Matters of the Blood

Author: Maria Lima
Genre: Supernatural/Mystery
Pages: 324
Series: 1st book in the "Blood Lines" series
Series Order:

1. Matters of the Blood (2005)
2. Blood Bargain (2008)
3. Blood Kin (2009)
4. Blood Heat (2010)

First Line: "I know the dead and the dead know me."

Synopsis: Keira Kelly is part of a large supernatural family. Unfortunately most of her family has hightailed it to Canada to live leaving her to babysit her annoying cousin Marty -- who had the bad luck to be born 100% human -- back in Rio Seco, Texas.

Recently Keira has been having nightmares involving the murder of Marty. Add to that the fact that her ex-lover Sheriff Carlton Larson is back in town and Keira's day just got a whole lot worse. When old friend Adam Walker comes into town sinister things start happening and Keira is afraid it has something to do with Adam. Bodies are starting to pile up and Keira finds herself in the middle of a mess while she's undergoing her changes to becoming a mature supernatural.

My Thoughts: I'm always on the lookout for new authors, especially new supernatural authors. I thought I had found a great new author and series but I'm not certain. Overall, it was a decent storyline with good suspense (especially at the end) but it did feel like it was more about Keira's love life with a supernatural element being secondary (which I wasn't expecting).

It was too disorienting trying to piece together Keira's history. For example, when Adam Walker comes into the picture the author alludes to a relationship between the two but it was so vague that I felt like I had missed reading a previous book. I hate that which is why I always read books in order.

I felt the same way when the author discussed Keira's supernatural powers. The book starts out with a great first line "I know the dead and the dead know me" ... but the author never really says why she knows the dead. It's alluded that Keira is "death's assistant" but it wasn't really discussed in detail about what exactly she did. Sounds like she was a supernatural Dr Kevorkian but no details are given. Is she a necromancer or not? Inquiring minds want to know! Too many unanswered questions for my liking.

Don't get me wrong. It was a good read but I expected more along the lines of Kelley Armstrong's writing (I'm totally biased towards Armstrong and love how she describes and explains the supernatural. Perhaps she has ruined me for all other supernatural authors?!?). I may pick up the second book in this series but, let's put it this way ........ I'm not on pins and needles to find out where the storyline goes.

My Rating: 3/5 stars