⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 6 stars.
This book. Wooooowwww
I was hooked from the first few pages. When Orion spoke to Levana the first time “hello, sunshine” and her response was “no, thank you” I knew this book was going to reel me in.
Karolina Wilde did a fantastic job with this book. It was such an easy read, and so captivating. I will definitely be reading more of her books after this. I literally can not say enough good things about this book.

Review also on GoodReads.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5

I could drown in this book and die happy.
A delicious standalone that had me on my KNEES, and BEGGING for more!

Honestly, at the start I didn't know this was a standalone, and that alone makes it even better! It's definitely my number one standalone read of 2024, I don't think I will find another to top this.

I DEVOURED this book and can't wait for the next standalone in this series!

The chemistry and banter between Orion and Levana was absolutely perfect, and HELLO Lestat, Saxon and Anika!! Chef's f*cking kiss!!
I haven't read a book yet, that has given me side characters that I ALMOST loved more than the MMC and FMC, seriously!

Now, I'm not a huge fan of vampire books, but I've been dabbling in them lately and I'm beyond glad that I gave this book a chance and entered the world of Eziron. I wish I could stay forever!

This story has everything I love in a book, a strong and badass FMC, possessive shadow daddy MMC, fantastic banter, noteworthy side characters and a story that will live rent free in the back of my mind forever.
I don't think King Orion will be moving out, ever.

My soul is ready for book two!

This book had me hooked from the beginning! Vampire romances always catch my eye but I REALLY loved this one! I love how well it was written and how the story flows. And I absolutely caught myself laughing and reacting out loud! I enjoyed watching Levana grow into herself as a person, mature, and learn how to stand up for herself! I really wish there were more chapters in Orion's POV though! I definitely recommend and will be waiting impatiently for the next book in the series!

Masters of Blood is a dark fantasy novel with an intriguing plot and is laden with spicy encounters.
The author weaves a rich tapestry of desire, political intrigue, and danger, drawing readers into a world where shadows hold secrets and darkness reigns supreme.
While the plot is compelling and the world-building immersive, the book does suffer from occasional grammatical errors. The climax and conclusion felt rushed. I would have loved to stay in the world the author created a little longer and to have seen more character growth. While the writing may stumble at times, the elaborate world-building and compelling characters make it worth the read.

☆☆☆☆.5

Masters of Blood is a Hades and Persephone retelling with vampires and humans. The story follows Orion, a vampire king from the kingdom of Obridora and human Princess Levana. At a meeting of rulers, Levana is brought out in public for the first time in her entire life where Orion lays eyes on her. Orion is immediately drawn to her while she doesn’t give him the time of day due to vampires reputations in the human realms. When Orion finds out she is betrothed to the only other human ruler in their realm, he knows he has to step in, in order to get what he desires the most even if that means kidnapping her and potentially starting a war.

This book had me hooked from the start and I did not want to put it down. The pacing of the book was great and felt like a natural progression for a stand alone fantasy novel. It felt like it was the perfect balance between spice and plot. The writing of the spice was honestly great in my opinion, and I absolutely loved the incorporation of the shadows into those scenes as well. 😩

Levana, the FMC had great character development throughout the story. At the beginning, Levana was a quiet, sheltered, immature girl that was the doormat of her family. As the story progressed, she became more sure of herself. I LOVED Orions character, his wit and his dirty mouth but felt like his character lacked the depth that Levana had. Yes, we learned more about him towards the end but I just wanted more.

I only marked it down .5 star because of the few spelling and grammar mistakes there were.

I will 100% be buying this book hard copy to add it to my collection, and keeping my eye on NetGalley for the arc of the next book in the series. 👀

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩:
🩸 Hades x Persephone retelling
🩸 Enemies to lovers
🩸Touch her and die
🩸 Shadow magic
🩸 He falls first

This book was so good and hot. I loved Orion and I loved Levana...mostly Orion though. The side characters and worldbuilding were very well flushed out.

I wanted to like this. I really did. I’m a sucker for Hades and Persephone retellings and all my favorite books can feel the same which is normally fine BUUUUUTTTT

THREE STARS immediately for grammar and word issues.
-Armoire was ALWAYS written as armory
-Loose is always used when LOSE is the correct form
-Wrong verb tense used or switched as writing but never caught

Simple editing stuff like that made the first half of this clunky to read.

Then the similarities between other well known books started to feel more forced. The main thing that ended my connection to the story was the rushed pace.

She absolutely HATED him then within a week (frankly after hooking up) she suddenly “loved” him. I prefer my romances believable. Then you don’t even sit with that before they’re thrown into yet another “main” conflict.

Overall, clunky editing and kind of derivative storyline filled with popular tropes. Honestly this would’ve been better as two books or even a longer book with more balance in the plot.

I would recommend this for the overall story but can’t in good conscience recommend a poorly edited book.

"Why was the idea of someone actually being in love with me so impossible to accept?"

"maybe if I beat him with the book he was reading, he'd take me seriously."

It was quite a nice book, I wouldn't call it an exact Hades & Persephone retelling, it didn't really have any Greek related elements, aside for the tasks Hades gave Persephone in the original Greek Lore. But it is still a VERY GOOD STORY!!! very nicely written, and very difficult to put down once you start it.

I loved reading how Levana goes from being a timid Princess, to being a Feisty Queen, I loved how Orion was possessive and caring without being overbearing. The Dom/Sub dynamic between the two of them was very nicely laid out, it was beautifully understood (and not as Overpowering on the Male Domination as in some books, it was simple, subtle, and enjoyable) I loved reading about Levana struggling to accept suddenly having real Love in her life, and that someone can actually genuinely love her for who she is, and not What she is. I connected with her character very deeply on that.

I was scared of a Cliche Plot twist at first, - the whole "there's a secret true heir to the throne", my first thought was "Let me guess, it's Levana, right? Big surprise" - but it was nice to find that it wasn't the case at the end of the book, and her ending in the book was very nice, I'm glad it was different that I expected, I am quite curious how she'll be in the next book, now with her "new" self and how her "gifts" will manifest.

I must say, I cheered and laughed out loud at what Levana did to King Nickolas, that was just such a Female Rage moment, and so nicely done. Anika, Isadora and Esmeralde added a nice supporting element of "strong woman", and it adding to Levana finding her feminine strength very beautifully.

The Bonus chapter from Orion's POV was very nice, I do hope it gets included in the Finished Publication of Masters of Blood.

The mixed elements of Vampires and Fae in the same book was new to me (it's usually one or the other in what I've read), having the two together in the story, played very nicely off of each other, I'm curious over who the Hidden True heirs are to the kingdoms, and the Century War between the Vampire and Fae.

All of the tropes of the book added into each other very nicely. I'd say the Rhysand Girls will hopefully enjoy Orion just as much, the Obsessed, utterly in love with his wife, touch her and die, fated mates, shadow magic, scary vampire is a guaranteed winner, mixed with the "She's MY WIFE!" and the "Good Girl/Sunshine" nicknames, was good!!

This book starts off with Levana ,a human who has been sheltered her whole life, meeting the Vampire King Orion. Levana is definitely not interested at the beginning and literally walks away with only a word. She definitely knows what she wants , but I think she has been so sheltered her standards are very low in some aspects. Levana fights with Orion in every way possible while Orion is very demanding. In all their differences, they both realize there is a lot more going on than they knew and maybe they had more in common than they think I would give this book 3.5 stars only because I feel like some of the relationships and world needed to be developed a little bit more. Although I feel like this is building up to the next book and leaving it open maybe for other characters. I loved the spicy scenes. You definitely feel how all the banter builds up to some great scenes.
Overall , this was actually a quick read for me and I would be curious to see how the next book develops.
If you like....
vampires
spicy (3 chili peppers)
enemies to lover
forced proximity
betrayal
dirty talk
he falls first
who hurt you
Then this book is for you!!

Favorite Quote "My love, they will not take you away from me. You and I, we are meant to be together, and I will cross foreign seas and travel until the end of the world to ensure we stay together. if I have to, I will burn everything in my way to get to you. Set the whole world on fire and watch it burn until there is nothing left but me and you. I will fight for you until the very last breath.”

I enjoyed reading this book. It fulfilled my Romantacy craving and delivered on the broody vampire trope. I am a sucker for enemies to lovers and the fact that this had all of my favorite things in one book was exactly what I wanted. I will say that I did not like the fact that the male lead forced our female lead into a marriage. I like when both people agree to marry or are forced to marry out of absolute necessity. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, just a few things here and there weren't my favorite.

This book has a great foundation and good world building, but unfortunately I really struggled to get past the grammatical errors and some of the character inconsistencies. It felt like another round of edits and maybe some banter between the characters would have really changed my rating. I did love the setting, but couldn’t quite fall in love with the characters.
I so appreciate getting the opportunity to provide feedback and hope for the best for this book in the future!

I want to begin by thanking the author and NetGalley for this advanced copy to review. I appreciated the opportunity, and I read it all straight through. I think the world building was the most interesting part for me, and I loved the relationship between Anika and Levana. They felt authentically like best friends, and both being princesses made them the perfect peer pair. The political intrigue is another strength with different kingdoms on the brink of war, pulling one another in through alliances where nothing is what it seems.
Unfortunately, this book felt much longer than 380 pages. It took me nearly a week to read due to the continuous errors in spelling (plump for plum, armory for armoire, etc., came up more than once) grammar, particularly verb tense, and tone were also inconsistent. Normally that is easy to overlook in an advanced copy, but in this case it was extremely distracting and hard to read. The characterization was flat, and often the dialogue did not match the character or scene, especially in conversations between Levana and Orion, who wavered between extremely formal and informal language with one another. Motivations were frequently either not explained at all or not believable. There is a lot of spice included, but I found myself skimming over it quickly. I didn't buy the explanation of the connection between the two main characters, and the spice felt more awkward than anything.
Again, thanks to Karolina Wilde and NetGalley for this ARC.

Masters of Blood 🖤🩸🕯️

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! If vampire courts, stolen fiancés, and plenty of spice are your thing then be sure to check this one out by @karolinawilde. Out May 7th, 2024!



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I really enjoyed the first half of this book, going into reading an ARC you know this may not be the final version. I feel like about halfway through, the grammatical errors just became to significant to proceed. The story line was decent, and with some final touches I am sure it would be great.

This book was.... ok. I'm usually ok with some level of insta-love, but this was in the first few pages. I would love to see a bit more of the characters, and a bit more tension, before one of them falls for the other. I read an ARC of this book (thanks to the author and publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!), so I know it is not the final copy, but I hope that the author has this carefully edited before publishing. There were a significant amount of grammatical errors that took away from the story a bit. I think this has a lot of potential, but needs something more for me to really have enjoyed it.

I got about 20% into this book and unfortunately, I had to stop reading. I still wanted to leave a review because I really do think that the plot has the potential to be really interesting, and there is definitely some intriguing tension between the two romantic leads, but the writing needed another round of proofing. I'm not someone who usually analyses writing (I much prefer character and plot), but there were issues around switching tense, repetitiveness and refraining from using contractions that meant I was being taken out of the story. It felt clunky because I would have to re-read sentences in order to understand what was being said. I would definitely be interested in giving this story another go if those issues were resolved, but for now I had to put it down.

This starts out with Levana, our human FMC, getting kidnapped by the mysterious, brooding King Orion, our vampire MMC, from her engagement party to a different human king.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF at 63%. If the story was really intriguing, I could tough out the errors, but I am not invested in Levana or Orion and don't see a lot of redeeming qualities in either. That, along with the need for a tight edit, and I can't continue reading this.

I will say that there was potential, and once edited, might be a good fit for some who like politics and war plotlines, but it just was not for me.

No star rating
🌶️🌶️

This book had an interesting premise (a fantasy retelling of Hades / Persephone with vampires) but unfortunately I had to DNF at around 20% I found myself distracted by the frequent shifts in tense (present/past). Some of the naming choices were also distracting (for example having a vampire named Lestat; or a pair of twins called Heaven/Nevaeh). Ultimately I wasn’t able to invest in the characters or the story so this book wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing a copy of this book.

I adore the Hades/Persephone, shadow daddies, forced proximity, and vampires so I was excited to dive into this one.

I was unfortunately met with poor editing and an insufferable fmc. The writing was confusing with switching between past and present tense as well as old and new.

The plot fell flat for me and was predictable.

I hate to not leave a positive review, but I had a hard time finding any.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

2.5 / 5.0 Master of Blood by Karolina Wilde is a Hades and Persephone retelling set with vampires in the far north of GOT, but with zippers, and reclaimed hardwood furniture… (which would have happened probably but you’d never say it). This was just hard to read. The premise of the story and the tropes were well chosen, and even the plot is not poorly done, but the editing… woof. And the FMC is insufferable but not in an intentional way, she just sucks.

Overall, it wasn’t for me. I wanted to read something seductive and spooky but instead got pedantic and poorly written.

Until Next Time,
MC

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this ARC for review.