Dante Gabriel is a born vampire, kidnapped at 18, used as a blood slave, held hostage and tortured for ten years. He escapes, but finds recovery not as easy as he hoped and an attraction he can't control.

Erin Hamilton is an ER nurse, with a NOPD cop as a brother. She's lived in NOLA for three years. The strange pull and desire to protect a complete stranger has her making choices she would never make otherwise.

Dante was bled for ten years by a female vamp who demanded to be called Queen. His escape finds him in a hospital blood bank and caught by the beautiful, enticing nurse Erin. All he wants is her but he's equally determined to protect her from himself and the nightmares that plague him.

Erin should have reported Dante after finding him bloodied in the hospital blood bank but instead protected him. She's not sure why but she's drawn to him and can't get him out of her mind.

This story contains parts 1-3 of the Blood Bound Saga. There's a lot of push me, pull you as Dante keeps being drawn to Erin but then runs away, afraid of hurting or scaring her. Hardt gives us pieces of his captivity, pieces of vampire lore and the teasers that the Queen is not done with him yet, but ends with nothing really completed.

I've mixed feelings about this volume as there wasn't a lot of story progression and lots of unanswered questions at the end. There were a few editing problems as well, leaving me partially liking the story but not loving it. I'm hoping future installments resolve these issues.

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Highly entertaining and emotionally thrilling journey from beginning to end. An edge of your seat action packed roller coaster adventure filled with dangerous and engaging charters, witty banter, heart racing twists and undeniable passion.

I thought that this was a great book and I couldn’t put it down!

It has sizzling scenes and it had an excellent storyline.

I thought that it was an excellent storyline

The detail was amazing and the author brought everything to life!

It is 5 stars from me for this one, very, very highly recommended!

This was a really great book and made me realize that I need to read more vampire and supernatural books.

FYI-This review is for Parts 1-3 of this series.
A slow start that got significantly better. I honestly was struggling with the series/book during the first novella, but then something happened and the writing and character development picked up. I really enjoyed the twists and turns, the suspense, and the overarching storyline about the Queen, but there were a few issues that kinda pulled me out of the "reading world" and kept me from giving this more stars. Small to most people, but silly to add if the info wasn't verified...blushing/flushing is NOT capillaries bursting so every time he could "feel" her capillaries bursting it was like...her face would be bruised and red for a while if she burst every capillary that expanded to allow for the excess blood associated with flushing. I actually looked it up because I thought it was so weird, and they just expand...bursting is a sign of other issues. Anyway...it's small and there were a few other small things that jumped out to me but maybe wouldn't to other people. I WILL be reading the rest of the story just because I need to know what happened, so I hope she quits blushing soon!! lol

The Blood Bond saga is an interesting twist on vampire fiction. Dante is the vampire in this tale with a dark and mysterious history, while Erin is a human ER nurse. The two meet at Erin's work, while Dante is engaging in some illegal type activities in the blood bank. The two have an undeniable bond/chemistry and are drawn to one another. Dante is still learning his way as a vampire, after being held hostage by "her" and it appears Erin will lend a helping hand along the way.

Part one of Blood Bond is captivating and thrilling. Naturally, we get left on a cliffhanger ending that makes me want to go purchase part two IMMEDIATELY.

The story line is interesting but it's a shame it takes so long for anything to actually happen. It seems like a money grab. 19parts But I know when I've read these types before it soon starts to become predictable.

So unfortunately for this author I won't be getting pulled into giving her more money than needed for a book that seems to have no character development and is slow at story development. I'm also not sure the author has this completely planned out.

Dante & Erin’s Story Is A Paranormal Romance Set In New Orleans. It Is A Quick Read That Will Pull You Into The Mystery Of Who Took Dante Captive & Why. After Escaping Ten Years As A Blood Slave To The Mysterious Queen, He Needs Answers.


