Review for "When Blood Calls" by J. K. Beck

You hear about it all the time. Your girlfriend tells you that she had a one night stand with a hunk of a man. Your sister divulges that she had wild sex with a guy she met at a bar Friday night. This type of unexpected exploit may even have happened to you. It never means anything...it's innocent fun, an un-planned encounter that will never amount to anything. But....what if you can't stop thinking about him? What if, every time you close your eyes, you can still feel his hands upon you....his breath brushing against your ear as he whispers your name.....his rock-hard body pressed against yours as he makes you teeter on the edge of abandon? This is exactly the state Sara Constantine finds herself in at the beginning of "When Blood Calls".

Sara is a hard-working prosecutor who has just won a very prominent case against one of the worst criminals around. This notorious victory wins her a promotion with a secret division under Homeland Security. She quickly discovers that her new job involves prosecuting supernatural creatures. Sara is thrust into a world filled with werewolves, vampires, shape-shifters, poltergeists, trolls, and soul-suckers....monsters. But the worse part of this nightmare is when she finds out that her first case is prosecuting Lucius Dragos, the dark, sexy Luke whom she had the erotic encounter with....and he's a vampire....a powerful vampire accused of murder. Sara has to determine if Luke is this monster killer that she is being led to believe or if he's the caring, complex man that made her glow under his touch.

This is my first PNR book since I read the Twilight series and I must say, I was a little disappointed. The connection between Sara and Luke was not fully developed. Readers are led to believe that the one night of passion was enough to create a connection for life. The characters did not even interact enough to create a believable connection between them that would justify the deep love they apparently shared. Don't get me wrong, I do believe in "love at first sight" and even love after a one night stand. But you do need some time together to build upon that instant attraction. Sara and Luke didn't get much of an opportunity until about page 179. I so wanted to feel more for this hero and heroine, but there just wasn't enough there to make it truly believable.

I did like the way that the hero Luke was depicted as the noble, self-sacrificing vampire, traits not usually synonymous with blood-sucking immortals, especially those who kill. It is these traits that Sara sees under the dark cloak that Luke wears. However, I did feel that Sara was very quick to accept Luke's murderous ways and turn her back on the law and the fight for justice that she started the book with. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but it just wasn't outstanding, although the front cover is a hot, eye-catching piece of candy. Give this book a shot...I'd like to know what you think.