Tracy’s review of Primal
When desire cannot be controlled…When personal will is overpowered by carnal cravings…When only one fearless impulse feeds you, body and soul…
You can’t deny it. It’s something primal.
Primal is an anthology with 4 novellas in it.
Bleeding Heart by Michelle Rowen.
This is a continuation of her novel, Nightshade, and though I never read that book I was quite caught up in what was happening in the story. A human, Jill, has been injected with a poison and she wants it out. It’s the kind that will kill her eventually and her dhampyr (half-human/half-vampire) bodyguard, Declan, is trying to help her find someone that will drain the poison from her blood.
Jill and Declan are assisted by Jackson who takes them to an underground lap where experiments are done on vampires. The scientist who assisted in making the nightshade poison in the first place is there but he has ulterior motives to helping Jill.
On top of the stress of the poison and the scientist, Jill is having a hard time with her feelings toward Declan. I’m not sure how they came to be together but in order to suppress his vampire side Declan is under the control of a serum that makes him completely unable to feel emotions. Jill wants nothing more than to be held by Declan but she doesn’t want that if he’s not feeling the same things she is.
This was an action packed novella that really sucked me in and I’m thinking I may have to read Nightshade now to get all the background. Jill’s plight is heart wrenching as she had no idea vampires even existed a week before. Now she’s not only caught up in their world but her body is a walking time bomb because of them. The story was quite good but incredibly heart-wrenching as well.
Skin & Bone by Ava Gray
In Skin Tight we met Silas who worked as a lackey for the Foundation. In this story we find that Silas isn’t the brainless helper that we thought he was. He’s not only quite intelligent but was acting the idiot in order to fool the Foundation doctors into believing that he was a failure and had no power at all. Wrong. He could actually hurt people with his mind – break their necks, their arms, cut them…all with a thought. He definitely doesn’t like this part of himself but he didn’t want the crazy people (scientists) discovering this and using him for their own gain.
So Silas got out of the lab he was held in and has been moving around. He’s in Ecuador when it is hit by an earthquake. He saves a woman from certain death by uncovering her from the rubble and together they set out to help the village. Silas decides that it’s time to move on but the woman, Juneau, wants to move on with him. It seems that they’re two of a kind – moving around, finding no roots, etc. The pair finds a common bond and that bond grows stronger as time passes.
The Foundation has located Silas though, and so has the resistance – who gets to him first and what will happen with his relationship with Juneau.
I love the Skin series! I’ve been hooked since book 1 and this novella was no different. Gray makes all of the characters unique and it really makes the stories so very interesting. I loved Silas and his big heart and Juneau was just the right fit for him. Good story!
Angel-Claimed by Jory Strong
This is the story of Sajia who works for a vampire family in San Francisco. Her charge has gone missing and she must find her or suffer the wrath of the Master. Addai is an angel who loves has waited for the reincarnation of his wife who ends up being Sajia. Sajia wants nothing more than to take off with Addai, but she can’t betray her family who would suffer from the vampires should she disappear. She must find her charge but in order to do this Addai must suffer at her hands.
I didn’t care for this story all that much. I couldn’t get into it as it seemed that it was a continuation from previous books by this author and I was thrown in to a story all ready in session. At one point Addai had taken Sajia to someone he thought could locate her charge and she has to beat him with a cat-o-nine-tails first. Though the angel can heal himself instantly I found it most disturbing and I think it colored my view of the story from then on.
Primal Kiss by Lora Leigh
Creed has been guarding Kita Engalls for a little over a year and Kita wants nothing more than to throw him down and have her way with him. But Creed Raines is a Breed and is working under-cover for Kita’s father – Horace Engalls who was Philip Brandenmore’s partner in crime.
Brandenmore has been held by the Breed’s while they try to discover what he’s done. Brandenmore, in a previous book, injected Jonas’s adopted daughter with a serum. They are trying to find out exactly what she’s been injected with and what it will do to her body. Brandenmore injected himself with it and his aging has regressed to make him look incredibly young – but it’s also screwed up his brain.
Creed is trying to get information from Engalls while on duty but he never imagined that Kita would be so appealing – or that she would be his mate. When she disappears and he follows he wants nothing more than to make her his but he wants her to know everything so that she won’t hate him later.
This was a great novella in the Breeds series. Leigh made the story quite interesting by really making this story an integral part of the series. Information was discovered that could have a major effect on previous events and people.
On top of the suspense portion of the story we got to have a great little love story as well. I loved that the pair had been, more or less, circling each other for a year even if they didn’t know that’s what they were actually doing. Creed was a complete bad ass but not a bastard and truly loved Kita. He wanted what was best for her and therefore didn’t want to lie to her. Needless to say there were great kissing scenes in this story. How could there not be with a title of Primal Kiss?
Overall a very good anthology that I truly enjoyed.
Rating: 4 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here
