ARC Review--Hot Blooded by Amanda Carlson

It hasn't been the best week for Jessica McClain.

Her mate has been kidnapped by a Goddess hell-bent on revenge --- but Jessica is playing for keeps.

Because she's the only female werewolf in town...it comes with its own set of rules...and powers.

Aided by two vamps, two loyal Pack members, and one very reluctant human, Jessica must rescue her man while coming to terms with what being a wolf really means.

All in a day's work for a girl.

The second novel in the Jessica McClain series is a full on action adventure featuring one angry Goddess and plenty of monsters, demons, and a few newly risen beasties...


I received this e-ARC from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.


Amanda Carlson's Hot Blooded picks up the action where we left off in Full Blooded. Jessica's mate, Rourke has been kidnapped by a vengeful goddess and she will do anything to get him back. But it's not going to be easy and she's going to need some help.

Accompanied by her brother, Tyler, Pack friend, Danny, a reluctant Ray they set off on what's going to be one hell of task. Emphasis on hell. They are led by vampires, Eamon and Naomi, as Jessica had elicited the aid of their vampire Queen in exchange for a favor she'll have to pay afterward. You might be wondering why on earth Ray--the cop that gives Jessica the most crap and is a thorn in her side--is accompanying them. If you recall, Ray accidentally stumbled upon Jessica and her Pack's secret, basically that werewolves exist. He has two choices, become apart of the Pack and help them out and keep their secret secret or die. Ray is a hotheaded a-hole at most, so he obviously didn't choose the first option, yet Jessica couldn't bring herself to kill him in cold blood like that.

So Ray accompanies them and Jessica hopes to change his mind about being an aid to the Pack. But it's going to take a lot of work to win over the cold-hearted man. And his character makes some surprising developments. I don't want to say much, other than that I was totally blown away by Ray at the end.

Jessica and her motley crew have to face a hoard of obstacles in order to get to Rourke. There's bizarre winged-bat creatures, Naiads--a dangerous water nymph-like creature that will drown anyone who dares to cross their waters, huge creatures that are half spider, half scorpion and are dubbed "scorpers" by Jessica and lots more! The creatures are fiendish and as the vampires tell them, they are creatures of hell. What they're doing here can only mean one thing; Selene has traded a piece of her soul to hell and its demons in order to gain their help.

There was also a little more digging into the Prophecy regarding Jessica. Some new information popped up as well, but it happened so early on that I cannot remember everything as the story then turned to Jessica fighting hell to get her mate back.

The pacing to this one was pretty good! It's more like an adventure story, in that the characters are constantly fighting obstacles to get to the next one in order to save Rourke. But once they get to Rourke, the battle is only about to begin, because Selene has no intention of letting Rourke go.

This was an amazing read! Jessica, only a newly turned wolf, is still getting into her powers and accepting her wolf. She learns how to work with her wolf and use the abilities she has to protect the ones she loves. She is quite the heroine, so very strong, yet still unsure of herself and what's she capable of. She's led by her passion to protect her love ones.

My only complainant was that we didn't get to have much Jessica and Rourke time. Obviously there couldn't be a whole lot of time for the two since they're separated. But I just wished that there could've been a little more intensity between them. They only just found one another in the first book and then Rourke is suddenly kidnapped. Hopefully next time the two gets a little more time with one another amidst all the new chaos and problems that will be headed their way.

The ending was incredible! So much was happening it was a whirlwind of chaos! Having read plenty of UF reads, I knew a HEA ending was nowhere near close, but I thought maybe there will be a break for Jessica, before she has to deal with the vampire Queen and all. So wrong! More than one catastrophic event occurs and it's going to throw Jessica's life into other chaos very very soon! It was the dreaded cliffhanger sort, but only in the sense that there's just so much to do! And one particular occurrence was explained with the very last sentence. So cannot wait for Cold Blooded!

The Jessica McClain series is the perfect read for the Urban Fantasy reader! It has all the elements UF readers look for; it's the perfect read!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars


Hot Blooded releases April 23, 2013