Joann I. Martin Sowles's TAINTED BLOOD Review & Giveaway!

                                                              Laney’s story continues in Book 3—Tainted Blood

REVIEW:
Oh my goodness,this series keeps getting better and better! I do feel for Oliver and Laney though,just when you think they can finally be together without anyone trying to attack them,break them up or kill them, BAM! Something new happens. Any Joann has a way of just throwing in a new twist when you least expect it.
Tainted Blood is filled with the characters you fell in love with, new characters that you either love,hate, or am just out right suspicious of and some definitely unexpected characters.There is full of love, hate, anger, jealousy,mistrust,humor,deceit,adventure,kiss butt scenes, and questions that aren't always answered.May I so want to know Laney's lineage! She finally starts to have the same suspicions about her linage as I do but with all the chaos she puts it on the back burner of her mind and decides to ask Oliver or Felix about it later.
So book three begins by recapping the end of book two,which I was glad for because I needed some refreshing because I haven't read Laney and Darkness since the beginning of the year. Laney and Carter had a "fun filled" night due to Carter's depress state about losing Kiera because he thinks she'd be better off without out him since his "incident".The whole plan back fires and they not too sure what happened during their drunken episode.This slowly blows over, Kiera and Carter get back together but Oliver is still a little weary about Laney and Carter's friendship.This throws some kinks in their relationship. Laney and Oliver start having little spats here and there and then Oliver's behavior starts to get flaky. He isn't being himself and Laney starts to worry.Things turn from and to worst when Oliver losses it one night.This is the perfect time for Oscar to jump in and try get his paws on Laney, which sends Laney into loony Laney (I have to say this is totally hilarious part of the book). All this while some crazy plot is being played out to get rid of some key vampires.So Felix,some of his friends and Laney's friends must uncover and dismantle this plot before everyone gets hurt from plot.Some will not make it,some will and some will barely escape the clutches of death.


AMAZON/GOODREADS/ WEBSITE

Character Profiles are updated periodically (SPOILER ALERT!):

Laney

Laney has always been an independent and content person. Although she has the occasional urge to break free of the quiet town she has spent her life in, she’s happy hanging out with her best friend Kiera and occasionally spending time with their mutual friends. She is close to her deceased mother’s sister, Lilly, who has raised her since she was very young. Laney has never really been looking for anything specific, but takes each day as it comes. Sometimes she feels like something in her life is missing…like she’s waiting for something to return to her.

Full Name: Delaney Josephine Alexander
Nickname(s): Laney, Laney Jo
Family Members: Lilly Hallisey (Aunt), Brooke (mother, deceased), Her father is MIA
Birthday: October 30th
Appearance: Laney is approximately five-foot-seven with a girlish figure. She has just the right amount of curves in all the right places. She has long, thick chestnut brown hair and the darkest brown eyes. Her skin is fairly light, but not pale. She is beautiful, but doesn’t think she looks any better than the next girl. She doesn’t make a fuss over herself, rarely wears make-up and has her hair up in a ponytail most of the time.
Favorites: She loves Lucky Charms and the color turquoise.

Oliver

Oliver is very protective of Laney and Hayden. Oliver has a plan and he will see to it that nothing gets in the way of this plan. Other than that, there’s not a lot I can tell you about him right now.

Full Name: Oliver Samuel Knight
Nickname(s): Ollie – Only by his brother
Family Members: Oscar (twin Brother), Olivia (younger sister - deceased), Hayden (niece), Eugene & Eleanor/”Ellie” Knight (parents – both deceased).
Birthday: March 14th
Sired By & Date: Confidential – November 13, 1992
Appearance: Oliver is tall, lean and appears to be in his early twenties. He’s stronger and faster than he looks. He has wavy light brown hair, light skin and mesmerizing emerald green eyes.
Items typically found in his possession: You would never find Oliver without his cell phone.

Kiera

Sweet, quiet, bookworm Kiera is the only child of overly protective parents. She can be rather shy and always has a positive attitude. If it wasn’t for Laney’s friendship and encouragement, Kiera would still be stuck in her text books. Kiera loves school and learning, but she also loves Carter. Always has and always will…

Full Name: Kiera Lynn Blake
Family Members: Jane and Roger Blake (Parents)
Birthday: February 13th
Appearance: Kiera has a striking resemblance to Tinker Bell, with baby soft blonde hair and gold flecked blue eyes.
Favorites: Kiera’s favorite things are books, school and Carter.
Items typically found in her possession: Her pink cell phone and cotton candy lip gloss.

Carter

Carter is the typical all-around sweet guy friend. He’s the one that’s always there, hanging with the girls. He is close friends with Laney and Kiera, but keeps a distant relationship with his once best friend, Ashton. Carter has always been quiet about his personal and home life and he has had a secret crush on Kiera for years. Never feeling he was good enough for her, it took years and the encouragement of a new friend and roommate, to act upon his feelings.

Full Name: Carter Jeremiah Thomas
Nickname(s): CJ – mostly by his basketball and baseball buddies. Ashton started calling Carter CJ in high school hoping he could turn him into his little protégé. (Ashton goes by AJ on the field).
Birthday: July 31st
Appearance: Carter is tall and lanky. He has messy sandy-blonde hair that’s usually a bit too long over his ears. His bangs are normally swept to the side to keep them out of his brilliant blue eyes.
Favorites: Carter loves playing basketball and baseball, but his friends and his little brother are what matter to him most.
Items typically found in his possession: An old and faded black leather wallet with his Student ID, driver’s license, an ATM card a small amount of cash and a few other miscellaneous things he forgot were in there. He also carries a metal Sierra Nevada bottle opener keychain with his apartment key attached to it.

Aunt Lilly

Once a successful business woman, Lilly gave it all up to raise Laney after her sister, Laney’s mom, passed away. Without a single regret, Lilly has raised Laney into a beautiful, strong and independent young woman. Lilly can still be a bit old fashioned when it comes to Laney and she is having a hard time adjusting to Laney’s new life, especially her new love interest. Having focused on Laney for so many years, she is having a difficult time adjusting to her new found freedom.

Full Name: Lillian Jean Hallisey
Nickname(s): Lilly
Family Members: Laney (niece), Brooke Hallisey (little sister – deceased).
Birthday: July 8th
Appearance: As she approaches fifty, Lilly’s hair, that which is usually kept up in a bun, has begun to gray. Lines have aged her face and her style has settled into casual khakis, making her look like she stepped right off a page of a L.L.Bean catalog.
Items typically found in her possession: A small gold watch always worn on her left wrist.

Felix

Felix is a pure blood vampire. He is a massive hunk of muscle and as intimidating as you could possibly imagine. He is the sweetest guy you could ever encounter – once you get past the intimidating thing and that startling deep booming voice. Felix is a gentle giant who plays the bass for the vampire band Bitten. Anything else I was to share would be strictly confidential and I could get in serious trouble.

Full Name: Felix Alexander
Family Members: Confidential
Birthday: December 23rd
Appearance: At a towering six-foot-eight, Felix is muscle from head to toe, clean cut blonde hair, crystal clear sky blue eyes and has the sweetest dimple in his left cheek when he smiles.
Items typically found in his possession: Candy.

Hayden

Hayden is smart - not just book smart, crafty smart. She has spent her entire life watching her family and taking in every moment, quietly learning from them. Hayden has been raised by a man who gave up his dreams to be there for her, and by a mother who may be a bit bonkers. She has always had the love and affection of her uncle, who has rearranged his life to be there for her and help raise her. Hayden has never met her biological father and she has no desire to, with good reason. Like her uncle, Hayden has a plan…

Full Name: Hayden Olivia Scott
Family Members: Julz (mother), Isaac (father), Oliver (Uncle)
Birthday: October 14th
Appearance: Hayden is thin and tall. She has long, straight, chocolate brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. She looks and acts older than she is.
Favorites: Hayden is fascinated with the stars and the sky. She loves reading, anything to do with “mythical” creatures, but mostly vampires.

Julz

All I can tell you about Julz is that she has an attitude problem. She’s bitter and a bit psycho at times.

Full Name: Confidential
Nickname(s): Julz
Family Members: Confidential
Birthday: February 6th
Sired By & Date: Confidential
Appearance: Julz is petite with wild amethyst streaked brown hair. She has solid brown eyes and is often referred to as “The Gothic Princess.”
Items typically found in her possession: If you dig deep enough and know where to look, you will find a battered picture of her with Oscar from early on in their relationship. There are two other things always found on her – but I won’t be sharing those just yet…

Isaac

Isaac is a jeans and flip-flops sorta guy with a good heart. He’s the lead singer and guitarist for the band Bitten and a father to Hayden. Isaac adores Julz and has given up much of his life’s dreams to be with her.

Full Name: Isaac Scott
Family Members: Hayden (Daughter), Julz
Birthday: May 28th
Appearance: Isaac appears to be in his thirties. He’s average height and on the thin side. He has golden blonde mid-length surfer boy hair that is dyed turquoise on the tips, and he has hazel green eyes that stand out against his sun-kissed skin.
Favorites: Isaac’s favorite thing to do is veg while playing his guitar.
Items typically found in his possession: Gum

Zoey

Zoey can sometimes be loud and often speaks her mind. She is a great friend and enjoys spending time with her friends, which she considers her family. Zoey doesn’t know any of her actual family besides her grandmother who has raised her.

Full Name: Zoey Levesque
Family Members: The only family member Zoey knows is her grandmother on her father’s side.
Birthday: April 23rd
Appearance: Zoey is tall and thin with long legs, big dark hair and light jade colored eyes that stand out against her dark skin.
Favorites: Her friends and her grandmother. She also favors her pet rat, Chatters.

Ashton

Ashton is a rich, arrogant frat boy. He is in his third year of college with scouts from all over watching his progress. His goal is to play a professional sport, with football being his number one choice. Let’s just be happy he has a goal. Ashton and Laney have had some “issues,” mostly because she will not return his affection. That’s a hard and unusual thing for Ashton to deal with.

Full Name: Ashton James Weslin
Nickname(s): AJ
Birthday: September 1st
Family Members: Younger sister, Avery
Appearance: Aston is just under six feet tall and built like a football player, a well-built football player. He has blue eyes and salon bleached blonde hair that’s usually spiked with massive amounts of gel. He’s fairly tan, which is probably safe to assume is fake.
Favorites: His favorite things are himself, his appearance and his ego. Football and baseball are right behind that.
Items typically found in his possession: A designer leather wallet containing his driver’s license and student ID, a good amount of cash, credit card, ATM card and a condom. He would typically also have his car and house keys (frat house & parents) and his cell phone.

Avery

Avery is known for her trashy reputation, her ever changing appearance and her over-processed hair. She wears super thick make-up and revealing clothes. She’s in her second year of college and lives at home with her parents (if you can call showing up to change your clothes in the morning living there).

Full Name: Avery Justine Weslin
Family Members: Older brother, Ashton
Birthday: July 21st
Appearance: Avery is around five-foot-four with platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, tan (fake), big boobs (we can easily assume fake here too), small cat-like eyes and pouty lips.
Favorites: I can only assume Avery’s favorite things involve money and boys…
Items typically found in her possession: A very large designer purse that always matches her attire. First off, the thing is big enough that she could probably fit inside of it. Secondly, I’m not sure I’m brave enough to look inside.

Professor Amber

There is little known about Professor Amber. For now…

Full Name: Ambrose SaVan
Nickname(s): Amber
Appearance: Professor Amber is tall, thin and always elegantly dressed. She has long, straight strawberry-blonde hair, beautiful blue-green eyes, flawless porcelain skin and a hint of a hard to place accent.

Oscar

Oscar Knight is Oliver’s troubled and misunderstood twin brother. He’s a bonded male vampire without his mate, which has made him somewhat irrational and his quest for revenge doesn’t help his case either. There’s not much more I can tell you about this lost Knight right now.

Full Name: Oscar Sebastian Knight
Nickname(s): Oz
Family Members: Oliver (twin brother), Olivia (younger sister - deceased), Eugene & Eleanor/”Ellie” Knight (parents – both deceased).
Birthday: March 14th
Sired By & Date: Confidential - November 13th, 1992
Appearance: Although he’s Oliver’s twin, Oscar appears worn and older. His lifestyle and the separation from his mate have aged him. Oscar seems to be a couple inches shorter than his twin, he’s also scrawny and ragged. His dark brown hair is always slicked back and his sapphire blue eyes match those of Hayden’s.
Items typically found in his possession: A black onyx and mother of pearl triangle pattern ring that circles his left ring finger.

Also checkout Book 1&2:

 AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Laney-The-Brookehaven-Vampires-ebook/dp/B004APA600/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2
GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8853482-laney









AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-The-Brookehaven-Vampires-ebook/dp/B0060TKBDG/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1
GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11526449-darkness

GIVEAWAY:

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AUTHOR BIO:

Joann's love of fantasy and science fiction inspired her to create the Brookehaven Vampires and their world. She lives in Northern California with her very supportive husband and their two wonderful children, along with what she likes to call her furry entourage-two tuxedo cats and a very devoted Aussie. Between being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom and a wife, she spends her spare time, what little there is of it, hard at work on the next Brookehaven installment.