Author Interview & Book Review: Blood Rights, By Kristen Painter

Blood Rights, by Kristen Painter
Genre(s): Urban Fantasy, Romance

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.  Now Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

This book has been on my TBR list since it came out, and I finally got a chance to read it.  I inhaled this book and just could not put it down!

We meet Chrysabelle, who recently left her sheltered life as a comarre to a wealthy, noble vampire, Lord Algernon, after his death. As a comarre, she was at the mercy of Algernon and could not live her life freely. Chrysabelle tries to blend in with the human world, but is being hunted and accused of killing Algernon.

Tatiana, a power-hungry vampire, is looking for a magical ring that Lord Algernon owned before his death. She searches his entire estate and cannot find the ring. Tatiana assumes that Chrysabelle took the ring after she killed Algernon.

While on the run, Chrysabelle needs help and is sent to Malkolm, a cursed vampire that was cast out of noble society. Malkolm is surrounded by secrets that are slowly revealed throughout the course of this story. He is intriguing, and you can’t help but fall in love and feel for him.

The sexual tension between Chrysabelle and Malkolm oozes off the page. Whenever he scents her or hears her heartbeat, he’s almost hypnotized by her. You want these characters to get together so badly, but life keeps getting in their way. Malkolm is helping Chrysabelle stay off the radar while Tatiana and others come after her. Eventually, they make a stand for Chrysabelle to prove her innocence.

This story has many other loveable characters along the way, and lots of twists that you do not see coming: Who killed Lord Algernon? What is haunting Malkolm in his past? What are the magical powers of the ring? Why is Tatiana so power hungry?

I definitely recommend this book to any reader who loves urban fantasy and a good story with hidden twists.  I’m glad that the next two books in this series are out, because I cannot wait to read them!

I had the honor of meeting Kristen Painter at NYCC, and she has a wicked sense of humor.  She was so kind, and I cannot thank her enough for allowing me to interview her about her book Blood Rights. I can’t wait to meet her again at Authors After Dark (AAD).

Enjoy this great interview with Kristen Painter!

Obscured Vixen: First things first: “Never judge a book by it’s cover.” However, the cover for Blood Rights is stunning! Did you have any input? Kristen Painter: I didn’t really have any input until after the first draft of the cover was produced and even then it was fairly minimal since it was so beautiful. The fab team at Orbit Books and the artist Nekro get all the credit. OV: Did you research houses of vampires, fey, and other creatures for your story? Or was the world created in your mind? KP: I did a lot of reading about vampires, digging into some old legends, origin tales, that kind of thing, but most of my world came straight out of my head. OV: I love how vampires believe that commare/comar are just nutrition, but they are secretly vampire killers. How did you come up with the idea for commares/comars? KP:I’ve had the idea of Chrysabelle since college, I just didn’t know what to do with her until Mal came along. OV: You have a few wonderful twists in this story that I did not see coming. Was it fun to write knowing you were purposely misleading the reader? KP:As a reader, I love a good twist, especially if it’s not something I guessed. As a writer, it’s even more fun to see if I can produce the same moments for my readers. OV: Why did you set the story in the future? KP:I set the story in the future to give myself a little artistic license and also to show how little the world has changed due to war and strife and human machinations. OV: If you had the chance, would you like to travel to the future? KP:Sure! But only if I could come right back to the time I left. Extra points if I get to travel in a Tardis. OV: Have you ever reread a scene that you wrote and thought, “Wow, that was perfect!” Something you were very proud of? KP:I don’t know that I’ve ever thought a scene was perfect, but there are many I’ve worked hard on and am proud of. Writing is hard work, but sometimes you end up with a scene or a moment that makes it all feel worthwhile. OV: As an Author After Dark (AAD) featured author, what are you most looking forward to? KP: Well, it’s hard not to love the fact that AAD is in New Orleans this year! I love that place. It holds a real magic for me. I’m also really looking forward to meeting so many great readers and bloggers. Last year was a blast!

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