Between Bloode and Water (Between the Shadows #3)
by Marie Harte
Blurb:
Kaia has had it
with her mother. Talk about touchy. Offend the sea witch and pay the price. Oy.
Granted, Kaia’s last boyfriend had been an idiot, but nearly sacrificing him to
a dark god had been totally unnecessary. And those deals her mother keeps
making with demons to obtain more power? Not a healthy way to achieve balance.
To stop her
mother from sacrificing some other poor schlub, she sneaks into her mother’s
lair and finds more intended sacrifices. But one of them has fangs.
Needing to get to
safety before her mother returns and loses her mind, Kaia, a sea nymph, swims
away with the guy and soon learns he’s under a spell.
In order to cure
him, she overrides her mother’s magic with her own, weak though it may be. But
now this male—a freakin’ vryko, a vampire who can swim like the merfolk—thinks
he loves her. Curing Orion of the enchantment should have ended their association,
but he’s still obsessed with her.
And for some
reason, she’s intrigued by him as well. But the dark one to whom her mother
promised a soul doesn’t care where it comes from. And since her mother has
reneged on Orion, the dark one decides Kaia will do nicely in his place.
Themes: Paranormal, Vampires,
Witches
Rating: 4.25 stars
Heat Rating:
Review:
Ok wow so the plot thickens big time in this
newest installment of the intriguing and fascinating new paranormal series by Marie
Harte. This series is one that I had a little trouble getting into with book
one, not going to lie, but the second and third books really took off for me
and I have found myself more in love as time goes by. Being a wiccan myself with a special connection
to water and earth this story really hit me in the heart and I found myself
connecting with Kaia and feeling her fears and pain directly, as she dealt with
the issues of her neglectful and ultimately evil mother and the jerk she gave
her heart to. The story picks up right where Duncan and Macy’s book ended (Between Bloode and Craft) as Orion is
sent on a mission to investigate a strangely disappearing island in the sound
and disappears himself for several days while on mission. Kaia is a Sea Nymph that never really
came into the powerful magic her mother, the
White Sea Witch, hoped she would, but then again she also hasn’t embraced
the pure evil her mother seems to relish in either, so there’s that. When she gets a “feeling” her mother might be
up to something, Kaia goes to investigate but never thought to find that her
psychotic mother had bespelled a vampire, putting not just her life but pretty
much the entire world at jeopardy of war.
Determined to free the vampire, Kaia overrides her mother’s magic but accidentally
partially binds Orion to her own magic and now he is calling her his mate and
shit just gets more complicated when she realizes he’s one of the Night Bloode. With the help of a few friends she works to
unbind Orion, but in the meantime the sweetness he shows to her makes her fall
deeper and deeper under HIS spell, leaving her heartbroken when they are
separated and he rails at her for something far beyond her control. Can Orion get over himself and his fears in
time to understand their true connection or will the true evil stalking them take
away his mate forever before he ever has a chance to realize the depth of his
feelings for her?
Honestly
I loved this story, even as we could see the trauma coming for Kaia like a
train coming down a tunnel and just knew it was going to hurt. Kaia is obviously very inexperienced with men
in general, but definitely with vampires, and Orion is just beyond her in so
many ways. She wants to do good and I loved
her gentleness even in the face of his nastiness in a lot of the moments when
he was being a total dick to her, because it was obvious she knew he needed her
love. But the important thing to note is that while she is gentle and loving,
much like the ocean’s embrace can offer peace, she is also deadly and dangerous
to her enemies and has a strength and steadiness that perfectly balances the
craziness that is Orion. Orion has been one of my favorite assholes in this series
for sure, crazy in the best of ways, but I never realized he would be a total
jerk when the time came. But I suppose lashing out because of his irrational
fears his a male trait no matter the species.
When he was under Kaia’s inadvertent magic he was sweet, loving, caring,
and attentive to his mate, and it is entirely possible that he would have chosen
to be so on his own, but we can also see that his rage and outlandishness was
missing. Once he is totally free from
compulsion though I found myself wanting to slap him more than once (which
means that Marie did her job as author a little too well) as he repeatedly
broke Kaia’s heart and pulled at her emotions.
I am glad that they both finally found their balance and the truth of
their connection before it was too late and that by using that connection they
realized they were the only ones that could really stop the evil her mother was
trying to bring into the realm. The
passionate connection between these two was apparent from the very beginning,
and while sweet during the time he was bespelled, just fired up exponentially
when Orion was finally himself and became the feral vampire he truly is. I have really connected with this series now
and cannot wait for the next one where Orion’s best friend Kraft will finally
feel the whammy of love and get his comeuppance when he is faced with the mate
he never thought he wanted and the others can torment him, like he has done
with them. Marie Harte has another
magical masterpiece on her hands and though this series obviously has a limited
number of stories already built in (due to the nature of the Night Bloode Clan)
I hope for many future spin-off series!
*eARC provided by author for the
purpose of an honest and unbiased review.
No compensation was provided.
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