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Blood Run Cold
This book is no longer available.
After an incident, Frederik Berg, a financial consultant with a reputation for shady business practices, is hired by the Dalcas, a family of ancient and influential wealth. The patriarch, Lucian, takes an interest in him. He is intrigued by Frederik's sociopathic nature and wants to keep him as a pet-literally. Lucian reveals himself to be a vampire, and in him, Frederik finds what he has been looking for all a predator even more dangerous and fearsome than he is, someone he can submit to.
But there is bad blood all around. Lucian has two jealous, opportunistic Elena and quiet, slippery Emil, who takes it upon himself to uncover Frederik's past and use it against him. That past comes in the form of Ghislain Saint-Denis and Prince Hasan, who were involved in Frederik's -incident.-
Though he intended to use them, Emil finds himself growing attached to both men. When Lucian promises to make Frederik a vampire, Emil fears for his lovers' safety, knowing that Frederik will take his revenge upon Ghislain and Hasan. Emil tries to protect them, but he can only do so much. And Lucian has no intention of keeping Frederik leashed.
Meanwhile, Elena has plans of her own. She is jealous of both her brother and her father, and intends to make sure that all of their pets meet their end. Both sides strike their blows, and family tensions come to a head. Soon it becomes clear that not everyone will survive the conflicts.
After an incident, Frederik Berg, a financial consultant with a reputation for shady business practices, is hired by the Dalcas, a family of ancient and influential wealth. The patriarch, Lucian, takes an interest in him. He is intrigued by Frederik's sociopathic nature and wants to keep him as a pet-literally. Lucian reveals himself to be a vampire, and in him, Frederik finds what he has been looking for all a predator even more dangerous and fearsome than he is, someone he can submit to.
But there is bad blood all around. Lucian has two jealous, opportunistic Elena and quiet, slippery Emil, who takes it upon himself to uncover Frederik's past and use it against him. That past comes in the form of Ghislain Saint-Denis and Prince Hasan, who were involved in Frederik's -incident.-
Though he intended to use them, Emil finds himself growing attached to both men. When Lucian promises to make Frederik a vampire, Emil fears for his lovers' safety, knowing that Frederik will take his revenge upon Ghislain and Hasan. Emil tries to protect them, but he can only do so much. And Lucian has no intention of keeping Frederik leashed.
Meanwhile, Elena has plans of her own. She is jealous of both her brother and her father, and intends to make sure that all of their pets meet their end. Both sides strike their blows, and family tensions come to a head. Soon it becomes clear that not everyone will survive the conflicts.
642 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 3, 2010
5 people are currently reading
234 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 6, 2011
I don't want to leave those two stars dangling there like an accusation, so let me explain my reaction.
For some reason, BLOOD RUN COLD felt like a small story being given a staggering page count (185k words!) and I couldn't always put my finger on why. The characters were pretty simple. The worldbuilding relatively familiar. The machinations straightforward. And yet I could feel the outline flexing under the incidents. Often complications seemed to occur (Lucian's children, the offer to Frederick, the villains' arrival) because they had been planned by the writers, rather than motivated by the characters' actions.
There are a few interesting characters here, and some really cool Claudian skullduggery, but rather than believing that I was witnessing events of import, I felt informed that I was witnessing events of import. Sometimes a scene would occur and feel like a repeat. I couldn't always figure out what new information or what character transformation had been involved to warrant its inclusion. Characters often told me what I should have been able to sense myself about their feelings. I never really GOT the connection between the protagonists, because it initially felt so calculated and bloodless... and then got swamped in scheming.
Also characters self-reified their actions and reactions repetitively: I would see someone being angry, then hear their internal acknowledgement of the anger and then another character would observe that they were angry aloud and in their own thoughts. Of course that meant that I got impatient more quickly than I should have and got ahead of the story quite a bit. In the end, for all its byzantine maneuverings, the story felt a little lethargic and fattened with fan-fictiony thesaurus tinsel. At 185k words, the length of the story seemed like redundant overkill, not indulgence. There is ample fat over the muscle here, and it could have been trimmed in HALF to great effect.
