A Perfect Blood (Hollows)

This was a great book! All of Kim Harrison's books are great! I can't say enough about them!!! I just wish she could write faster lol. But you can't mess with what works and this series is just about perfection!

I read tons of academic and technical works, so I read these types of books as a fun getaway. As usual, Kim Harrison delivers a fun book that brings the reader into the adventurous and fun world of The Hollows. In short, a intriguing fun book that kept me reading until 4 in the morning. Enjoy.

Amazing installment! I won't give anything away, but I can truly the outcome was not what I expected, that's what makes it such great series. I can't wait for the next one to come out! Kim Harrison NEVER disappoints.

This is another excellent book and helps to move the series a long. Anyone whom buys the MP3 CD should be warned that even with the website claiming it's an Unabridged version, there are parts which have been cut from this version.

I actually thought this was one of the better books in the series. The action and plot is so tight and straightforward, it could almost be a standalone novel. (This is a real positive, I think.)
My only complaint is that Rachel's emotions in this book get a little redundant after a while.

The only thing bad about this book was that it had to end. This book is reminiscent of Kim's very first book. Rachel, the main character, is awasome. The story keeps keeps your attention and doesnt let go. Buy this book, you won't regret it.

Ok, I don't really write reviews, but I felt I had to given how bad this latest book is. I have read ever single book in this series and I must say I am beyond disappointed in the latest rendition. I have to agree with many reviewers that the main character does nothing but complains and whines about her pathetic predicaments, even when she's got the full power of the lines. She makes the dumbest mistakes page after page, which would make you think she's some amateurish adolescent just starting out and not a professional from past books. I wish the author spent more time developing this book and not just shelling it out because 1 year has passed and she had to. Why didn't she write more about Al, the ever-after, Ceri and other interesting characters instead of focusing on Rachel and her immature emotional outbursts is beyond me. I have a feeling this is the end of the series because the author clearly doesn't care anymore.

I have to say I LOoooveee Kim Harrison Books, all books from this series, it was very unsettling for me to see Rachel Morgan struggle so hard, she's always so sure of herself, but I guess the situation was totally different in this title, I can't wait for more, thank Miss Harrison for this wonderful world you've created for our delight!

I love this series and this book is no exception. It's wonderful to see the relationship between Trent and Rachel grow without the author giving anything away as far as where they're headed. She strikes the perfect balance between giving the reader just enough without giving too much and leaving you feeling like you've reached the peak of how far things can go with the characters. Rachel, Jenks, Ivy, Trent, Al, Glenn...and even Nick. All are wonderful characters that come alive on these pages and as an avid reader, I recommend this series to anyone who loves a good story that makes you laugh and cry and truly care about what happens. Can't wait for the next Hallows book to come out!!

I have read all the Hollow books and I enjoyed this one as well. There are some turns the author took that I wished she hadn't in this book but nonetheless it was a good read. I recommend to read this book if you have read other Harrisons books and to start at the beginning of the series if you are new to Kim Harrisons novels. It's worth it.

I was going through looking at the whole series, trying to remember which one was first, so I could leave me review there.... If you didn't figure out by me mentioning I read them all, I LOVE these books. Sassy lead female, sexually ambiguos friend, and super sarcastic pixie! Fun, fun, fun!

I fell in love with this series from the moment I read it. Kim Harrison's writing is easy to understand and flows naturally on the page. The characters are like-able and the plot is very well thought out. I love the Hollows series and I am always anticipating a new book release. I just wish there was more heat between Trent and Rachael. I also love the way she describes and details this fictional world full of pixies, fairies, elves, witches, vampires and whatever else she creates.

A great book in the continuing saga of the hollows. Rachel discovers she is endangering all her friends by not accepting who abnd what she is. In this book she deals with this, builds her bond with trent and finds a new friend/enemy?

OK, so if I were to give a review on this book at only 100 pages into it, it would probably go something like this... "Well see, there's this chic named Rachel Morgan who may or may not be a demon/witch. I dont know since she wears a silver bracelet that cancels out her ability to use magic. She's constantly whining/bitching about something or other. And whenever a man comes into the room she automatically starts to fantisize about him. If it's a vampire of either sex, she's practically creaming herself." That was the first 100 pages! Nothing exciting has happened! I'll finish the book, but it's simply because I read the rest of them and wish to see what happens. You would think that after 10 books in this series that Rachel would be more mature and much more of an authoritive figure what with all her magical abilities. She's not. It's sad, but she still acts like the spoiled brat that she did when she first left I.S. in book 1.

So now after 4 days I finally finished the book. It sucked. I waited and waited for Morgan to get that dang ring off so she could unleash hell on the bad guys, but once it was off she did absolutely nothing of the kind. She instead relied on her supid splat gun and trinkets that she didn't even make herself. I AM SO DONE WITH THIS SERIES!!!

I have read every Hollows Book at least 5 times. Pale Demon is my favorite! I could honestly say none of her books sucked in any way until I read Perfect Blood. I am so disapointed! I wait all year for the next book and now Im depressed and thinking, "what if nexts years book is bad too". It will ruin the series for me. The book was a filler and was written with little imagination. If the next book came out in six months, I might have been ok about this.

SPOILER: The entire book Rachel got her butt kicked while doing what she normally does, except she really didn't triumph in the end and she needed to be saved. The book was also lacking magic, especially Ley Line stuff. I mean come on, Rachel was unsure if she wanted the bracelet off the entire 1st half and then when she finally did get it off, she flaked on Ley Line stuff. PS Trent and Rachel, can we decide what they are to each other already!

It was awesome. Fast paced as Kim likes to do. Very descriptive, couldn't put it down. I love the awakening emotions between Rachel and Trent. The overall character development and growth of the characters relationship is intriguing. Trent looks good with fatherhood on him.. Loved it.

I'm a huge Hollows fan already so I may be biased but I love this addition to the series. As always Rachel can't seem to keep herself out of trouble, and she grows by leaps and bounds. Kim Harrison's imagination is beyond fascinating.

This book was Awesome! I love how the characters are all evolving and becoming more themselves. I also love some of the new dynamics between several characters. I'm not going to give any spoilers so you'll just have to read it. :)

It was awesome. Fast paced as Kim likes to do. Very descriptive, couldn't put it down. I love the awakening emotions between Rachel and Trent. The overall character development and growth of the characters relationship is intriguing. Trent looks good with fatherhood on him.. Loved it.

I'm a huge Hollows fan already so I may be biased but I love this addition to the series. As always Rachel can't seem to keep herself out of trouble, and she grows by leaps and bounds. Kim Harrison's imagination is beyond fascinating.

This book was Awesome! I love how the characters are all evolving and becoming more themselves. I also love some of the new dynamics between several characters. I'm not going to give any spoilers so you'll just have to read it. :)

Kim Harrison has a different view of the beings in the supernatural realm and it's really fun to follow. It's fun to see the characters and their interactions evolve. I can't wait for the next story in the series.

I have read all of the Rachel Morgan stories and this story kept my interest throughout. All who are fans can understand the pressures Rachel has gone through and will hopefully keep going through. All the characters come together and the result is always awe inspiring. Ms Harrison has done for witches what Butcher has done for wizards, keep us interested.

here again, thinking that just because a novel is in my genre, i'm certain to like it. it just doesn't hold true as the market has been flooded. i really wanted to love this author, but it wasn't in the (tarot) cards.

I came across Kim Harrison and her Hollows stories a few summers ago. I read through everything that was available at the time... now I am always waiting for the next chapter in the lives of Rachel, Ivy, Jenks and Trent. This one does not disappoint!

This series continues to intrigue me. I absolutely want to keep reading about Rachel, Ivy and Jenks. The characters grow and become more in every book. My favorite series ever, thanks so very much Kim Harrison!!!

I cannot get enough of Rachel, Al and Jenks! I think I'm starting to like Trent. I was hooked from the first book in this series. A definite MUST READ for all urban fantasy fans! I cannot wait for the next book!!

Love this book couldn't put it down.Once again up late reading it was hard to put down!,,I love watching Rachel starting to accept who she is.There is more danger ahead for her with this group of men who don't belong and of course the old Vamp Felix can't wait to see what's in store for Rachel as she comes in to her own.Hopping there is something between her and Tent.

This was one page turner - I was slightly disappointed with the last one and feared that the story had lost its thrall - but A Perfect Blood is once again as good as the first ones like Dead Witch Walking etc.
Looking forward to read more !
Congratulations to Kim!!

I was really looking forward to this book after Pale Demon but it was such a disappointment. It reminded me of a bad fan fiction. It was in a world I knew with characters I liked but the story didn't really go anywhere.

I am so IN-LOVE with this series! Not one dull moment and it's funny :) The main character Rachel, is just a riot! Very interesting story lines, and it's definatley quite the adventure tagging along with her and her two buisness partners, Ivy (who's a crazy unstable vamp ;)) and Jenks (who's a potty mouth pixy lol) as they help her fight off just about any thing/one that could possibly come along to put her threw life and death situations. No doubt that the author, Kim Harrion, has one vivid imagination and is not shy to pour it out in ink on paper. If you're looking for a good series to get sucked into that will last a good time, this is it!! The whole series has 10 books out- the 11th about to be released in Jan of 13, with about 6 short stories (wich has recently been compiled together into one book), 2 graphic novels and an insider book wich has all different kinds of cool stuff about every thing you could imagine thats related to "The Hallows" where the story takes place :) ENJOY!

I like Kim Harrison's character and have two other of her books. They are good imaginative escapist fun. Each one follows a simple model, the characters are odd ball interesting. Don't expect a Nobel Prize Novel. With that in mind, if you like fantasy and similar genre's read on and have fun with it. I did.

[PALE DEMON] BY Harrison, Kim (Author) Harper Voyager (publisher) HardcoverREAD THE WHOLE SERIES n they keep getting better n better. Usually by this time i am bored with the same old same old but i cant put this book down love it

Really good continuation of Kim Harrison's Hallows series. I didn't want to put this book down and read it in a few hours. I highly recommend this entire series, as well as Laurell K. Hamilton and Kelly Armstrong.

