Review: Bloodlines by Jessica Lee

Jessica Lee
Bloodlines
Breathless Press, 2010

Backblurb:
Evin KinKaid, the only son of the KinKaid pack's alpha, has a secret. One that will tear his family apart. In one year, Evin is to succeed his father as alpha leader and continue the dominant bloodline of his family. There's only one problem: Evin is gay. When Evin is pushed into the bed of his intended female mate, he's forced to reveal the truth. And for an alpha male wolf shifter promised to a female whose goal is to one day be queen, coming out has never been more explosive.

To Mason Thorne II, heir to Thorne Global Inc., life is a lie. To sustain his father's love, Mason has agreed to stay in the family business and to one day assume his place as CEO. Instead of reaching for his heart's desire, he's settled for a life he never wanted. But an unexpected auto accident will send Evin and Mason into each other's arms and down a path toward a destiny neither man can escape: an eternity sealed in blood.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M, Paranormal, Shapeshifter, Wolves

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 3 out of 3 flames
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Why I read it:
I received a review copy from the author

I've been in a shapeshifter mood lately and Bloodlines was just the right book to keep me satisfied in that regard. The main character, Evin, is a wolf shifter and not just that, he's also the Alpha Prime of his pack. As the only son born to the alpha of the KinKaid wolf pack, the responsibility of mating and continuing the dominant bloodline of his family falls to him. But he happens to be gay, something he can't keep a secret any longer when his mate to be, Jocelyn, wants to share his bed. He blurts out his sexual preference to her and shortly after that his father bans him from the pack.

Fast forward one year. Evin is working as a car mechanic when Mason, a handsome human, brings his car in after he had an accident with it, due to the sudden appearance of a white wolf on the road. When Evin and Mason look at each other in the car shop it's lust at first sight. Fortunately for them it'll take a few days before the car parts that are needed to fix Mason's car will arrive, so they can spend a long weekend together. And they use most of their time to have scorching hot sex. I thought these scenes were written very well, they made me believe in their attraction immediately. However, while the physical connection between these two hot heroes was obvious, I missed a bit of the psychological connection. Although they both are/were in similar situations - trying to live up to their father's expectations and having to subdue their sexuality for that - they never share anything from their lives with each other. They don't talk about anything other than how hot they are for one another.
Yet, after only four days their feelings have turned into something that looks suspiciously like love. Somehow this is not completely unbelievable, because through the intimate, sexy scenes the emotional connection is conveyed quite clearly. Still, I would've liked to see more of their developing feelings taken place outside of the bedroom.

Then the end of their short period of time together nears and they both are reluctant to say goodbye. But how can a wolf shifter and a human, who doesn't know anything about his lover's other identity, have a future together? Here the plot takes an unexpected turn, which seems to make a happy ending impossible at first. Although the plot development that leads to a solution is not very unpredictable, it is worked out well by the author. I wanted to keep reading to know how things would unfold and that brought me some well-written action scenes, some heart wrenching and a sweet and lovely happily ever after for Evin and Mason.

Overall, Bloodlines was a highly entertaining and sexy read. Although the protags' relationship suffered a bit from insta-love, it was saved by their wonderful chemistry and believable emotions. If you're looking for an erotic, yet romantic, read with quite some smexy scenes that never become repetitive in their descriptions, mingled with some beautiful wolf shifter action and an entertaining story that is mainly concentrated on the building relationship between two hot men, then I can certainly recommend this book.

Linking:
Jessica Lee’s website | weblog | on Goodreads | on Twitter | on Facebook

Buy Bloodlines here

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