Unchained: Blood Bond Volume 1 includes the Blood Bond Saga, Parts 1-3. Each part is a quick read; they are not standalones. The saga is a paranormal romance. It is Dante Gabriel and Erin Hamilton’s story

FROM BLOOD BOND SAGA, PART 1:

Dante Gabriel and his cousin River were like normal teens when they decided to disobey and sneak out to Bourbon Street to attend the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans ten years ago. The problem was that they weren’t normal teens, and they weren’t mature enough to handle the supernatural activity that pervaded such an event. There is a lot of cosmic energy in the air in New Orleans in general thanks to all the voodoo practitioners, and Mardi Gras really tapped into all that concentrated energy. The boys had been warned by their fathers, identical vampire twins, not to go. But eighteen year old Dante and his seventeen year old cousin chose to go anyway. Dante doesn’t remember what happened that night. He doesn’t know what happened to River. He doesn’t even know how much time has passed. All he knows is that he woke up bound. He has been treated horribly in his captivity, and his inability to fight off his captor shames him. He eventually gave up the fight, accepted his fate. He was kept to serve the Queen as a blood slave. But drinking vampire blood is morally distasteful. That along with the unthinkable abuse he has suffered makes him want to tune it out and forget it all. The problem is that he cannot get the Queen’s voice out of his head.

When Dante one day escapes his bonds, suddenly finding himself unchained and free, he just hopes to be able to find his family. But first, he needs blood. He follows the scent to a blood bank, which is where he first sees Erin.

Erin Hamilton, roughly twenty-seven, had followed her boyfriend Cory to New Orleans, but she decided to stay even after their breakup two years ago. She has made a life for herself there, buying her own home. She works at University Hospital just north of the French Quarter, along with Lucy Cyrus, her best friend. Her brother Jay works at the New Orleans Police Department and was just promoted to detective. Erin had always dreamed of becoming a doctor, but her parents never made much money, and the idea of so much debt had her readjust and choose nursing instead. She has worked as an ER nurse for five years now. The ER can be challenging work that is often a matter of life or death. She donates her own blood regularly for the cause. When she needs to grab some blood from the blood bank for a gunshot wound victim late one night, she isn’t prepared for the bloody mess she finds – nor the blood-covered strange man she finds in the middle of it. What surprises her most is her instinctive need to protect him.

As Dante reconnects with his family, he must come to terms with the decade that he lost in his captivity. His father and uncle have been missing since they went in search of him. He feels guilty for all his family went through because of his foolishness. His grandfather, Bill, is the pillar of their family. At 102, he is the oldest living pure vampire and a source of much-needed answers. But Dante isn’t ready to face his grandfather and to come to terms with his time in captivity. He would rather forget it all for now. And thoughts of Erin don’t help matters much. He cannot seem to forget her, even though he should. He isn’t safe until he makes up for lost time and learns more about vampirism, his ancestry, and how to blend into the human world.

Dante and Erin have instant chemistry in this paranormal romance. Dante must hold back despite how much he wants Erin, and Erin gets conflicting messages from the handsome and mysterious stranger. She begins to have doubts as her self-esteem takes a hit. There are a few surprise entanglements that liven things up and keep you on your toes as you read; it looks like there might be more unveiled in the next book. As Dante tries to work through his feelings and reconnect with family, he must battle the Queen’s voice in his head and pray that he doesn’t fall prey to her again.

IN BLOOD BOND SAGE, BOOK 2:

Book one had left off with a cliffhanger just after Dante had finally given into his desire for Erin. Something had stopped him, though. Here we learn that Erin had a mysterious bite mark on her inner thigh, something she was completely unaware of. Still, Dante immediately recognizes it for what it is and is consumed with a myriad of feelings. He wants to protect Erin, to claim her, but is also repulsed by the mark. He knows she had certainly been glamoured, an unsuspecting victim. Dante flees from Erin and his uncontrollable desire for her once again, determined to find out who had bitten her and ensure her safety.

But Dante’s life is still too unsettled for him to do much good at this point. He had disappeared from home at age eighteen, but life had gone on for everyone else. His family had evolved since then. River and Emilia had gone to college. They had careers. River’s father had sat down with him and told him all the secrets that Dante’s grandfather Bill still refuses to share. Bill claims Dante isn’t ready to hear it, that it might add to his trauma. Bill seems changed, too. He spends his time researching, and the compassion that Dante so desperately needs doesn’t come from Bill. The world has changed in ten years, too.