This book doesn't actually read like a romance...or an adventure...or urban fantasy. It WANTS to be cooler and sleeker than it actually is. It postures and broods, but there's no blood in its veins. More than anything it feels like fan-fiction of a series that got cancelled in pilot. There just isn't enough story or character here to feel like a book is happening...in 185 words!!
Full disclosure, these repetitive, derivative vampire stories have just about KILLED bloodsuckers for me for the forseeable future. There are many ways to handle vampirism, and yet it's starting to feel like everyone in paranormal is refrying and replating the same four pop culture tropes ad nauseam. Enough already. If you're going to write Machiavellian scheming then it had better be original and clever. If your caharcters are going to be melodramatic then they'd better not stink of mothballs or cliche. And if you're vampires are going to occupy generic "exotic" euro-riche enclaves then please make sure that the writing supports the feeling that an actual place and actual people are involved. Paranormal has to work twice as hard to make readers give a shit. This book falls far short of that.
I look forward to seeing what else these authors have up their sleeves, and will cross my fingers for some vigorous red-penning.
For some reason, BLOOD RUN COLD felt like a small story being given a staggering page count (185k words!) and I couldn't always put my finger on why. The characters were pretty simple. The worldbuilding relatively familiar. The machinations straightforward. And yet I could feel the outline flexing under the incidents. Often complications seemed to occur (Lucian's children, the offer to Frederick, the villains' arrival) because they had been planned by the writers, rather than motivated by the characters' actions.
There are a few interesting characters here, and some really cool Claudian skullduggery, but rather than believing that I was witnessing events of import, I felt informed that I was witnessing events of import. Sometimes a scene would occur and feel like a repeat. I couldn't always figure out what new information or what character transformation had been involved to warrant its inclusion. Characters often told me what I should have been able to sense myself about their feelings. I never really GOT the connection between the protagonists, because it initially felt so calculated and bloodless... and then got swamped in scheming.
Also characters self-reified their actions and reactions repetitively: I would see someone being angry, then hear their internal acknowledgement of the anger and then another character would observe that they were angry aloud and in their own thoughts. Of course that meant that I got impatient more quickly than I should have and got ahead of the story quite a bit. In the end, for all its byzantine maneuverings, the story felt a little lethargic and fattened with fan-fictiony thesaurus tinsel. At 185k words, the length of the story seemed like redundant overkill, not indulgence. There is ample fat over the muscle here, and it could have been trimmed in HALF to great effect.
This book doesn't actually read like a romance...or an adventure...or urban fantasy. It WANTS to be cooler and sleeker than it actually is. It postures and broods, but there's no blood in its veins. More than anything it feels like fan-fiction of a series that got cancelled in pilot. There just isn't enough story or character here to feel like a book is happening...in 185 words!!
Full disclosure, these repetitive, derivative vampire stories have just about KILLED bloodsuckers for me for the forseeable future. There are many ways to handle vampirism, and yet it's starting to feel like everyone in paranormal is refrying and replating the same four pop culture tropes ad nauseam. Enough already. If you're going to write Machiavellian scheming then it had better be original and clever. If your caharcters are going to be melodramatic then they'd better not stink of mothballs or cliche. And if you're vampires are going to occupy generic "exotic" euro-riche enclaves then please make sure that the writing supports the feeling that an actual place and actual people are involved. Paranormal has to work twice as hard to make readers give a shit. This book falls far short of that.
I look forward to seeing what else these authors have up their sleeves, and will cross my fingers for some vigorous red-penning.
probably-not
July 15, 2012Sadly this book is no longer available. It'll be like the elusive Bigfoot: I know there's a paperback copy out there in the wild somewhere.
