Blood Bond Tour: Double Review, Excerpt, & Giveaway

I am super super excited to be participating in this tour! I love this series and if you haven't read them, you really should!  I am a late bloomer for the Dirty Blood series so today I have reviews of the first 2 books for you because I'm still reading Blood Bond! :) BUT I do have an awesome excerpt from Blood Bond just so you can have a little taste of it.

Dirty Blood is FREE on Nook!                                          Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Amazon

I killed a girl last night. I did it with my bare hands and an old piece of pipe I found lying next to the dumpster. But that’s not the part that got me. The part that scared me, the part I can’t seem to wrap my head around and still has me reeling, was that when she charged me, her body shifted – and then she was a wolf. All snapping teeth and extended claws. But by the time I stood over her lifeless body, she was a girl again. That’s about the time I went into shock… And that was the moment he showed up.

Now, all I can do is accept the truths that are staring me in the face. One, Werewolves do exist. And Two, I was born to kill them.

My Review
In the first few pages of Dirty Blood, I was hooked.  I was sucked into the world of Dirty Blood, and it literally took me 2 pages to realize I wasn't going to be able to put this book down.  The book starts out with Tara kicking butt and then in the middle she's kicking butt and at the end she is still kicking butt!  I love kick butt heroines that know what they want and go for it! Speaking of what she wants... Wes and Tara have this crazy attraction for each other that I love!  They are just what each other needs.  Tara needs Wes to help her discover this world that she is a part of and Wes needs Tara to belong (you will have to read the book to understand what I mean by that)!  They are the perfect match and just in case you can't tell I'm #TeamWes All. The. Way.  If you haven't picked up this series yet, go get Dirty Blood now! I guarantee that you'll like it :)

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Wood Point Academy is not at all what I expected. For one thing, it looks like a cross between military school and Buckingham Palace. Everyone stares, the floors shine so bright you can see your reflection in them from a mile away, and no one smiles. Unless they're kicking your butt in the process.

At least I've got plenty to take my mind off the fact that my psycho cousin, Miles De'Luca, keeps calling and declaring his love and promising to come for me just as soon as he's destroyed anyone standing in our way. Wes isn't going to like that idea. So between Miles, Wood Point's evil welcoming committee, and the drill sergeant hottie trainer from hell, I just keep asking myself, how did I end up here?

My Review
*may contain spoilers if you haven't read Dirty Blood*
I wasn't happy with Tara's mom in this book At. All.  I mean I get it was necessary for the story BUT it seemed like just when Tara had accepted what she truly was and was getting really awesome at what she was AND when Wes and Tara accept that they are totally right for each other and will kick butt together...her mom sends her off.  Then again if she wouldn't have been sent off she wouldn't have met Cambria who is one of the best supporting characters EVER! I love her! She is full of fire and she is an awesome friend of Tara's that sticks by her side.  In this book, we meet Alex.  Now Alex is a great guy it's just that in my eyes Wes is the one for Tara.  At least Alex was bearable so I wasn't annoyed throughout this book.  Alex really does help Tara grow into her position as an awesome Hunter but I'm #TeamWes.  This series only gets better with this book!  Sometimes I feel like 2nd books in series are flops but in this one the series definitely progresses and Tara grows as a character!  I love this series so much!!!

and now for the Excerpt...since this is THE Blood Bond Tour I have for you an excerpt from Blood Bond!!!! Enjoy.

Cambria whistled loud and low as Alex approached. “Trainer boy cleans up good.” 

Alex’s eyes fell on me and swept up and down. I smoothed the silk dress I’d stolen from Victoria. My breath caught a little and I forced it in and out evenly. We’d been training together for weeks now without crossing the line from professional to personal. Somehow, this night felt different. Maybe it was the fact that we’d be leaving tomorrow. A last chance to say everything. Not that I had anything different to say. My heart belonged to Wes. 

Sometimes I wondered if my heart had selective memory.

“Tara.” The way he spoke my name sent a shiver down my spine. “May I have a word?”

“Sure.” I nodded at Cambria and followed him outside. 

