I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Blood in Her Veins
by
Faith Hunter
It is part of the Jane Yellowrock #0.1, Jane Yellowrock #0.2, Jane Yellowrock #0.3, Jane Yellowrock #0.5, Jane Yellowrock #0.5, Jane Yellowrock #0.6, Jane Yellowrock #0.7, Jane Yellowrock #1.5, Jane Yellowrock #3.2, Jane Yellowrock #3.3, Jane Yellowrock #4.2, Jane Yellowrock #4.1, Jane Yellowrock # 6.25, Jane Yellowrock #6.5, Jane Yellowrock #6.3, Jane Yellowrock #7.5, Jane Yellowrock #8.5, Jane Yellowrock #9.5, Jane Yellowrock #9.75 series and is a urban fantasy in eBook edition that was published by ROC on February 2, 2016 and has 556 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Raven Cursed, An Apple for the Creature, Death's Rival, Blood Trade, Kicking It, Mercy Blade, Shadow Rites, Bloodring, Seraphs, Dark Queen, Shattered Bonds, Black Arts, Broken Soul, Dark Heir, Cold Reign, Blood of the Earth, Curse on the Land, "Water Witch", "Explosion On King's Street", Skinwalker, Dirty Deeds, "Shiloh and the Brick", "Black Friday Shopping with Nell and Occam", Circle of the Moon, Blood Cross, Spells for the Dead, "Easy Pickings", True Dead, Dirty Deeds 2, Trials, Junkyard Cats, Rift in the Soul, Junkyard Bargain, Junkyard War , Junkyard Roadhouse, Flame in the Dark, Host
An omnibus of nineteen short stories in the Jane Yellowrock urban fantasy series revolving around a Cherokee skinwalker who slays vampires. While based in New Orleans, Jane does travel between Louisiana and North Carolina.
If you’re interested, there is a chronological listing of the Jane Yellowrock books on my website.
Series Chronology
| “Wesa and the Lumber King”, 0.1 “The Early Years”, 0.2 “Snafu”, 0.3 “Cat Tats”, 0.5 “Kits”, 0.5 “Haint(s)”, 0.6 “Signatures of the Dead”, 0.7 “First Sight”, 1.5 “Blood, Fangs, and Going Furry”, 3.2 Dance Master”, 3.3 |
“Golden Delicious”, 4.2 “Cajun with Fangs”, 4.1 “The Devil’s Left Boot”, 6.25 “Beneath a Bloody Moon”, 6.5 “Black Water”, 6.3 “Off the Grid”, 7.5 “Not All Is as It Seems”, 8.5 “Cat Fight”, 9.5 “Bound No More”, 9.75 |
The Stories
“Wesa and the Lumber King” takes place in the Hunger Times of the late 1800s to early 1900s and is a brief peek in at Beast, before she becomes “Beast”. And she’s not very happy about the trees being felled for lumber harvesting. Excellent story from Beast’s point-of-view.
“The Early Years” tells of Jane leaving the Bethel Nondenominational Christian Children’s Home at age 18 and heading off to seek her future. Nice peek in at Jane’s start at life as an adult with a few words on how she wandered out of the forest and back into human life. Ah, and it explains how Jane got her name.
“Snafu” takes up from “The Early Years” and introduces us to the security firm which is willing to take on an intern, Jane. It was fun, as Beast would put it, to watch Jane confront a couple of gangbangers and pass the test Charles “Nomad” Davidson sets for her.
“Cat Tats” is about Rick and how he got the tats that cause such problems later on. It provides background on Rick and how he was chosen for undercover work, the purpose of his undercover activities, and who all he’s working for.
“Kits” mentions how Jane first met Molly and the event that kickstarts their friendship.
“Haint(s)” is from Molly Everheart’s point-of-view when she takes on a job with a haunted house that is attacking workmen. It also introduces that New York cop who thought he would retire, Paul Braxton.
