In a world in which vampirism is a viral infection, and the world knows everything about it, Mark works as an assistant for artist Johnatan Varga, who happens to also be a vampire. It might not be what he thought it should be, but at least his boss is handsome...

They live their routinary lives until Jonathan's past come to haunt them, and things get complicated.

Jonathan is such a great character! And Mark is funny as hell.

Joel Leslie does a wonderful work here, managing Jonathan accent without going camp, and making listen to this audiobook a real pleasure

A great love story and a fantastic mystery made even better by a fabulous narrator. ( )

I would say 3.5 stars, because it is truly good but after I read the first half I got distracted by other things and didn't continue reading...just when things where getting interesting. ( )

Oh, I loved this book.

Jordan Castillo Price is one of those authors that makes me glad I bought an e-reader, because otherwise I doubt I would ever have read Hemovore or Among the Living, which I also enjoyed. At the same time, however, I found myself wishing that I had been reading Hemovore in paperback form rather than e-book form. There were several times I would have liked to have been able to flip back and forth between parts of the book in order to confirm certain world rules, and that would have been easier to do with a paperback.

I had a hard time figuring out, at first, whether Mark was just a paranoid germophobe, or whether all his precautions were justified. Even after it became clear that, yes, his precautions were justified, I still had trouble wrapping my brain around the way Hemovore's world worked. As contagious as the hemovore virus was (much more contagious than HIV), I wouldn't have been surprised at all if Mark managed to catch it from Jonathan while they were on the run. In fact, I couldn't really understand why the hemovore virus hadn't taken over the whole world already, since stage one was easy to mistake for normal illness and V-positives were already contagious at that point. In the U.S. at least, V-positives seemed to inspire both fear and fascination, and I couldn't quite get a picture in my head of how that would work.

None of my questions about the world were enough to get in the way of my enjoyment of this book, however. Mark's “voice” was appealing: snarky, quirky, and a little neurotic. If I hadn't long since abandoned marking favorite lines in my e-books (the controls on my e-reader are annoyingly clunky), I'd probably have marked up a good chunk of this book. An example of one of the lines I enjoyed so much: “Dear Lord. I'd become a celebrity in the goth-vampire freedom-fighter circuit.” (p. 98 on my Nook). I also loved the part where Jonathan forced himself to try one of the flavored oil shakes, for lack of any other food.

The only time I found myself wishing parts of the story had been told from Jonathan's perspective was after Jonathan finally revealed how he felt about Mark. It was such a bittersweet, heartbreaking moment, but I was still left feeling a little unsatisfied, wondering what it was about Mark that attracted Jonathan to him in the first place. Jonathan, as far as I can remember, never said. Still, I enjoyed how the setup, with Jonathan and Mark unable to touch each other with their bare skin, kept the sexual tension high and prevented sex scenes from taking over the book.

Although Jonathan and Mark spent a good chunk of the book running and hiding, it never felt monotonous. Things kept progressively getting worse for them. They had no blood and Jonathan was resistant to taking Mark's – in fact, he wasn't even sure he could keep Mark's blood down if he did drink it. They had cash, but not much. They needed antimicrobial gloves and gels in order to keep Mark from catching the virus from Jonathan, but all those things cost money. They needed to stay out of the sunlight, which limited their hiding and traveling options. The list of obstacles in their way went on and on, and I was on the edge of my seat, wondering how they would survive.

I'm still not sure whether I like the ending. I don't mind that it's happy, but I found it a little surreal that Mark went from being Jonathan's cat blood-procuring, painting-selling assistant to genius art critic. Even so, I loved the book as a whole, so much so that I'm considering getting a print copy in the event that my e-book file becomes unusable in the next few years. I tend to worry more about the longevity of my e-book collection than I do about my print collection, and this is one I don't think I'd want to lose.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

I have been putting this off even though I love the author and the psycop books. It sounded too grim, I guess. And there is plenty to satisfy the angst-lovers out there for sure. There are some tough aspects to this world, and they don't go away. But damn it was funny. I'm not an angst lover, but I can put up with a lot if you make me laugh enough.

