Blood+Feud

Discussion page for //Blood Feud// by Alyxandra Harvey

This book is the 2nd in a series, but it's one of those rare series where the later books (or the 2nd one, at least) can stand on its own.I would happily recommend this for the list, but maybe vampires are so 5 minutes ago? They're fading at my library, but dedicated teens still love this series. Summary: The series follows a family of vampires, the Drakes, who all turn into vampires when they turn 16. The 1st book follows the baby girl & sole Drake daughter, who has been prophesied to become Queen, and her mortal BFF. As the big 1-6 draws closer, the BFF falls for the youngest brother, who turned a year earlier, while the daughter falls for a sullen-yet-appealing vampire hunter. The characters are fully-formed, if old hat in these vampire-drenched times, and the action & romance are well-done. The Drakes must defend the daughter from the conniving Vampire Queen, while also protecting her from an evil vampire (and for vampires, that's saying something), who wants the daughter for his own. The 2nd book doesn't even mention the Drakes until a few chapters in. It follows a vampire who was bitten just after escaping the French Revolution (by the same evil vampire as book 1), then left weak & trapped until just about present-day, leaving her in an almost feral state. She is taken in by a tribe of similar vampires, and is sent to represent them at the court of the new Vampire Queen (book 1 spoiler!). There she meets the Drakes at last, and is drawn to another Drake brother. Together, they defend both his family & her tribe from the evil vamp's attacks, and fall madly in love (sigh). The vampire portions are just as good here as in book 1, but where it really shines is the flashbacks to the main character's time in Paris during the Revolution, and how she managed to survive. A rare mix of modern-day vamp-romance with excellent historical fiction. -Lucia from Wiggin Memorial Library in Stratham