Damn it. I really didn't want to like this book. I thought Santiago was an ass in the other books. And Lily was so in awe of Roxy that I thought I'd dislike her too. But oh no, Laurie completely sucked me in. Once. Again.

So yes, I loved this book :) When is the next one due out? (and I apologize profusely for letting Santiago & Roxy languish so long in my TBR pile!) ( )

Seduced by Blood is my favorite book in The Sweetblood Series. I loved it! This wonderful story has a great plot with the perfect amount of action and romance.

There is so much going on – A Sweetblood is kidnapped, there is a mole within the Guardians and two damaged vampires are thrown together to find the traitor. Tristan and Roxy have to go undercover and pretend to have a relationship. Roxy knows she is attracted to Tristan while he loves/hates how she doesn’t jump at his commands like everyone else does. The chemistry between these two is hot and complex due to the demons from their past.

Seduced by Blood is one of those books you don’t want to put down. I know this for a fact, I needed to go to bed but I just had to read one more chapter. I ended up falling asleep with it in my hands! ( )

This series is one that I come to love very quickly. The characters have grown on me as the series has progressed and I love the world that Laurie has created! This book focuses on Santiago who is the no-nonsense taking region commander of the Guardians. His men love him, but he is not a warm and fuzzy kind of guy. He curses like a sailor, does not take excuses and always puts the well-being of the guardians above anything else. His is the story I have been waiting for because I knew whoever he ended up with was going to have to stand up to him and I could not wait to see that happen.

The woman who finally brings Santiago to his knees is Roxy Reynolds, a woman who has been burned by love before and keeps herself at a distance from people now because of that past experience. She does not fear Santiago like others do though and does not let his macho exterior fool her. He has had a particular bad tantrum when she walks in a thinks:

“His chest continued to rise and fall, the muscles in his arms bulging, reminding her of a bull in an arena ready to charge. Only she wasn’t scared. She’d always felt sorry for the bulls.”

The banter between the two of them was my favorite element of this book. They have such opposite viewpoints on many things in life which lead to a clash in opinion often. I love how Roxy did not just bend to what Santiago wanted and stood up for herself and what she believed in. Though these two were different in many ways they were a great couple. Roxy remarks:

“Apart, they seemed so different, but together…Well they just worked.”

On paper the two of them seem so wrong for one another, but opposites often attract and that was the case with Santiago and Roxy. When they are forced to pose as a couple is when the real fun between them began.

Laura continues to bring back characters from previous books and weaves them seamlessly into the plot. They are not back just so we can see where they are now, but the updates we get on their life flow into the plot naturally. It is nice to see where all those familiar faces are now and how each of them has progressed in their relationship without it feeling like an information dump. This leads into my point of reading order. Yes, you could read each of these stories as standalone novels, but I would discourage it. Both heroes and villains from previous books appear in this novel and while you could follow the overall plot, some of the side plots might be confusing if you have not read the entire series. Plus they are all really good and worth reading anyways!

As for the villain, Ventra, she is one sick vampire. One of her many hobbies include collecting bones of other vampires and sweetbloods to make into different pieces of art for her home. Yeah, like I said, sick! But as far as villains go she is excellent! She caused quite a few problems for Jackson in the previous book and since many of her plots were foiled she is bitter and seeking revenge. She will literally stop at nothing to get what she wants and no plan is too evil for her. She is easy to hate and I am not sure how Laurie can spend so much time in her head. She describes her so thoroughly and many times when I read what she’d done I would shudder. She continues to be a complex character and fantastic villain in this series.

Overall, Seduced by Blood is another stellar novel by Laurie. She keeps getting better with each book and I am in love with the Guardians. The ending of this book has left quite a few things up in the air and I am especially interested to see how the fate of one particular guardian turns out. I cannot say too much without ruining the story, but I am sure once you read Seduced by Blood you will know exactly who I am talking about. I am anxious to see whose book will be next! ( )

3 STARS
This is the last of four books in the series but the first one I have read. It does feel like a stand alone but
I feel that if I had read the other 3 books and see their story line continued would be richer.
Thier are a lot of sex scenes in the story.
Tristan Santiago the region commander likes everyone to jump when he says jump. But thier is a new
tracker in town to teach other trackers and Roxy Reynolds does not jump but walks away from his orders.
Roxy has come to teach the class so that Lily the one who was supposed to teach can go on a
pre-wedding trip. On the way thier she sees a wounded stranger out in the boondocks so she stops to
help and realize he was attacked by dark bloods for all his sweet blood. Before she can help him get
away two rangers come and then 2 dark bloods so Roxy unarmed calls for help.
Tristan has judged her by her tattooes and just wants her to go away, but ends up needing her help
to find the trator who is causing his men to get hurt. Roxy goes undercover as his girl friend and
thinks it way to cozy fast.
The Head dark blood in that area is a strong smart female who you love to hate. Laurie has strong
female characters who are tuff and sexy. Even some of the humans females are brave.
The male characters run the gamit some you want to slap and some you want to kiss.
If you love books with lots of sex and fighting you will like Seduced by Blood.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange of honest review from Netgalley.
07/24/2012 PUB Harlequin HarlequinHQN ( )

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

SEDUCED BY BLOOD, the fourth book in Laurie London’s Sweetblood paranormal romance series, employs one of my favorite classic romance scenarios for it’s primary plot: pretend lovers. Tristan and Roxy, two damaged and cautious vampires (she’s a former Tracker turned teacher, he’s a Regional Commander with serious self loathing issues) get thrown together and sent off to identify a traitor within the Guardian Enforcers. Right away, Tristan starts taking advantage of the situation, and Roxy fights back and completely turns the tables on him.

There’s plenty of romantic tension, the Sweetblood world continues to provide that dark yet sexy feel, and it was fun to see a few previous characters pop in for updates on their lives. But in this series, I tend to prefer the couples where one is a human. Tristan and Roxy both totally know the score as far as vampires are concerned, so there really wasn’t an element of danger to their relationship. The only obstacle was wrong assumptions on both their parts (which the reader knew about from the start). Plus Roxy had the somewhat annoying tendency to say ‘whaaaat’ whenever Tristan did something that surprised her.

Overall, the first two Sweetblood books are still my favorite, but it’s always fun returning to this series. No real surprises this time, but the classic story formula brought a smile to my face. There are no details yet on the next book, but more Sweetblood stories are coming soon.

Sexual Content:
Sex scenes ( )