Lucas, Faith’s werewolf boyfriend, believes there is a vampire uprising and is trying to prove it even though the pack leader refuses to believe him. Then Derek, Faith’s ex that was turned in revenge, wakes up. The first hybrid vampire/werewolf, no one knows what his abilities are or even if he is going to be sane in the end. Faith is torn in two. She wants to be with Lucas, help explore her abilities and how they interact with Lucas. But she is also pulled to Derek, it is her fault that he is a hybrid and she is trying to do everything possible to help him adjust and to keep Lucas from killing him.

Then the murders start happening again. Something is in the works with the vampires, the question is what. It looks like they are trying to get Derek to go to their side because of how powerful he is. Faith is also trying to go back to her old life, but she is having trouble trying to connect to her old friend, Heather, that has turned to drugs after her breakup with Peter. Faith has got to get her life in order before she ends up on the wrong side of the vampires.

So I have a confession, I have both books in the Blood Moon series but I grabbed the wrong one to read first. I don’t have the back story to go off of, but that didn’t matter. This Blood Crave was written so well that I didn’t have to read the other first, it was easy to figure out what was going on.

I understand Faith’s love for Lucas and the dilemma of wanting to be turned or not so she can be with him forever and the whole controlling his triggers. I was a bit miffed at her constantly running to Derek and keeping Lucas from killing him. I understand how she is guilty about his being turned. But really, she is ruining her life over someone that cheated on her and is constantly trying to get between her and her current boyfriend.

I was also irritated about how she keeps thinking that she can just join Lucas or Derek and fight the vampires herself. Did she not remember anything about her fight in the last book? Does she not see what these creatures are capable of? I admit that I was about ready to slap her upside her head with her stupidity. Argh!

Ok, deep breath. Over all, this is a good story. I like the concept and loved the surprise ending. Even though I read them in the wrong order, I really want to see what happened to start Faith’s story.

This is one book that I will recommend with the warning to not expect a lot of brain power from Faith.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Note: There are major spoilers for the first book in this series, Blood on the Moon, but no spoilers for this book, which is Book Two.

Before reading Blood Crave, I re-read Blood on the Moon, because it ended in a cliffhanger, and with those sorts of books, I like to get into the momentum before continuing on with the story.

Blood Crave continues the story of Faith Reynolds, who, like many young pretty girls in books these days, finds her life taken over by interactions with werewolves and vampires.

At first, Faith had a relatively normal life with nothing more to deal with than her best friend Derek, who came with her to attend Colorado State University. Suddenly Derek was trying (again) to turn their friendship into something more. Faith just didn’t think she could love Derek in that way.

Moreover, as classes started, she felt an undeniable attraction to Lucas, a very hot and mysterious guy who shared some of her classes. Eventually she discovered Lucas was a werewolf, but she learned that, far from being a monster, he was a protector. She trusts him with her life. …And well she should, because he keeps having to save it! No, not from jealous Derek, but from vampires, and especially one particular vampire, Vincent Stone. Vincent has a 300-year-old feud going on with Lucas, and he figures out that he can get to Lucas by killing Faith (or turning her into a vampire). Lucas is unwilling to let Vincent do either, and he finally manages to get rid of Vincent once and for all - but not before Vincent bites Derek.

At the end of Book One, Faith - desperate to save Derek’s life, asks Lucas to bite him too, in the hope that the werewolf bite will cancel out the vampire bite. Will it? Proceed to Book Two!

Blood Crave picks up three weeks after Blood on the Moon left off. Derek is still around, but in a very different form. Faith is torn between loyalty to Derek and love for Lucas. She sometimes longs for her old normal life, but can’t imagine a life without Derek or Lucas. Unfortunately, she is painfully aware that she is bound to lose them both eventually, since she has only a human life span, something she thinks about a lot. In any event, there are bigger problems to consider: the vampires are tired of living [sic] in the shadows, and are ready for a showdown with werewolves and humans.

Discussion: Like so many books involving vampires, this story quickly devolves into a morass of vampire politics. Why do so many authors who create blood-sucking, rapacious, greedy characters think of politicians? I can’t imagine. At any rate, it’s just as distasteful to me and as tedious as American politics are lately. Okay, maybe a little less so….

Fortunately, the author doesn’t linger as long on vampire power struggles as much as some other purveyors of the paranormal, and focuses more on the dangerous and exciting aspects of romance between species.

As for the main character, Faith can be annoying: she is impulsive, foolhardy, and not always optimally mature. Ultimately, however, one has to like her: she is loyal, spunky, has a lot of compassion, and great taste in boyfriends.

The author has a very nice sense of humor that acts to surround the paranormal elements with a warm, fuzzy, teenaged vibe. For example, I appreciated how she tackled this plot point in Book One, when Faith asks Lucas why vampires can't come into someone's house unless they are invited: "I don't know why - it's an undead thing. Whatever."

Faith's summing up, in Book Two, of her own situation is quite funny, and nicely accomplishes a recap of what happened in Book One. And all the doggy jokes (that come from characters trying to make deprecatory remarks about werewolves) had me laughing - I love the way one of the characters refers to Lucas as "Scooby," inter alia.

Evaluation: This is a fun series: light, romantic, even sexy. The second book, like the first, ends in a big cliffhanger, one that makes me eager for the third volume.

Note: There is sex in this book, but it’s not at all explicit, and at any rate Faith is a college freshman and Lucas is over 300 years old….. ( )