ARC Review: Quenched in Blood by Ari McKay

From The Blurb:

Will love mean rebirth… or death? 

Vampire Julian Schaden has been warning the Asheville Paranormal Council of an impending demonic incursion for more than two decades. Over the past two years, he and his friends have fought as hard as they can with little help, since Micah Carter, the demon hunter who should have led them, shirked his responsibility and then perished. 

Desperate for anything that might aid the fight, Julian enters the Carter property and finds something he never dared hope for: young Thomas Carter, the heir to a long line of demon hunters. 

Thomas knows nothing about the supernatural world. But the prospect of a real life, outside the sheltered, isolated farm where he grew up, calls to him, and the idea of fighting the Unholy feels right. 

Julian agrees to train Thomas even as he struggles against an unexpected, unwanted attraction. Thomas is too young and innocent to get involved with Julian, but opposites attract, and this is one battle Julian seems fated to lose. A prophecy from a dying mage comes with a bleak warning: the upcoming battle will claim Thomas’s life. To keep his home and friends safe, Julian may have to sacrifice the only love he’s ever known.

Karen's rating:

This demon hunter doesn't hate vampires...

or at least not all of them.

'Quenched In Blood is the third and concluding part of Ari McKay's Asheville Arcana series. In each of these stories we've met a different couple first it was Arden and Eli. In the second story we say Whimsy as he found his mate in the werewolf Harlan and throughout we've seen glimpses of Arden and Whimsy's friend and erstwhile lover the vampire Julian...

As the battle between Arden, Whimsy, Julian and the Werewolf Packs against the demons continues Arden and Julian find themselves at Micah's farm. As afar as they knew Micah was the last of the Demon Hunters but what they believe turns out to be wrong when they discover that Micah's wasn't the last Demon Hunter...no that honor falls to Thomas, Micah's grandson.

When Thomas learns that his grandfather has kept his legacy from him, he puts his anger aside to learn what's needed so that he can help save his new found friends and their world as they band together to find the cauldron of rebirth...the key to finally defeating the demons.

Julian agrees to take in Thomas giving him protection and training him to be a Demon Hunter and as his training progresses Thomas and Julian realize that they share an attraction to each other but Julian's filled with the guilt of the past and it's going to take all of Thomas's sweetness and determination to get past his barriers and convince Julian that they can be together and have a future.


While Julian's been a present in all of these books. He's always kept himself at a cool, aloof distance and for me the Julian that we met in this story didn't quite mesh with the Julian that we've had until now. I'm ok with the fact that his attraction brought him out a bit more making him a more approachable...a bit warmer in his personality but there were moments that Julian just felt a bit too aloof. So maybe this parts on me that Julian just wasn't what I thought he should be.

Thomas actually got off easy with me because while we knew of him until this story he's really only been an abstract idea and one that I didn't have any preconceived ideas about so he just got to be who he was and I was good with him. Thomas was young and had an extremely sheltered life with his grandfather keeping him on the farm and never allowing him to experience the world.

Overall I liked this story in theory it was good and a lot of it worked but Julian and Thomas as a couple just didn't quite happen for me. I think if things had developed at a little slower pace between these two I would have felt myself more invested in their story...in them as a couple. The rest of this story worked fairly well for me especially the ending so while this book wasn't quite as successful for me as the first two. It was still a fitting ending for this story giving a magical but all things considered rather realistic solution to things.

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An ARC of 'Quenched in Blood' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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