Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Review: Chaos & Moonlight (Order of the Nines #1) by A.D. Marrow

Chaos and Moonlight (Order of the Nines
#1)
by A.D. Marrow
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Full Fathom Five Digital
Date of Publication: May 6th, 2015


The Nines, an elite group of vampires, was established to stand as protection for their race. Fractured by centuries of betrayal and loss, the group is now little more than myth, its remaining members scarred and shattered.

Taris, the oldest living vampire, is no stranger to loss and heartbreak. He is all that holds the Nines together as they struggle to save themselves from total extinction.

Enter the beautiful and brilliant Dr. Sarah Bridgeman, whose medical research has resulted in a breakthrough for both humans and vampires. Her work may be the salvation this weary band of guardians has been looking for.

Taris needs to reach Sarah and enlist her help—before those aligned against him can act. Can a vampire king convince a stunning young scientist to save a species that isn’t even supposed to exist?

For now, only one thing is certain: no science can explain the explosive chemistry between them.

Chaos and Moonlight is the first installment in the Order of the Nines series, and is A. D. Marrow’s debut novel.


My Rating: 3.5 Coffee Cups!!

Let me start by saying I did, in fact, enjoy this book despite the lower ratings. I’ll explain my reasoning in a bit. I had been on such a New Adult/Romance kick that when I saw the blurb of this book I decided that I needed to get back to my roots and read what I’ve always loved. Paranormal. Yeah I couldn’t go too far off the romance pack, but I’m a girl what do you expect. This book helped to give me a quick hit. Chaos and Moonlight in its heart is more sci-fi than paranormal IMO. It has the bad-ass, old and cranky vampires but these paranormal beings are looking for a scientific cure to a pretty imminent problem within their race- their inability to produce children. The vampire race is close to becoming extinct. They cannot have children or create new vampires, something in their blood is preventing them from doing so.

Taris, the oldest living vampire, and his sister Kalin have been in search of a cure for years. They hit the lowest of low points when their adopted human daughter experiments on herself to a tragic end. Just when they begin to feel all hope is lost they catch a disastrous talk show interview. The brilliant Dr. Sarah Bridgeman essentially blows up on a pretty obnoxious talk show host. But that’s not what catches Taris’s attention. Besides the fact that he finds her utterly captivating is the fact that she is on the show to talk about a serum to aid in organ donations. A serum that could very well be their salvation. As Sarah and Taris work together you meet baddies, dip a bit into the backstory of the other Nines and watch another love story bloom. Oh by the way, the Order of the Nines are a closely held secret. An elite guard that protects the Vampire race from any threats that may come their way.

So, the reasoning for my 3.5 on the coffee cup meter. There were quite a few unfinished thoughts. Thoughts such as why is Bane (the baddie) actually bad? I’m suspecting (and hoping) that this is just A.D. Marrow’s way of kick starting this series. Which I am definitely interested to follow. Although I liked Taris and Sarah, they actually were not who kept me hooked. It was the other Nines. Judah, Zillah, Rhiannon and most especially Achan that had me reading more and more.



Excerpt:

"It was several minutes before Sarah realized she wasn’t dreaming. The tall guy in her room, the creepy guy on the stairs, all of it had been real. After about five miles of telling herself to wake up, then looking at the tall guy who was driving, then pinching herself, then telling herself to wake up again, then looking at the tall guy some more, reality and the promise of a full-fledged panic attack set in.
    “I swear, if you let me go, I won’t tell anyone, okay?” Sarah finally found her voice. She had a moment where she thought that maybe this was a dream again, judging by the way the driver of the car looked. He was dark and mysterious, chiseled from head to toe—she should know, she all but crawled into him when they were running away from that other guy. She couldn’t make out much in the dark of the truck’s cab, but even in the faint light of the street lamps, something about this guy made her feel different. Maybe it was his voice—that deep, gravelly, slightly British voice. Maybe it was the smell that came off him, that man-mixed-with-leather-and-aftershave smell.
    “Who are you?” Her damned voice box rebelled against her and her question came out in a whisper.
    He was focused on the road, his eyes never leaving it as he maneuvered the giant diesel truck in and out of the one a.m. traffic. “I’ll explain everything when we get to where we are going. In the meantime, just sit back and try to relax, okay?”
    “Relax? Okay, yeah. I was taken out of my bed in the middle of the night by some guy I don’t even know, and then I was chased up the stairwell by a Sherman tank of a drag queen, and you tell me to relax? Yeah right, pal! Listen, seriously, whatever ransom you’re asking for, I can pay it. Just bring me to an ATM, and you can have whatever you want, okay? Just let me go.”
    “It’s not that simple, Dr. Bridgeman.”
    “The hell it’s not. Look, just let me out, and anything you want, it’s yours. Cross my heart, I won’t tell a soul you took me.” She made a little crisscross motion over her heart.
    “Like I said, Dr. Bridgeman, it’s not that simple. I don’t need your money. I need you to do a job for me. That Sherman tank drag queen apparently wants you to do the same job. I think, circumstances being what they are, you might want to consider working for me.”
    “Work, my ass.” Sarah mumbled to herself. “Who the hell are you, anyway? And what job could I possibly do for you? I’m a medical researcher, you dickhead.”
    He didn’t bother looking at her. He took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
    “My name is Taris. I’m an eight-hundred-year-old vampire, and I need you to use your medical research to help me stop the slow yet brutal extinction of a race of people who really do exist but are made into horror movie villains and romance novel heroes.”
When he was met with silence, he glanced over to see her passed out cold in the seat.
    “I knew it wouldn’t work.”



About the Author:

A.D. Marrow is a registered Sapiophile, a proud geek since before geek was chic, and believes that everyone deserves a happily ever after.

She lives in the foothills of North Carolina with her ridiculously hot and amazingly supportive husband, three kids that rock so hard there should be a national holiday for their awesomeness, two really stupid dogs and a plethora of Post-it notes with book ideas to last her until she’s 90.

Her childhood dream is realized in the fact that YOU have cause to read her bio. She hopes that one day, it lends her enough credibility to live out her second dream, which is to write an episode of Doctor Who.

Her personal mantra echoes that of Morticia Addams: “Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.”


Twitter: @admarrow


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