Got ebook omnibus/bundle of this series. Made it thru most of second book. Past first chapter, despite liking author's earlier series, could not get into characters or the storyline. Skimmed chapters of rest and just never caught my interest. Was definitely "urban fantasy" and way too violent (senseless, bloody, and explicitly violent) to ever be suited to YA audience so at least was no Twilight wannabe kinda vampire book. That first chapter sample was very misleading. I do not like my characters so dumb or so violent. And the plot was such a confused morass that did not seem to resolve itself. ( )

So here’s the story so far:

Book 1
*Cyrus attacks Carrie and turns her into a vampire
*Carrie seeks out Nathan also a vampire and find they’re attracted to each other
*Carrie goes to Cyrus who forces her to become his lover
*Carrie returns to Nathan, they become lovers
*Carrie kills Cyrus
*Nathan is still in love with his long dead wife despite being with Carrie

Book 2
*Cyrus is brought back, he’s now human and regains his humanity
*Carrie indirectly kills Cyrus’s lover
*Max sleeps with Bella and falls in love with her
*Carrie cheats on Nathan with Cyrus
*Nathan still in love with his dead wife
*Bella rejects Max
*Carrie leaves Nathan

Book 3
*Carrie almost sleeps with Max
*Nathan tries to tell Carrie he loves her, they get back together
*Cyrus is dying so Carrie turns him into a vampire
*Nathan attacks Cyrus, who raped him when Cyrus’s father turned him and killed his wife
*Max admits he loves Bella, and can't say no to her
*Bella admits she loves Max, they get back together
*Bella is pregnant with a half vampire/half werewolf child
*Everyone wants to steal the child for their nefarious purposes
*Carrie rejects Nathan by becoming Cyrus’s lover
*Cyrus is killed
*Carrie is back with Nathan

Is this a soap opera? Everyone is sleeping with/raping everyone else. I can understand Carrie’s love problems though. No one loves her for being herself. Cyrus in the end did love her, he took a risk and sacrificed himself when he could have easily walked away. I wasn’t pleased at his death, I thought they could have been happy together but then death doesn’t mean dead and gone in this series. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone brings him back in the next book.

This series is easy to read but I resent the actions of these characters, they just seem to be making lots of mistakes and going round and round in circles but they're not perfect which makes them real I guess. 2.5 stars. ( )

Carrie is trying to come to terms with the complexities of vampire life, mostly by drinking herself into a stupor when her friend Max insists that she needs to call Nathan, which puts her into a tailspin when she gets Bella on the phone. Carrie has to come to terms with her feelings for Nathan which gets complicated when Cyrus comes back into the story and she has to make choices for him.

and the story is all about choices, choices people make and the consequences and about having to make choices for people that are right choices but then having to live with the fact that the person you made the choice for may not be happy with that choice. It's also about random evil and how you can be fooled by not seeing the whole picture.

Interesting and multilayered, I'm only sorry I didn't read it sooner with the others because I was occasionally lost with the character relationships. ( )

This is more of the same, although the plot is more interesting than in book 2. I bought these books because I expected them to be more ‘grown up’ relationship themes (eg we love each other, but we have conflicting needs / histories that make it hard to express that) and they do do that quite interestingly. The story is good, if a little clichéd (baby-as-weapon that the Evil people need, non-consensual ‘I must turn you into a vampire even though you don’t want it so you don’t die’, verging on da-vinci-code esque world building where all the wearwolves are the offspring of Pontius Pilate) and the ‘what would happen if a wearwolf bit a vampire’ question is both blindingly obvious once you think about it and not something I’ve seen explored elsewhere. ( )

Ashes to Ashes by Jennifer Armintrout, book three in the Blood Ties Series.
Book three sees more chaos as the Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement has been destroyed and the oracle is roaming free and dangerous. She has decided to join forces with the Soul Eater.As there is no one to keep the vampires in line all of humanity is in danger. Its up to Carrie, Max and Nathan to help fight the good fight. The good guys have to join with bad guy Cyrus to try to defeat the combined efforts of the Oracle and the Soul Eater.

I am still enjoying the series and its not getting predictable yet. There's still the on off relationships with Carrie & Nathan or Carrie & Cyrus. ( )