Blood of a Red Rose, Volume 2

By: Tish Thawer

Narrated by: Stephanie Bentley

Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Doubt blooms...

Someone bleeds...

Change is coming...time to take heed.

What if vampires were the good guys and a human girl was the one to fear?

Blood of a Red Rose, book two in The Rose Trilogy, is a paranormal romance that continues to surprise with a heroine that's embracing her darker side, a vampire whose love starts to waver, and a vampire clan whose new Sire is filled with doubt.

Rose

I'm Rose Reynolds. I've shared my secret and ruined lives. I'm no longer welcome in my childhood home.

And, I've recently threatened to kill my best friend. I warned you - I'm not as innocent as everyone thinks....

Christian

I'm Christian and I'm worried about Rose. She's changed and I'm not sure that's a good thing. She knows my secret and loves me still. This I know, because I'm starting to hear whispers wherever I go....

©2011 Tish Thawer (P)2014 Tish Thawer

Better than book 1

3.5 stars.
My Initial Reaction...
I like the characters a lot more in Blood of a Red Rose than I did in Scent of a White Rose, though I seem to enjoy reading the villain's part best. Is that wrong?

The Narration...
Stephanie Bentley did a pretty good job narrating Blood of a Red Rose. I mentioned last time that I wasn't blown away by her narration and I think I know why now - she speaks so slow and evenly, maintaining the same pace regardless of emotion. She still does a good job giving characters varied voices, but I think her pacing strips away a bit of the characters' personalities and makes them seem a little flatter than they would be if you were reading.

The Good...
I continue to really like the vampire mythology in this series. It's fresh and different, especially considering that we're dealing with vampires - I've seen it all and yet, this is something different. I particularly like the way the vampires drift and I'm interested to see how things will develop with Rose and Christian, especially with how Blood of a Red Rose ended.

I'm really enjoying the parts of the story told from Meredith's point of view. Yes, she's the "bad guy", but she's complex and not so black-and-white. I'm not sure I'm supposed to feel this way, but I find her sympathetic and I wonder how the story will wrap up where's she's concerned. I believe that she really loves Rose's father and I think you can see a real contrast between her and the other bad demons - she's not quite as power hungry. I wonder if the last book will give us a twist.

Rose and Christian's relationship is working a lot better for me in Blood of a Red Rose. Now that they're basically living together their relationship has a lot more complexity besides the "let's make out" of Scent of a White Rose. They have real conversations and real problems. It made them a lot more interesting to read and a lot easier to root for.

The Bad...
Although I do like Rose, Christian, Jeremy, Evie, etc - they are starting to feel a bit flat. I mean is anyone really so good? I like the complexity of Meredith and wish that they had a similar complexity. I still like them, they just could be more interesting.

Rose is stubbornly keeping secrets and I'm a little annoyed by it - even if I know it's important to the story. I think that, in her situation, she would have seen the necessity of telling what's up! She also hasn't grown up quite enough for me - but she's doing way better. She still said some things that made my eyes roll and made me think, "Am I really supposed to believe she's 21?"

Concluding Sentiments...
I really like the way this trilogy is developing and based on the major cliff hanger Blood of a Red Rose ended on, the last book is going to be even better!