Reviewed by Jen B.
TITLE: Bloody Love Spats
SERIES: Among Wolves #2
AUTHOR: Valentina Heart
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
BLURB: Spin off of Sebastian’s Wolves
Tomislav Vugrin doesn’t think himself much of a vampire—not that others are tripping over themselves to dispute it. Despite descending from one of the most powerful vampire lines and having a coven queen for a sister, he’s far from a stuck-up royal and even farther from a force to be reckoned with.
That’s when fate puts her spiteful fingers to use and places him right in the path of Stone Marik, the new Alpha werewolf of the East Pack. Add a bit of teasing scent of a mate, and the attraction is stronger than any lack of information about bonding that might stand in their way.
But changing allegiance might be more than Tomi can handle, even if he has the best of intentions. Centuries of prejudice divide their two species, secrets and lack of time work against them, and soon even their desperate need for each other might not be enough to keep them alive.
REVIEW:
I enjoyed this story right from the beginning. It was a really quick read with a lot of somewhat refreshing aspects. Tomi is kind of an outsider in the vamp community, even though he is the heir to the throne behind his sister, the Queen. He has some rare abilities, but those, coupled with his inability to really control any of them, make him the butt of much ridicule and scorn from the rest of the coven. While he has his sister, he doesn’t really have a family, but he ends up with all of that and more when he accidentally runs into Stone in the woods.
The shifters and the vamps have this understanding where they basically live as though the others don’t exist. Therefore, neither knows much of anything about the other, and they are forbidden to interact, though the reason saren’t completely clear. Fate plays a bigger hand where Stone and Tomi are concerned, when they realize they are mates, which neither seems able to deny. After a playful start, and some hot sexy romps, they move towards a mated life in the pack where Tomi is quickly accepted as family. Their combined powers seem to be growing, and they realize it will be an even bigger problem when the vamps learn of it. But, they continue on, realizing they will have to deal with what could be a brutal fight and eventual war between the wolves and vamps.
After Tomi makes a stupid move, things heat up and become quite intense. He is held prisoner by the vamps and tortured as punishment for his actions, while the wolves gather forces to plot a rescue.
Stone is wonderful – he’s strong, but gentle when needed, funny and sexy, all wrapped up in one. He makes a great alpha, and he compliments Tomi very well. Tomi is a total sweetheart with quite a few self-esteem issues. Luckily, the strength and love these two share bring out the best in both of them and definitely make Tomi shine. They were fun and playful, sweet and sexy. There are some great side characters in this as well, from Stone’s brother and beta, to his adopted son, and a few others in between.
This story moves along at a nice clip making it a fast, easy read. There were quite a few questions or areas of interest that went unanswered, but all in all, I really enjoyed this and look forward to seeing where it goes next.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press :: Amazon