Rating~ 4.5 stars.

This is the first book in the series and I really enjoyed the book. I'm looking forward to the books of the supporting cast members.

Bonded by Blood is the first novel in the Sweetblood, paranormal romance series by author Laurie London. This dark adult-fiction offers romance, mystery, sexy vampires and a struggle between good and evil. London’s tale grabbed me from page one and I enjoyed the ride.

In the Sweetblood series we have two groups of vampires. There are vampires who live among the humans. They follow society’s rules and drink donor blood. The second group known as the Darkbloods believe in the old ways. Where killing and turning humans is their right. The Agency is a military type vampire unit established to protect the humans and keep the vampires existence a secret. Recently the agency has noticed an increase in activity among the Darkbloods and have sent units to investigate. One of their goals is to protect humans nicknamed "sweetbloods". These humans have particularly sweet blood, which can make a vampire lose himself. They often end up killing the human and the blood gives them a high. Eventually the vampire becomes addicted craving more and more sweetblood. The agency notices an increase in the illegal sale of sweetblood and believes the Darkbloods are behind it.

While on a mission, agent Dominic is shot with silver bullets. He manages to hide himself in a dark cemetery before sunrise. Photographer and biker chick, Mackenzie-Foster Shaw believes she has found the perfect location for a film project. She jumps of her bike, and begins taking photos. As she moves through the cemetery she thinks she hears someone moaning, "Help me'. Suddenly she stumbles upon Dominic, half hidden in a pile of leaves. At first he thinks he will borrow her phone to get help, but then he smells her – a Sweetblood. He tells her to run, but Mackenzie wants to help, she bends down to look at his wounds……………..the next thing she remembers is waking up with a headache in her own bed. Dominic is back at the agency, but is concerned for Mackenzie. He wants to make sure the darkbloods can't find her. He finds himself thinking about her..a lot. The tale that London tells, unfolds at a dizzying pace and I loved every suspenseful, steamy, intoxicating, minute of it.

London creates characters you can’t help but fall in love with. I really liked Mackenzie, she is grounded, responsible, and talented. She rides a motorcycle, teaches art and works as a scout for films. She can be a kick-ass and has a witty sense of humor. A family curse has kept her from getting to close to anyone. There were a few scenes where her behavior had me giggling. Dominic, is a tortured soul, who is determined to seek vengeance. He has suffered great loss and despite the tough guy exterior, he is really a romantic at heart. He is protective, loyal, smart and uber sexy. We meet some of the other vampires in the agency and I look forward to reading their stories. London has given them all unique personalities and I was drawn to each of them. The romance between Mackenzie and Dominic was hot and intense. I loved the banter between them, and how Mackenzie goes from fearing him to trusting him with her life. I must warn my more delicate readers, that while this is a mainstream romance it can get pretty steamy.

The tale itself was intense and believable. I love how London gave us Dominic’s back-story and weaved it into the present making the tale more suspenseful. There were scenes that had my heart racing, as I wondered how Dominic and Mackenzie would survive. There is villain to hate, and a traitor to feel sorry for. London provides details and characters that give this tale endless possibility as a series. I like that while the tale of Good vs. Evil will continue, Dominic and Mackenzie’s tale is complete.
Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Bonded by Blood looks to be the start of another promising paranormal romance series. That cover alone is worth picking the book up for, I mean come on, look at him. Okay, getting side tracked, sorry. Onto the review.

The book focuses on the world of vampires, with some new mythology thrown in which always helps distinguish the story from others. There is one familiar storyline though, a vampire who falls for a human who’s blood is extremely appealing to him. Ring any bells? Before you jump to conclusions though, keep in mind that while this book does share some similarities to Twilight, Bonded by Blood is in another league. Twilight is for teenage girls daydreams and Bonded by Blood is for womens fantasies. With Dominic being the main focus of those fantasies.

The slow building story leaves your toes curling with anticipation that is highly addicting. While the story is a little light on the action in the beginning, it is not missed. The character building and the budding romance between Dominic and Mackenzie more than makes up for it. The world is fascinating and I quickly found myself completely captivated.

