I threw the landmines in because they made for a nice title. There's only a brief mention of landmines in all this. (Until I read the book. Then look out. ...Too lazy to link it atm, ask in comments and I'll tell you the name.) This is mostly about trying to organize myself and all these virtual books that I can't pile in front of me as a reminder that "you have a lot to read! Finish all of these!"

A few days ago I sat down and tidied up my ereader, even before I needed to ponder it and my New Year's Reading Resolutions.

...In the non-fantasy world: I finally tried to load all my book sale purchases on my ereader and oops, out of memory. So I was forced to clean. (Humor: Amazon's automated system gets SO terrifically excited about this that you get an email announcing that your ereader is full, and telling you what to do in case you were panicking. Which I thought was rather sweet.) This was somewhat tedious but I did need to think about file organization. I know, so exciting. This is why I always put it off.

The first step was to rename and create a bunch of folders, specifically genre related. I'm hoping this might remind me to read outside some genres more often, and realize how many books in certain genres are still sitting there waiting on me.

Oddly this reminded me to shelve all the romance I've read - I usually don't keep track of them for the reading challenge. I've avoided reviewing the genre for the most part because 1) I've seen comments from Serious Fans on GR that made me shy of all that (though it really only seems to happen now in YA), and 2) I consume romance without thinking about reviewing it. It's my popcorn lit, and it's really only when I can't find anything to enjoy in a book or there's a huge amount of WTFery that I get ranty. Once I decided to get less self-judgmental about romance reading (now that's a rant topic: genres we're not supposed to think are "real" or worth reading), I also decided that I'd not bother with stars because of that - just let the reading be fun and not about ranking. It's probably the same reason I'll not put stars on any of my comic book reading (with exceptions) whenever I get them out of storage.

This reminds me that I really want to read more comics/graphic novels this year, but all the ones on my ereaderIQ sales list do not often get into sale territory. Yet. (Sigh.) Which might be good as the last time I read a lot of comics I also had an impatience problem with never-ending plots (another case of my Han in Carbonite Problem). Also I need to clean out all the romance stuff I've gotten via sales or free, and there's a book on landmines I've been waiting to get around to for years. (There you go, there are the landmines. They're real and not metaphorical. Er, in the book.)

I had to pause after typing that and wonder if anyone's ever thought about romance novels and landmines within the same minute. I'm thinking, probably not. (If you know of a romance novel that contains landmines recommend it immediately.) My next thoughts were on my Heyer backlog and the book on the history of the Volkswagen I haven't read. Now I'm wondering at what point the Amazon algorithm will eventually give up trying to make suggestions for me based on these choices. (Wouldn't it be fun if you could cause the Amazon suggestion page to explode from illogic? Or at least be unable to respond, struck dumb by your choices. You know we'd all be playing that game! Just to see what book combo would do the trick.) (Yes, I know, landmines, explosions - there's a trend here. I blame Dragon Age Inquisition - I'm all about blowing things up at the moment, in a magey kind of way.)

Anyway, enough tangents. All of that led to a list of Reading Resolutions - or that's what I'd hoped it be. Instead it's a List of Things I'm Working On. Since part of my problem is always having SO much to read, my list is more about how I'm going to approach reading rather than the exact books I'll attack. I've found that the best way for me to deal with which book always has to do with what genre I'm in the mood for at a particular moment.

Blood guilt is the first book in Marie's Blood Hunters series. It takes place after another of her series (Awakened by Blood).

I hadn't read the first series, and I still enjoyed this book. I'm sure there was some small nuances I didn't pick up because of the lack of known history, but it certainly didn't detract from the story.

Mihaela, our protagonist, is a damaged vampire hunter. The hunters have been her family since she was a small child who survived a vampire attack on her house that left her real family murdered. She's not really a character I could relate to. She is head strong and stubborn, and makes ridiculous decisions based on messed up emotional needs and thoughts too. I liked her, but didn't really 'get' her.

Maximilian, our dreamy yet dark and brooding male love interest, is an interesting character. He's hundreds of years old, has spent years punishing himself for something he did in his past, and probably one of the most broken, yet strangely powerful vampire characters I've read about.

The chemistry between the two worked brilliantly. I loved the tension. I even liked the weirdly perfect sex that would normally irk me to tears.

