Dirty Blood: Books 1-3

By: Penelope Barsetti

Narrated by: Ramona Master, Michael Ferraiuolo

This audiobook box set includes the first three books of the Dirty Blood series, a enemies-to-lovers dark fantasy romance.

Book 1, Bite the Woman that Feeds:
Kingsnake only wanted my blood—but now, he wants all of me.
Human and vampire go from enemies to lovers and unlikely allies in this first installment of a dark-fantasy-romance series featuring plenty of spice.

Book 2, Bite the Terror that Feeds:
He gave me his word—and he broke it.
In this dark fantasy romance, the second in the Dirty Blood series, Larisa finds herself torn between her pride and her jealousy in the wake of Kingsnake's betrayal.

Book 3, Bite the Power that Feeds:
Ellasara came at me with a blade—and she defeated me.
After Kingsnake makes me a nightwalker, it's hard to be in the same room with him. But I have to work with him if we're going to form an alliance with The Ethereal.

©2024 Penelope Barsetti (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Mostly good; worth the 3-for-1 credit

This series was mostly good. But a few things stuck out because I’m a picky reader. If you’re not nit-picky, it’s a good series and I recommend it. I did more or less binge it in under a week. If you’re picky, decide how much the following issues interfere with your enjoyment.

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There were some points where it got a bit long, unnecessarily drawn out, and I felt like, “Just get on with the story already.”

One character’s story is not cleared up, implying another book/series about that character, but it’s not a big cliffhanger - minor character in this story so it feels kind of like “Whatever.” at the end.

In the second book something was hinted at but never panned out and it was frustrating, like “When is going to happen already?” It felt like the author was keeping her options open but hadn’t actually decided by the time book two went to press. And then never brought up in book three. Frustrating!

The second book introduces a second couple, which at times felt like filler, but it was ok and I ended up liking the couple well enough, I’m just not a fan of couples who fall for each other after three days of non-stop <intimacy>. Lust does NOT equal love! (I take issue with this for bigger reasons than a review, which are a genre wide concern - although it has improved greatly in the past 20 years.)

The <intimacy> got excessive because it was almost always exactly the same! With both couples! It got boring and tedious. More “Just get on with the story already.” It was like the author only knew one way to write that type of scene.

Consent: Depends upon how precisely you define it. Does a bite that drugs a woman with lust interfere with her ability to truly consent? That’s a genre wide debate though.

One plot hole that is a minor detail but it just really annoyed me: one vial of snake venom makes enough medicine for an entire continent?!?!? And how was it made into the cure??? Really, really minor detail, but it just bothered me.

Amazing story a few weird parts

Ok let’s get what I didn’t like out of the way…
1. The female voice actor made every word Clara’s character spoke seem angry which made it hard to discern her emotions. There were moments where I felt she was being softer or more regal and the voice acting did not adequately reflect that change of scene/intention of the character.

2. The spice…I had high hopes it would expand…but after hearing the same scenario play out I was bored the spice was epically mild after that since you knew what was coming…missionary biting and then curling the woman up like a shrimp. Then there was the ick factor…both brothers had the same sexual preferences. That’s just weird to me. And they also both chose “sweetheart” as the term of endearment for their women.

3. There wasn’t supposed to be a 3 but I must…what woman calls her own breasts “tits”? When people are making love a softer word would make more sense to use when marriages from a female perspective.

Now for the good stuff. The banter between the brothers was so adorable. Viper and Cobra are way more interesting than king snake. Their personalities are just more fun!

The storyline is new innovative and fun!

I def give the story a 5/5. The spice I consider to be additional and I would only give that one pepper…definitely mild.

Also Clara’s giving in to the sexual encounter could have had a bit more mental discussion she went from “no thank you” to “that feels good”…when did her mind change exactly?! It was too glossed over.

I don’t know if I’m going to re-listen to this like I do when reading my obsessive favs. But definitely great for a once through listen!