Whine, whine, whine! Do stupid things over and over! Single handedly defeats the most powerful Demon in the world but is afraid of Al?? Why can't Ivy wear 'caps' like Kristen? Why does this Incredible woman act like a 1950's teenager about sex? Surely this episode was not writen by Ms. Harrison. Save your money and hope there will be another 'grownup' episode. Hopefully with an adult female who isn't always whining and occasionly gets to sleep and take a bath.

I really enjoyed this one, it is a transition book though so it probably isn't as action packed as some might like. I still flew through it and it's left me wanting to see where Rachel goes from here.

First of all, if you haven't read this book, there are spoilers here so if you read on, don't say you weren't warned.

I read this book the first time and actually was so disgusted I couldn't bring myself to review the book. I recently sat down and re-read the book in preparation to write this review. After Pale Demon, I was thoroughly disgusted with what this series has become. Rachel makes stupid decision after stupid decision and this book is no different. We start with a magically neutered Rachel (charmed silver bracelet via Trent to hide her from Al)at the DMV trying to get her driver's license but can't because she's been declared dead. No agency will help her, often pointing back at each other with the old "can't do this until you get this from them" schtick, but she can't get what she needs from anyone because she's been declared dead. That starts the insanity. A mega undead vamp higher up from the I.S. channels through a young vamp at the DMV to enlist help from Rachel to solve some pretty gruesome murders of a demonic nature. This all leads to an anti-inderlander group who by all mention is well known and is averse to using magic. So, it stands to reason that we've never heard of this group in the previous books and oh yeah... they are not only using magic, but are twisting demon curses. More insanity ensues. Meanwhile, Rachel, who to her credit, understands that the demonic murders are meant to call her out, continues her airheaded decision making processes by leaving behind her bodyguard (a former member of Takata's band and a Were), and leaving herself wide open to be nabbed. We've been told that the geneticists were all murdered in a sort of spanish inquisition after the turn, yet this new group is not only experimenting with changing witches into demons, they've found and stolen several of the old machines to make their dabbling much easier to analyze.

We meet the two higher ups of the FIB and I.S. who are predictably trying to outdo the other. Having been a law enforcement officer, I found the decision making processes of these two just as insane as Rachel's. A lot of things became obvious to me after the first run in with the anti inderlander group simply by the decisions made by certain officials in charge. Rachel, who in the past had faced vamps, black witches and demons and come out on top is all of the sudden totally impotent. None of her earth spells work, and she gets captured and beaten pretty badly. Rachel spends the majority of the book whining about being magically neutered yet refuses to take any responsibility to live up to who, and what, she is. It has long been said in past reviews at how little Rachel grows and in this book Rachel actually admits that everyone else is growing past her and moving on and she's hurt because she isn't. Well, duh, Rachel.

Rachel eventually escapes the hate group and is rescued by Trent and Jenks. Her time in captivity has forced her to make some pretty radical decisions about which dirction to take in her life, and while that can be construed as growth of sorts, it seems like too little too late. She admits she loves Ivy yet refuses to act on it, then gets totally jealous when Ivy moves on, lamenting that Ivy is with Glenn and how it could have been her. True to form, Rachel has the hots for every male that crosses her path, going on and on about how hot they are, and also seems to find hotness in the females around her. At least we didn't have to hear "I'm not wired that way" again.

After a second major beatdown, it is confirmed there is yet another group who is hunting the HAPA. All I can say about this is that the Men in Black called and they want their plot device back. Hapa is finally defeated (well, the local chapter anyway) and the remainder of the book is dealing with the fall out from the take down. Al makes a reappearance to tie up a loose end from Rachel's capture and we see Al interacting with Elf babies. Rachel and Al pop into Trent's hot house and Al utters what is probably the funniest line in the book in reference to the location of Trent, Ceri and the babies. Usually, Jenks has been the bright spot of the book, being his usual funny, strong self. Not so here. Sadly, he's been reduced to a seemingly whipped version of his former self. Again, this particular situation will leave you scratching your head going WTF? It's sad.

To put it bluntly, this book was brutal to try to get though and honestly, I more than likely won't see the end of this series. I honestly believe I've bought my last Kim Harrison book. It's sad really... this series started with such potential, seemed to point the characters in a specific direction, and then tore it all apart and turned Rachel into a vapid airhead and plots which leave the reader going WTF? Sadly, it seems that its become about money and stretching this misery out, hoping that readers will keep buying to see if there is any salvation of what was once a promising and interesting series.

I cannot believe how horrible this installment of the Rachel Morgan series is. I only read the first few chapters and I had to give up. I have been a devoted fan of this series but Kim Harrison needs to stop and end the misery. I just don't care anymore if Rachel Morgan goes on because I will never read another book about her.

I haven't written a review for this book because I'm not certain anyone can properly describe how bad it is. Let me just say that I've read the other books and I liked them, more or less.

This book has Rachel reverting 9 books in maturity. We're back to the point where she bitches about everything and about how terrible her life is. She's always done this, to some degree, but there was at least movement in the book. The first half of the book is has no movement. It's boring.

I'm not even sure why Al was in this book at all. It was incredibly anti-climatic and bizarre. And utterly stupid. It was a very sloppy way to try and tie up the whole demon thing. I'm sure the author was thinking "I don't want to deal with this so ... I'll give them babies and have Rachael promise to fix the line." And, naturally, everyone thought that would just be jiffy. No need for demons to try to keep her now.

One of the major points about the bracelet was that Rachel didn't want to hurt people. Okay. So then she has no compunction about giving the demons demon babies that would do so much more harm it isn't funny? Trent has no problem with that. Al is all hunky-dory and, hey, up to play with elf babies.

It felt like the author shied away from anything that would bring any real emotion or drama to the book and, in its place, put this thickly fake sort of melodrama that reads false all over. There's just nothing deep about it. No underneath. Just a whining girl-child who hasn't had her nappy-nap.

The only good thing about this book was that the kindle version came out before the audio (I usually buy the audio and listen at work) so I saved nearly half. Honestly, I'm sick of crying Rachel and no true character development. I'm sick of this idiot girl. I can't honestly say I will read any other book in this series (and certainly nothing else by this author.)

This book takes place about 5 months after Pale Demon. I truly loved Pale Demon I thought it reinvigorated the series really brought in some great ideas and plot lines. However I felt that A Perfect Blood was sort of a staging novel. Kim Harrison used it to set up a bunch of things to come in other books. Things like : Rachel's life once she truly accepts being a demon, a possible new relationship with Trent (what kind we don't know) and conflict (?) with old friends Ivy and Jenks.

However Rachel is still Rachel. Untrusting, leading with her gut not her head, lonely, and still getting beat up all the time (actually that is kind of amusing). I really want Rachel to grow out of the "woe is me" phase and doing things that just don't make any sense. She should group up a little (which admittedly she does a tiny tiny bit in this book)

I gave this book 3 stars b/c although there was some action and plot there really wasn't too much advancement it was all just set up for the future. The Hollows fans will still enjoy it but don't expect it to be as good as Pale Demon.

A perfect Blood. Book 10 in Kim Harrison’s Hollows series, and it is showing no signs of slowing down yet. This novel focuses mostly on Rachel learning to accept herself and her true nature. Unfortunately for Rachel, she always seems to learn the hard way.

When the book starts off, we see Rachel has a new bodyguard sent to her by Takata, since she has magically neutered herself and he feels she needs the added protection now that she is out of the closet as a demon. That comes with even more problems for Rachel as a citizen, because we see her struggling just to try and get her license back, since she is listed everywhere as…dead. Which, she is obviously not.

Rachel is requested to look into a case for none other than…the I.S. Somebody is stringing up deformed bodies in public places, trying to gain attention. Problem is, the murder scene looks demonic and so of course, all signs point to Rachel. If she can’t find who is actually responsible, and apprehend them (quietly) the I.S. is willing to pin the blame to Rachel. No one would second guess it, right?

To add to the situation, A HAPA hate knot is found at the crime scene. HAPA or Humans Against Paranormals Association is an extremist group that rose up during the turn, and the I.S. trys very hard to keep out of the media.

What Rachel doesn’t understand is why not only is the head of the I.S. (a very old dead vampire, being channeled through Nina, the DMV worker from the beginning of the book) present at every scene and attempted take down/infiltration, but so is the head of the FIB, Dr. Cordova. A VERY pleasant woman. ? One thing Rachel is certain of, she needs to find a way to keep her memory when this is all said and done, because she does not want to finish this run just to have no memory of it at all in the end. Would Trent have a charm?

That brings us to Trent. Wow! He has come a long way since book one, and no doubt you will love him by the end of this novel. We see a totally new side to the businessman, and even Rachel admits that being a father is doing great things for him.

Rachel is a touch melancholy at the thought that her friends are beginning to move on without her, though she says she is very happy for them. She seems to be in a stasis as long as she has that bracelet is on her wrist, cutting her off from the ley lines and demon collective. But as Trent tells her, with great power comes great responsibility. Will Rachel ever accept that, and become the demon? Or will she continue to hide?

On a final note, I will leave you with this.

Disliked the main character enough it was a struggle to finish the book, despite engaging secondary characters, a good mystery/urban fantasy plot, and a cool world-creation I would love to explore. Maybe if I hadn't joined the story on book 10 of the series, I would have like the main character more - but as it is she is an absolute b*tch. She runs over people and the only reason they keep coming back for more is they are damaged emotionally (typical of urban fantasy). I do not know why any of the males in her life stay around. Again, maybe if I have seen the relationships developed in previous books, I would understand what is happening.

I don't often mark a book down if it meets the requirements of its genre. The book is well-written, again the story is engaging and the world is pretty awesome. But one of the major points of urban fantasy is the ability to see the world through the character's eyes and relate to the world through her or him. Time and again I left the story because I didn't like her, I didn't see how any male would tolerate that behavior, and the constant teasing of possible love interests was done in an annoying manner.

