Reviewed by Vicki
Series Review of the Partnership in Blood Series
TITLE: Conflict in Blood
SERIES: Partnership in Blood #3
AUTHOR: Ariel Tachna
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 304 pages
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As the Alliance wizard-vampire partnerships grow stronger, the dark wizards feel the effects and become increasingly desperate to find enough information to counter them, unaware of the growing strain of the blood-magic bonds on the wizards and vampires alike.
The conflict is spreading. The strife of uncomfortable relationships, both personal and professional, is threatening to tear up the Alliance from the inside, despite the efforts of Alain Magnier and Orlando St. Clair, Thierry Dumont and Sebastien Noyer, and even Raymond Payet and Jean Bellaiche, leader of the Paris vampires, who is fighting to establish a stable covenant with his own partner so he might lead by example.
As the war rages on and heartbreaking casualties mount on both sides, the dark wizards keep searching for clues to understand and counter the strength of the Alliance, while the blood-bound Alliance partners hunt through ancient prejudices and forgotten lore to find an edge that can turn the tide of the war once and for all.
With new strength behind it, the Alliance’s leaders move to announce its existence to the whole world, hoping to rally support against the dark wizards who threaten to destroy life as they know it. Struggling to find its way in the expanding war, the Alliance discovers that despite its advantages, the partnerships are affecting the balance of magical power in the world, which may be an even bigger threat than the war itself.
REVIEW:
In this third part of the Partnership in Blood series, the battle between the good wizards with the help of the local vampires, and the dark wizards continues.
The members of the Alliance continue to explore the bond between the vampires and wizards and how best to use the pairs. A rite is performed that helps to balance the magical energy that has been negatively affected by the war. The rite works in a sense, but it causes some interesting side effects amongst the pairs! Hot yummy sex for some, angry sex for others. This issue is also solved by Raymond, who tries so hard to be accepted by the Milice. There are a couple of wizard battles, including a fight for the Eiffel Tower, and a major player is captured by the enemy. There is a death that deeply affects Jean, and royally pisses him off. Not a good enemy to make!
On the romance side of things, Alain and Orlando try to work through Orlando’s continuing and somewhat tiresome trust issues, Jean and Raymond, and Sebastien and Thierry are moving along in their developing relationships quite nicely. I’m finding that I’m liking both of those couple more during this read than my original time through this series five years ago, and I’m not liking Alain and Orlando quite as much. I’m not sure why that is! The two problem couples, Adele and Jude, and David and Angelique are making progress, but Jude is just a douche. David is not a douche, but is just clueless!
One of my issues with the last book was that it focused more on the relationships and didn’t have enough plot for me, this book was a nice balance. Some relationship drama, but a nice bit of plot drama as well. The war has certainly picked up the pace between the two groups, there were more battles and more of interest happened. Not that I didn’t like the last book, but this one was tighter somehow. I liked that I could see the plot moving forward toward the conclusion, but we still got to see lots about the various couples.
I love different interpretations of vampire lore, it fascinates me that Ariel hadn’t read a vampire book before writing these… I like the differences she introduced, and the similarities to traditional vampire stories as well. I love the various characters (except Jude, I HATE him!), and I love the world she has created. It’s our world but not. I’m struggling with the French a bit, it’s a language I don’t know at all! But I wish I did…
On to the finale!
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TITLE: Reparation in Blood
SERIES: Partnership in Blood #4 
LENGTH: 332 pages
BLURB:
The war is at a fever pitch with both sides stretched to the limit, when the dark wizards score a shocking victory and capture Orlando St. Clair. Haggard with worry and grief at the separation from his lover, Alain fears that even if they find Orlando, the vampire’s heart and mind may be far too broken to save.
Knowing the Alliance teeters on the brink, Christophe Lombard, the oldest, most powerful vampire in Paris leaves his self-imposed seclusion to join the fight. Alain’s lost friend Eric Simonet, who betrayed him to join the dark wizards, is faced with a choice between revenge and redemption. And Jean, enraged by Orlando’s capture, faces the most agonizing decision in his unlife as the final battle looms: Will their actions lead to the shattering of the Alliance or the salvation of the world?
REVIEW:
This book is all about the war. It’s really the finale of the four book series, yes there are more books, but this is the end of the wizard war.
So we have the same characters continuing in this book from the previous ones, the same romances and the same issues. Most are doing well, the relationships have had time to stabilize, and a balance has been established for all but Adel and Jude. Jude is still a douche! But the others are all doing well. I’m finding myself drawn toward Jean and Raymond this time I’m reading them, I still dearly love Orlando and Alain, but Raymond and Jean are sneaking their way in to my heart! Lots of sex happens, between boys and boys, girls and girls, and boys and girls. I do like seeing the different pairings!
The plot is centered around two things, the frantic search for the missing Orlando, and the ramping up of the war efforts. It’s all coming to a head with this book and the war ends very dramatically with all hands on deck. Can you tell I’m trying not to give anything away? You’ll just have to read it to see who does what! But it is great. There has been this big build up over the last three books, introducing characters, setting everything up, the drama, now we get the payoff in the big epic battle scene. Excellent!
Once the war is over there is a bit of a letdown, everyone relaxes, recovers and decides what to do next. What couples will continue, which will end, who takes over what leadership roles, and settling the vampires citizenship issues. And a couple of trials…. It’s all very calm and satisfying.
Now we need to talk about the epilogue. So this is a reread for me, obviously, and I remember the pain of the epilogue quite well from my first read FIVE years ago. Yes, it is painful. I’ve chatted with Ariel about it, she said she didn’t like it either but had to do it. She saw the meeting of Orlando and Alain, the rescue of Orlando, and the final scene of the book and had to do it, even though it sucks. And it does. But it’s so beautiful. So be prepared, that’s all I’ll say.
I can’t decide which is my favorite of the first four books, I love the newness of the first one, the first meetings, the flush of new love and relationships, but I love the drama and excitement of this one. It all builds up to this book, these moments. It’s fast and exciting, dramatic and scary. I loved it! Then the resolutions to the various parts are all exactly as you’d want. Just perfect!
I don’t remember the next couple of books as well, so I’m looking forward to continuing this series!
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