Review: Dirty Blood (Dirty Blood #1) by Heather Hildenbrand

 

Author: Heather Hildenbrand

Series: Dirty Blood

Pages: 289

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Accendo Press

Amazon: Dirty Blood - FREE on Kindle

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

I killed a girl last night. I did it with my bare hands and an old piece of pipe I found lying next to the dumpster. But that’s not the part that got me. The part that scared me, the part I can’t seem to wrap my head around and still has me reeling, was that when she charged me, her body shifted – and then she was a wolf. All snapping teeth and and extended claws. But by the time I stood over her lifeless body, she was a girl again. That’s about the time I went into shock… And that was the moment he showed up.

Review: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenbrand is the first book in the Dirty Blood series.

We are thrust into the action from the onset of this book when we meet Tara, leaving a bar and coming across a girl who shifted before her very eyes into a werewolf. Tara had been oblivious to the supernatural existing before this time but was able to defend herself and kill her with a piece of pipe. There to help her out was Wesley, a werewolf himself.

Wes wasn’t able to get a read on Tara but knew there is something different about her so introduces her to a few friends where she finds out she is what is known as a Hunter. Wes was sensitive, protective and pretty swoon-worthy but he also held many secrets, his biggest made him a target to not only the hunters but also the werewolves.

Werewolves and Hunters are enemies and spend most of the time trying to destroy one another, hence the reason behind The Cause – a combined group of both species trying to come to a form of peace agreement. I enjoyed this aspect and learning of the Hunter/Werewolf heritage and The Cause’s purpose along with Tara.

I didn’t mind Tara as a main character, I liked her snark and her acceptance of what she was being told but her moodiness at times got on my nerves; I did feel sorry for her with the many secrets being kept hidden but she over-reacted a tad too often. Wes was great but I wanted to know more about him and the secondary characters each played an important role in this book, I especially loved Jack and Fee.

There were so many things I liked about this story but also a few things which I tend to squirm about, the biggest being declarations of love too soon, although it wasn’t overly wrung out it is still a peeve none the less and if it was believable I would have accepted it a lot easier, another thing was Tara’s tendency to act out on impulse, there were a few times where I wish she would have stayed put or closed her mouth but not the case, she came across as spoilt and demanding.

Ms. Hildenbrand’s writing style was simplistic, the plot was enjoyable but there were a number of plot elements and pieces of cheesy dialogue that bought it down a few notches for me.

Despite the few things mentioned above, Dirty Blood was an enjoyable and quick read with likeable characters, action and suspense. I will be picking up the next book in the series, Cold Blood.