Review: 4.75 stars-seductively dark and dangerous
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2014
4.57 starsBECKONING BLOOD is the first instalment for first time author Daniel de Lorne’s new paranormal, adult, vampire series focusing on twin brothers Theirry and Olivier d’Arjou.  The storyline spans over six hundred years-from 1390 to present day-following the brothers’s transformation to vampires and lethal killers.  Beckoning Blood is a story of love, hatred, blood lust and sibling rivalry. This is not your sparkly vampire novel-this is a novel of betrayal and revenge between two brothers and a series of enemies they have made along the way.NOTE: Beckoning Blood is a M/M storyline with graphic depictions of same sex scenarios, obsession and bloody violence.The focus of the storyline is the relationship between twin brothers Thierry and Olivier d’Arjou. Growing up in a violent and abusive household the brothers are turned one fateful night that saw Thierry’s lover murdered and the brothers on the run. The storyline fast forwards in several spots, skipping hundreds of years at a time but what happens in the ensuing years is revealed when necessary to the plot and story.  As Thierry continues to mourn the loss of his soul mate Etienne, Olivier’s thirst for blood and revenge are the building blocks of a violent history between two brothers who are searching for love and acceptance-Thierry’s search for his long dead lover in every soul that he meets and Olivier’s obsession and love for Thierry.  With over six hundred years of history, the brothers have made many enemies and will soon discover they are not the only immortal beings with a thirst for revenge.The relationship between Thierry and Olivier is volatile, necessary and emotional. They are tied to one another’s psyche through bloodline, power and pain. The twins are the epitome of good and evil; black and white; yin and yang.  Years and centuries would separate the brothers but they are pulled to one another in an emotional tale of jealousy, love and family ties. When it finally looks like Thierry will be free of Olivier’s psychotic and painful deception, fate will step in when it is learned that Olivier is needed for a higher purpose. It is Olivier’s never ending love and need for Thierry that fuels his crazed and murderous jealous rages.The secondary characters are numerous, colorful and play a continuous role throughout the storyline in various incarnations and sources of threats. The brothers will face their mortality on more than one occasion but there is always someone or something watching and waiting to step in and save the day.Told from third person close point of view BECKONING BLOOD is a well written, evenly paced, original storyline of suspense and horror about a love between two brothers that is violent, graphic and not without some questionable moral ethics.  There are no apologies for the death and destruction reaped by the brothers-they are, after all, predators and humans are their prey. But Thierry does have a conscience-one born of love-that pits the brothers against one another in an enduring battle of right and wrong throughout the years.Daniel de Lorne has written a seductively dark and dangerous storyline where the fine line between love and hate is only a matter of blood. The world building spans centuries and countries; family and friends; death and rebirth.  BECKONING BLOOD is astonishing in its’ violence; dramatic in its’ presentation; passionate in its’ love.I was gifted a copy