The day after I started this book, I was so disappointed I read a bit of the Harry Dresden series. Now that is how Urban Fantasy should be for relating to the main character.

I have like other books by this author and look forward to other series by her. Just not this one.

Warning: There are spoilers in this review.

For most of this book, it felt like Harrison was just skimming the waves, never dipping in to really move forward with her plot or her characters. Rachel was spinning in place for most of the book, waffling between leaving the bracelet on and being a pale shadow of herself, or taking it off and facing her heritage (and the wrath of Al). When she finally made her choice, nothing changed - she was still as ineffective as before.

Usually a character shows growth over a series, but Rachel has devolved. She's become reactive (instead of proactive), anxious, insecure about her relationships (all of them now - even with Ivy and Jenks), scared to make decisions, and when she does, they're often bad decisions.

Several threads either went nowhere, or didn't make sense. There was a big buildup about getting the pack tattoo. Then she finally got it, and that was it... it didn't play a part in the story at all. She talks over and over again about how Ivy and Jenks are moving on without her, but I never saw it. They seemed to be there for her every time she needed them, so how exactly were they moving on and leaving her behind?

Those are just a few examples. It just seems like this author has run out of ideas, so has Rachel spinning in place, doing nothing and getting nowhere, always needing to be rescued. I'm not quite ready to give up on the series yet, though, but hope that the next book is better.

Ok, so i'm doing this review for books 1 to 12
I absolutely love this series, it has everything, just everything, Kim sucks you in and never let go and you don't want to leave this world she created. I love every secondary character, even though they all have murderous tendencies, every single one of them but deep down they all have good in them and Kim shows that to you.
My favorite characters are Jenks, Al, Kisten and Trent and i do hope that Kim does something with Al,it just about broke my heart that he left me *sobs*. I have not reat book 13 but i am going to start as soon as i get it.
I started this series very late in the game but i do not regret it because i got to read all the books one after the other without stopping, so, if you haven't started, do it now, you won't regret it. Rachel is the heorine you want to read, she makes so many mistakes and you want to slap in the face every character but you fall in love with all of them

I have a lot of favorite quotes, but to quote them will be to reveal a lot, however, i do have one that stayed with me
Kisten put an arm around me, soggy clothes and all. "I told you, Rachel," he said in my ear to start a warm spot in me. "I've got your back. Nothing alive will ever hurt you if i have breathe in me. And nothing dead will hurt you if i don't"....
*starts crying*....Kisten!!! Come back to me

This is by far my favorite book of the series. I totally didn't expect what was to happen this book. I'm blown away by the writing, story, characters, and so much more. This book picks up where Pale Demon left off after about five months. Here are my thoughts on this amazing book with bonus point of view and sneak peek at Ever After:

Rachel Morgan, a witch turned day walking demon, who is afraid of her own magic skills. She sees everyone around her moving forward and she's not going anywhere at all. She's hurt, lost, confused, frustrated, and plain afraid to let go of the charmed silver bracelet that Trent made for her. When I.S. asks Rachel to check out a crime scene not knowing that they believe she's responsible for it. Rachel along with Ivy, Jenks, and Wayde look over the crime scene and stunned with what they all find~a human twisted into a demon-like creature. Wayde gives Rachel a big clue at the crime scene~a HAPA knot. HAPA is just a myth Rachel says but looking at the evidence says otherwise. Rachel wants I.S. to bring in FIB to help with the investigation of these crime scenes. Detective Glenn, a friend and FIB officer, brings technology that I.S. doesn't have or won't use to investigate these crimes. Trent Kalamack has been waiting for Rachel to take his charmed silver bracelet off never dreaming that she's been afraid to do that very thing. Trent is angry with Rachel and really wants to help her out. Trent has several plans worked out with Ceri for when Rachel takes the charmed silver bracelet off. When Rachel is kidnapped by HAPA agents realizes how foolish she's been about not using her best defensive weapon~her magic. Rachel vows to ask Trent for his help. Rachel's determination to regain her strength is a step in the right direction but not nearly enough. Will HAPA be caught? Will FIB and I.S. work together? Will Rachel finally grow up? What will Rachel do about Al? What are Trent's and Rachel's feelings for each other? Your answers await you in A Perfect Blood.

I'm slowly working my way up though the series to Undead Pool... slowly because these books are getting harder and harder to read. I started with Dead Witch Walking a few days ago and I zipped through the first couple of books and then... well, things slowed down. I've read all of them before but never so close together... for this series that may be a mistake.

Rachel's constant whining is beginning to get to me. Her just plain stupid decisions, the fact that she's acting like a 10 year old half the time and her complete obstinacy in LISTENING to ANYONE else is driving me crazy... All I want to do is yell at her GROW UP!!!! PLEASE!!!!

And all the interesting characters have simply faded away... Pierce is barely mentioned (just to mention that he's apparently still alive although in Newt's hands), Al is mentioned a lot but he's not around all that much until the very end and I missed his quick comebacks. Trent is there but almost as much an opponent as anything else. All of Rachel's old boyfriends are gone and Wayde (her new bodyguard who she brushes off over and over) is interesting but not nearly strong enough. And what happened to David and Bis????

Ceri and the babies make a brief appearance but the new super vamp and the stuck-up head of the FIB both leave me cold and a bit disgusted... come on Ms. Harrison, you can do better.

I waded through this book, and virtually nothing happened of any interest until the last 10% and, to tell you the truth, it felt rushed and a lot of it doesn't really make a lot of sense. It's almost as though Ms. Harrison hadn't decided what was going to happen until the very end and then just gushed it out. I just hope the next two are better.

I almost hate to confess to it, but Harrison is another of my "automatic" authors, those few whose new books I buy without even bothering to read the reviews. Vampire/witchcraft romances are very much *not* my thing, but I read the first volume in this hugely popular series a few years ago almost by accident -- and now I'm trapped. (Is that a charm or a curse?) The setting is Cincinnati in an alternate time-line in which three-quarters of the world's population was killed off two generations ago by a bioweapon that got loose and infected tomatoes. Three-quarters of the human population, that is -- the witches, elves, vampires, fairies, pixies, weres, and other humanoid but non-human magic-using inhabitants of the planet who had been here all along, usually in hiding, weren't affected at all. And now they came out to claim their share of the world, and there's been a touchy relationship between humans and "Interlanders" ever since. Oh, and the demons. Can't forget the demons. They live in the Ever-After and are a danger to all other beings, all the time -- but they're also still only people.

Rachel Morgan is a sort-of detective, an ex-government agent in partnership with a living (as opposed to dead) vampire and a small but pugnacious pixie. It's been two years -- and ten books -- since she went into business for herself. During that time, she has become Alpha Female of a were pack (for largely tax and group insurance reasons), been kidnapped by Al (a financially challenged demon), acquired a teenage gargoyle, edged around a romance with her vamp partner, and gone up and down several times in her relationship with Trent Kallamack, a very big businessman whose scientist father was responsible for Rachel's present genetic condition. That being that she has demon blood, which complicates her life even farther. And now she has become the target of a well-financed nationwide secret-militia-like hate group whose goal is the complete eradication of all those non-human life forms from "their" world -- a very extreme sort of xenophobic racism indeed. And they want a portion of Rachel's blood to help them create their own demons in furtherance of their goals. I won't even attempt an explanation of the overlapping multiple plot-lines beyond that. Harrison's regular readers already know you can't start anywhere but at the very beginning of this series without getting completely lost by the third page. And, as always, Rachel is left at the end of it all slightly more the worse for wear, peering hopefully into the future but knowing there undoubtedly are more trials and tribulations ahead, largely as a result of her gift for making bad decisions. All in all, I have to say it's an enjoyable entry in the series, and I'll be waiting patiently for the next one.

However. In all my sixty-plus years of avid and relentless reading, Harrison is the only author I can recall whose books I have really enjoyed while nevertheless gritting my teeth over the frequently awkward style and the often sophomoric word-choices. Like, "Glenn, Ivy, Jenks, and myself peered into the hole." Really? She often engages in odd constructions, like having Rachel make third-person observations of herself: "My expression became weary." There's not a page goes by without several wince-making locutions of this sort. And this is the tenth in the series. You'd think she would have learned, or that her editor would have taken care of it. Harrison is really good at complicated, highly original plots and equally good at well motivated and fully developed characters, but she's still badly in need of an astute English major with a blue pencil to follow quietly along behind her and save her from herself.

This was one of my favorite Rachel Morgan books so far. I loved everything about it: the plot, the characters, the pacing, and the action. Rachel has finally, finally embraced who she really is and it was great to read about her self-acceptance. She has really grown a lot throughout this series.

A Perfect Blood had the most depth of any of this series to date. I loved the inclusion of the paranormal hate group, which really thickened the plot. I also loved seeing more of Trent in this installment. He is one of the most nuanced characters, and I have really grown to like him. He's come a long way from book one, in my opinion. I also loved getting a glimpse of Ceri's happiness, having not been able to read about her for the last several installments.

I loved the quirky ending, which left me just wanting to read more. A Perfect Blood ended on an upbeat note, and left me smiling. For some reason, I really like Al. I know I'm not supposed to, him being an evil demon and all, but I keep finding good parts to him. He does serve as a great villain, and I find myself looking forward to his scenes.

If you have not read this series yet, I would definitely recommend it. It has witches, vampires, werewolves, pixies, fairies, and more, and it is set in present-day Cincinnati. It is one of the best paranormal series out there, in my opinion, and far outshines the Sookie Stackhouse books.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

*Beware of possible Spoilers*

a-perfect-blood-the-hollows-kim-harrisonRachel has finally accepted that she is a demon and is trying to find a way to fit into reality and prove that not all demons have to be bad. If only people would believe her.

When she least expects it she is brought in on a case. A disfigured witch looking part human and part monster was found tied up in a public gazebo. There have been several murders like this one. Rachel quickly learns the reason she was brought in on the case was because the I.S. thought she was responsible. Now she has to find the culprit or the I.S. will pin all the murders on her; going as far as placing hair at the scene to incriminate her. Rachel enlists Glenn's help forcing the I.S. and FIB to work together whether they want to or not!

