The Turning (Blood Ties, Book 1)

Although they represented my number one childhood night time fear I've kind of been on a Vampire thing lately. I'd watched movies and TV shows, but had yet to read a book that strongly features vamps as main characters. So when (much to my surprise) I actually enjoyed "Queene of Light" by Jennifer Armintrout I decided to give her camp series a try.

Blood Ties is a four part series about Dr. Carrie Ames a recently credentialed emergency room doctor in Grand Rapids Michigan. One night a particularly terrible looking assault victim came into the ER-and Carrie-who hates failure-froze up. The patient (John Doe) died and being the take charge type Carrie decided to confront his body in the morgue and get over it.

Only he wasn't dead. And he attacked her. And turned her into a vampire.

Carrie doesn't know what is happening at first-but after that long recuperation period the attack mandated, she starts to discover odd things. Like sun light hurts. No amount of food or cigarettes will stop a craving. And she's taking an unhealthy interest in her patient's blood.

This being the 21st century naturally Carrie looks for answers on the internet. And discovers Nathan Grant a new age bookstore owner and vampire who informs her that yes, there are indeed vampires, she is one of them and if she doesn't join an organization dedicated to whipping them off the face of the earth (formed by the good vampires) he will kill her, as he tried to kill John Doe. Nothing personal.

Carrie also learns that John Doe -the vamp who turned her-is one of the more evil vampires on the planet. And she had a physic tie to him because of his blood in her veins meaning he can influence her in all sorts of weird ways.

"The Turning" is ninety percent Carrie waffling around about weather or not she really likes/loves Cyrus (her very twisted sadistic sire) or it's just the blood tie or does she love Nathan? And which way will she go-to the good side or the bad side?

Parts of this book are really entertaining but Carrie's endless whining and indecisions interspaced with moments of determined conviction (which often vanishes with the wind) get old really fast. Fortunately this is a very fast read so there wasn't really time for me to tire of it. Had the book been longer though...it would have gotten more than annoying.

Four stars.

Since Laurell Hamilton's "Anita Blake Vampire Hunter" series and Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels have gone from excellent to much less than excellent, I have been bereft. What's a vampire fan to do without his/her fix? So, when I came upon Jennifer Armintrout's "The Turning," I thought that this novel might just be what I was looking for. Sadly, it does not meet my standards. I guess I have been spoiled by Anita Blake's and Sookie's adventures with the undead for exciting, unputdownable reading. (as I wrote above, with the exception of the authors' last few offerings).

"The Turning" is Book #1 in the "Blood Ties Trilogy." Dr. Carrie Ames is a resident Emergency Room doctor in a sleepy Michigan town. She went through what she calls "The Big Change" only eight months before. "The Change" she means is not from human to vampire, but from medical intern to full fledged MD. The "other change" is about to cut her normal life short.

A terribly mutilated man is admitted to the ER and Carrie, who thinks she is inured to blood and gore, is horrified by the man's wounds. Although he seems to be dead, she feels, with shivers, that there is life within him...but that couldn't be. So she stupidly goes to the morgue to check-out his body, and lo and behold, she finds a vicious vampire who bites her Bigtime - what else?

After a month-long recovery in the hospital, she realizes, upon release, that she is still not herself. She has developed a sensitivity to light that makes her more than uncomfortable - it burns her upon exposure, and she is insatiably hungry all the time. No matter how much she eats she doesn't gain a pound. She realizes that she has been turned and is now a vampire herself...still in the early stages of vampire development. This means that she doesn't need blood to survive, yet, nor does she shrivel upon exposure to daylight. She will though.

Since she knows little about the undead, she "Googles" vampire and comes upon a promising Website where she types the question, "Attacked by vampire. Please advise." What happens next is more than she bargains for. To summarize briefly, without spoiling the plot, she meets Nathan Grant, bookstore owner and vampire with a tender side. He saves her, temporarily, from her vicious sire, the evil but sexy Cyrus Kerrick, with whom she has a strong blood-tie. He did "turn" her, after all.

