The descriptive bit: Holden Fay is a fae-vampire hybrid and lives a solitary life. No one in the 
supernatural community wants much to do with someone with his genetic make-up. The only real highlights in his life are his vampire friend and casual hook-up, Raoul and his on-call job as a supernatural blood examiner. One of the skills that Holden has is an ability to read memories when he tastes blood.
Holden is called into work on a serial murder case and finds that he can’t read any memories from the blood. In addition to dealing with his colleague’s abuse and distrust, Holden finds himself having to work with Valerius Blackwood. Blackwood is the head of the Mayfair-Belgravia Witches, of pure blood lineage, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist and as if that weren’t enough he’s gorgeous.
As the two men work together they uncover intrigue and misdirection at every turn. Soon, all their lives are in danger.
My thoughts bit: Where do I start!? I thoroughly enjoyed this book. At its core, this novel is a murder-mystery and the story is fantastic. The case that Holden and Val are trying to solve is full of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. The author has done a remarkable job of fleshing out a world different from our own, while still making it believable.
I loved the dialogue, in particular, the banter between friends Raoul and Holden. The warmth of their friendship was a great counterpoint to the struggle Holden faced with everyone else. Idonea did a great job of describing the feelings of being ostracized by a community, the despair, and eventual resignation.
Valerius Blackwood is a fantastic character. He’s charming and definitely has a front but it’s impossible to avoid being curious about him and his life. Throughout the course of the story, several layers to Blackwood are revealed, some of them hinted at … some of them shocking but it all ties together into the character Idonea has promised from the beginning.
This book was a lot of fun to read. The dialogue was crisp and often amusing and the plot was terrific! I’d gladly read another story along these lines from this author!
The warnings bit: Please be aware, I’m by no means an expert on what may or may not have the potential to disturb people. I simply list things that I think a reader might want to be aware of. In this book: intolerant behavior and slurs (based on supernatural races), violence and descriptions of dead bodies, blood drinking.
I received an ARC of Blood Is Forever by Asta Idonea from NineStar Press via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Kinzie Things 