An Inderlander hate group is trying to figure out how to make demon blood so they can eliminate all Inderlanders one species at a time. The murders are the results of their experiments. But when Rachel gets kidnapped by the ones responsible she discovers the situation is worse than she ever imagined! And, now they have exactly what they want; the perfect weapon, Rachel's blood and she gets to see first hand how they can use it against the species of the Hollows. She must find a way to escape and end her captors' madness before all of the Inderlander population is irradiated.

I have to say that this was a pretty good Hollows book. I found the storyline with the Inderlander hating humans trying to use Rachel's blood to end the various species to be an interesting and unique idea. It was nice to see Rachel on a run again as she's been so busy defending herself that she hasn't had the opportunity in what seems like ages. I found the book entertaining overall.

And I really am enjoying this growing relationship between Rachel and Trent! I love seeing him being protective and worried about her. Seeing his anger when he discovered Eloy had hurt her was priceless, and I was glad Trent got a few whacks in himself to help pay him back. I'm also curious to see how the rest of this ring charm Trent made plays out. I can't help, but think there is more to it than what we saw in this book.

I like Trent as a dad, but find it weird when they call him Ray's dad also or when they call Ceri Lucy's mom. I understand them raising them as sisters, but it comes off kind of strange to me and I feel a little bad for Quen considering he really is Ray's dad, but doesn't get acknowledged as such.

I also think there will be more in the future with Al and Winona. Could Al find love? Maybe Trent really would be able to save the demon race then, helping to secure Rachel's freedom.

I guess only time will tell, but it does make me interested to see what will happen in the next full-length installment, Ever After.

This review and more at openbooksociety dot com

Just finished A Perfect Blood, by Kim Harrison. After the epic that was Pale Demon, I admit that the first half of this book feel a little flat, for me. The story is far more introspective, personal, and at times a little slow. There aren't any grand battles and there isn't much progression with the world building. If this were a stand alone novel I'd give it 3 to. 3.5 stars. But in the end I gave it 4 stars. (Mild Spoilers to follow.)

Why?

Well, quite simply this is the story that needed to be told after Pale Demon. There is a lot of character development here with Rachel, Trent, and Ivy. All three are in a period of transition and Harrison does an excellent job at showing us this. Sometimes it seems a little flat. But then, sometime personal change doses em that way. And with the next book, Ever After, which definitely looks to be another epic story, this was the time for a breather and Rachel to come to terms with who and what she really is.

The biggest disappointment for me is the absence of Al. He is in two, maybe three chapters at most. Which is a let down. However, the chapters he shows up in give us more insight into Al and the demon world along with demon history. But in the end, this is Rachel's story. It is about her coming to terms with who she is and it is done very well. Certainly not my favorite of the series. But I understand why it is what it is, despite the fact I was hoping for something a little more. It is far more old school Hollows...a mystery, a run, etc. So if that's your true love, you might like it a bit more than I did. But all in all, this is a solid book in the series, and sets up so many things that people have been waiting to see. A solid 3.5 stars, that I push to 4 stars because of how it fits into Rachel's overall arc. Not pale demon, by any means, but still a good read by a master of Urban Fantasy. Thank you, Kim Harrison. You never disappoint!

Rachel Morgan is ousted as a demon, and that after everyone thought she was dead. Which means trouble at the DMV, as a dead person cannot get a drivers license, and without that, she cannot get a car on her name. This means she needs the bodyguard her parents hired to protect her, to drive her everywhere. Not that she thinks Wayde is a good bodyguard, and he certainly doesn't trust her to defend herself. Of course, being cut of from her magic does make her more vulnerable. But the spelled silver string around her wrist protects her from the demons sensing her still being alive, and as she kind of made a hole in the Ever After, making their habitat leach out, she has reason enough to stay in hiding.

Both the FIB and the IS want her to give them a list of all the different demon curses she can twist but Rachel has no intention at all of giving them a list like that. They will only use it to blame all demonic action on her. They can just get some books from the library and make their own lists.
But now some people are trying to duplicate demons blood and change witches into demons, with the intention of using them to wipe out the whole of Inderland, and the IS and the FIB will need her help to track them down. And if she does not comply, they will just blame it all on Rachel and be done with it.
So Rachel has not really a choice but to help them, especially as she is a target for this HAPA group. They hate all the other species, and want the earth for the humans. When they do track down the kidnappers, pure incompetence lets them escape, and Rachel gets caught. Where is her bodyguard when she actually needs him? Or is it more than incompetence, and does HAPA really have friends and allies in high places?

This book sure has a lot of action going on, but there is also some quiet time to think for Rachel. And is she really getting closer to Trent Kalamack? I really did not like him from the first time he appeared in a book, but somehow, he manages to redeem himself here.
Still, I don't trust his motives one bit. Of course this also makes me want to read the next book asap but it will take a lot of months before that one is published in paperback. I did enjoy getting back with the main characters, Rachel, Ivy and Jenks, and detective Glenn. I do wonder what will happen to the relationship between Ivy and Glenn though; something did happen here that was not good. Jenks is still the boss over his enormous brood of pixie children, and I enjoyed the interaction with Biss, the young gargoyle, and Belle, the wingless faery living with them. Rachel finally got her pack tattoo, and she is actually happy about it. And I think it looks gorgeous.

Action, magic, evil humans, danger, different paranormal species, relationship troubles but also some fun moments make this a captivating story.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

Full review on my blog, www.boeklogboek.blogspot.com

I have struggled with some of the middle books in Kim Harrison's Hollows book series. In fact a couple books back I was close to giving up and I found a couple books in a row tedious to get through. Then I read book #9 "Pale Dem'on" and oh my goodness, I was immediately back in love with the series I had adored so much at first. "Pale Demon" left off on a fairly high note and I was VERY eager to find out what happened with Trent and Rachel (and Jenks) after their road trip and Trent's 'secret' mission. I am so very pleased to say, that while not quite as much fun as "Pale Demon", "A Perfect Blood" continues the series strongly.

Rachel has been 'magically neutered' as they call it in the book. She has basically done it for herself so that she can effectively hide from Al and keep him from knowing exactly where she is. It looks to him ,hopefully, like she is dead. "A Perfect Blood" deals with Rachel's struggles living without her powers. And where as Trent is still featured in this book, he isn't as prominent as he was in "Pale Demon"...and I love Trent. I really love Trent with Rachel and my fingers are still crossed on that front. I enjoyed the twists and new characters that went along with the new group introduced HAPA (Humans Against Paranormals Association). And I enjoyed some of the brief moments we visit with Ivy and I liked that finally Rachel made a sort of peace with her feelings for the vampire. On the subject of Ivy, I don't really know that I like Glenn or the idea of him with Ivy. I hope that after this book I don't have to worry about him much anymore.

One thing I did not care for. Jenks. I don't buy into the fact that he might romantically like someone so soon after his wife's death. I just can't fathom that. Maybe one day, but it just seems so daggone soon! I also hate that his snark, bravery and bubbly personality seem to be fading. I give the author credit for letting him change a little and I can certainly credit that with Matalina being gone, but on that same token, how can I believe his feelings for the new girl?

I know that some readers felt that Rachel is being too whiny. She does complain a lot in this book about how unfair her life is and she mourns the fact she has to wear that darn bracelet. But still, I found all that quite reasonable and in character. I also found this book to be quite the page turner and it sees, from the very start, more action than has been present in the novels for awhile. I thought "A Perfect Blood" was a good, solid installment and I am very, very eager to grab "Ever After"!

I usually have a hard time writing book reviews. What can I say that others have not already said AND not use any spoilers? But, I am going to review A Perfect Blood with the assumption that the reader has already read books 1-9.

The first several books in the series were great. They were the type of books that I did not want to put down until I was finished. And, I could not wait to read the next book in the series.

However, somewhere around book 7 I got bored and pretty much fed up with Rachel's whining. She complained constantly about her lack of a love life; her problems with Al; how much she hated going into the ever-after for her weekly sessions with Al; how horrible Trent was; how she was a terrible friend to Jenks and Ivy; generally how much it sucked to be her. By the end of book 9 I was ready to quit the series altogether and seriously considered not reading A Perfect Blood.

I have to say that I am glad I read it and that Harrison pulled it back together in this book. Rachel is still Rachel and whines a little but it is nothing compared to books 7-9. There are a few twists but nothing totally unexpected, in my opinion. What really surprised me was that some of the prominent characters in previous books played much smaller roles in this book. A couple were mentioned only briefly or just showed up at the end of the book. She has a couple of new characters as well. I think this really helped keep the book "fresh". I image it is hard to come up with new ideas by the time an author is up to book number 10 in a series so the slight change of main characters was refreshing.

A Perfect Blood (2012) is the tenth Fantasy novel in the Rachel Morgan series, following Pale Demon. The initial work in this series is Dead Witch Walking.

In the previous volume, Rachel was sunning herself in the backyard and helping Jenks pick colors to decorate his room. She would be leaving Cincinnati to go to the coven meeting in San Francisco. Trent appeared and wanted to travel with Rachel to the west coast.

Then somebody shot a spell at Trent with a splat gun, but missed. A foaming yellow mass of magic formed on a tree. Rachel pulled him down and made a protection circle. She sent pixies after the assassin.

In this novel, Rachel Morgan had been a witch. Then she was shunned by the Coven of Moral and Ethical Standards and learned demon magic from Al. Now she is listed in official records as a demon.

Ivy Tamwood is a living vampire. She is also Rachel's roommate. They have been living together for a few years, learning how to avoid angering each other.

Jenks is a pixie. He is a partner in the firm of Vampiric Charms and is now the owner of the church where they are living. He was married to Matalina and now is taking care of about four dozen children on his own.

Algaliarept is a demon. Al had been after Rachel for some time and had taken her as an apprentice. Now he thinks she is dead.

Glenn is a Detective in the Federal Inderland Bureau. His father had been the Captain of the FIB office in Cincinnati. He is now dating Ivy.

