Narcissus in Chains

Hamilton's vampire-hunting Anita Blake faces a plethora of foes in her tenth outing.
Just returned to St. Louis after six months away, Anita is still no closer to choosing between her lovers—Jean-Claude, a vampire, and Richard, a werewolf. But she has to rely on both for help after two of the wereleopards that she has been watching are abducted at a seedy club called Narcissus in Chains.
Anita and her boyfriends rescue the wereleopards from the sinister people holding them, but Anita is wounded in the fight and put at risk of becoming a wereleopard herself. Richard angrily captures the wereleopard he believes is responsible and threatens to execute him.
Anita must now rescue that wereleopard from Richard and the werewolves he leads, even as she mourns the apparent end of her relationship with him. Then she realizes that those who kidnapped the first two wereleopards are targeting other lycanthropes. Maybe she will be next.
With plenty of steamy sex and graphic violence, this is engaging reading for vampire cultists.

Narcissus in Chains is the tenth book to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. I first read this book in 2009. This will be my second time reading the book. It took me a while to read this book this time because of my busy schedule, but I eventually finished it on a soccer trip with my family. 🙂 Thank goodness for long road trips. 

My Thoughts: I’m not going to go into details of the storyline this time around in my review. Check out the synopsis because it will give you an idea of what the book is about without spoiling it. If you have not read the previous books in the series, I would recommend reading them because you will be lost starting at the tenth book. Laurell K. Hamilton has each book go into a different storyline for Anita Blake, but some books pick up issues from previous books in the series.

Here are some things I loved about this book:

• Introduction to new characters. Micah, Merle, and several others because there is a new leopard pard in town. I could not remember when Anita met Micah since it had been a while since I did a re-read of the series. I do remember that Micah was mysterious at first in the series.
• The drama and action-packed scenes were off the charts in this book. Anita was having to deal with not only someone taking her leopards, but she also had to deal with Richard the Ulfric of the wolf-pack being a pain in the butt. (I’m not too fond of Richard.) Anita had to deal with several bad guys in this book and several people who wanted her dead. I don’t know how she handles it all, but she does it, which is why she’s a kick-butt heroine.
• Laurell K. Hamilton goes into so much detail in her stories you will feel like you are there with the characters. Some readers may find that weird, especially with some of the scenes being uncomfortable. This was when Anita realized her power that she got from Jean-Claude and how she needed to do something to help feed it; otherwise, it would control her. Be prepared because it’s only going to get worst later on for Anita. If you don’t like a menage a trois (or more sometimes) in stories, then you may want to skip over the scenes.
• I’m loving how Nathaniel is growing into himself—becoming stronger. He’s always been a favorite character of mine since he was introduced. His story is heartbreaking.

I could go on and on about what I loved about this book, but I’ll stop now. I can’t wait to continue my re-read of the series, so I can finally catch up on the books I missed out on when they were released.

Standalone or Part of Series: Part of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series.

Steaminess: Very Steamy!

Would I recommend this book? Yes. I give this book five stars and highly recommend it to readers of the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres. Forewarning that LKH is one author that will put you through the wringer with her descriptive scenes (not only the action but the love scenes, too). There are triggers in her book that involve torture, rape (at times, not always with other characters, not with Anita), etc. I love this series from LKH because of how detailed it is. She’s fantastic with her world-building. I don’t know how she keeps up with it, but I’ll always be a fan of her writing style.

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FranJessca

Owner/Reviewer at A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog

I guess I should type a bio here. I'm FranJessca, or Fran for short. I'm the owner/reviewer behind A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog. I've been reading and reviewing books on my blog since leaving the Navy in 2011, and I will keep doing it as long as possible. My favorite genres will always be Romance & Fantasy, and I read every subgenre underneath those two genres. (Sorry, not a fan of nonfiction, so don't try to convince me to read it.)
My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)

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