Marie has created an action packed story, one that is littered with twists and turns, challenges and conflicts for all characters. Add to the mix a little more paranormal than just your average vampires and you end up with this interesting story.

I will be reading book 2 of this series very soon!

One thing I noticed: 67% - Their (They're) all with Robbie...

**Note: I received an electronic copy of this book through Net Galley**

Just as it's getting exciting, I arrive at work and have to wait hours before hearing what happens. 

I'd like to thank the author and publisher for the copy I received via netgalley in return for an honest review.

So, I've not read that many vampire books, but I do enjoy some paranormal books. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, the first in the Blood Hunters series by Marie Treanor, not having read any of the author's work previously. I must admit that I approached this book with more than a little trepidation, having heard all the raving about the Twilight series and not having heard of this series.

I needn't have been concerned because, from the very first chapter, this book captured my attention. Well, not so much captured my attention as slapped me round the face! Lead character Mihaela is a feisty vampire hunter determined to get even with the bloodsucker that murdered her family. She's also extremely likeable.

There's no smoke without fire, so, when Mihaela meets centuries-old Maximilian, there's understandably a bit of a standoff between vampire and hunter. Circumstances throw the distrusting pair into an uneasy alliance that inevitably dictates their physical closeness, and then sparks really do fly! Mysteriously brooding Maximilian is the perfect counterpart to feisty Mihaela, and so ensures a delicious game of cat and mouse, fraught with sexual tension.

Yes, there are graphic sex scenes in this book. But, they are without the crude use of language that made 50 Shades so cringeworthy to me. These are written in such a way as to capture all of the passion and none of the vulgarity of the former. I defy any woman reading this book not to wish for their very own Maximilian.

Aside from all the sex, there is actually a very good story here too. The classic fight between good and evil, although you may just be surprised as to who is on which side when the final battle comes. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series and finding out where the story goes next.

Mihaela survived the murder of her parents and sister at the hands of vampires.  She has spent her life as a vampire hunter, tracking the murderer while attempting keep humanity safe from the vampire threat.  After a surprise alliance with a few key vampires, the hunters now find themselves divided.  Some hunters desire to end contact and continue an adversarial relationship, while either seek to enlarge the partnership and work on building a relationship between vampires and humans.  Despite all that Mihaela has been through, she is quite undecided and so she takes a trip to consider her options.  When she is forced to save a child whose psychic power seems to draw him to vampires 
Mihaela finds herself in a race against time to not only save the child but all of humanity from a new vampire threat.  Unfortunately for Mihaela this time not only is the world at risk, but her very heart when the vampire Maximilian appears and demands a partnership because he too has a special affinity with the child.  In the process of saving humanity, will Mihaela lose her heart?

The Blood Hunters series is a follow up to the Awakened by Blood trilogy.  This is my first exposure to Treanor's work, so I cannot speak about the continuity of this work.  I will however say that once we have yet another story where the female protagonist has a tortured past leaving her essentially isolated.  Dead parents has become such a common trope that at this point, it's beyond tiresome. 

Blood Guilt is the typical paranormal romance in that it has the typical boy meets girl but girl doesn't like boy.  They work together and boy and girl come together briefly until something comes between 'them to add tension to the story and finally the problem is overcome and we get the HEA. Blood Guiltis like a paranormal romance written by the numbers because there is no movement from the typical narrative and no doubt from the very first word how this story is going to end.  I will say that Treanor at the very least skipped the all to typical comparing of a penis to things like tree stumps or wrists. Unfortunately, Treanor did include having Maximilian say repeatedly that he could smell Mihaela's arousal which to me just reads as disgusting genital odor. Yes, I know this sort of language is typical, but that doesn't make it any less gross.

For a paranormal romance, Treanor did include quite a bit of world building which I greatly enjoyed. I found the vampire lore to be original and very much liked the idea of an original group of vampires who then created more vampires. Treanor even went as far as to explain how it is that her vampires could consume liquid without a digestive system.  Unfortunately, along with the great world building, came the typical vampire angst in that Maximilian, the vampire love interest was musty and suffering, until Mihaela comes along with her extra special specialness (I couldn't resist the snark).

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