Blood in the Past by Jordanna East

Publisher: Blood Read Press

Date published: June 16, 2013

ISBN: ASIN: B00DGCIXRG

Genre: Suspense

Book format: E-book

Obtained via: Gift

Reviewed by Keldon__

RATING: four stars

 

*May contain spoilers*

Blood in the Past is essentially a prelude—an introduction to a longer series coming later this year. Three characters’ lives intertwine in a complex dance:

Jillian is a woman scorned, left with the consequences of an ill-advised affair.Lyla is a woman motivated by false pretenses, generating consequences of her own.Jason is a man in flux, planning a future without a complete memory of the past. The lives of these characters touch and diverge, circling around again and again. Ms. East utilizes multiple points of view in the third person to relay the story, and this is probably the best choice for a tale such as this.

Overall, the backdrop was adequate for establishing setting, but not a lot of sensory cues other than sight and touch were offered. For the most part, pacing is acceptable. At times, the timeline jumps backward to reflect what one character did at the same time as another. There were a couple of places where I wanted the story to get moving. I would have liked to have seen the development of the relationship between Jillian and Calvin instead of the “several months later” exposition—participating in Jillian’s thought processes would have been beneficial. As it was, I was left with little sympathy toward the character, despite her troubles. Lyla seems to get more page time than her compatriots. Despite this, I still felt as though I didn’t know her well or understand her motivations at times—just me.

The secondary characters have variable development—some more fully realized than others. The character of CJ is inconsistent, but perhaps will coalesce in future offerings. Mel seems poised to play a big role, but that role never materializes.

The author’s voice comes through in places, but it seems this is a new author still developing a voice.

As far as a series, this is a short offering, more of an introduction to what’s coming later on. The premise is sufficiently interesting to warrant trying the next book in the series. I’m hopeful some of the characterization issues will be resolved in the second book.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.