Bloodbond The Bloodborn Series
Paranormal Romance-Vampires
The Wild Rose Press, Inc
August 3, 2020
237
Zachariah Degore spent ten years locked under ground as a feral vampire. Now he has to redefine what it means to be healthy and whole. With his human life behind him, he starts anew in the vampire city of Ichor Knell with the vampire shah as his kin. He must prove he is worthy of his place in this new world. Laurel Covaci is vampire elite, she would never court a feral vampire. After two hundred years she has yet to find a mate who meets with her satisfaction. She hides the pain of past hurt and abandonment behind a cold façade. Zach is confident that Laurel is the vampire for him, but can he break through her icy walls and convince her he's the mate she's been waiting for?
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Zachariah Degore spent ten years locked up in his brother Adam’s basement. He was feral and could not be free and his brother did everything he could to find a cure for vampirism. When Adam mated with Willow, the daughter of Dracula, she helped him overcome being feral. Now, as a kin to Dracula he has been living in Dracula’s castle.
It has been six months since Zachariah moved to the vampire city of Ichor Knell and six months that he has been ignored, ridiculed, and laughed at because he is feral. He has been in love with Laurel Covaci ever since he first saw her, but she has a very low opinion of feral vampires and him in general. She manages to prepare a ball and has him summoned, knowing that as soon as he is surrounded by all the blood he will freak out. This will leave Dracula no choice but to throw him out of Ichor Knell. Her prank does not go over very well because Zachariah shows absolutely no signs of being feral and even manages to take a glass of blood from her to deliver to someone in the castle.
Her attempts at discrediting Zach only leads to everyone knowing that he is not feral, and angers Dracula. He knows that there is no chance of him ever winning over Laurel but it doesn’t change his feelings for her. His life changes drastically when he is forced to fight Pavel who never loses. Although he didn’t stand a chance, fate stepped in when his hands were covered with silversword fish scales. He was collecting them for the infirmary. The scales are not deadly to a vampire, but knock them out. He won and his popularity skyrocketed.
Unable to read or write and having gone through one tutor after another, he is shocked when Laurel throws out his latest tutor and offers to teach him herself. The gods were looking down on him because he would be spending every day with the girl he loved. Over time, Laurel came to see him for the wonderful, handsome, and funny guy he was. When all the girls started trying to get him to court them, the green eyed monster appeared.
Wonderful characters, a beautiful story of a young man who watched as his parents were killed by vampires and who wound up turning him. He won’t drink from a living human and goes scavenging to find bodies already dead to feed from. He finally finds a career that he wants and is good at. Still, no matter how close he and Laurel get she refuses to ever consider taking a mate. Her reasons are understandable but what her head wants is not what her heart wants and whether there is a HEA for her and Zach is not something I will reveal.
It is hard not to love a book when you totally love the characters, especially Zach who has had to overcome so much, but still looked to the future and didn’t let hate rule his life.