Possession (Blood Ties, Book 2)

Admittedly this books predecessor could get annoying. But not so much that I didn't want to finish the series. And "Possession" has an up side something new to offer to the reader other than constant indecision and some sex and violence (not always mutually exclusive) opens up the world Carrie was forced into by becoming a vampire.

Things were going just fine for Carrie and her new sire Nathan (if you say ignoring their mutual attraction in any adult way) when suddenly Nathan was possessed and carving weird symbols into his arms that despite the vampire thing won't heal. And things get worse when he kills someone and the movement sends out an execution order.

Carrie knows she needs help so her turns to Nathan friends Max (also a movement assassin) and heads to movement headquarters in Spain to plea for Nathan's life. But while there not only is another assassin (Bella, a werewolf) assigned to the killing as Max is seen as biased, Carrie learns from an ancient vampire known as the Oracle that the soul eater her old sire (Cyrus' father) is trying to make himself into a god.

Leaving Max and Bella to track Nathan (Max to try and save him Bella to kill him) Carrie takes off following a rumor that someone has brought Cyrus back to life on the slim chance he'll know how to help Nathan as the soul eater is Nathan's sire.

Like the first book this novel is filled with Carrie changing her mind every ten seconds about anything regarding her emotional life. Unlike the last we get third person scenes from Max (very funny) and Cyrus (being dead changed him.) All in all this book is just as fun as the last while being less annoying.

Four stars.

IMO Possession was even better than The Turning (if that's possible). And, the author doesn't mess around. She leads you right into another twist in the story and introduces you to a couple more characters (Bella and Max) who play a major role in this book. I found this book more descriptive than The Turning probably due to the possession storyline. You get a full glimpse through Carrie into Nathan's past life with his wife and why he is so haunted and torn by his past. You become more acquainted with the Soul Eater's role in Nathan's life. Plus, Cyrus is now back in action. The book does jump around quite a bit between 2 storylines; Nathan's possession and Cyrus' resurrection. And, at times, I had to reread a few paragraphs to keep the story straight. If you are wanting a romantic interlude, I'm afraid you aren't going to get it with this series. It just doesn't seem to be happening between Carrie and Nathan or Cyrus (especially with Nathan). On to Book 3 Ashes to Ashes review.....

Several years ago, I picked up the first of the Blood Ties books. I liked it a lot; there was slick action, complex character development, and some romance. A little bit of everything. I bought Possession and was hugely disappointed with the story, writing, and pretty much everything to do with the book. I have no plans to finish the series. Major disappointment.

Oy. This is the transition book that transition from the neat story of book 1 into the longer arc that would take us through book 4. The pace in this book was intoreablly slow. Now, I think the only payoff for reading this book is that so you could continue to read book 3 (and maybe 4, I'm not there yet). But, unless you're committed to finishing the series, I wouldn't bother with book 2. Just let your mind wander in the world created in book 1.

I debated between 3.5 & 4 Stars, I settled on 4 because I really enjoyed Cyrus and Mouse together. There's still something holding me back from enjoying this series immensely but I can't figure out what it is. I'm thinking it's the connection between Carrie and Nathan (or the lack of connection), I'm wondering if that's being done on purpose or if the character development/chemistry just never happened to begin with...I guess I'll wait and see...on to book three in the series.