Review: When Blood Calls by J.K. Beck

When Blood Calls by J.K. Beck
Shadowkeepers #1
Paranormal Romance
August 31, 2010
Mass Market Paperback
416 pages
Bantam


From Goodreads -

Attorney Sara Constantine is thrilled with her promotion-until she finds out that she must now prosecute vampires and werewolves. The first defendant she'll be trying to put away? Lucius Dragos, the sexy stranger with whom she recently shared an explosive night of ecstasy.

When Lucius kisses a beautiful woman sitting next to him at the bar, he's hoping only to avoid the perceptive gaze of the man he's planning to kill. But what starts as a simple kiss ignites into an all-consuming passion. Charged with murder, Luke knows that Sara is determined to see him locked away-unless he can convince her that he's not a monster. And that might mean making the ultimate sacrifice.

               
When When Blood Calls first came out I was really excited to read the book because the cover is just gorgeous. Definitely one of my favorite book covers of 2010. Unfortunately, I think I judged the book by its cover a little too quickly.

Although I  was intrigued by the whole paranormal legal aspect of the book, I found that When Blood Calls lacked originality in other key areas. For me, Beck's writing lacked dynamic and creativity. Everything flows well, but in a sense where it just all blends together. There was little to no build up for some of the major events of the book. Although I do not think that it is an author's job to overtly emphasise key points in the plot, I do think there should be some signifier that distinguishes an event as something to remember. I felt like I missed a number of key points that were important or meant to standout. For me, the book was very anti-climatic. 

I also had a difficult time connecting to the characters in the book. Lucius' characterization was extremely flat. Like the story, there was no distinguishing features to Lucius to make him standout. He was very cookie-cutter: dark brooding vampire, with a lackluster secret. However, Lucius did slightly remind me of Wrath from the Black Dagger Brotherhood and Lucius is one my favourite names for a hero. Also, there was little to no chemistry between him and Sara. And as we all know, that is a deal breaker. Yes, Sara and Luke exchange some pretty words about love and have a few sex scenes, but there was no connection. I felt like everything between them was forced.

I think I had trouble finding the chemistry between the main characters because there was a lot of different points of view in the book. I do enjoy when an author gives the reader a few different perspectives of what's going on in the story, but it seemed as if everyone got in their two-sense. Instead of making me feel more informed about the events in the book, I just simply lost interest in what was going on.

Lastly, I had a problem with the way the heroine was introduced to the paranormal world. Sara was completely fine with a whole new world of creatures working in her office building. There was no hesitation or even question about what she was looking at. Personally, if someone told me that vampires and werewolves work upstairs, I'd be a tad bit sceptical. I also felt like the scene in which she discovers that the paranormal world exists is reminiscent to Men in Black. I kept expecting aliens to walk by instead of vampires and werewolves.

I also want to point out that the character Tasha is eerily similar to Drusilla from Buffy. 

This book was a DNF (did not finish) for me and I defiantly learned my lesson: even though a book looks good on the outside, it may not be so good on the inside.

Other books in the series:

When Pleasure Rules

When Wicked Craves

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