Blood Ties Book One

The Turning

By: Jennifer Armintrout

Narrated by: Elenna Stauffer

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

I'm no coward. I want to make that perfectly clear. But after my life turned into a horror movie, I take fear a lot more seriously now. I finally became Dr. Carrie Ames just eight months ago. Then I was attacked in the hospital morgue by a vampire. Just my luck.

So now I'm a vampire, and it turns out I have a blood tie to the monster who sired me. The tie works like an invisible leash, and I'm bound to him no matter what I do. And of course he's one of the most evil vampires on earth. With my sire hell-bent on turning me into a soulless killer and his sworn enemy set to exterminate me, things couldn't get much worse...except I'm attracted to them both.

Drinking blood, living as an immortal demon, and being a pawn between two warring vampire factions isn't exactly how I'd imagined my future. But as my father used to say, the only way to conquer fear is to face it. So that's what I'll do. Fangs bared.

Don't miss the rest of the Blood Ties series, including Book Two, The Possession and Book Three, Ashes to Ashes, and Book Four, All Souls' Night.

©2006 Jennifer Armintrout (P)2006 Audible, Inc.
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Critic reviews

"This fast, furious novel is a squirm-inducing treat." (Publishers Weekly)

One of my all time favorites

I could re-read this series over and over again. I love the story, the twists and turns, and I love the romance.

enjoyable

I really enjoyed this book. It was a roller coaster ride but very smooth though. I like the characters and the narrators did an excellent job. There was only one thing I didn't like about the book. I felt like I was experiencing an Abridged volume. I felt like I was missing stuff and that I needed more from the characters internal perspectives. But I still really enjoyed it and I'd recommend it to anybody.
I received this free copy for a unbiased review.

Just okay.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Each scene where Cyrus is brutal and Carrie over looks it. In one scene there is a dead body on the table, he is drinking the blood of a young girl and she is asking questions. She should have been horrified and not thinking about sex with him. It is not realistic. Disgust should over ride the sex drive, not to mention her life is over because of him. She already started to have feelings for Nathan, she seems weak and fickel.
I know Dahlia is suppose to sound mean and creepy but her voice was a shrill on the nerves.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I am going to listen to Jim Butcher's Dresden Books. I finished Jeannine Frost's books, they were extremely entertaining.

How could the performance have been better?

She did Nathan very well. Cyrus' dad's voice was awful, sounded like the wicked which and was over done. I didn't like Dahlia's voice either, she sounded like a goth valley girl. Carrie was done well but.....

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Blood Ties Book One?

The scenes where Carrie is being manipulated sexually, emotionally and somewhat likes it. She didn't just stay for Ziggy......
Going out to talk to Nathan repeatedly and not plan an escape, was the part I almost didn't continue.

Any additional comments?

Having Nathan's feelings for Carrie be so vague was probably suppose to make the reader want to listen to the next book, it didn't work. I found it just frustrating.
Quotes can be done really well at the beginning or end of a story but this didn't work. It made me feel like a kid getting a lesson.

if you love 'bodice ripper novels'...

Unfortunately, I do not. I listened to this book back in late 2006 - I am writing my review now (on this and other titles) to try to help other audible listeners find the 'right' novel for themselves. I have over 200 audiobooks in my library, and have written only a handful of reviews... so here goes.
Short and simple - this is a graphic (not offensively so... I am not a prude) 'bodice ripper' romance (romance is used generously, here- 'lust-mance' would be more appropriate) - not the kind of novel I enjoy.
I highly prefer novels with well-developed characters and intricate (or at least well thought out/developed) plot lines. This novel has none of those characteristics. It is a story about lust, unwanted lust, and unfulfilled lust. In that category - it's not a horrible book, just a bad one.
However, if you really like lusty romance novels that are light on plot but with entertainment value - you might enjoy this.

Not interesting, don't like the reader either

Actually, the reader for this book makes it nearly un-listenable to me. Her different voices are more annoying than creative and her overall tone is mostly monotone.
If you can get past the reader, the book also isn't very entertaining. It doesn't bring anything new to the genre, and I don't think I will buy other books in the series.

Glad I only spent $5

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I dont like giving bad or angry reviews, but this was one downer after another. Sorry. I hope it picks up on the other books.

Meh

Very little suspension of disbelief in this novel. I constantly found myself removed from the story by the ridiculous actions of the heroine. There are too many moments that any reasonable person would find atrocious and horrifying that the main character overlooks. The best parts are the little bits of erotica thrown in, but even that is unreasonable in the context.

story over

I'm a big fan of vampire genre, this story did absolutely nothing for me, a rip off of Hamilton's.
the story line was typical and when I got to the part where the lead woman character was going to go to or back to the villain that did it for me, story over. I could not go any further, how irritating, because you know its just going to bad guy after girl, good guy saves girl, and redeem himself ha, ha, ha, ha.

Will pass on the rest of the series

The narrator was good but the main character really put me off in how she was written and the stupid things she did with poor reasoning behind it. Not one of my favorites of this genre so say the least.

Eh

I've read the other reviews and most are spot on about the narrator - every ancillary character is frankly cringe-worthy.

I feel like if I had read this in print it would have been better.

As for the claims of "porn" this book is pretty tame on that front.