Mark's voice was a pleasure all the way through. He was so real and endearing - kind of swishy, not young or gorgeous or buffed out, just funny and smart and lovable. He knows himself and his weaknesses, which doesn't always mean he overcomes them. Jonathan is more of a mystery, rather cold and closed-off, though his cat-like ways are intriguing from the start. More is revealed about Jonathan as the story proceeds, and his background explains a lot about the way he is. He is also able to loosen up as some of the reasons for his guilt and standoffishness stop being factors. The interactions between Mark and Jonathan during this part of the book are a lot of fun. I was especially interested in the "patient zero" puzzle and Mark's developing powers.

The plot is, as JCP's always are, exciting, suspenseful, well thought out, etc. But it is the details that made this book so special for me. How couples cope when one of them is V-positive. How institutions are affected. The vampire paintings - all black, unless you are a vampire. The course of the disease. And once Jonathan develops his mind sensing skills, how everyone around him is reacting to it all. ( )

Jordan Castillo Price is probably the only author I can read who presents me with needles, syringes and blood, and I find it sexy. I'm quite the squirmy type, I don't think how being punctured and bleeding can be sexy, but if it's done by an alluring pale and long dark haired artist, well maybe I can make an exception. As probably would do Mark, the man who is lucky enough to find that man.

In an alternative near future, where the vampirism virus exceed the HIV one, becoming more common and lethal, there are still few cities that allow vampire to live within their limit. Chicago is one of them, and it's here that Jonathan found his shelter; he is an artist, an Hungarian refugee, and a vampire. He is also handsome and wealthy, but a bit strange. Not artist 'strange', more like he is a son of some alien planet who fell on Earth by accident. He doesn't talk of his 'illness' (drinking blood is something you do in private), he is more than reclusive, even when it's night and he can go out, and he drinks only cat's blood. And before you ask, no, he doesn't kill the cats, he pays one of those old ladies with more cats than fleas to dry a bit her kittens in exchange of money. Obviously all these ordinary tasks are not brought on by Jonathan himself, he has a dogsboy for that, even if Mark is maybe a bit too old for the task.

Almost forty years old, Mark is the classical manquè artist turned art critic turned artist valet. Plus Mark is also gay, something that now maybe it's no more the crime it was, being a vampire is worst, but still it's not exactly cheered upon. Where Jonathan is reclusive and aloof, Mark is always complaining for something: he has not enough time to do everything (even if everything is only do some errands for Jonathan), he has not a boyfriend, he is not as handsome as a vampire... he is probably the only man that, while being followed by a killer and running for his life, can be disappointed by how the jeans he picked up in a store doesn't fit well. And maybe he is not the only one, but one of the best merit he finds in being a vampire, is the chance to be skinny and fabulous.

It's strange, usually in a pair there is always a leader and a follower, and here the obvious conclusion is that Mark should be the second, but neither of them have really the aurea to be leader. Don't get me wrong, they are not weak or submissive, it's only that they are almost alike, at the same level. Maybe Jonathan is the more experienced, but he has not the streak to be on the spotlight, more the people don't notice him and more he is happy. On the other hand Mark can be a primadonna, but he is too squirmy to be an adventurer; and it's strange since at 6 and half feet he is a bit too macho man to be flamboyant... I was almost expecting here and there for him to cry on his broken nails.

Then there is the love story. Again not what you will expect. As I said, probably the most romantic encounter they have is when they share blood, obviously with the aid of a needles, don't let happen that such a vulgar action happens with the use of real teeth and spit. One of the most romantic thing Mark said to Jonathan is that, if it wasn't for the virus, he would have swallowed... enough clues to frame our heroes? But despite it all, I really feel the love between Mark and Jonathan, not always sex and sex and sex is the only way to convey that feeling. I really think that Jonathan is a really reserved man, and it's not easy for him to express his feelings; and Mark is probably the same, and even if a little bitchy, he is always ready to help Jonathan, even if it means the last sacrifice, his blood... but only with a needles between them!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1605047082/?tag=elimyrevandra-20