Review: Dirty Blood

Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenbrand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow – what a wonderful read! This new spin on some old paranormal stories had me hooked from the start. It was filled with action, sigh-worthy romance, and oodles of family drama. Don’t let the gritty description of the book scare you off – this is a YA romance disguised as an urban fantasy.

Tara isn’t having the best night when we meet her. She’s just broken up with her best friend turned boyfriend and none of her friends are around to give her a ride home on this freezing cold night. Being the independent strong girl that she is, she heads right out into the cold and ends up getting attacked by some crazy girl-turned-wolf. Her muscles seemed to know how to protect her, killing the wolf-girl, but Tara is left a bit of a shocky mess. This is just the beginning of her journey down the rabbit hole that includes a hottie with serious animal magnetism.

Wes (the hottie) and Tara manage to keep this crazy night hidden from her mother while at the same time introducing Tara to a group called “the cause.” This world has Hunters (people genetically predisposed to hunting werewolves) and Werewolves (I think we’re all familiar with werewolves). The cause is working to find peace between the two groups, but is finding opposition in werewolves or hunters who don’t want to stop killing each other.

Take these issue, throw in a lot of familial surprises, some boyfriend/girlfriend drama and you’ve got an awesome mix of YA angst and romance. I loved the entire thing and was even rewarded with a sort of happy ending. Sure, not everything is tied up neatly, but that’s what sequels are for, right? I can’t wait to dive into the next book and get even more of Wes/Tara and their wild and crazy world.


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