BOOK: The Edge of Hope
SERIES: Bad Blood (#1)
AUTHOR: Alina Popescu
PUBLISHED: April 2014
The Edge of Hope is the debut novel of writer Alina Popescu, the first book in the Bad Blood Trilogy, a story of vampires, love, struggles, and a constant fight for survival.
SYNOPSIS
When tall, dark, and gorgeous shows up on your self-prescribed emotional recovery vacation, some would call it fate smiling down on you. If he also happens to be interested in your work and ready to make all the room you need in his life, it starts to sound too good to be true. Alexa skips the doubts and jumps right in, only to be thrown into the mysterious world of vampires.
The secrets of their origin and their very existence are far more important than her life to some of her new acquaintances. They are ancient, they are powerful, they have unlimited resources, and they are keen on controlling what the world knows of their kind. As Alexa discovers their complicated, blood feud bound world, she tries to better understand herself, heal old wounds and give love chance after chance. Will she survive the journey?
EXCERPT
“You really think you’re smart, don’t you?” he asked, frowning.
“Oh, Anthony, no. If I were smart, I wouldn’t be caught dead next to garbage like you. I hate that you tricked me and I did not sense what a freaking idiot you’d turn out to be!”
“You were so easy to fool! So needy and open and taken with me! It was child’s play.” He looked so full of himself with mean eyes and a smug smile. I felt the taste of bile in my mouth and a deep need to punch him, hard and repeatedly.
“Yeah, true. It was. Too bad you fucked it up and pulled the plug long before I was completely committed to you!”
“Who cares? You’ll do as I say.” Anthony shrugged and turned his back on me. Louis’ eyes were darting from me to him and back, as if he was keeping track of a tennis ball in a game.
“No, actually, I won’t!” Fear should kick in any minute now, I thought. I saw him stiffening, his fists clenched, slowly turning as the wild green took over his eyes. He was probably more than ready to put me in my place, but all I felt was disgust. I just needed to sort it out so that I could get out of there.
“There will be no more touching me, no more of my blood, no more anything between us. I am not yours in any way. Not your lover, not your property, nothing of yours! You want me to keep your secret and live under your control? Fine. It’s a service I will gladly provide for a monthly fee that you will pay. That, or take the risk of letting me go home and never think of me again. Oh, and my book? You…won’t…touch…that. I’ll discuss changes with you, but I get to decide!”
I never saw him coming so I stood no chance. The defensive wounds were a dream. I was down on the floor in an instant, Anthony sitting on top of me, his hands around my throat, squeezing tightly. Louis was shouting something, but I couldn’t make out the words.
“I could snap your throat in a second, you fool! Who do you think you are, telling me what to do? I should kill you right now!” His voice sounded hoarse and his fangs were quite visible as he kept squeezing my neck.
Still no fear. No more rage, just pain. “I’d rather you killed me now than ever have you making me feel like I was your property. It’s my way or fuck off and you can do whatever you want,” I mouthed more than actually making sounds, but other than the burden of his squeezing, my voice was still as determined.
He let go of my neck, but he was still on top of me. It hurt where he had touched me, breathing was difficult, my entire mid-section hurt from him putting his full weight on me. My heart hurt because of a stupid Facebook update and because of what a disappointment Anthony was. Also because of Louis’ ugly rejection, justified or not. I could never really figure out how, but I gathered all my strength and punched Anthony in the face, then pushed him to free myself. I realized I managed it just because he was too surprised to resist it, but I jumped to my feet and tried to clean my clothes a bit. The floors were dusty and I was probably the first thing used to clean them in months.
REVIEW
My Rating - Four Stars
*ARC provided by the author in exchange for my honest review
for the blog tour
This book is the debut for Alina Popescu and the first in
the Bad Blood series. It is a really interesting concept on the vampire story
theme. It was a new and exciting world with a whole lot of twist and turns that
kept the story flowing at a fast and involved pace.
I really liked Alexa, although at times I was wanting to
bash her over the head with some of the silly decisions she made. It was a good
twist to turn Anthony into some other persona and not what you set out with thinking
he was to Alexa. I like them kind of curveballs. All the vamps were hot (it is
a must for me to read vampire novels for them to be hot or evil!) and Anthony,
Louis and Hesrah certainly were swoon worthy.
The plotline was well executed and the world building easy
to grasp for the reader.
As this is part of a series you would expect for an ending
with more to come, however the ending is left with a cliffy so please beware. I
hope Ms Popescu doesn’t leave us hanging for too long!
Overall a great debut and start to a fabulous series. A four
star rating from me. I really liked it!
BUY LINKS
GUEST POST - ALINA POPESCU
How to Get Royally Pissed Readers – A Quick Guide by a First Time Author
We all know that when you release your debut novel, your main purpose is to annoy the crap out of your readers, right? No? Well, that’s what I’m going with, pretending I wanted to annoy everyone from the start. Here’s a simple step by step guide to help you achieve this goal and make sure your readers throw the book at you or random pieces of breakable decorations – vases, TV sets, windows, whatever else happens to cross paths with said book’s (or ereader’s) flying trajectory.
First of all, create a sexy, interesting, drool-worthy love interest for your main character. In my case, that’s Anthony (who by the way I totally love. Yes, I know I’m weird, we’ve established that when I said I was a writer).
Then you turn your gorgeous male lead into an evil bastard. That usually wins you major points. Come on, people, you couldn’t miss that one, the signs were there! Actually, I was as surprised as anyone else. I started writing the book as an Alexa-Anthony love story. *Shrugs and smiles sheepishly* Things happened and … well, Anthony turned out to be the baddie of the book.
Step three is to introduce a second love interest, but make it just as hard for these two to be together. This is where Louis comes in. He’s also gorgeous, he seems right for Alexa, only there are other circumstances involved and it won’t just happen, out of the blue, no obstacles, no kicking Alexa in the butt. That would be too easy!
Then there’s Alexa. Some have pointed out she’s really stupid at times. Well, yes, she is, but hey, she learns from it, more or less. If I don’t make it hard for her and if she never messes up, how is she to become stronger?
The next step involves making it hard for everyone around your MC, not just her. Alexa can’t suffer alone. Louis and her new friend, Hesrah, they all need to have a bit of a tough time!
Wait, there are still some readers who are not angry by now? Well, there’s an ace down your sleeve! End with a bang, also known as THE CLIFFHANGER! We all hate those, don’t we? Just when it’s getting good, you have to wait for the next book! Damn if that does not make you want to throw stuff at the author or whatever else happens to be standing in front of you.
Trying to be serious for just a second here, I did not actually intend to annoy my readers. It just happened! And the cliffhanger was not exactly a marketing ploy, it just felt right to end it there. The good news is, although this is a trilogy, there’s only one of these bad boys happening. Also, there are very cool things happening in the book, and I hope it makes up for the annoying bits. In the end, you’ll have to decide for yourselves, so happy reading!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Writer, traveler, and coffee addict, Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and even won awards in local competitions. She has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm, which explains her deep love for vampires and is also to blame for this trilogy.
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GIVEAWAY
Thank you for this amazing review, Mandie! And don't worry, if it goes according to my plan, you won't have to wait for too long to get book two :)
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