March 29, 2011
Let me start out by saying that if you like nice, romantic vamps that ask before they bite, this book is definitely NOT for you. This vamp culture is savage, and I mean far beyond BDSM and safewords. Bloodplay? More like blood bath in some scenes. I have a feeling if vamps are really out there, they are more like these guys, and that they are different makes them extremely interesting to read about.
The authors did a great job with both characters and plot. I found the most fascinating couple to follow were the two most psychotic. Lucian is the ultimate hunter and oldest vamp in the book. Frederik is a human with no emotions that kills like a shark. To see what made each of them the way they are, and see how they change each other was the best part of the book.
The authors did a great job with both characters and plot. I found the most fascinating couple to follow were the two most psychotic. Lucian is the ultimate hunter and oldest vamp in the book. Frederik is a human with no emotions that kills like a shark. To see what made each of them the way they are, and see how they change each other was the best part of the book.
December 25, 2011
This was so-so for me. I like bdsm in my sex stories, but there was just so much of it here. Over and over...everyone the characters meet is into it, and it just seemed boring after a while. Oh, look...another bdsm sex scene. The final battle is a little odd. There's just little things along the way that don't make sense. The one vampire cheats on his lover (with his lover's father, no less) and thinks to himself that his lover won't mind. I don't know. It felt like the authors were trying to pack emotion into a emotionless book. Like trying to convince us why we should care about the characters, even though the characters weren't acting like people we should care about. And it's waayyyy toooo loonnnggg. Good golly! It's in the area of 180-thousand words.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2015
What can I say except this was an amazing story! If you don't wish you were a vamp after reading this, then you will never read anything that will make you feel that way. And what you learn about BDSM might make you want to give that a try too! There wasn't a single character in the book that doesn't grip you and make you feel for them. This is how characters should be written!
I couldn't put this down and finished it in about 16 hrs. Thanks Alek for another awesome story that will be going on my re-read list :)
I couldn't put this down and finished it in about 16 hrs. Thanks Alek for another awesome story that will be going on my re-read list :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2011
Wow...just Wow!!!
This was one intense read; so much action, passion and biting.
Definitely one hot; hell on wheels read.
I enjoyed the diversity of the characters. All of them played such an important role in the whole of the story.
I really really liked this book.
Highly Recommend.
This was one intense read; so much action, passion and biting.
Definitely one hot; hell on wheels read.
I enjoyed the diversity of the characters. All of them played such an important role in the whole of the story.
I really really liked this book.
Highly Recommend.
December 29, 2010
A full-on read that kept me guessing all the way through. Loved the characters and their struggles and as always their discovery that they are capable of things they didn't dare dream of - love, emotion, pain, hatred, murder... Just fabulous
October 31, 2010
3,5 stars
Read
August 14, 2011Got about halfway through, and although it was written well it didn't grab my interest at the time. I think I'd like to have another go at it though.
maybe-later
March 14, 2013K, I know it's not available, but still.
Holy mu-fu-what?
642 pages?
Holy mu-fu-what?
642 pages?
February 8, 2014
Neither Frederik nor Lucian are "dark" characters. They are bad, really bad, to the bones and last drop of human/vampire blood. After first reading I liked Frederik, during the second reading I fully realized how monstrous he was. Nevertheless I didn't change the rating because it's not about liking or disliking MC: it's about bondage, domination , submission, sadism, masochism, humiliation, blood, sperm, pain, pain again and more pain and bloody sex. Nothing is safe and sane but everything is consensual (apart from rape in the past, which in the end appeared was rape fantasy but at the beginning sounded dangerous).This is NOT BDSM, and never tried to be; forget safe words! If you want to play, you will play till the last drop of your blood, till the last beat of your heart (literally).
Action: some in the end; non-consequential.
Delicious.
Action: some in the end; non-consequential.
Delicious.
Read
July 3, 2012Out of contract and removed from circulation.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews