Hell's Belle by Karen Greco

Her attempt at a “regular” life, not to mention a budding relationship with smoking hot FBI agent Max, is cut short because of a string of ritual murders targeting the city's community of witches.

But Nina's investigation unearths deadly secrets from her long buried parents. Now the target of supernatural assassins, could Nina be the most dangerous vampire hybrid to ever exist? No wonder she can’t get a date.

REVIEW

Hells to the yeah


This was mostly a win for Team UF. There were a couple of things I wasn't crazy about, but the end had me wanting the next book to find out more, which is always a good sign, right? I'm going to put the other things down to Book One Syndrome for now and hope the next book starts with a bang!

So, what's it about? Well, your main character is a half-vampire called Nina. She's quite the little badass and has a goodly amount of snark. She rides a motorcycle (nice!). She has to hide what she is from the unsuspecting public, which is made easier by the fact she doesn't actually consume blood, though she still reaps the other benefits like strength and speed. She had a very isolated childhood and spent most of it in a facility being trained in combat along with other supes, including her full-vampire bestie, Frankie, whom I loved and who's also partnered with her in a sort of supernatural government agency. Or, at least, he was until Nina had to come back home to tend bar with her aunt, which is where we pick up the story.

Nina's appearance back in her birth town doesn't go quite as smoothly as one might hope. See, first there's a sexy cop asking too many questions, then there's a vampire mercenary whose more of a kill-first-ask-questions-later type, and all Nina really wants to do is go on a freakin' date! Is that so much to ask?

Apparently it is, yes. And actually, I'm glad the romance subplot was interrupted because this was one of the aspects I was only luke warm about. The romance in this book didn't really hit the sweet spot for me. It may do in future books, I'm willing to reserve judgement for now, but to be truthful, I'm not sure she's with the right guy yet anyway. I'm wondering if there might be someone else more... fitting, and maybe he's just the decoy guy. I guess we'll see, won't we?

The book had a good dose of action, some decent worldbuilding and the setting sounded fun. I also loved the ending - very excited by that tantalising finish! All in all, a good start and one I will be continuing. Go ahead and jump on the pile! You'll be in good company.


4 Stars ★★★★
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.