Wayde Benson is Rachel's bodyguard. He had been working for Takata, Rachel's biological father. After she was blocked from accessing ley lines, he was assigned to guard Rachel.

Ninotchka Romana Ledesma is a living vampire working at the DMV office. Nina has been forgotten by her master.

In this story, Rachel is at the DMV trying to get her car registered and a driving license for herself. As usual, the clerk finds that she is as dead and declares that nothing can be done until she is properly registered. Rachel is getting frustrated.

Wayde is driving Rachel wherever she desires to go, but she wants to be able to drive her car. As they are leaving the office, Rachel is summoned on the PA system. They turn back and go to window G. She is let through the counter into a back hall.

A vampire in a black dress suit is sitting behind a desk. Nina is excited and nervous. Then she is possessed by an old dead vampire. The male vampire refuses to give his own name, but says to call him Nina.

The old vampire is probably the local chief of Inderland Security in Cincinnati. He wants her to help capture a small group of Inderlanders
committing demonlike crimes. He asks Rachel to meet him at the scene of the crime.

A transformed body is strung up in a gazebo within a city park. Blood is plentiful, but not enough for the murder to have been done at that location. Then Wayde notices that the lines holding up the body are tied with HAPA knots.

The Humans Against Paranormals Association had arisen after the Turn. Now they are supposed to have been suppressed. Evidently their demise is only propaganda.

Rachel realizes that HAPA crimes are within the jurisdiction of FIB, not the IS. She texts Glenn and FIB agents soon appear. The IS is not happy with Rachel.

The IS has been sitting on these crimes for weeks. Their paperwork is sloppy and has no technical information. FIB starts collecting further evidence from the crime scene.

This tale has Rachel, Ivy and Jenks working with FIB. Rachel gets into her usual troubles, but now she is wearing an amulet that blocks her ley-line magic. She can't remove it herself and is reluctant to have it removed since an angry Al would soon appear.

Rachel quickly learns to regret the amulet. The next installment in this series is not yet announced on the store.

Highly recommended for Harrison fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of various magics, domestic terrorism, and personal growth. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

The Good
Trent...Enough Said
This was a fun story. I really mean it. I actually had FUN while reading A Perfect Blood. That's the best way I can describe it. I love the direction this book is taking for the series overall. Trent and Rachel are actually becoming...wait for it...friends. *Gasps* Yes, people. You heard right. This is what most of us have been waiting for. This book just made me want to yell at Harrison to hurry her little tushie up and get the next book done because I am DYING to see what she has in store for Trent and Rachel.

I'm a Good Demon, I am!
Rachel is in another pickle. You know, she has been in so many pickles these past couple years she'll probably never go hungry. Anyway, Rachel is called in to investigate ritual murders happening in the city. The problem is, they resemble the work of a demon. Wait a second...Rachel is a demon. Oh no, not good. Will she be blamed for these murders? Come on people, this is Rachel we are talking about, all arrows point to YES. So what must a little redhead do to stay away from prison? Prove she is a good little demon by helping the FIB and I.S. find the true killers. Yeah, the problem is, the truth behind the murders is far more sinister than everyone first thought, and now Rachel might just be the next victim.

Is Rachel Finally Growing Up?
After we got into the action, this story took off and never let up. It just kept going, fight after fight. Rachel was fun as ever. She isn't at the maturity level I hoped for by book ten but she still has that kick-ass attitude and spunky personality that keeps me rooting for her every book. She does seem to admit to her mistakes more often, which is progress. She is also at a crossroads in her life. There's no love interest or happy future on the horizon but all her friends are starting to settle down. They don't need her anymore, but she still needs them. Rachel has finally realized she needs to find happiness for herself. And who might be that happiness, no one knows. *Coughs* TRENT *Coughs* What? I didn't say nothin'. I had a tickle in my throat.

Yummy Goodness...
Speaking of Trent, or not speaking of Trent as it were, he is just yummy goodness right now. I get all tingly every time he shows up on scene. Overshare? Sorry. I do that sometimes. Trent is finally shedding his bad boy exterior (sorry to see you go bad boy Trent because you do bad soooo good) and is settling down, actually trying to change for the better. He has children now he has to think about. But he also has been itching for another change in his life. What that might be, I am not telling (mostly because I am not 100% sure myself, but I have some ideas). But it's the time that Rachel and Trent team up that make this book so enjoyable. They actually work really well together. I hope to see more of this partnership in the future. Hint, hint, Harrison.

Rachel's Peeps...
Jinx is as filthy mouthed and snarky as ever. I like the direction his life is going. He is doing better since his wife's death and I think his odd friendship with Belle, the fairy, will be good for him. Ivy is getting pretty settled too. I think she will always have problems she will have to work on because of her horrible past, but she has learned major control over her emotions. I am excited to see what Harrison has in store for her. I don't want to say too much about Wayde except that I found his whole role very odd and pretty much unneeded. I am still loving Bis, the gargoyle, and Glenn has become twice as interesting in this book. I know he has a story and I want to know more about him.

So Many Bad Guys, So Little Time...
The scary factor and action were great. The suspense was on point and the dialogue was flawless. I laughed, bit my nails from tension, and gasped in surprise throughout this whole book. The plot was interesting and has brought up a bunch of questions and mysteries I can't wait for Harrison to address. With the series ending in a couple books, I just don't know how Harrison is going to do it. So many bad guys, so little time. I hope we will get a satisfying ending that gives Rachel some security because these bad guys really need to be stopped. Too many people blackmail, threaten to kill, and simply use Rachel. It's about time Rachel gets the upperhand.

The Bad
I felt like Harrison repeated herself a little in this book. I found similar phrases and regurgitated inner thoughts happening quite often.

It took me a week to pick this book back up after stopping at page 40. Too much description and not enough action to really catch my attention. Plus, Harrison tends to mention mundane actions Rachel is performing which bugs me. But I will admit, after I finally picked A Perfect Blood back up I couldn't put it back down.

I really got annoyed with pretty much every character in this book saying that Rachel is incompetent when she is the one that saves the day (mostly). By the standards these people say Rachel is incompetent they would have to shelve themselves in the same category. You guys know how much I hate toilet characters (people that let everyone else crap on them). Rachel is borderlining that label but she does stick up for herself enough that I still respect her.

Apparently I have forgotten a lot of what happened in the past couple of books because I was a little lost on some parts. And some characters seemed new to me but I guess I was suppose to know who they were. Maybe I missed some important short stories in anthologies that Harrison did. I wish she did a little more recap.

The Snuggly
Not too much snuggly in this book. But dear God was Rachel horny. At one point I was scared she was going to hump a tree just to get a little release. I get it, she needs some, but she needs to rein it in before she jumps the pizza guy or something. Okay, now that my rant is over, I am VERY happy with how Rachel and Trent's relationship is progressing. I have to admit. I was never on Team Trent like most of the fans I have met. I think he treated Rachel like crap and I hate that in a man. But I do admit, he cracked my cold, little heart this time around.

Overall
I can't help but always find fault with Harrison's books, but I can never deny how much I devour every page at the same time. Harrison's story telling ability always outweighs the little annoyances I like to whine about. The direction of this book was perfect. I can see the end is near, and I can't wait for Rachel is get some kind of happy ending. Highly recommened.

Excerpt
"Put me down, you son of a bitch!"

But he didn't, and I kicked and squirmed, unable to take a clean breath of air with his shoulder shoved in my gut. His grip on me was tight, unbreakable--the strength of a wolf pinning his prey. All right. He was good. But this wasn't encouraging me to trust his abilities. It was pissing me off. "I'm warning you, Wayde!" I exclaimed as the door cracked open and a cool wash of damp air blew in.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." he said, and shifted my weight until my breath huffed out.

"Put me down!" I shouted, and Wayde jerked to a halt at the soft scuffing on the stairs.

"Ah, this isn't what it looks like," Wayde said to someone, and I squirmed, twisting awkwardly, and saw Trent standing on the steps, his car running at the curb in the rainy night. Trent's eyes were as wide as mine, and in a sudden burst of motion, he flung his hand.

"Obstupesco!" he exclaimed, turning from businessman to assassin as he crouched on the stairs, his long coat furling, and I shrieked, covering my head with my arms and ducking back behind Wayde.

The spell hit Wayde square on, and I cried out again when he shuddered--and then dropped like a stone.

A top read for 2012. This book exceeded my relatively low expectations, stemming from the book's initial reviews and impressions. I found the book extremely well written/edited, constructed and just plain enjoyable. If I had to use one word to describe this book, it would be "Tension". As in, it's chock-full of it. Dramatic, Sexual, and Thrilling tension. I was so caught up in it all, I barely had time to lament about missing a of few of my favorite things like Big Al and the Ever-After. Big Al does make a couple of appearances, but nothing like he does in the previous books.

There is a lot of forward moment in this book, as Rachel's ARC comes full circle. This began in the last book, but it is taken one step further here, as she begins to not only see people and situations in new light, but starts to accept and trust those people, along with herself. Because we still have more than a couple of books until the grand finale, Harrison is taking these realizations a bit slow, especially in discovering and getting to Rachel's HEA. Not to say we don't get any interesting and meaty chapters between Trent and Rachel in this book. No, we still got plenty to chew on and enjoy, as we slowly gain momentum on that front as well. However, as one person put it, it's sometimes two steps forward and one step for those two, as it probably always will be until the very end.

The only complaint I have is the less than exciting ending. I wouldn't go so far as to call it cheesy as some have described it. More like somber compared to the rest of the book. It still felt satisfying, rounding out what is easily one of my favorites for the year, thus far.

Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely even though we do still have some time to wait to see everything come to fruition. Oh, but the journey will be oh so sweet.

I look forward to reading the upcoming Short, contained in the Novella-Into the Woods, set to be released early Oct. Written in Trent's POV, it is the events regarding Trent's covert operation to take his daughter-Lucy back, with Jinks by his side.

I should go back and review all of the books in this series, and maybe I will, but for now I'll just review this one. I love this story, Rachel and Ivy and Jenks are my favorite imaginary people. I really want Rachel and Al to get together! Every book I wait for it! Anyway.

