Editor’s Note: We try to publish series reviews in order, but mistakenly published Blood of the City – book two – first. Apologies to the author!
Genre: Horror, Romance, Erotica
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Maryann
Get It On Amazon
About The Book
When an ancient Italian vampire travels to the pioneering Australian outback, what he finds there triggers a decades-long love triangle from which there is no escape.
Mack, a young Australian cattle farmer, makes his living on his father’s cattle station. The work is hard and the days are long but he is content with the life he has been born into. Unfortunately for his family, he is awakened to forbidden desires of the flesh by intriguing visitors from far-off Italy. When these visitors reveal themselves as lustful creatures of the night, Mack bites off more than he can chew and finds himself in a predicament he is ill-equipped to handle. Lost and seemingly alone, he spirals into a deadly path toward a decades-long love triangle between himself, the monster who made him and the love of his undead life.
The Review
With “Blood of the Land,” Adrik Kemp brings readers two very evil and thoughtless vampires. In Italy, Zoran and Bela de Luna have been lovers for over three hundred years. Bela is satisfied with their union, but Zoran has decided to move on to explore new places.
Bela can’t cope with Zoran leaving, so he decides to leave the memories of Zoran and Italy behind. Bela and his servants cross the seas to arrive in the new world of Australia.
Mack lives at a cattle station with his parents Allen and Evelyn. They are a hard-working and loving family.
Late one evening, Mack is guarding the cattle and spies something odd in the night sky, something so fleeting he’s not sure if he even saw it at all. Out of the brush, he hears voices, and meets a strange gathering of people from another land.
Mack is especially curious about the young man who’s with them – Jason. He offers them a place to stay, but Mack’s father is very suspicious.
Most of the people tare willing to help out at the station. But there were an eerie few that were never seen during the day.
When Allen finds out what’s happened to Mack he takes his revenge. And when Zoran get’s word of what took place with Bela, he’s livid and seeks his revenge.
What happens next to Mack and his family is beyond cruel, and devastating. The one person Mack thought he could rely on was Jason. He finds himself betrayed, his love crushed, and alone forever. Bela and Zoran deserve what’s coming to them, due to their greed, jealousy and abandonment.
Allen is a strong character and a hero. He loves his wife Evelyn and his son Mack. He does what he has to do for the love of his son.
Evelyn is courageous to a degree, but she disagrees with her husband on how to deal with Mack.
Mack himself is being a caring person, and does what he thinks is right – and pays for it in a painful way.
The two outstanding characters I connected with the most were Allen and Mack. Allen’s a good father and works and loves hard. He really tries to understand Mack, and does what he thinks is needed to save Mack. And Mack is a good son who has always worked hard at the cattle station and has respect and love for both parents.
As for Jason, he seemed very naive, immature and couldn’t take a stand against evil. After being around Bela’s evil, I hoped he’d be much stronger and would fight for his freedom.
Kemp’s tale is an eerie, dark, gruesome vampire story, with two beautiful characters caught in the middle. It left me with some questions, which I hope get answered with book two, “Blood of the City”!
The Reviewer
Hi, I’m Maryann, I started life in New York, moved to New Hampshire and in 1965 uprooted again to Sacramento, California. Once I retired I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida in 2011 and just moved back to Sacramento in March of 2018. My son, his wife and step-daughter flew out to Florida and we road tripped back so they got to see sights they have never seen. New Orleans and the Grand Canyon were the highlights. Now I am back on the west coast again to stay! From a young age Ialways liked to read.
I remember going to the library and reading the “Doctor Dolittle” books by Hugh Lofting. Much later on became a big fan of the classics, Edgar Alan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and as time went by Agatha Christie, Ray Bradbury and Stephen Kingand many other authors.
My first M/M shifter book I read was written by Jan Irving the “Uncommon Cowboys” series from 2012. She was the first author I ever contacted and sent an email to letting her know how much I liked this series. Sometime along the way I read “Zero to the Bone”by Jane Seville, I think just about everyone has read this book!
As it stands right now I’m really into mysteries, grit, gore and “triggers” don’t bother me. But if a blurb piques my interest I will read the book.
My kindle collection eclectic and over three thousand books and my Audible collection is slowly growing. I have both the kindle and audible apps on my ipod, ipads, and MAC. So there is never an excuse not to be listening or reading.
I joined Goodreads around 2012 and started posting reviews. One day a wonderful lady, Lisa Horan of The Novel Approach, sent me an email to see if I wanted to join her review group. Joining her site was such an eye opener. I got introduce to so many new authors that write for the LGBTQ genre. Needless to say, it was heart breaking when it ended.
But I found a really great site, QRI and it’s right here in Sacramento. Last year at QSAC I actually got to meet Scott Coatsworth, Amy Lane and Jeff Adams.