Review on True of Blood by Bonnie Lamer

  Author: Bonnie Lamer

                 Novel: True of Blood

Being a true fan of anything paranormal has allowed me to open my eyes to every type of genre out there. By reading True of Blood, I truly believe the hype of the vampire will fall and the rise of fairies and witches is just around the corner.

Synopsis: Xandra Illuminata Smith has lived for the last three years with ghosts as parents but her life gets even stranger after her seventeenth birthday when she finds out that her mother is actually a Witch in hiding and her biological father, whom she knew nothing about, is a Fairy and King of the Fae realm. 

Xandra is the first Witch Fairy to be born in thousands of years for very good reason. No one should be able to control that much magic and Xandra was never meant to be born at all but her mother has manged to keep her hidden away until now.

The Witches want her dead and the Fairies want her blood, for only her blood will reopen the gateway to the Fae realm and allow them back into this realm to take revenge on humans and Witches alike for having banished them hundreds of years ago.

Xandra has very little time to learn how to use her powerful Witch and Fairy magic that has been bound since her birth while running from the Fairies who managed to jump realms and want to take her blood to set the others free. She needs someone to teach her and her parents enlist the help of one powerful Fairy who claims to want to keep the realms closed to each other. He will help keep her safe and alive as she learns, at least that's what he says...

My take: Xandra parents are ghosts, yet they still hang around. Until her seventeenth birthday, Xandra has lived a peaceful existence, possibly a boring one, but it was peaceful. Then, she learns her mother is a witch and her father, not the father she's grown up with, is a diabolical mastermind who is a fairy. He's out for her blood because with her blood, the gateway between realms can be opened, allowing the fairies reign over the humans, not necessarily a good thing.

The review: I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The characters had some...what's a good word...pizzazz that I found charming. Xandra was exactly what I look for in a heroine, her refusal to just lay down and die was commending and she has my respect. Xandra was willing to accept that her parents were ghosts, but for the life of her, she just couldn't believe that her mom was a witch. I don't want to spoil the book here, so I'm just going to say that her thoughts after her mother reveals the truth to her are laugh out loud funny.

Let's skip down to the love interest, Kallen. I wouldn't consider him necessarily a bad boy, but he definitely has an attitude, yet he doesn't realize it. The way he speaks reflects his upbringing and I was shocked at what I'd found out about him (again, no spoilers). As I was reading the book, I constantly was talking out loud or to my Yorkie Riley and said, "Geez, he's such a jerk." Then he'd do something endearing and I'd forgive him right away. Or sometimes I'd just start laughing for no reason, yes this book is that funny, and my puppy would  turn his head and walk to the other room to escape me. Kallen's character was very well written and I understood completely what he needed to do concerning Xandra. He could either destroy her because she was too much of a threat (considering her blood would open the realm's gateway), or he could teach her and watch over her. Yep, I vote for option B.

Xandra and Kallen were an interesting love pair. They complimented each other very well. I loved the banter between those two because she didn't tuck tail and go cry because he aid something she didn't like. She was strong and she had the power--definitely had the power considering she knocked him down on his arse plenty. People make mistakes, even mythical fairies, and I was pleased that Xandra chose to forgive Kallen though he was in the fairy house for a while.

The overall book was well written, constructed, and thought out. I'd be more than happy to pay the full price for this book and wouldn't feel guilty about it in the least. This book has my full backing and I can't wait for the next novel to come out and then the next one and the next one and the next one...well, you get the drift. Much obliged to Bonnie Lamer for writing an amazing book.

Cheers!!

     Lea