This book starts with Rachel wearing charmed sliver cutting herself off from the ley lines and her magic and that was killing me! I love the magic Ms. Harrision has created and the Everafter so to have Rachel separated from it was frustrating. But that's Rachel's character; she's so flawed that she makes a lot of mistakes and her temper rules a lot of her decisions so she frustrates us. But I always root for her! I wont go into a lot of the story for fear of spoiling it for people, but in this book we meet a whole new faction of people in Rachel's world: HAPA, the hypocritical human hate group bent on destroying magic and magical beings.

A lot of the paranormal series out there go on for too long and you start to hate your favorite charaters, but not in The Hallows, each book can be read on it's own because they have their own well crafted plot arc but then each story gives us a little more of the Rachel/Trent/Al/Ceri story line that you can't wait to read more of.

I enjoyed this book as well as any other Hollows Book. I liked how Rachel is now owning up to the fact that she is a Demon. It stinks for her that this changes the perception of others on her though. She was a damn good witch, and will be a damn good Demon once she lets go of the rest of her reservations and owns up to all that she can do. I like that she still takes the time to waffle over what is morally right/wrong though. I wouldn't want to see her act like the other demons have been known to act in the book or like the now-dead-dead Master Vampire Piscary used to act. The world doesn't owe her anything because she is a Demon. But she does deserve respect. She is not trapped in the ever-after, and has the right to remain treated as the rest of the day-walking Inderlanders are treated.

I love how Kim Harrison always intertwines bits into the story-line to show her and her team's excellent running abilities too. I think people need to give Rachel more credit though when it comes to letting her do her job. People are always trying to baby her and keep her out of the run - or in the background, but if they would lighten up and let her work, she can definitely get the work done! The story in this one was very interesting. The anti-inderland hate group of humans (HAPA) trying to find a way to manifest demon blood and turn witches into demons, so that they can use their blood to kill the rest of Inderland. This was a good run for Rachel, Ivy, Jenks, & Glenn to work on together because it tied in well with Rachel's initial waffling as to whether she was going to use her Demon powers or not. In the end it goes to show that even if you don't want to do something, you are responsible for what you are capable of and need to own up to it.

I liked the ever-increasing appearance of Trent in this series as well. I think that the two of them growing up together and having so much history through this series is a great foundation to build upon. I am always interested to see where Rachel's love life is headed. Her luck with men/vampires/witches/ghosts/weres and all other male sexes of species' has been worse than her luck in the world of work and magic and the jams she gets herself into. I understand that dating his difficult, but I would like to see Rachel get closer to someone eventually with some potential to last. I have been thinking from book one that this person may be Trent - yet the species difference is a big downfall. However, I do think if a Demon and an Elf can find a way to end up together, it may do wonders for the thousands of years of fighting between the two races. I do find it odd that Ceri and Trent are raising both his daughter with Ellasbeth and her daughter with Quen as their two children and have some sort of a mother-father relationship all the while Ceri is in love with Quen. I think perhaps they should be raised as cousins instead and Ceri should marry Quen. However, this may not go over well in the world of the Hollows. I don't know.

Another love-interest for Rachel that hasn't been discussed as a possibility yet is Al. Well there were a few offhanded comments in either Black Magick Sanction or Pale Demon that kind of made me wonder for a second. However, I know that Rachel does not like the idea of becoming a broodmare for the Demons even if it will help extend the racial population. I was even in the first few books wondering if she would possibly give in to Ivy, but it looks like that door is closed now. I didn't initially see Rachel as being bi-sexual anyway, but she and Ivy still do share a great bond.

I don't know these are just some of my rambling thoughts of this series. I LOVE this series, and am already anxiously awaiting the next book in it.

If a book keeps me speculating, intrigued and reading - or waiting for the next time I get a chance to read it - it is a 5 star book for me. These books all in this series have done this for me! More than for anyone else's benefit, I like to write reviews when I remember to do it before I forget the details, so that I can look back over it when the next book comes out. It helps me refresh before I start the next one. It appears I haven't written reviews for the last one or maybe not any of the others. Shame on me!

I recommend this book if you have been reading the series! I recommend the series if you haven't started it!

I'm a huge fan of The Hollows... I'm always looking forward to my next opportunity to go on an adventure with Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks. And while I did enjoy the book, it's definitely not the strongest in the series. It's much more of an in-between, filler book.
"A Perfect Blood" picks up five months after "Pale Demon" left off, with Rachel still wearing her charmed silver bracelet and unable to practice demon magic. Al still unaware she is alive. Pierce still somewhere in the Ever After. Trent trying in vain to contact Rachel. And Ivy and Jenks? Well they still live and work with Rachel, but are sadly not up to anything new.
Enter HAPA: Humans Against Paranormal Associations. A hate group focused on genetically altering witches blood to create demons in an attempt to kill all Inlanders. It's no surprise the blood they need to do this belongs to Rachel. What is a surprise is Rachel's oblivious stupidity in making herself vunerable to them at every turn. Seems to me if the lives of every witch, vampire, pixie, fairy, elf, troll, etc... depended on my staying far away from a small group of people, I'd somehow find a way to sacrifice my taste for adventure and revenge and hide myself away while other capable people took care of the group... Not Rachel. Which is what utimatly makes this book just an "okay" visit to The Hollows.
There are lots of good points which keep me counting down the time to the next installment... Trent and Rachel's growing friendship, Al's debt in the Ever After, Jenks' relationship with the fairy, Ivy handling a loss, Pierce's freedom. Oh, and new character/love interest, Wayde... what's he all about? Whether it's the best or worst book in the series doesn't matter, any story written by Kim Harrison is always head and shoulders above most other books out there.

I love Kim Harrison, and the Hallows series. I waited impatiently for the book to be released, plus, I read the first 4 chapters online. I was excited to see Rachel and Trent team up. I began at midnight, jumping right on to chapter 5 and find Rachel right were we left her. And yes, she still stubborn and not admiting, out loud, that Trent is more to her than she would like to admit.
Even when he " hears" her thoughts, she brushes it off with a " what?"
This book has a lot of openings for more but then it drops, maybe for the next book? But how much longer will it take?
(I would love to see this turned into a movie, I can see George Clonney, Cincinnati native playing Trent.)

What has me straining to read this is the way she " words" some things. Like the HAPA scientist using such nonsense language.
" putting the corr on display" ", Chubi, rhymes with booby", it just irritated me that there were so much crazy words in this part of the book. There were several parts I re- read because I just didn't get it. But, maybe that was just me.
All and all I will be waiting on the next one, I hope that the " holes left " like Trent's mom, his and Rachel's childhood, ect, will be filled in. I can see them going into business together, letting Trent do what he wants, like his mom, and maybe babies for Al? Not with Rachel. But little sweet demons running around. Maybe Newt and Pierce, Al and Winona?

The latest book in the Hallows series I found to be a pretty good read. I was wondering how the follow up to a VERY ENTERTAINING Pale Demon book would be especially considering how climactic it was to the main character Rachel.

You have to allow yourself to get past an annoying Rachel at the beginning of the story who seemed to act more like a rebellious 7 year-old who gun was taken away-- suddenly needing a useless babysitter and doing nothing more than automatically going against what people suggested she should do while doing bunny-ear kisses and narrowing her eyes at Trent.

I am still not clear why the author written her that way especially after the growth of her character in the previous novel.

The new "big bad" should make for an interesting future in the series. However the author has clearly completed the circle: ie Rachel vs Elves, Rachel vs Vampires, Rachel vs Demons, Rachel vs Witches and now Rachel vs non-magical humans which begs to wonder what's left?

This book is a part of a large series, and the first thing I must say is that as the books progress, I do not find myself tiring of Rachel Morgan or her band of misfits. There are series I've read that after the 5th book, I grow tired of the same repetitive plots or the lack of growth regarding the main character. That is not the case for this series. No matter how much time passes, I always find myself returning the Hollows.

A Perfect Blood is the 10th book in the series and I love that Rachel is now beginning to accept herself for who she is. What’s more, I enjoyed that her sidekicks, Ivy (living vamp) and Jenks (pixie) are also accepting who she is. While they still care for her, I found them less controlling and demanding in this book. Their partnership really shone in this book as opposed to past ones where I wanted to throttle Ivy. It was also refreshing to see Trent and Morgan settle into an amicable relationship. I enjoyed when he called her out, demanding to know why she was always angry with him. After ten books, there’s only so much of that you can read, so witnessing Morgan come to grips with that and consciously make changes was a nice change of pace.

As for the overall plot, I enjoyed the serial aspect of it (don’t want to give it away for anyone that might stumble upon this review). While there were classic mystery and suspense themes, Kim Harrison still made it her own by tossing in a little demonic twist.

I must say, I’m excited to get to Ever After and The Undead Pool if only to see what happens with Trent and Rachel. Considering I loathed the elf in the beginning books, I’m impressed that the author has managed to sway me toward him. Most appreciative is that she didn’t change him all in one book. Ceri and the girls have been a great influence in his life, just as Morgan has—though whether hers is a good one or not has yet to be seen.

Definitely a great read, I devoured every word. It kept me up until all hours of the night, and even though I’m falling asleep at my work desk, it was worth it. A fantastic series that I recommend to anyone who enjoys Urban Fantasy.

A body is found gruesomely deformed, the crime scene points to a ritual having been performed. The method and the body seem to point to Rachel or at least she will be the one blamed if the culprit is not caught. Evidence seems to point to a radical group that would like to eliminate all Inderlanders. As Rachel races to find the suspects and prevent any other deaths, she also struggles to come to acceptance of who and what she is...the end result is a page turning read.

This was the first time I have read Kim Harrison and though Perfect Blood is the 10th in a series the book still stands as a single read as well. Kim does well in developing not only our lead character but all the supporting characters as well blending it in a way that brings all the characters to life and endearing.

Though this isn't for all ages or readers i would highly recommend this to those who enjoy a good paranormal suspense.

