Between Bloode and Water (Between the Shadows 3) by Marie Harte-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 1, 2022

Kaia has had it with her mother. Talk about touchy. Offend the sea witch and pay the price. Oy. Granted, Kaia’s last boyfriend had been an idiot, but nearly sacrificing him to a dark god had been totally unnecessary. And those deals her mother keeps making with demons to obtain more power? Not a healthy way to achieve balance.

To stop her mother from sacrificing some other poor schlub, she sneaks into her mother’s lair and finds more intended sacrifices. But one of them has fangs.

Needing to get to safety before her mother returns and loses her mind, Kaia, a sea nymph, swims away with the guy and soon learns he’s under a spell.

In order to cure him, she overrides her mother’s magic with her own, weak though it may be. But now this male—a freakin’ vryko, a vampire who can swim like the merfolk—thinks he loves her. Curing Orion of the enchantment should have ended their association, but he’s still obsessed with her.

And for some reason, she’s intrigued by him as well. But the dark one to whom her mother promised a soul doesn’t care where it comes from. And since her mother has reneged on Orion, the dark one decides Kaia will do nicely in his place.

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REVIEW: BETWEEN BLOODE AND WATER is the third instalment in Marie Harte’s contemporary, adult BETWEEN SHADOWS paranormal romance series. This is two hundred and forty-six year old vryko vampire Orion, and soon to be twenty-five year old, water nymph Kaia Dunwich’s story line. BETWEEN BLOODE AND WATER can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and familiarity.

SOME BACKGROUND: There are ten tribes of vampires each made up of individual clans, all male, and each tribe of vampire has a different gift. Tribes hate other tribes, and clans hate other clans, even within the same tribe. Six Bloode Stones, thought to be the tears of the Primus Ambrogio, the ancestor of the vampires, are missing, and the meeting of all six stones, will ‘cause’ peace to fall upon the vampire race, the Blood Empire will unite and rule the worlds by destroying and consuming every living beast including the human race.

Told from several third person perspectives including Orion and Kaia, BETWEEN BLOODE AND WATER follows the building relationship between two hundred and forty-six year old vryko vampire Orion, and soon to be twenty-five year old, water nymph Kaia Dunwich. Kaia Dunwich is contracted to work with the local magir library, and our heroine suspects her mother Sabine, The White Sea Witch is using black magic. Kaia must infiltrate her mother’s magical island, an island that comes and goes to the eye, but Kaia never expected to find several werewolves, and a bespelled vampire, a vampire who claims Kaia is his mate. Enter vryko vampire Orion, and the man with whom Kaia will fall in love. What ensues is the rescue of our story line hero, as our couple grow closer together but only one who suspects it is all a ruse.

Orion is a vryko vampire, with the ability to swim and survive underwater, the perfect match for our story line heroine but Orion’s love and attraction to Kaia is precipitated by a powerful spell, a spell meant to keep Orion pliant and docile. Suspecting her mother had other plans for our story line hero, Kaia struggles with her attraction to a man, whose need for Kaia is a fabrication of magic. As Kaia and Orion grow closer together, the broken spell will reveal the truth, and Kaia will find herself the target of a powerful god. Orion reveals more of the history of his vampire clan, a history that doesn’t sit too well with our story line heroine.

Meanwhile, the clan continues to search for the Bloode Stones, thought to be the tears of the Primus (Ambrogio-the original vampire), stones that call to their direct descendants.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters include Kaia’s sister Macy and her vampire mate Duncan (Between Bloode and Craft 2); Night Bloode housemates and vampires Khent, Rolf, Kraft ; Orion’s kitten Shadow, as well as the clan patron, goddess Hecate, and her sidekick vampire/demon/magician/shifter Mormo, housekeeper Bella, and Fara’s brother and dark elf Onvyr; Macy’s best friend Cho, a half demon and his father Anton, as well as Kaia and Macy’s father Grand Mind Mage William Dunwich, and Kaia’s mother Sabine. The requisite evil has many faces. Once again, the back and forth between housemates is often frenetic and unbalanced. Kraft’s story is next in Between Bloode and Wolf.

BETWEEN BLOODE AND WATER is a story of family and betrayal, power and control, magic and passion, acceptance and love. The fast paced premise is entertaining and inviting ;the characters are animated and quirky; the romance is edgy and heart breaking.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews

Between Bloode and Stone
Between Bloode and Craft

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy