Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson

Title: Full Blooded

Author: Amanda Carlson

Published: September 1, 2012

Series?: Jessica McClain #1

Format Read/Pages: eBook/259

How I Acquired It: NetGalley
Date Finished: December 17, 2013

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.

But not everyone is on board. The werewolf Rights of Laws is missing text and the superstitious werewolves think that Jessica means an end to their race. It doesn’t help when Jessica begins to realize she’s more. She can change partway and hold her form, and speak directly to her wolf. But the biggest complication by far is that her alpha father can't control her like he can the rest of his wolves.

When a mercenary who’s been hired by the vampires shows up to extract information about the newly turned werewolf only days after her change, they find themselves smack in the middle of a war and there's no choice but to run together. When it’s up to Jessica to negotiate her release against her father’s direct orders, she chooses to take an offer for help instead. In exchange, Jessica must now swear an oath she may end up repaying with her life.

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I am a sucker for urban fantasy. I try and limit myself on how many I read at any given time so I do not tire myself of them. Full Blooded was one of the best UF stories I have read in a long while. I really, really enjoyed it.

Carlson created characters that were well developed and fit together. Jess was a really likable character, while it would have been easy to create a female werewolf that came off as too tough or too dependent; there was a good balance between vulnerability and strength. Normal clichés were avoided by having Jess be the daughter of the pack alpha, where as many authors would have had her as the mate. To me, this gives a whole new range of conflicts and problems, that move away from the usual, you are my mate, no other man may look at you, type stuff.

The world that was fleshed out was a very interesting one in the fact that it introduced us to many different types of supernatural without being overwhelming in any sense. There was mention of a number of different groups, while some were not explored in any depth, it left possibilities open for the future. We got to meet quite a few different supernaturals, but I never felt that I was being bombarded with names and descriptions and had an easy time keeping them all separated. I also really enjoyed the dichotomy between Jess and her wolf. It was handled in a very believable way; most boys go through puberty with their wolves giving them time to make the necessary adjustments, it would definitely be harder to develop a working relationship with another being, which happens to be in your head, later on in your adult life. There was a balance between the two that worked in the story and I would be interested in seeing how that develops.

The story that Amanda Carlson gave us was a great way to start a series. Interesting characters, fast paced action, and budding romance will definitely have me reading farther into this adventure. 

4 Stars

Current Releases in the Jessica McClain Series:

1. Full Blooded
2. Hot Blooded
3. Cold Blooded
4. Red Blooded *to be released 2014