Title: Tainted Blood
Series: Tainted 01
Author: Sam C. Leonhard
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Alternative World
Length: Novel (296pgs)
ISNB: 978-1-61581-411-4
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (3rd May 2010)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5 Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Gabriel Jordan lives a lonely life on the streets, taking the rare job that usually means spending hours in the cold, waiting for a chance to take a photograph of a cheating spouse. That’s how he meets Dr. Aleksei Tennant—who he sees suspiciously jumping from a window of a woman’s apartment. Tennant introduces Gabriel to the hidden worlds, magical worlds connected to this one by portals. Gabriel is eager to learn the runes for opening them, Tennant is eager to teach, and a fragile friendship develops amidst a series of murders.
These aren’t just any murders. The killer has a grudge against the mixture of other races: he doesn’t kill humans, only those of the hidden worlds who are producing children of tainted blood. When the killer attacks them directly, Gabriel and Tennant have to team up to find the murderer, even though they’re putting themselves, their love, and any chance at a future together, in danger.
Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1816
Review: Well, well, well what to say? Hmmm… Brilliant, Fantastic, Awesome and Fabulous. Gabriel lives on the streets and makes ends meet by doing crappy jobs for an investigator, he has always known that he is different but he finds out that he is even more different than he thought when he sees a man float down from an apartment window. Tennant (Aleksei) knows that no-one should have seen him so he is fascinated by the young man who saw him leave the apartment; he takes him home and starts to make startling discoveries and the young man becomes involved in a mystery that he is trying to solve.
This story is set in an alternative world where humans know of paranormal portals but do want any interaction with them. Gabriel is twenty-seven but looks about twenty and he’s part werewolf part human and part something else? So he has to keep a low profile otherwise will end up in prison or worse, Tennant is something else entirely and begins to teach Gabriel about runes and portals while trying to get to the bottom of Gabriel’s heritage and trying to solve a murder. Gabriel and Tennant become good friends but between misunderstandings and lies, it doesn’t look like they will come to their senses anytime soon.
I really enjoyed this story as although there is a bit of romance and some really hot sex near to the end, the story was more based on the murders, mystery, and Gabriel’s heritage. The descriptions in this book are wonderful I especially liked how it wasn’t easy travelling through the portals and the descriptions of the other worlds are good. I really liked the seagull bit as well. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t find out anything concrete about Gabriel’s heritage but then right at the end of the epilogue it’s there… a cliff-hanger where we are given a tantalizing glimpse about Gabriel and a tantalizing taste that something is going to go horrible wrong in the next book. (Grrr, I have to wait for the next book, now.)
So honestly, I have to recommend this to those who love paranormal, fantasy, developing love, hot sex, gruesome gory scenes, magic (runes) and a happy for now ending.