Review: Chosen By Blood by Virna DePaul

Chosen By Blood
Book 1 of the Para-Ops series

Author: Virna DePaul
Publisher: Penguin Group
Genre: Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 9780425241547
Release date: May 3, 2011
Author's website:  http://virnadepaul.com
Available to buy at:  Amazon

Five years after the Second Civil War ends, humans and otherborn— humanlike creatures with superhuman DNA—still struggle for peace. To ensure the continued rights of both, the FBI forms a Para-Ops team with a unique set of skills.

Leader of an Otherborn clan, half-breed vampire Knox Devereaux would do anything to find a cure for the anti-vamp vaccine slowly starving his people into extinction. When the FBI contacts him about leading a team of hand-selected Others on a mission to reclaim the stolen antidote, Knox accepts. His new assignment places him in direct contact with Special Agent Felicia Locke, the beautiful human he’s craved since their very first meeting.

Knox Deveraux is desperate to save his clan.  Vampires are slowly wasting away since humans were given a vaccine to prevent vamps from drinking from them.  There are rumors that a vaccine exists, so the FBI puts together a special team of paranormals to find the vaccine.  Knox becomes the leader of this team in the hopes that they can be saved.  There is a slight problem however with one of the members on the team,  a human by the name of Felicia Locke.  She and Knox have a complicated past due the fact that her best friend was a vampire that was married to Knox.  Although he was married, Knox and Felicia have always felt deep down inside that they were each others true mate and did their best to deal with the situation.  Now that Knox's wife has passed away, the situation is still an issue and with the two of them working on the same team, feelings can no longer be hidden.

Virna DePaul does an excellent job of writing the scenes that showcase Knox and Felicia's attraction to one another.   As I was reading I could feel that invisible pull that they had towards one another.  This smoldering attraction led to Knox saying some very naughty things to Felicia that I absolutely loved!  He is not afraid to let Felicia know exactly how he feels. If you've read my reviews before or just know me in general, you know the smut lover in me loves to read naughty things.  Let me share some of my favorite Knox quotes from the book.  There is an adult warning on my blog for a reason folks. *winks*

Walking up to her, he palmed her hips, and lowered his head until his rough breaths stroked her ear. "And you are mine, Felicia.  Every inch of you.  Your tits. Your ass. Your mouth. And your sweet, hot core.  I'm going to love every single inch of you."

"Oh baby.  Don't you get it?  Every turn is your turn."

"That's not what I want to eat.  Not right now."

See what I mean?!  Yeah, I've put Knox onto my Book Boyfriend list and plan on featuring one of his hot scenes during Monday Smutty Goodness.  Now I just don't like Knox for his sexiness, he truly is an honorable person and always does what he can to help others even if his life is at stake.  This is the makings of a true hero and he was perfect for this book.

There are other interesting and entertaining characters in the book as well.  My 2nd favorite character was a wraith that calls herself...Wraith.  LOL!  She is a human that is no longer alive.  Pretty much a ghost that is in corporeal form and she is totally kick ass!  She's also snarky and sarcastic to some of her other teammates.  But at the same time, she extremely vulnerable because of what she has become.  She has many secrets to her past and I find her story truly fascinating.  There is an attraction thing going on between her and another teammate by the name of Caleb that is a human with psychic abilities.  The scenes between the two of them are so entertaining and the undertone of them being attracted to one another makes me wish they would rip each others clothes off!  I love it when authors write great tension between characters and these two have me wanting to read more of their interaction between one another.  Their story is book 2 of the series, Chosen By Fate that will be released in October of 2011.  The other team members are Lucy a Mage that happens to have the hots for Caleb as well.  Dex Hunt is a werebeast that absolutely loves to give everyone a hard time.   Put all of these awesome characters together and they make a great team that had me laughing throughout the entire book.  They don't always get along but they are there for one another when the going gets tough.

I'm giving Chosen By Blood a rating of:

Chosen By Blood is the start to an exciting new series!  I had a small problem with the very beginning of the book because I got confused being introduced to all the new characters.  But once I learned all of the characters, I was able to enjoy the book so much and could not put it down!  There was so much action in this book and I loved learning about all of the different paranormals and what they could do. Virna DePaul has been added to my must buy list for authors and I can't wait to see what challenges these great characters will have to deal with in the future.  I am confident that they will be able to handle whatever comes their way.