It takes place a few months after “Kits”.
“Signatures of the Dead” provides insight into the witches and their reproductive abilities with Molly providing a first-person point-of-view. The actual conflict is Detective Braxton needing help from Molly on a crime scene.
For some reason, Molly gets angry with Braxton finding witches on the FBI’s database. Hullo? Of course all witches aren’t good, just as all humans aren’t.
“First Sight” is from Bruiser’s point-of-view when he first meets Jane in Skinwalker.
“Blood, Fangs, and Going Furry” is from Rick LeFleur’s perspective of his first change as a black panther.
“Dance Master” is from Bruiser’s perspective when he meets Jane for breakfast. It’s also an indication of both Bruiser and Leo wanting Jane, with Bruiser being a bit too chauvinistic about his motorcycle collection and Jane. And, oh, boy, is it ever a tease for Bruiser, lol!
“Golden Delicious” is about Rick and his life at Spook School. Both the classes and the bullying. The sabotage. And the test.
It’s been two months since Rick was bitten.
“Cajun with Fangs” is Jane’s introduction to and adventure in Bayou Oiseau dealing with the Romeo and Juliet scenario between witches and vampires. It’s both tasty (Boudreaux’s fried everything sounds delicious) and fun with Jane taking Derek and his team into the bayou.
“The Devil’s Left Boot” is an adventure with Liz and Cia Everheart when they investigate their arch-enemy’s mother’s disappearance. And come to some unhappy conclusions about their reaction to Jane doing their job.
“Beneath a Bloody Moon” finds Jane and the Youngers out in the home county of Rick’s family, tracking killer werewolves. Be sure to read this one if only to find out about the bright pink bag with the big flowers, lol. There’s an interesting bit about higher civilizations and canals as well as a definition of liminal thresholds, sites and places where the fabric of reality is thin and one can bleed into the other.
“Black Water” takes us back to Chauvin, where Rick’s family lives. There’s an escaped con who is after Jane for revenge. It also opens up a tidbit more on Jane’s past as well as the possibilities of more magical creatures.
“Off the Grid” is a pip and introduces a new character who is getting her own series in August, Blood of the Earth. I do like Nell, and I’m looking forward to reading her story, especially after our introduction to her in “Off the Grid”. Nell and her husband managed to escape the cult that is causing all the problems in this short story, and now she’s living a self-sustaining lifestyle. Jane has her own theories about the magic Nell has.
I do love what Jane and the vampires do to that frickin’ colonel. There were 138 children set free that night.
“Not All Is as It Seems” finds Big Evan’s lighting business taking off, and Molly is receiving vampire visitors about a teapot. A teapot named George who likes to be petted. There’s a lovely moral in this, and I can understand how it hurts Angie to have to conform. But it does come right in the end for everyone.
I love that Big Evan and Molly aren’t fussing about girl and/or boy toys!
“Cat Fight” finds Clan Blood-Master Clermont Doucette needing Jane’s help back in Bayou Oiseau. It’s amazing how much Hunter can cram into one short story! Lots of info about current and past events…and none of it is in an info dump. A good story for writers to pore over to see how it can be done.
I surely did love it when Jane laid down the law to Lucky Landry, lol. Eli knows one heck of a lot about the Church.
“Bound No More” is terrifying for what Jane realizes about Angie and the arcenciels. The battle all around the house kept me tense and on edge while the ending was a beautiful assessment of family as well as one of the best ways to scold a child and get them to see reason. Tough work, but effective.
It takes place a week after Dark Heir.
“Sometimes … with family, the attention all goes one way for a while. Then sometimes it reverses and goes back the other way. … Life is like that.”
The Cover and Title
The cover is burnt orange flames and Jane in her black leather, her signature braid twirling behind her, as she races forward, knife in hand.
To be honest, I have no clue about the title. Obviously, Jane has Blood in Her Veins. Maybe it’s intended to refer to the attraction she is to vampires.
