Review: Blood Calling

Title - Blood Calling
Author - Joshua Grover-David Patterson
Series or Standalone Blood Calling #1
Genre - Young Adult Fantasy Vampires
Publication September 10th 2011
Format E-book Review Copy
(Goodreads) & (Amazon)

Synopsis

When Lucy Leary turned 18, her life fell apart. She crashed her car, her best friend abandoned her, her parents divorced, and her grandfather passed away, leaving her a single possession: A vampire slaying kit with a note that said, “THEY’RE REAL. FIGHT THEM.” 

Now Lucy must stop the oldest, most dangerous vampire in history, before it can kill her family.

Opening Teaser


You want a story? Let me tell you a story.
Last August, five things happened to me:
1. I turned eighteen. That will be important later.
2. I started my senior year of high school as a social pariah.
3. My parents got divorced, my mom kicked my dad out of the house, and her personal trainer, Chuck, moved in.
4. My grandpa died.
5. He left me a vampire-slaying kit.
Well. Kind of. That got all jumbled up but I’ll break it down in a minute.

Review

I received Blood Calling in return for an honest review from a giveaway at Librarything from the author. Lucy isn't one of the popular girls she's always been a outsider. Her parents are divorced so now she's living with her and her younger boy toy who happens to be a personal trainer. Her grandfather has passed away and when Lucy heads to his house she finds a vampire slaying kit hidden in his closet where she used to play as a girl. If that's not enough Lucy ends up at a popular girls party where she unknowingly has a few drinks which cause her to wreck on the way home. 

Even though she's just turned 18 the judge is not as harsh as he could be, taking her license for a year and sending her to community service at the Sundown Shelter. Lucy arrives for her first night of community service at the shelter meeting Wash the guy who runs the shelter. It isn't till the night the Smitty shows up looking run down and half dead that Lucy starts to wonder what's going on. She sets out to find out an answer who is Smitty really? What's really going on at the Sundown Shelter? 

She returns to the Sundown Shelter to find Wash draining Smitty learning that he's a vampire, and her grandfather was right. He sends her away in attempt to protect her, but it doesn't last when she runs across John Smith the vampire who's been killing all the homeless in the area and more. Wash has a choice to turn her into a vampire or let her die he chooses to save her life. Lucy is quickly set away with Wash's friend Emma and fellow vampire to Denver to avoid her family who are looking for her and John Smith. Emma teaches her more about being a vampire, that they aren't out there as killer but doing a service to those who are dying. When they learn that John Smith has put the community into a panic and Wash is unable to feed they return to help him before it's too late, and stop John Smith. 

I really enjoyed Blood Calling it's not your typical sparkly vampire story it has a unique concept for what and why the vampires exist. It's a fast paced adventure as Lucy progresses from average school girl to vampire then on to vampire slayer. I liked that Lucy is a reader it made it a little easier to connect with her. Plus Wash and Emma are great characters each with their own unique story that enhances Lucy's story. I found Blood Calling well written, it flows smoothly so that teens or adults will enjoy the Lucy's adventure. It was also refreshing that it has its own concept for the vampire isn’t anything I've read before which I really enjoyed. Overall it's a great first installment in the series I can't wait to get some free time to check out the rest of the series I'm curious to see what will happen to our trio next. 

4 out of 5 Stars