Stars twinkled overhead. People milled about in the courtyard; parents gushed over their offspring and couples engaged in a last make-out session before returning home. 

“Can we take a walk?” Alex asked. 

I nodded and fell into step beside him, my heeled sandals making clicking sounds on the sidewalk that wound around the outskirts of the courtyard. Soft, white bulbs strung about the shrubs illuminated the pathway. It was meant to be romantic, but instead, it left my stomach tight. 

The entire month there had been a sort of resigned tension between Alex and me. After the stir caused by Miles subsided, Wes and the others had gone home. School was restored to order. Classes resumed. It all felt so normal. Then there was Alex.

I don’t know what I’d expected my first day back at training. Closeness over a shared near-death experience? Distance caused by the secrets I still kept? I felt neither.

Alex was business as usual. Painfully so.

It was as if none of it had happened. Or as if he’d experienced it all separate from me somehow. He had a singular focus: the hybrids were running around leaving a trail of dead humans in their wake. A fact Alex made painfully clear in his never-ending rants about how he couldn’t wait for the special team selections. He was itching to hunt them. Except, unlike Wes, who’d gone searching for hybrids willing to choose peace over death and destruction, Alex would hunt to kill. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake that. 

“Are you enjoying the party?” he asked.

“It beats running.”

Alex chuckled. “I could’ve converted you if I’d had more time.”

More time. Tomorrow we’d go our separate ways. 

I swallowed against the lump in my chest. 

“Alex …” I didn’t know how to put any of it into words. 

“Kane called me into the office today.”

“Oh.” I stopped. 

We were at the edge of the courtyard now, closer to the trees than the cobbled path. Movement caught my eye. I swiveled, muscles bunching. My body was more alert for danger than my mind, though, because it took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. “Logan?”

He broke from Victoria’s embrace. Even in the dim light, I could see him flush. “Tara, hey.”

Victoria glared at me. “Is that my dress?”

“My wardrobe is gone, remember? And you have more than you need. Doesn’t it look nice?” I pivoted right, then left, showing off the silky fabric that ended a little higher than it should’ve since I was taller than its rightful owner.

“Breathtaking,” Alex agreed.

“Stay out of this, Channing. What are you doing with her anyway? She’s rabid.”

“Lay off, Vic. Summer starts tomorrow. Kick back. Relax,” Alex said. 

“Evil never sleeps,” I muttered. Logan shot me a dirty look. I lifted my eyebrows in mock innocence. 

The animosity between Victoria and I was old news. Since the incident with Miles, and more than that, since the day she’d cried to me about her parents disappearing, there’d been no more exploding bags of dog food. No more shredded clothes or attempts to shave my eyebrows in my sleep. Although, she never missed an opportunity to insult me in conversation, which was almost daily since she and Logan were practically joined at the mouth these days. I figured wearing her clothes was an even trade.

“I was relaxing just fine until you and Barking Barbie showed up,” Victoria said. 

Alex laughed, and this time I shot him a dirty look. “Sorry,” he said, still grinning. 

“Are you guys passing through or should we pick another spot for privacy?” Logan asked, giving me a pointed look.

I opened my mouth, snarky comment at the ready. 

“We were just leaving.” Alex took my elbow and led me away before I could protest. Victoria said something I couldn’t hear and Logan shook his head like he was too beaten to argue. “Let it go,” Alex said as we headed for the woods.

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Hybrids.

If I had to choose one word to sum up all of my problems, this would be it.
Without hybrids, I wouldn’t have to watch my best friend slowly becoming a monster. Without hybrids, I could let go of the mentality “hunt or be hunted.” CHAS wouldn’t be scouring the Earth, intent on slaughtering and using Alex to do it. Without hybrids, I wouldn’t have to be on guard that losing my temper meant losing my shape. There would be no monster inside me, struggling to get out.

Then again, without hybrids, I wouldn’t have Wesley St. John.

Giveaway

since Dirty Blood is currently FREE(ish)
I thought we would do a giveaway of an Ebook copy of Cold Blood and Blood Bond
INT
ends September 22nd
Just leave me an awesome comment to enter
WITH A WAY FOR ME TO CONTACT YOU