saved by Oberon the king of the Fae but because Sydney is human he made her shut her eyes if she looked at him she would die of fear, Sydney meets Gideon a vampire and together they make a deal they need each other. That’s all I’m going to give you guys but I loved this story Sydney is one courageous girl who knows how to kick butt, this is a 5 plus ⭐️ read and I highly recommend this book it’s definitely well worth the read.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

So what I really enjoyed about this book was suspense behind the numbers on Sydney’s hand. The Author did an amazing job of pulling me into the supernatural world, it was fun to read about all the different supernatural creatures in the story. Sydney and Gidden have complex relationship, for a powerful vampire he underestimates Sydney at every turn. LOL I think he’s going to be forever chasing her. Oberon is a sneaky fae I can’t figure out and what are his motives behind keeping Sydney and Gidden apart. Also he found Sydney In the first place he has to know who her kidnapper is. I wish I would have found out more about who was locked up with Sydney in the beginning. I can’t wait to read the next book to find out what happens next.

[Scarolet Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood for Breakfast (Sydney Newbern #1) by Helen Bell is a wonderful story to read. This is book number one in this wonderful start to a brand new series written by a brand new author for me to read and I can not wait to read the next book in this wonderful series. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about vampires, fantasy and paranormal romances.

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

[Heather Bane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 1 for the Sydney Newbern series. What a great start for the series!! The story had a great plot and flowed well. It’s very well written with well developed characters. I’m looking forward to mire by this author and series. I would recommend reading.

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

[tburbr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story line was good, the character work was great, and the book had a smooth flow to it. This was a great series starter and a quick, fun read. I look forward to more from this author.

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

[Jennifer Layne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick Summary:

In Helen Bell’s book debut Blood for Breakfast, Sydney Newbern is a 19-year-old human girl, who goes on a hiking trip with friends, is kidnapped, and mysteriously tattooed.

My Review:

These events have thrown Sydney into a world she didn’t know existed and on a journey to solve these mysterious issues before she loses her life. What an interesting book. This book is one event after another with very little downtime. I mean a lot happens to Sydney. As an avid Paranormal Fiction reader when you read Vampire you sometimes worry … “will this be the same ole, same ole?” … this one was original and refreshing with twist and turns along the way.

I received this as an Advance Reader Copy with the hopes I would like it and review it!

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.