Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson

Jessica McClain, Book 1

Synopsis: Born the only female in an all male race, Jessica McClain isn’t just different—she’s feared.

After living under the radar for the last twenty-six years, Jessica is thrust unexpectedly into her first change, a full ten years late. She wakes up and finds she’s in the middle of a storm. Now that she’s become the only female full-blooded werewolf in town, the supernatural world is already clamoring to take a bite out of her and her new Pack must rise up and protect her.

Our review: After reading Blooded, the novella of the story (that takes place before this one), I was more than curious to learn more about our heroine, Jessica McClain. The contrary isn’t possible! I must say that I was impressed by this strong woman and I was looking forward to the rest of her history. I can affirm now that this impatience was rewarded when I see how much I enjoyed this first volume.

Some time has passed since the end of the novella and Jessica is installed and lives away from home, working with her friend, Nick as a private detective. However she lives now under a new identity and nobody knows who she really is. This life suits her perfectly but nothing would be perfect if an event didn’t turn everything upside down, threatening to destroy the life she worked so hard to build. In fact, now against all odds, our young heroine turns, for the first time, into a werewolf, something that will break the life she had been forged and reinforce the myth where she is the main issue. Moreover, being the only woman in this case does not bring her much sympathy, far from it! And when everyone decides to come after her, Jessica doesn’t have much choice.

I have not had much opportunity to immerse myself in a werewolf book featuring the first adaptation of a new shape-shifter, and I must say it was very pleasant to discover it. I’m sure that it must ultimately be more complicated for the author to get to show the feelings and the stages of the transformation processing. But Amanda Carlson perfectly succeeded in this challenge and she brings us with her ​​in her story that we don’t want to leave. It was very interesting to follow Jessica in all her changes and challenges. We can quite easily relate ourselves to her, as her only dream is to have a normal life, but if only it was possible ... She is a strong young woman, who doesn’t run away where there is a problem and she has more problems than a normal person! I was really impressed by her composure and her desire to be accepted and to be treated equally.

But there is more than our heroine and all the other characters are also very intriguing. It was a great pleasure to discover more about them every time and to get to understand them well. James Tyler, Callum, and many other people are incredible, we can only admire their sense of family. Oh, but have I forgotten to mention Rourke? Me? Impossible! I think this is the character about whom we askes myself many more questions throughout the story and I'm really curious to learn even more now. I must say that he is a difficult man to forget (yes, you'll see!).

I think you understand now that this first volume was a wonderful discovery and the only thing I want to do now is to be able to immerse myself in the second one. With such an end, it would be surprising if this wasn’t the case. I was almost in despair when I saw that there were no more chapters. The story ends with the beginning of something much bigger. I really can’t wait! So, here we discover a novel mixing love, betrayal, but also many changes, something that keeps the reader in suspense throughout the story.

I had many surprises all along the novel and I didn’t expect that the author would introduce us so many things and characters here. This is something that allows us to better understand the world in which we evolve but that also makes us ask many other questions. I think, or at least I sincerely hope that we can discover more in the second volume.

I was eager to discover this new series, especially after hearing a lot of good things about it from my friend Melliane, who had read it before me. I often have great hopes on a new series to finally be disappointed after reading it but it was not the case here, on the contrary, Full Blooded has largely satisfied my expectations. This first installment has all the ingredients to make a good series and I took great pleasure in reading it. I even believe that it's the best urban fantasy series I've read since the beginning of the year. 

Jessica McClain, 26 years old, is a private detective. But she is also recently a femmale werewolf, the only one in the world. So the story begins when she is undergoing her first shift into a werewolf. A very painful transformation that will not be without consequences. Her change is an event entirely new and unique. Her father, Callum McClain, the Alpha and her brother Tyler, fear the reaction of the Pack because a few years ago, most of its members saw her as a threat to their race because of an old superstition that has surfaced: the Myth of Cain. But in addition to the hostility of the Pack, Jessica will have to face other problems. Indeed, it seems that other supernatural communities are also looking for her... 

From the beginning, I liked Jessica. She is an endearing heroine, very strong both mentally and physically. For 7 years, she lived far from her family under the false identity of Molly Hannon. She has bravaly struggled to have a normal life and now, all she has built threatens to collapse. Her transformation into werewolf is about to change everything but despite this she does not yield to panic. It must have been terrible for her to be rejected by her father's Pack 7 years ago and yet she is not resentful. Now all she wants is that they finally accept her as a full member of the Pack. Today, many still look at her with hostility but fortunately she can always count on the support of her father and her twin brother who will do everything they can to protect her. I loved this family solidarity, it was very beautiful to see. Jessica can communicate with her father and Tyler, telepathically. She can also talk to the wolf which is inside her, which gives us very funny scenes. Gradually, they become accustomed to each other and we see a certain complicity between Jessica and her beast throughout the story. I loved all these inner conversations. 

It was interesting to discover how the Pack functions, and their customs and traditions. Then of course, there are some questions about this mysterious myth of Cain especially concerning its origins. We don't know a lot of things about it. The events take an interesting and quite unexpected turn with the arrival of Colin Rourke. And the least we can say is that a lot of things happen from there! The story is captivating from the beginning but it becomes even more so in the last third of the book. There are many twists and turns and a lot of action. The world created by Amanda Carlson is full of surprises and supernatural creature in all kinds, from werewolves to vampires, witches, demons, sorcerers etc. I confess that for the vampires, I didn't imagine them like that but it changes from what we usually see in urban fantasy novels. As for the Sorceress, I hope that in the next book we will have more details about her. 

Among Jessica's allies, in addition to her family, we have Nick, who is both her best friend and partner and Marcy, their secretary, not to mention James who is Callum's right arm and Danny who has made me laugh a lot at the end. But the character that intrigues us most is undoubtedly our mysterious mercenary Rourke! He is long to appear in the story, but once he is present, we can not help but be fascinated by him immediately. This character raises many questions. Some of them will be answered gradually in this book but he still remains a mystery and now I'm very curious to read the next books to know more about him. 

You will understand, I had a crush on this series. I was totally captivated by Amanda Carlson's world and now I want more. It is a very addictive series so if you do not know Jessica McClain's series yet, hurry up to get it, it really is worth it!