Dante is drowning as he desperately tries to take back his life, but in many ways he is still that eighteen year old late bloomer who disappeared from Bourbon Street. One thing is very certain though. He wants Erin. He feels compelled to be with her. Yet he knows it is wrong to have her when she doesn’t know the truth about him. His Grandpa Bill wants Dante to open up about his years in captivity, but Dante only wants to forget. He wants the knowledge owed him, thinking that is the missing key that will give him perspective and help him move forward. Dante struggles with this and with his attraction to Erin. He is convinced they are somehow destined for one another, and frustrated that River and Bill insist that is impossible.

Meanwhile, Erin begins to piece together some odd bits of information she comes across at the hospital. Cynthia North, a gunshot victim who was brought to the ER the same night that Dante raided the blood bank, had disappeared before suddenly being discovered at the hospital a week later. Erin’s brother Jay and his new partner River investigate. Mrs. Moore, a ninety year old patient, swears that Dr. Bonneville must be the daughter of a physician that had helped with her son’s blood disorder decades ago. Erin feels certain that Cynthia North and Mrs. Moore hold critical information, the nature of which eludes her as of yet. Her curiosity gets the better of her as she begins to investigate.

FROM BLOOD BOND SAGA, BOOK 3:

As book two closed, Grandpa Bill’s research had brought him to something that had not been documented in over a thousand years. He thinks that what Dante has been describing as an uncontrollable urge to be with Erin is perhaps a blood bond, a trait that scholars had presumed had long since died out amongst their kind. It is believed to have developed as a defense mechanism by humans, who initiate the bond. The human and vampire bond not just emotionally, but physically as well. They cannot survive without one another. This supposedly was another hit on vampire fertility. Because the human and vampire mated, no pure vampires would result from the match.

Dante has some misgivings with Bill, though. Questions arise as he comes to realize that Bill isn’t quite the same person he was when Dante disappeared at age eighteen. He isn’t convinced he can trust Bill. Above all, he wants to ensure Erin’s safety. Bill insists that the pull Dante feels is coming Erin, but he has a difficult time accepting that notion. The pull Dante feels is internal. He needs Erin. Although Bill’s findings do help explain a lot, Dante isn’t convinced that the explanation is completely accurate.

The theme of vampire fertility continues as Dante and River worry over Emilie’s unplanned pregnancy. She refuses to share information, but River is convinced that the father is Jay Hamilton, his new partner and Erin’s brother.

Erin’s curiosity continues in this book, but she becomes increasingly confused about various little things. Her relationship with Dante continues to be hot and cold, but things begin to turn the corner when he invites her into his home and introduces her to his grandfather.

As Dante finally recognizes his need to get control over his emotions, he opens up to Bill about his time in captivity. Though painful, it is probably a little cathartic, too. Talking about it seems to help him focus a little better. Dante comes to some realizations before the book comes to an end. He eventually asks River for his help in finding out who took him. Things begin to heat up with him and Erin, but his concern for her only increases. He hopes to complete the blood bond with her before shifting his attention to capturing his captor.

Dante and Erin’s story is a paranormal romance set in New Orleans. It is a quick read that will pull you into the mystery of who took Dante captive and why. The short books in the saga read like a serial drama. After escaping ten years as a blood slave to the mysterious Queen, Dante needs answers. We learn that the vampire population is endangered thanks to a fertility issue and the shortage of female vampires. Despite their many genetic advantages, vampires in this drama don’t live forever and have difficulty reproducing. They are a dying breed. The story is well-written and plot-driven. The plot is fairly simple thus far. The characters are still being introduced here, so much remains to be learned. Dante’s constant hot and cold does start to grate – it seems every time he and Erin almost get together, he must leave for one reason or another. The story is told in first person. The POV alternates between Dante and Erin, with the epilogue in the Queen’s POV. I rate this book four stars.

I received an advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This is Erin and Dante's story. This is a paranormal romance.. Dante is a vampire who is dealing with a lot of issues. Erin is human nurse that has somehow gotten the attention of Dante.

This story has suspense, mystery and some serious chemistry between the two characters.

There are questions surrounding the relationship between Dante and Erin. There is an undeniable pull between the two characters and there are secrets about why they are so connected.

This is such a good story. I was hooked from the beginning.

This was... not good. Erin is an educated woman with a good support system, and yet she covers for a strange man covered in blood in the blood bank and lets him yank her around, running hot and cold? Not impressed. I have enjoyed other Helen Hardt books, and hope to enjoy others. This was not one.

Helen Hardt always writes scorching stories and the fire between Dante and Erin was no different. Dante is a vampire finally broken free from being held captive for many years when he meets Erin, an ER nurse. They are immediately drawn to one another and cannot fight the chemistry they have.
I really enjoyed this trilogy. Steamy and romantic.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Excellent book, I hadn’t read a vampire book in a while and it was great to see what I am missing….can’t wait to read the rest of this series with Dante and Erin….

Helen Hardt brings us the Blood Bond Saga: Parts One to Three where we are introduced to Dante and Erin. Dante has just escaped and is in need of blood. Erin is a nurse working the night shift when she encounters Dante in the hospital's blood bank where all the bags have ben ripped open. She thinks he is a homeless person in search of food and tries to help him out when the police arrive after learning that there are disappearances in various hospitals. We watch as Erin is drawn to Dante and his world.

Helen Hardt brings us into a world where the supernatural exists. She shares a story where Dante and Erin seem to share a strong attraction to each other while fighting their instinct to run. She only shares a part of their story, but there is enough to draw you in and want to see what happens next.

I look forward to seeing what she has in store for the two of them in the next installation. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I would like to thank NetGalley and Waterhouse Press for this privilege.

While the first three books of this series are well written the characters could use little more development. There are many times that the main characters go back and forth in feelings and insecurity but this reaches a point of tedium. At some point this method does nothing to move the storyline forward. I did find the storyline interesting and the sexual chemistry between the characters enjoyable. By resolving the teenage angst and developing the maturity of the characters throughout the storyline rather than constantly falling back of the emotional drama this would be an outstanding book series.

This book was a reread for me and I still Love this book!! I just ordered a physical copy! Anything Helen Hardt writes is a masterpiece.

WHAT AN AWESOME vampire romance. I liked that I could read the first 3 books in the series. Excellent writing and a spellbinding plot. ENJOYED!

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

This is a first time author for me, however, I had heard a lot about her so was thrilled to read this

I LOVED this from start to finish - totally engrossing
Loved the characters and the story

Can't wait to read more from this author

This is parts 1-3 in the Blood Bond Saga. Dante was being held captive and a blood slave to a female vampire. Now he has escaped and is starving. He ends up at a hospital blood bank where he meets Erin. Sparks fly between them but Dante is scared he won’t be able to control himself because of his past. Will they find a way to be together? Fast-paced read with plenty of drama, twists and turns as well as steam. I liked it.

Unchained would be fine if it were just one book; it is fast-paced and the premise of a vampire with a tortured soul attracted to a nurse he met while raiding a blood bank is interesting enough. But this is just the beginning of a long series of books, and it doesn't bode well that I was already skipping lines by the middle of part one. To keep me engaged as a reader through an entire saga, I would need much more character development, richer descriptions and a slower (or more reasonable) build-up on the romance.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first, this book reminded me a lot of the author’s “Steel Brothers” series (tormented male finds strong female who can ultimately help him become whole again). But the further I read, even though there were still moments here and there, the more I got involved in the uniqueness of Dante and Erin’s story. I mean, you add vampires into the mix and everything gets really interesting, really fast! I like the background that the author has come up with for the vampires, as there are some new concepts that I haven’t seen in other paranormal romances. I am pretty sure that I may have figured out a major character revelation, but I hope that there is more depth to it and that we get deep explanations for the character’s actions. I’ll be interested to see where all of these things lead in future installments of the series. Oh, and as with her previous series, the author knows how to write steamy scenes (again, more fun with vampires)! I will be looking forward to the next in the series to get more answers. Thank you to NetGalley, Waterhouse Press, and the author for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.