The end of the book does leave you satisfied as a reader, but it was a little too neat and tidy for my taste. However, after finishing and reflecting on the book as a whole I really enjoyed it. There are still loose ends, which I am hoping will be addressed in future books. I am particularly looking forward to learning more about Alsfonso, Dominic’s brother. There is a serious story behind that guy and I am eager to see what it is. Especially since it involves Lily, a fellow member of the Agency with Dominic, who is quick whitted and sharp tongued. I am sure watching the two of them together is going to be beyond entertaining.

Overall I loved this book, I was fully engrossed in it and cannot wait to see what Laurie has in store for us in the future. If you have not read this book yet, go out and get it. I am sure you will be happy to be swept into this exciting world too.

Wow, what a great FoS by Laurie London. While it did have the usual world-building that detracted slightly from the overall story, that was expected & understandable.

Dom & Mackenzie were a great couple and I loved reading their story. However, the story was a little slow and I felt that, at times, I was just getting the same info over & over again. The ending was wonderful and I appreciated the action scenes that we were given, it was much needed. This book definitely has my interest peaked and makes me want to read more!

I was very much leery heading into this book because it has such mixed reviews all the way across the board. I wasn't sure which end of the spectrum my opinion would fall into, but I find myself right in the middle. The book wasn't bad in my opinion, but it also wasn't anything really special.

This book is the first in the Sweetblood series and is about Mackenzie and Dom. Mackenzie is what's known as a sweetblood to vampires in this world. Her blood is very addictive and most vampires who start drinking from a sweetblood are unable to stop themselves before killing the person because of how good they taste. Dom is a vampire that's part of the Agency, which is essentially the police of the vampire world. One night while Mackenzie is taking pictures in a cemetery for a possible movie location, she finds Dom laying on the ground at the edge of the woods. Extremely weak from a fight he just had with some Darkbloods (a.k.a. the rogue vampires in this world), he cannot resist her blood and needs the strength he will get from it. After barely being able to rip himself away from drinking her dry, he takes Mackenzie home, wipes her memories, and gives her a bit of his own blood to make sure she heals quicker. However, what he doesn't realize is that their blood sharing has created a new, very rare, and very powerful bond between them. He tries to stay away from her, but neither of them seem able to resist each other with the new bond in place.

Now, like I said above, this book wasn't bad, but I did find myself dragging my feet through it. There wasn't a whole lot of action and there were hardly any suspenseful moments. There were a few, but it was very few and far between. The romance between Mackenzie and Dom was also a little too easy. I'm sometimes annoyed when relationships go back and forth in romance novels, but this was the other side of the spectrum. They had a few tiffs, but mostly it was just too easy for them. In addition, I liked Dom's character, but Mackenzie had some annoying "typical female heroine" moments going on that made me roll my eyes at their predictability and stupidity. But, she wasn't the worst about it, just a few times where you just know she's getting herself into trouble and she's too dumb to realize it.

Another thing that bugged me was that the world building was pretty minimal. What vampires are capable of and their weaknesses are revealed, but it seemed like new things just came along in the nick of time when they weren't a trait we already learned about. This could just be first-book-in-a-series-syndrome. But, I think we could have done with a little convo between Mackenzie and Dom about his world and the truths about vampires. It just would have made it easier to understand certain abilities they do have, why they can eat regular food, etc. Where they came from originally isn't really described as well. So, I just would have liked some more world building in that aspect.

Overall, it was pretty mediocre. Nothing really terrible about it, but nothing that really stands out either. I will read on in the series, because once I start a series, I have to continue. But, I probably wouldn't necessarily recommend this to anyone. Although it's not bad, there are much better vampire books out there to occupy your time with. We'll see how the series progresses though, maybe it'll get better.

SO did not feel this. Romance novel spackled with rote vampire overlay.

this is a great start to a series, I like the whole sweetblood twist to the vampire lore.

wasn't too sure about it at first, but I'm glad that I kept reading!

Really liked the story.. the Darkbloods and the Sweetbloods... that was interesting.

I just wish Kenzie would have kept some of her bad ass-ness after she and Dom got together.

And the use of "Darling" in the throes of passion made me cringe... ugh. Luckily that only happened two or three times.

Will most likely be picking up book two!