ARC REVIEW The Order of the Senary Books 1 and 2 by L.D. Rose

Book one of the series Releasing the Demons by L.D. Rose. WOW, I am so glad I read this. I love it when vampires are the villains, really I mean if vampires are undead they have no soul and can't be good. If comparing book series (normally I hate to do that but with a new author, for me, and a new series sometimes it is the best way to get the feel of the book across) I would put this up there with Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series and a much better than Black Dagger Brotherhood. The book was well written and very engaging. The active setting for this dystopian post vampire apocalypse was fantastic. I could easily picture a deserted vampire ridden Manhattan, it was chilling. I kind of liked the fact that it was slow to release information about the Order of the Senary, it puts you in Valerie's shoes you find out as she does and still leaves more for us to uncover, but it did feel like there is supposed to be a book before this. I loved the characters, all of them, each of the guys involved in the Order are unique they all have different personalities and stuff but they are bonded but blood and have a common goal protect humans and kill vampires. The villains were truly evil and horrid individuals, as they should be.

Valerie is a NYPD Detective in the unit designated for vampire victims, and she is on the hunt for the person who killed and burned a young woman. All evidence points her the mysterious Blaze Knight. Blaze survived hell, six months being tortured and tormented by a vampire named Cyrus, five years later Blaze is still coping with the nightmares. Cyrus escaped all those years ago but for some reason he's back and he has targeted everyone Blaze has come into contact with especailly a beautiful young detective. The only way to keep Valerie safe is to tell her everything about his brothers and the Order of the Senary. Blaze is drawn to Valerie and protecting her from the likes of Cyrus has become his number one priority. As much as Valerie wanted to hate and blame Blaze for the murder she admits she was wrong and the romance between them flares.

Overall, this book is such a winner! I really enjoyed this. It does get violent and graphic but hey, I love that stuff, I'm morbid that way.

Black Bullet is the second book in the series. It follows JJ or Jon, whom we met briefly in the first book. Jon is a vampire, but when he was dying two of the Knights were able to keep him from becoming an evil vampire minion by keeping his soul in his body. (kind of like Angel) Jon's backstory goes back before Releasing the Demons. This book goes into more depth and detail about the Knights and the Order of the Senary and the who, what, why, and how of them. Once again I was sucked into the story and the setting and it was wow.

The vampire who killed Jon is dead, but his twin brother Reign is back and wants revenge, that is unless Jon finds him first. But Jon isn't the only one tracking this psychotic vampire Lawan has reasons of her own for wanting the maniac dead. Lawan appearance has everyone surprised she is one of them, a genetically created hybrid. Jon is amazed by the lost Knight sister and is completely taken by the woman's grace, beauty, and fighting ability. His need to help and protect her is almost as much as his lust for her. Lawan does not trust easy and thinks Jon has an ulterior motive she has a hard time seeing past his black vampire eyes at first but Jon is nothing if not persistent and eventually wears her down and she lets him into her heart.  

Old demons, bad blood, torture and one angry kitten is it more than Lawan and Jon can handle? or can their love conquer all. Overall, damn good book. Yes still graphic and violent that's one of the reasons I liked it so much. I really can not wait for Rome's story.