All That bleeds by Kimberly Frost

Etherlin, Book 1

Synopsis: In a glittering community in the Colorado Rockies called the Etherlin, the descendants of the ancient muses live behind a wall that separates them from the dangerous creatures that crave them. 

Alissa North is inspiration made flesh, so she should never have met Merrick, a deadly half-vampire enforcer, but when they do meet, the connection is instantaneous, and an illicit flirtation is born. He sends her secret gifts. She writes him secret letters.

The long-distance friendship was never supposed to go any farther. But when she is kidnapped and thrown briefly into his world, everything changes. Now Alissa realizes he’s the only person she can trust, and Merrick finds he’ll do anything to protect her, even risk his life by crossing the wall. 

As both worlds close in on them, Alissa knows that getting caught with Merrick could cost her everything she’s ever cared about, but giving him up proves harder than she ever imagined…

Review: I knew Kimberly Frost by her other series that I really enjoy: The Southern Witch series. It’s always a nice read as it’s a chick-lit/paranormal saga. I was therefore pretty curious to read another genre, here a paranormal romance series. Plus, have you seen this wonderful cover? Impossible to not like it. Mainly when we know it perfectly corresponds to the novel.
We discover in this first volume a very intriguing world, indeed, this one is shared by an impassable wall. We can find the world of the Etherlin, the one where the muses live, and another world where the vampires are. Two very different worlds that don’t mix up. The muses and the vampires can’t live together as the blood of these women is addictive for the bloodsuckers. However, a half vampire/human will come off the lot by his incredible control: Merrick, this cold blooded killer but also so mysterious, who will fall in love with the beautiful muse, Alissa.
What can I say about Merrick? He is the perfect bad boy whom everyone dreams about. He has a hard and impenetrable side, but this side is also counterbalanced by his sensibility and his love for Ally. It was funny to see him change like that when he is with her, him, this killer without any pity who will finally do everything she desires. It’s a pleasure from the start to discover this character and I was surprised by the Ally’s resistance. (I don’t think I could have done the same thing). We understand it, it’s therefore why we’re impressed by her acts.
Ally is a young muse who dreams to become THE muse of Etherlin, but it’s also a competition and a fight of everyday. We can only be impressed behind this strong woman, this woman who has to face so many things all the time and who can escape by the letters she can send to Merrick. Like the vampire, we really discover her nature all along the chapters, understanding that everyone thinks she is cold despite she keeps for herself all her feelings. As if her future as a muse wasn’t in danger, she also has to face many questions about the death of her mother, the state of his father that is worst and worst, and also the constant kidnapping threat. Something that Merrick is decided to change.
It’s a touching couple we can discover here. They are together very complementary and we hope from the start they could have a happy ending. Kimberly frost had a lot of wonderful ideas in this book and I was very happy to get into this incredible world. The writing style is fluid and the plot very interesting, we ask ourselves more and more questions to know to discover the truth about what is really going on. I confess I’m now curious to have the sequel as it’s about Lysanger and Cerise who only are two characters introduced to us, so it would be nice to learn more about them. A really nice start! 

18 thoughts on “All That bleeds by Kimberly Frost

  1. Did you say a dream-worthy bad boy with a softer side? I’m in! x) LOL this book has the most beautiful cover — I love the flowiness of her dress! But I’m most intrigued about how different this book sounds. I don’t think I’ve ever read about vampires and muses all in one, but it sounds like KF pulls it off! 🙂

    Amazing review, Mel! I’m curious about this too <3

  2. I’ve seen this cover before but I hadn’t really given it too much of a thought. Great review – definitely a lot more curious about it than I was before. Usually I’m not too much into romance but if there’s a lot else going on – like kidnapping threats, etc that gets me reeled in too. They both sound like good characters to get to know -and I like the idea of the sequel focusing on different characters that we only know a little bit about in the first book. Sounds like a nice read all in all. I’m also really intrigued by the Southern Witch books – I haven’t heard of those before but I LOOOOVE witches 😀 Definitely going to check that out!

    • I understand it’s the same for me, I don’t read a lot of romance books because I’m always disappointed but when there is a good story with it, it’s amazing. I really like her other series, it’s lighter, very different from this one, about faes, witches…

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