THE FIREBRAND (The Blood Coven 1) by TM Smith-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 13, 2023

Rein, a Vampire mixed breed, plunged into the abyss of bludfrenzy. With icy resolve, he crawled out to become a Firebrand. He doesn’t make rash decisions.
Until…
Braelyn takes a shortcut through an alley musing about what she can’t have. A new job. Adventure. A cancer-free brain. Instead, she writes for a paranormal tabloid. No, she doesn’t believe such nonsense, but she’s heading to Cleveland on assignment. Oh, and her tumor is back.
Then…
Rein kidnaps her and takes her to his realm, igniting a fiery romance.
Meanwhile…
An ancient threat hunts for descendants of the Blood Coven who divided the world into three realms fifteen hundred years ago to protect humans from savage Aeternals. Then, they scattered across Earth, marrying, raising children, dying, burying their secrets in time. Generations grew, unaware of their legacy.
But…
Braelyn is squarely in the hunter’s sights, and Rein is her best chance to survive.

••••••••

REVIEW: THE FIREBRAND is the first instalment in TM Smith’s contemporary, adult THE BLOOD COVEN erotic, paranormal/fantasy series. This is human Braelyn James and vampire/incubus/Warlock hybrid Rein’s story line.

WARNING: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

SOME BACKGROUND: Thousands of years earlier, a powerful group of witches and warlocks, in an effort to protect the human race, divided the world creating three realms: Earth, Scath and Darque. The Blood Coven series focuses on the fight to keep the worlds separated in the face of some powerful people hoping to destroy the people of earth.

Told from third person perspective THE FIREBRAND follows the building relationship between human Braelyn James’ and vampire/incubus/Warlock hybrid Rein. Braelyn James is a reporter for the online paranormal tabloid Strange But True, and as such our heroine is about to witness that which she has been hired to investigate. Rein is a vampire/incubus/Warlock hybrid, trained as one of the realms Firebrand Warriors, and as such is hunting one of the many Breeds that has crossed onto Earth, using an illegal portal jumper but Rein never expected his actions to be witnessed, and his inability to wipe the mind of the human witness, forces Rein to bring her back to his realm. Braelyn James quickly realizes the world as she knows it, is something more, something more dangerous, powerful and confusing, a world in which she will come face to face with her destiny. At every turn, every move and every opportunity, Braelyn is targeted, by a Scath controlled human trafficking ring that is focusing on some of the people of Earth, a focus that is centering on history and blood. What ensues is the building relationship between Rein and Braelyn, and the potential fall-out as Braelyn is a valuable prize in a war between the worlds.

The relationship between Braelyn and Rein is one of fated mates but Rein refuses to accept the woman with whom he will fall in love as the mating ritual of a Firebrand Vampire is dangerous, dark and deadly. Braelyn is a human whose life expectancy may be shorter than most but Braelyn’s blood holds a secret, and the longer she remains on Scath, the more valuable and important she will become. Braelyn is determined to prove Rein is worthy of her love but Rein fears destroying the woman that calls to his blood. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic, aggressive and intense.

There is an enormous ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters of creatures and breeds: vampires, harpies, nymphs, Amazons, witches, warlocks, shifters, beserkers, demons, satyrs and djinn. The Aeternals are the overarching collection of breeds and supernatural species that inhabit the Scath realm, and the Alliance are the group of humans that monitor all supernatural activity on Earth. We are introduced to Rein’s parents Alarik and Castia, andhis sister Elisabeta;Braelyn’s father George: Firebrands Chay, Dax, Brak, Logan, Kole, Bounty, Ram, Tyr, Sabine, Jezzi and Galena, as well as Rein’s Aunt Indigo, a powerful witch who is able to read the ‘signs’. The requisite evil has many faces.

THE FIREBRAND is a complex, detailed and compounded story line that follows several pathways between the present and the past, good vs evil, Earth, Scath and Darque. The premise is comprehensive and meticulous; the characters are numerous, energetic, powerful and strong; the romance is contentious, quarrelsome and fated. THE FIREBRAND ends on a bit of a cliff hanger-you have been warned.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy