Blood Type (Blood Type, #1)

by K.A. Linde

Caitlin Elizabeth (Narrator)

A startling new vision of paranormal romance: When a human ventures into the world of vampires—a decadent milieu of blood-bonds and betrayal—she discovers that not all is what it seems.

For Reyna Carpenter, giving up her body isn’t a choice. It’s survival.

In a civilization laid waste by poverty and desperation, Reyna accepts a high-paying position with the wealthy and hungry vampire elite. Her new job is as the live-in blood escort for the intimidating, demanding, and devilishly handsome Beckham Anderson. He’s everything she expected from a vampire, except for one thing—he won’t feed off her.

Reyna soon discovers that behind Beckham’s brooding, wicked façade lies a unique and complex man. And that, in a dark and divided world, she is more valuable than she ever would have believed.

For with each passing night, Reyna can’t shake the sensation that it’s Beckham who’s afraid of her.

• ISBN10: 1541416287
• ISBN13: 9781541416284
• Publish Date: 24 April 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 14 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tantor Media, Inc
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 10 hours and 53 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

Blood Type by K. A Linde is the first book in the Blood Type series. I thought it was a great start to the series and I am looking forward to delve further into the world the author created. I found the author’s perspective of the vampire world unique and addictive.

In this world vampires rule and are affluent while humans live in constant state of poverty and fighting hard to survive. Corruption was rampant among the vampire hierarchy and they rule the human population with a heavy hand.

The story introduced Reyna Carpenter one of the many humans struggling to make ends meet. She dreams of going to college but does not have the means to do so. Unable to get a job, she depends on her brothers to support her. Her brothers are struggling as well and so she felt she had no choice but to sign to work for Visage to become a blood escort. Being a blood escort meant temporary placement with a vampire who will feed on her whenever he desired. However, on entering the program she was selected for a special project where she would be permanently paired with a vampire. She would be paired with the powerful and enigmatic Beckham Anderson.

Reyna found herself in a situation, which she did not understand and so she had a lot of questions. However, there were times I wished she would exercise wisdom and hold her tongue. I found her actions somewhat annoying and I lauded Beckham for his patience. Despite this I admired her strength and caring attitude.

There was more to Beckham than meets the eye. His character was shrouded in secrecy. I admired his self-control, which came under threat when Reyna entered his life. Figuring out his agenda proved a challenge, however as the story progressed his motives were revealed.

There was a lot happening in the story to keep me on my toes. There were quite a few twists, some of which I saw coming and some that bowled me over.

The romance between Beckham and Reyna took a while to build up. There was a lot of push and pull that I began wondering if they would get together.

This installment left me with several unanswered questions, which will more than likely be addressed in the sequels.

Conclusion/Recommendation
I enjoyed this installment and I am looking forward to picking up the next book. I would definitely recommend this to fans of paranormal romance.

Narration
Caitlin Elizabeth did an okay job with the narration. It was my first time listening to her. The voices were not distinguishable, except for the character with the French accent. I found her voice to be pleasant, which made it easy to listen to the book.

[Romance Schmomance]

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Oh wow, color me intrigued! Vampires are my absolute favorite paranormal beings to read about, there's just something about them that's so alluring and erotic. And the new take on the vampire world had me completely hooked on Blood Type.

With K.A. Linde being one of the authors that I'll absolutely read anything from, I was more than elated once I heard she had a new paranormal series coming out. So I was definitely on board before even knowing what the series would be about. Just like Reyna, we're learning more about this world of being blood escort right alongside with her. She was very naive about the world she lived in, but she did what she could to stop being such a burden to her brothers. I completely admired how selfless she was and I was constantly rooting for someone to truly appreciate her for the person that she is.

And all eyes were staring right at the vampire extraordinaire that is Beckham Anderson. I'd like to describe him as a nice and cold, shiny rock. It was a mystery for a while about why he decided to take on Reyna as his blood escort, but she was definitely treated more like a paid roommate. Their conversations were little and there was no telling what he actually thought about her. However, some of his actions towards Reyna's whereabouts and well-being showed you that he actually cared more about her than we thought. But it just makes it hard for us to love him because he has this hot and cold persona going on. And it's quite the sight when he finally opens up to Reyna!

It's a bit of an action-packed journey as Reyna tries to figure out what the heck is going on in the world of being a blood escort. The cliffhanger is a killer, but I don't care. I'm completely invested in this series and can't wait to see how everything will end!

[Cocktails and Books]

I enjoyed the twist on this vampire tale. I liked the premise of vampires becoming somewhat more refined and using blood matches who willing provide the blood and what the human/vampire relations are like. You could never be sure who was friend or foe with these characters, but the storyline kept me intrigued and definitely wanting to see what happens next.

[chymerra]

When I saw that this book was up for review on NetGalley, I almost passed it by. But something about the blurb caught my attention and made me look twice. I thought it was going to be your typical Twilight knockoff. Not only am I glad that I requested (and got) the book, I am glad that my assumption was so wrong. This book is nothing like the Twilight knockoff. NOTHING like it. So don’t expect a book like that. Expect something that is much darker and grittier. These vampires don’t glitter.

Blood Type takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Vampires came out to the humans years before, sending the world into a tailspin. After the dust settled, the vampires had taken over the world. People were left fighting for food, shelter, and jobs. Reyna grew up during that time and is struggling to survive in the new world the vampires created. Her way out is to become a blood escort. Someone who lets the vampires feed off of her in exchange for money. But, she gets chosen to test out a new role. A role as a live-in escort. Her sponsor is the VP of the escort company, Beckham Anderson. As heat and lust sparks between Beckham and Reyna, she can’t feel that there is something off. Something that she doesn’t know about. Something that could make or break her world if she finds out.

Like I mentioned above, this book was gritty. It was not written to make you think that vampires where nice people who happened to want to drink your blood. Nope, these vampires were evil. Even if they had good intentions, like Beckham. I loved it!!! It was a refreshing read and different from other vampire books. I was not bored reading it.

I felt bad for Reyna. She tried everything in her power to get out of where she was staying. The escort service was her last resort. She didn’t want to be known as a blood whore. She was ashamed of it. I did get a laugh out of her wardrobe and her reaction to it. What was running through my head was Julia Roberts wardrobe before Richard Greer picked her up in Pretty Woman. Except Reyna had the opposite reaction.

I couldn’t get a feel on Beckham until almost the end of the book. Normally, that bothers me but in this case, it only added to how much I like the book. He is a vampire. I shouldn’t be able to read him like a book. I should have to work, like Reyna did, to see what he was like underneath. It wasn’t until the bombing that I even began to understand him. I loved it!!!

The sexual tension in Blood Type was through the roof. Reyna and Beckham do not actually have sex until towards the end of the book. I thought that the author did a great job keeping the sexual tension up until then. When they finally had sex, it was explosive. I swear my Kindle’s screen fogged up a few times.

The end of the book was insane. Not going to get into it, but I was not expecting what happened. There is a cliffhanger. I don’t like cliffhangers but this one made me eager to read book 2.

What I liked about Blood Type:

A) Vampires were what I thought they should be. Not glittery freaks.

B) Reyna and Beckham’s sexual tension

C) The plotline

What I dislike about Blood Type:

A) Reyna being forced into being a blood escort

B) The other live in blood escorts. They annoyed me

C) The judgey peeps that Reyna met

I would give Blood Type a rating of Adult. There is explicit sex, explicit violence, and language. This is a book that no one under the age of 21 should be reading.

I wouldn’t give this book any trigger warnings.

I would recommend Blood Type to family and friends. I would give a warning about the sex, violence, and language. This is a book that I would reread. This is also a series that I am going to enjoy reading.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group and Loveswept for allowing me to read and review Blood Type.

All opinions stated in this review of Blood Type are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**