I really like The Hollows, and I'm giving this book 3 stars because I got to meet again some beloved characters.
This said, it seems to me that the author, in this book, opens lots of threads just to leave them hanging.
*SPOILERS*
Rachel is afraid to take off the silver bracelet that blocks her magic and hides her from the demons for most part of the book, because she foresees enslavement, persecution by enraged demons, immediate killing at the hands of Al. Then she takes off the d**n bracelet, offers retribution to Al, everybody is happy again and Bob's your uncle.
She makes so much fuss about having her pack tattoo made that you get convinced that this tattoo will have a great importance, somehow. When at least she gets the tattoo, instead, her Alpha is satisfied and everybody congratulates her. Period.
She acquires a bodyguard, and she has several confrontations with him about his skill as such, at the end of which usually one of the two goes away sulking. NOT ONE TIME, in all the book, this maddening character is by her side in a situation of danger: she is beaten, kidnapped, secluded and he's nowhere to be seen.
She spends half of the book sadly remembering the dead vampire boyfriend, and the other half having in presence of Trent Kalamack the behaviour of a high school girl. He looked at me! (blush) He touched my hand! (blush) OMG, how could I touch his face!!! (blush, blush!!) Ohhh, I remember when he kissed me! (lust, lust!!).
Where is the adult, tough Rachel?
Well. I just hope that all these hints will be developed, maybe in the next book...

Wow book ten...

For a while there I was getting quite concerned that Harrison's Hollow series was running itself into the ground. I always enjoy Rachel Morgan adventures, however it seemed each book was getting more and more cluttered with side plots and half-baked romantic interests.

This was not the case with Perfect Blood. Yes there were a few romantic interests, but things seemed a bit more streamlined, and the main plotline also received the majority of the page-time. The main-plotline by the way, was pretty bad-ass; witches are showing up around Cin-city brutally mutated into caricatures of demons, and Morgan is both a key suspect and a target of the true villians.

I only have one criticism, the first is not something that usually bothers me, but the editing errors in Perfect Blood knocked me out of the story on a couple of occasions. (especially when characters grow different names for a paragraph or two)

Perfect Blood is one of the better Hollow's instalments, and the ending will leave you crying out in horror, demanding the next book in the series now!

Book # 10 in the series and the plot and characters are still fresh and exciting. Kim Harrison brings us another edge of the seat thriller. I was enthralled by every page unable to stop thinking about it.
Rachel our little Demon Witch has found herself in a new pickle. She is being hunted. A radical group of haters out to rid the world of non-humans, is torturing and mutilating special types. Junks,Ivy,Trent and several others try to keep her out of danger. They try really hard, unfortunately, That is not an easy task.
Trent really steps forward in this story. He is busy raising his two daughters and building a safe home for them while running his company. He is there for Rachel, leaving her doubts floundering. They develop a new understanding, talking things through. Perhaps there is a future without hate between them ?
This was a transitional book, relationships are changed. Environments are altered and a level of understanding is finally found. The next book looks like a new horizon for Rachel and her friends. I am looking forward to reading their new paths.

I like the Kim Harrison series, really, but... Book 10 was interesting, however, with too much frustration, being somewhat repetitive, and a little out of control.

To me, Rachel comes off a bit juvenile, and even incompetent... seems like the author is not up to form in this episode. Ms. Morgan corrects others several times with the repetitive directive to 'Get it right!', sounding stuck in a pet-slang loop. She also seems inexperienced... using unchecked weapons, missing approximately 5 out of 6 times in first major battle, and just about sidelined throughout the rest. After 9 books of greater experience, she seems amateurish here, along with other lapses.

And the introduction of a bodyguard, doesn't work as a foil to enhance Rachel's 'professionalism'... it actually does the opposite, particularly when she beats him up. The bodyguard is made to stand outside all conflicts... apparently he's only good as a companion for trivial interludes, such as a trip to the coffeeshop. If Ms. Morgan had a serious conflict with the bodyguard, one would think she would simply fire him in a huge argument... just because he was 'hired' by her birth-father, doesn't provide enough assumption of authority to him, that Rachel should have to beat him senseless. The author seems to trivialize the beating to -unconsciousness- when the bodyguard was already down... without a real justification, or anger build-up. Other more serious past antagonists have been treated better. Maybe it's an example of both Were hostility and Demon taint overtaking her, but I can't see the bodyguard reasonably willing to continue his employment, nor a lack of serious displeasure by her parents, in the next book.

Then, of course, the foes are never completely down... maybe that's why Rachel beats the bodyguard until he's 'out'. And no one seems able to properly incapacitate an unconscious prisoner. An unknown charm should have been followed up with a "splat" gun tag... a dangerous human should have been bound hand and foot, a magic wielder should have been gagged. The bad guys have better control of her.

Book 10 just seems a bit sloppy, shallow... even Al loses his viciousness.... all the build up to his insanely violent reaction to finding her alive just leads to a simple discussion. And Rachel, while struggling appropriately with her demonhood, seems pathetic in skills and actions, and over-sexed besides, lusting after every male of more than passing acquaintance.

All in all, a good book. (HuH???) No, I'm disappointed with A Perfect Blood. Hopefully it's a minor stumbling interstitial to a renewed focus in the next novel... but this time, the author seems distracted.

In urban fantasy, human beings are usually the pathetic losers - we don't get any cool supernatural powers that witches, werewolves or vampires get, and we're usually depicted as ineffectual racists. At best, we're just oblivious.

Kim Harrison is among the few authors to tackle the subject with any real depth. "A Perfect Blood" is a smart, witty, fast-paced book where a small but clever cabal of humans humans are the enemy. While the plot gets a little bogged down in Rachel's woes as a new demon, the main plot is tense, taut, and genuinely scary at times.

Rachel is furiously treading water in the government bureaucracy when an old, powerful vampire (via a young one named Nina) offers her a deal -- if she helps solve a bizarre crime, he will arrange for her to be declared "alive" again.

But the crime is more than merely strange: a young man who was ritually murdered, and partly transformed into a hideous beast-man. Even worse, he's not the first. Rachel realizes that someone was trying to transform him into a demon. And the perpetrators seem to be HAPA (Humans Against Paranormals Association), a hate group that wants to destroy all Inderlanders, and is now using magic to do it.

And since Rachel's demon blood makes her a huge blinking target, she begins worrying about the people she cares for -- and what will happen if she finally removes the elven bracelet. But soon she begins to realize that has members hidden in the IS and/or FIB -- and everyone around her might have their own agenda. To keep herself and her friends safe, she might have to trust

I honestly have developed a leetle pet peeve at how humans are depicted in urban fantasy -- usually it's as frothing racists who have no chance against the overpowered supernaturals, but for some reason they're able to oppress the poor Metaphorical Minorities. Ugh.

"A Perfect Blood" is one of the few that DOESN'T annoy me. It's tightly written, burning with dark intensity and filled with taut action scenes and some genuinely scary foes. The scariness of HAPA is not just that they're fanatics using magic, but that they're SMART. And, well, that the authorities don't want to acknowledge that they exist.

With such an intense plot, Kim Harrison spends a lot of time weaving dark plot threads and spidery twists into the story. But she also includes some of her trademark wit and humor (Jenks' stormy love life with Belle) and some touching moments (Rachel has Kisten's pool table refelted), and some genuinely suspenseful mysteries (who is Felix?). The one downside is that for some chapters, the HAPA crisis gets shoved on the back burner so Trent and Rachel can deal with her demon problems.

Rachel spends most of this book being crippled by her fears and her denial of her new demon nature -- and she won't be able to trounce HAPA unless she overcomes them both. And her relationship with Trent is growing by leaps and bounds. While she still doesn't fully trust him, Rachel is starting to see that the stately elf is not the monster she once thought he was, and that he might feel more than friendship for her. It's actually rather cute, in a Lizzie-and-Darcy way.

"A Perfect Blood" isn't quite perfect, but it's close enough to be one of the best books in Kim Harrison's series yet. It's dark and intense, but threaded liberally with humor and a tinge of romance.

** Some Spoilers **

20% into the book: I'm getting a really bad feeling. 20% in and all we've established is that Rachel is making poor choices, even though everyone is advising her otherwise. She is hearing their advice and ignoring it, deciding she doesn't want to comply when she is pushed. This is not the plotline I had hoped for.

65% into the book: After what felt like an eternity (boo hoo, woe is me, I'm scared of demons, Trent looks hot!, etc, repeat ad nauseam),Rachel finally gets her mojo back. I cannot believe it has taken 65% of the book to get to this point but I'm excited we're finally gonna see some of Rachel's demon skills. Yay! Now she can go kick some bad guy butt. After all, when she was captured, she realized how much she could do to her captors if only she had her demonic powers, and now it's time for payback. So, she preps by...making charms and filling her splat gun. Huh? What happened to all those powerful demon curses she used in the past? Forgotten? In her battle with Eloy, the best she can do is put herself into a circle? Really? What about her ability to freeze someone with a word (mentioned on page 277)? That would have been handy, but no, all she does is cower, duck, and make circles faster than a speeding bullet. Hmm.

92% into the book: Apparently the FIB and IS guys are useless, so Rachel will finally get to take down the bad guys after she and Trent find them at Junior's. Oops, no, wait, Rachel is also completely ineffective so Trent steps in to save her. Again.

Sigh. This book was sloppy and forgettable, with way too much stupidity and incompetence, not to mention excessive amounts of angst over Trent. I don't have a problem with the never-before-mentioned HAPA. Sometimes you have to introduce a new idea and it is completely believable that there would be such a hate group. But did I miss how the bad guy humans were able to steal large pieces of equipment from Trent's high security facility, leaving only a cleaned light fixture as a clue? If you create a mysterious circumstance, you have to resolve it! It reminds me of the old cartoon with two scientists trying to solve a complex equation, and they finally write `Then a miracle happens' as the missing link.

