Review: Last Blood (House of the Comarre #5) by Kristen Painter

Posted July 30, 2013 by Karen in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

by Kristen Painter
Also by this author: , House of the Rising Sun, City of Eternal Night, Garden of Dreams and Desires, The Vampire's Mail Order Bride
Published by Orbit

15999432

Title: Last Blood (House of the Comarre #5)
Author: Kristen Painter
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 4.25/5
Paranormal World Building Rating: 4.5/5
Release Date: July 30, 2013
Publisher: Orbit and imprint of Hachett Book Group
ISBN: 0316200182

     Book Synopsis

In the final showdown between the forces of dark and light, Mal and Chrysabelle face not only Tatiana, but the ancient evil that now controls her: the Castus Sanguis. Chrysabelle gathers her friends and family around her, forming a plan to bring an end to the chaos surrounding them. But the Castus is the most powerful being they’ve ever come up against. Defeating such evil will require a great sacrifice from someone on the side of light.

One of them will change sides. One of them will die. No one will survive unscathed. Can Chrysabelle save those she cares about or will that love get her killed? What price is she willing to pay to draw last blood?

Karen’s Review

The feel of the series as it progressed as gone from riveting, with the first books, to something that resembles a family drama with the last books of the series.  I don’t honestly know how I feel now that I have finished Last Blood by Kristen Painter, depressed is a good word. That’s it, I am depressed as I adore this series, and I hate to see it come to an end. “Pouting like Lilith.” For those of you who haven’t read the series here is a series primer:

The Birth of the Comarré

Marked for Service

Plumbing the Depth

Like I said in my review of Out for Blood, I first got hooked on the series when Jeaniene Frost author of the Night Huntress series mentioned the books and author on Twitter last fall. I was very curious about the books, and because of that I bought the series, and the cat was delightfully killed.  (Did you get the joke?   Curiosity and the cat and all that.)  The series is delightful and the romance in the final book Last Blood is in full swing. These are paranormal books; the sex is off page, but Painter makes my toes curl with just a kiss or a look. In Last Blood, at times I felt the plot being rushed trying to tie up to many loose ends all in one book.

Okay this might just be me being pouty, but I wish this conclusion would have gone at a faster pace. I felt there was the urgency I had come to expect in the series.   Yes, definately me being pouty. I loved that Fi was back to her fun-loving, fiesty self, which I hadn’t seen since the first book. I loved getting to the conclusion of all the twists and turns of the series. The deaths of characters upset me, and I guess I would have wanted some closure with each of these deaths. These books were always about the fight between good and evil, and yes not everyone supposedly sired by evil wore a black hat, and not everyone on the side of good wore a white hat. They all learned to be true to their own hearts and personalities.

As Mal, the main male lead is a vampire and because of this supposedly inherently evil,  wasn’t capable of deep love and friendship. Then you have the Aurelian Nadira, supposedly working on the side of good, who  could not have been more like a petulant spoiled child, who wasn’t going to play if she wasn’t in charge. Yes, the lines between good and evil in some of the characters are a little blurry, especially those of the Kubai Mata. The Kubai Mata is a shadow organization that is supposed to protect humans from other natured beings.  They smacked  “big brother knows best no matter who we kill,” which got my dander up and like Creek, one of their operatives.  I never felt loyalty to the organization. Just because a person got bitten by a vamp and turned does that make a person automatically evil? I am of the world that people, even those infected by demons, are given free will, it is how you use that free will that counts. The book Last Blood is all about free will and how the characters choose to wield it.   Will they keep on the path they choose or stray and change?  Yes, I want more I want to know what type of life Damian (the lead female character, Chyrsabelle’s, brother) makes for himself. I want to delve deeper into the varcoli (shifter society) and learn more about the fate of New Orleans. There is so much more of this world that Painter had created that I want to explore.  So I hang my head still pouting and wait to see what Painter writes next, for whatever she does she has a life long reader in me.

Where to Buy  Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Indigo

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 Author Profile:  When the characters in Kristen Painter’s head started to take over, she decided to put them on paper and share them with the world. She writes paranormal romance and the gothic fantasy vampire series, House of Comarre, for Orbit Books. She has also been published in non-fiction, poetry and short stories. The former college English teacher can often be found online at Romance Divas, the award-winning writers’ forum she co-founded. She’s represented by Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency.

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Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book directly from the author or publisher I was not paid to read or review this book. All opinions are my own, and I was never influenced by anything or anyone.

In Addition reviewer also purchased this book. Why you ask, because we support the authors we read and review

About Kristen Painter

When the characters in Kristen Painter’s head started to take over, she decided to put them on paper and share them with the world. She writes paranormal romance and the gothic fantasy vampire series, House of Comarre, for Orbit Books. She has also been published in non-fiction, poetry and short stories. The former college English teacher can often be found online at Romance Divas, the award-winning writers’ forum she co-founded. She’s represented by Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency.

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