Nathan gives Carrie an ultimatum. She can fight her blood-tie and join the Movement, a two hundred year-old, worldwide entity, consisting of a group of vampires dedicated to the extinction of their own kind for the preservation of humanity. In the past they were known as the "Order of the Blood Brethren." Now they are known as the "Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement." The ever independent Carrie wants to make up her own mind, although the thought of the evil ones does creep her out. Still, she doesn't like to be pressured. Although she is with the good guys in her heart(s), she is still attracted to both Nathan and Cyrus, who really does take advantage of the blood-ties. Apparently the tie is incredibly strong, "which makes it nearly impossible for a new vampire to fight the will her sire." She has to make a decision fast before she faces deadly consequences.

Although "The Turning" has its good moments, (I did keep reading with some enthusiasm), the writing tends to be uneven. The narrative is often trite, the storyline lacks real substance and the dialogue leaves much to be desired. There's, "Good vampires must be made by good vampires." (What's a good vampire)?? Or, "It sucks when your little palace o' denial comes tumbling down." And, "Finally, Nathan spoke. 'I've kind of been a jerk.'" This from a "good vampire," who's still a big, tough undead being, and can get pretty savage when his interests are threatened. And of course both Nathan and Cyrus are super studs, with handsome faces and great bods! Oh, and there's lots of violence...but what else can one expect in a book full of vampires, many of whom are just plain nasty!

There are some interesting twists and characters, however - the novel's saving grace. I wouldn't exactly recommend "The Turning," unless, like me, you are desperate for a vampire fix!!!
Jana Perskie

Possession (Blood Ties, Book 2)
Ashes to Ashes (Blood Ties, Book 3)

I really wanted to like this book and was looking forward to getting involved in another series. However, I stopped reading 3/4 of the way through. The heroine, Carrie, is so unlikable. I found myself getting angry at her for the decisions she was making and how she was acting. Like other reviewers have said, it's disgusting to see her constantly flip-flop between Cyrus and Nathan -- she likes/lusts after whomever she is with at the time. And I couldn't condone how she felt about Cyrus given how truly evil he was. She turned a blind eye to all of the people who were killed by Cyrus and his "guests" and even allowed Cyrus to brutalize her during sex. All is forgiven...at least until she sees Nathan next time. Then she starts second guessing her feelings for him and wonders if she made the right decision. Ugh. She repeatedly says her attraction to Cyrus is due to the blood tie, but then often says she would be attracted to him w/o the blood tie. I just cannot warm to her; she's shallow and seems uncaring about humans. I read books to escape and enjoy the story, and I can't do that when I HATE HATE HATE the heroine!

Reading on my kindle -- 38% thru the book. I finally had to stop to read the reviews because I'm just hating the book. Other poor reviews are right in line with my feelings on the book.

Carrie, after only a week of knowing she's a vampire, is referring to Cyrus as her "sire", which just seems to odd to me.. why not "you created me" or "you made me".... why "sire" - sire just seems an odd choice to use so quickly - maybe coming from Nathan, but from Carrie, weird? And she's wishy-washy, quick to make stupid decisions though claiming she won't let anyone run her life for her.

I've read so many great books lately and really love the series of books, but this one fell flat. Not worth finishing the read. Too bad I didn't get the sample before blindly purchasing.. would have saved a few bucks. Even had this book been free it wouldn't have been worth the read.

I stumbled across this series while browsing the book forums and I'm sure glad I did. After reading the Twilight Series and Almost Human Series, I was ready once again for a new vamp series. I read the reviews and jumped in with both feet and bought all 4 books. I like a book that grabs me from the start and this one sure did. Although many reviews talked about the graphic violence at the start, I didn't find it really that graphic. I could handle it just fine. You can read the desciption of the book on your own so I won't get into that. The main characters are Carrie, Nathan, and Cyrus (plus their are a few other supporting characters). The author introduces you to each one and builds on their characters. Pretty soon you feel like you know them personally. Be prepared for a lot of twists and turns which really keep the story moving quickly. I need something to keep my attention from cover to cover and this book does just that. The sexual situations are mild. So for those of you who don't like explicit scenes, this series is a good one.