Page Princess: CHOSEN FOR BLOOD by Tamela Maloney

Title: CHOSEN FOR BLOOD

Author: Tamela Maloney

Publish Date: 12.20.13

Publisher: Tamela J. Maloney

Category /Genre: Paranormal Romance

Recommended for: 18+ due to violence and mild sexual content.

Grammar/editing: D – spelling, homonyms, etc. were numerous /some distraction

Received from: Tamela Maloney (in exchange for an honest review)

Tour by: Read Between the Lines

Goodreads link: Chosen for Blood

Date completed: 05.07.14

Description from the publisher:

Twenty-two year old college star athlete, Robyn Woods, is approached at the campus gym late one night by an obvious admirer but she can’t help but notice he’s not looking at the usual curves most men pay attention too. His eyes are scrolling over her biceps, six pack abs and even the muscles on her legs seem to please him. As if this moment couldn’t get any more awkward than it already is, he then asks her if she is an alpha, beta, or omega. Whatever happened to guys asking you for your number?

She doesn’t have much time to process the question as she senses the energy in the air beginning to stir. She feels the hair on the back of her neck flare up and she pans around the room. The intentions of her new admirer no longer concern her due to her father’s unexpected visit. The uncomfortable feeling of being on edge is replaced by a very bad feeling in her bones, “What’s happened?” she wonders.

After getting the mother of all bombs dropped on her, she throws herself into her workouts as a way to deal with her mother’s death and the fact that her father and sister have already moved to a new town without her. A monthly membership to a gym is much cheaper than therapy these days.

As the semester comes to an end and the summer begins, she joins them. Robyn realizes that in the two months’ time they’ve lived there, her father not only knows everyone but everyone seems to know him, too well, and the weirdness begins.

His reason for moving them there was for safety concerns; after all, her mother’s murderer was never caught. But as Robyn gets to know the area and the people in it she learns her father has moved them to a town where girls are disappearing left and right.

Robyn has always thought her father’s life was routine, boring and mediocre but now she knows not everything is how it seems. And what’s up with her senses? Not only are they on high alert 24/7 but they are empowering her in ways that even she knows is not normal.

The aggressiveness in Robyn finds a competitor to square off with. Her sister’s new boyfriend is not only good looking but he is well preserved with a set of fangs! Robyn feels sucker punched when she finds out that not only does she know her boyfriend is a vampire but she’s digging it too!

You would think any father would be upset when he finds out his youngest daughter is cohorting with the dead but not Robyn’s. She soon discovers his nonchalant attitude stems from the fact he has no room to talk, he’s a werewolf. What a slap to the face!

Aggravated with the secrets that have been kept from her, Robyn is ready to pull up stakes and head back to their hometown for good but another pair of fangs takes a bite out of her plans.

A very powerful alpha werewolf who has put off choosing a mate up until now has taken an interest in her. Robyn’s mentality is put to the real test when she helps unravel the mystery of the girls’ disappearing and comes to the realization that she is no match for the werewolf or her soon to be mother-in-law.

Encouraged by his mother, the alpha male has forced Robyn to be a part of his life, pack life.

When her father finds out she has been bitten by him he does the only thing he can think of to save her and that’s to challenge the alpha for the rights to his own daughter. As a back-up plan, Eric Elder, a vampire whose power is equal to that in status of the werewolf that has bitten Robyn, agrees to give her his blood, an attempt that has never been made before. The plan is for Eric’s blood to overpower the poison from the werewolf’s bite. Her father’s brave attempt and Eric’s generosity changes the fate of all their lives and leaves everyone including the vampires and werewolves of the community wondering one thing, “Will she or will she not turn?”

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“Your father has kept you girls away from pack life. You’ve only been here a couple of days but Raylyn has been here several months now.” She said it with a serious tone and look to her and I knew I wasn’t going to like the last part at all.

“They’ve seen Raylyn and want her,” she confessed.

“Raylyn!”

“Your father is a very strong alpha and if they are choosing their mates based on pack ranking and bloodlines then of course they will want her and you, once they learn of your existence,” she said. She had a look to her and I watched her glance down both tunnels as she walked over to them. She stood in front of them blocking me. The worried expression on her face turned into a serious one.

“What is it?” I asked peeking around her to see.

“I’m worried which tunnel you will choose,” she said. I could tell she was very concerned.

“Why, what’s down there?” I knew this was the actual part I wasn’t going to like.

“If Raylyn was taken and thrown into a pit to fight what would happen to her?” she asked me.

“You sound like dad, don’t say that. I don’t want to think about it,” I said with tears wanting to form in my eyes now. Raylyn being attacked and bitten was unconceivable.

“Libby said they wanted her.”

“Then we will have to protect her.” To me it was the only solution to this problem. Someone would have to stay with Raylyn 24/7. “I’ll stay with her.”

“You can’t always fight her battles Robyn. If you try, then the same thing that happened to your mother will happen to her,” she said and for a second I thought I heard a high pitch scream that only lasted a second. I looked down the tunnel it came from and that made me wonder why Linda was worried about what tunnel I would chose.

“What’s at the end of this tunnel?” I asked pointing down it.

“A much needed reality check,” she said and then stood in my way blocking my view of it. “At the end of this tunnel is an arena that has been used for many things and training our wolves to fight is one good purpose it’s served.”

“Alright, who was screaming just now?” I asked.

“It’s not just the werewolves she’ll have to be prepared to fight. There are vampires and humans helping these wolves,” she said trying to keep my attention on her.

“Linda, where’s Raylyn?” I was getting firm with her.

“She’s learning how to survive.”

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Though there is no statement that this will be series, the ending is open enough to suggest there may be a follow-up story.

I spent the day at home, sick, and in bed. Between naps, I read this freshman novel from Ms. Tamela Maloney.

I really liked this story, but I’m going to address the problems first. This is Ms. Maloney’s first release and I have some advice for her: get an editor… or at least a GrammarNazi friend willing to help you out. The homonym misuse (bolder/boulder, since/sense, to/too, …) was rampant. Also, please note, anywhoo is not a real word. It can be used within quotation marks as part of someone’s natural speech patterns, but should not be used in the text of the story, even when using the first person perspective. These, along with misplaced quotation marks, made for reading distraction for this self-proclaimed GrammarNazi.

This story is listed as Paranormal Romance, but I would classify it as Paranormal Suspense as there is only a mild romance component to the storyline.

From the beginning, I enjoyed Ms. Maloney’s story-telling style. While I felt as though I were immediately ‘in the story,’ she was still able to provide a slow build-up to the main issue of conflict. This is not just another vampire and werewolf book. This is not a fan-fiction (which, to me, is just a nice name for plagiarism). Instead, it is a well thought-out complete story with an unique plot of its own.

I look forward to Ms. Maloney producing more stories for us. She has a distinctive style that is intelligent, while still easy to read.