I've loved all of the Hollows books, particularly Pale Demon, which was fabulous. I even re-read Pale Demon to get myself into a "Hollows" state of mind before sitting down to enjoy A Perfect Blood, assuming the story would continue with Rachel developing her demon skills and relationships even more. What a horrible disappointment. It's as if Charlaine Harris, Laurell Hamilton and Janet Evanovich all gave Kim Harrison advice on how to ruin your main character.

I recently recommended this series to a friend and he is just now finishing book 6. I think I will advise him to skip book 10 completely. Assuming there is a book 11 someday, will he really miss anything if he doesn't read A Perfect Blood? I don't think so. He should save his money.

This is one of my favorite series, and one of the ones I look forward to reading the most. When I was able to get an advanced copy, I was so excited! A Perfect Blood was a great book, but not as a good as the last one where Ivy, Jenks, and Rachel went on a road trip with Trent. This one started off slow and two of the new characters, Nina and Wayde, were not my favorites. However, it started getting more exciting and was as entertaining as usual when I got halfway through it.

In A Perfect Blood, Rachel is unable to perform magic due the bracelet Trent gave her in the last book, which prevents Al from finding her. Being so helpless makes her insecure and depressed, and Ivy and Jenks moving on with their lives intensifies her depression. A string of gruesome murders are committed by a group that hates non-humans, and Rachel tries to help solve the murders with Nina, a living vampire that is being controlled by a mysterious master vampire.

Nina/Master Vampire bored me. He/she constantly hit on Rachel (of course) and had to constantly try to get touchy-feely at the crime scenes. He/she was just a predictable pervy, old vampire. The beginning of the book just consisted of Rachel going to crime scenes, waiting around, getting hit on by the vampire, arguing with a nagging Wayde, then going home without having learned much. There was a lot of apologizing on Rachel's part throughout the book, which seemed weirdly submissive for her, and Trent was not in the beginning much either.

Eventually, the book did pick up and got exciting. Rachel started acting more like herself and got more confidence, Nina/Master Vampire and boring Wayde were featured less in the last half, while Trent had a bigger role. Trent is always entertaining and the plot of finding and capturing the hate group responsible for the murders made it hard to put down.

Harrison is still going strong with this series, and I wish I did not have to wait over a year for the next one to come out!

4 stars for the book but one for the fact that they published it "with bonus material". One thing I love about the kindle is that when I'm browsing and buying books it will not let me mess up and buy the same book twice. It will tell me that I already have it. When I saw this release I thought it was a NEW release as in a new book not the old book with new material.

I clicked on it, it allowed me to buy it and then I started reading. I kept thinking... I thought this already happened. Finally I started skipping ahead and realized I had read this book. So nice one guys - you got some more money out of me by putting out the same book twice.

Right now you're looking at that star rating and thinking what on earth happened. And that's a fair question. I was over-the-moon excited for A Perfect Blood. The longer running the series, the more often we see waning character growth or tired plots, but I was sure The Hollows series was free of a shift into banality after reading Pale Demon. As a matter of fact, the last Hollows book was one of my favorites in the series and pivotal.

A Perfect Blood does not carry on the series growth in the way Pale Demon did. It misses the wry humor -- though some of Jenks' swearing is excellent this round -- and Rachel has taken an emotional step back. Some of her inner turmoil is to be expected. She's now a demon, and doing her damnedest to hide from the demon collective. By using charmed silver, she's able to shut off her connection to their magic. Only that stunts her abilities, too.

Humans are being mutilated in ways that look to be demonic. Both Interlander and human agencies suspect Rachel, the only known demon on this side of the Ever After. They agree to let her, Ivy and Jenks in on the operations to catch the people behind it with the condition that if she doesn't do so, they'll just pin the whole thing on her.

The plot twists were clever enough. Quickly we learn a hate group is behind the acts, but that only further complicates things. Without the ability to use her magic to act, she's getting beat up more and needing to rely on physical abilities much more. It's nice to see Rachel kick some ass, but also painful to see her miss what a reader sees as obvious clues.

The book isn't bad, but I more slogged through it than read it. Typically, Hollows books are a single-sitting read for me, but A Perfect Blood took a week. With identity issues and conflicted feelings about Trent (lots of thoughts about their one shared kiss juxtaposed to remembering Kisten) regresses much of Rachel's recent emotional growth, especially in regards to Ivy.

I'm willing to call A Perfect Blood a breather book and keep my fingers crossed the next book will have her back on track, accepting her demon nature and maybe giving Trent a proper chance.

I have faithfully read every book in Kim Harrison's The Hollows series. I fell in love with the series while reading chapter one of book one. While, truthfully, the last couple of books lagged a bit for me, I won't stop reading til I know how Rachel finds happiness.

I didn't have the highest hopes for A Perfect Blood. I truly didn't. The more I read, the deeper into the story I got, the more excited I became. Rachel Morgan is BACK!

I won't write a synopsis for you because most other reviewers have. I won't give you any spoilers except to say FINALLY!!!

What I will say is: I love Trent and am so glad to see where Ms. Harrison took his character in A Perfect Blood. SO GLAD! I loved seeing everyone's growth, including Rachel's. My love for The Hollows series has been renewed. I look forward to the next installment and will re-read A Perfect Blood to savor it a second time.

sure i read the criticisms on this book. anything following the most excellent Pale Demon might be pale in comparison... but for UF in general no one does it better than Harrison.

Rachel is forced to put on her big girl pants and realize that with great power comes great responsiblity. what more could one ask for with already so many books behind her. This is good stuff.

so you are dissappointed with the romance storyline? i say ... she wasnt ready for a big girl romance yet ... but maybe for the next book.

this book definately seems to mark a transition period for Rachel. but you know what? it is always like visiting with an old friend. you get to catch up with all the gossip and hear entertaining stories.

i feel that these books get better and better. just dont expect the crazy chaos of the last book.

A Perfect Blood is the newest installment in The Hollows series and my first foray with Rachel Morgan. Not quite knowing what to expect, I was pleased to find a multi-layered, often humorous and very human story- a far cry from a lot of what floods the UF market.

A clandestine, human-based extremist group wants to create their own fifth column of demons to eliminate all paranormals, and they need Rachel's blood to do so. This fanatical gambit puts everything she knows and everyone she loves at risk, forcing our girl to make some hard choices. Other paranormal organizations like the I.S. and F.I.B. are even forced to lay aside old animosities in the face of this very real threat.

The first scene was pretty funny and drew me in immediately; no one ever thinks of a demon/witch/whatever having such mundane problems as getting a new driver's license... and being refused on the grounds that they've been declared dead ("Are you dead? If you're not dead, you should go back to the Social Security Office..."). Good stuff.

Characterizations were very well done and felt natural. Rachel's interactions with her friends, loved ones and potential lovers never seemed phony or forced- these were people whose bonds were forged beyond blood, and it showed.

The layering of the sub-plots reminded me a lot of Babylon 5, where everything had meaning and was relevant to the tale- something a lot of UF/PNR writers tend to miss in their haste to be sexy and edgy. Authors must also tell a story and there needs to be consequences to one's actions other than possibly losing out on a bedmate or three *cough*-Laurell Hamilton-*cough*. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any sexual tension and there's enough here between certain characters that made me want to see what could happen between them.

Since I was new to all this, it was a daunting read at times but a pretty enjoyable one. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got the other 9 books in the series to do some catching up with.

The last few books in the Hollows series, while good, got away from what made the adventures of Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks so enjoyable: a central mystery that built on the characters' growth and development. I certainly don't knock the last few books for being boring, because they weren't, but they were bogged down by a lack of character development. A Perfect Blood reminds us of the earlier novels. We not only have a great mystery that is, at times, both frightening and exciting to read about, but we also have development in the characters. Each of them seems to be moving forward in interesting ways. Some of that moving forward is be going in a direction readers have both wanted and long waited for; in other instances it was completely unexpected.

The central plot involves a string a brutal and sadistic witch killings that brings Rachel back into the fold of the I.S. and under the thumb of a very powerful and old vampire. This plot is probably one of the best mysteries in a very long time for this series. Not only is it an interesting story but exciting from the first minute to the last with many twists and turns along the way.

Of course, no Rachel Morgan novel would be complete without an appearance by everyone's favorite 5,000-year-old demon, Al. Unfortunately, Al appears in only a small portion of the novel, but as usual he's his hilarious and frightening self. I especially enjoyed the final, hilarious pages of the novel.

For fans of Rachel Morgan and the Hollows series A Perfect Blood is a great addition to the overall story. Best of all, it leaves the characters in interesting places that will allow Kim Harrison to expand her series even more.

This book is a part of a large series, and the first thing I must say is that as the books progress, I do not find myself tiring of Rachel Morgan or her band of misfits. There are series I've read that after the 5th book, I grow tired of the same repetitive plots or the lack of growth regarding the main character. That is not the case for this series. No matter how much time passes, I always find myself returning the Hollows.

A Perfect Blood is the 10th book in the series and I love that Rachel is now beginning to accept herself for who she is. What’s more, I enjoyed that her sidekicks, Ivy (living vamp) and Jenks (pixie) are also accepting who she is. While they still care for her, I found them less controlling and demanding in this book. Their partnership really shone in this book as opposed to past ones where I wanted to throttle Ivy. It was also refreshing to see Trent and Morgan settle into an amicable relationship. I enjoyed when he called her out, demanding to know why she was always angry with him. After ten books, there’s only so much of that you can read, so witnessing Morgan come to grips with that and consciously make changes was a nice change of pace.

As for the overall plot, I enjoyed the serial aspect of it (don’t want to give it away for anyone that might stumble upon this review). While there were classic mystery and suspense themes, Kim Harrison still made it her own by tossing in a little demonic twist.

I must say, I’m excited to get to Ever After and The Undead Pool if only to see what happens with Trent and Rachel. Considering I loathed the elf in the beginning books, I’m impressed that the author has managed to sway me toward him. Most appreciative is that she didn’t change him all in one book. Ceri and the girls have been a great influence in his life, just as Morgan has—though whether hers is a good one or not has yet to be seen.

Definitely a great read, I devoured every word. It kept me up until all hours of the night, and even though I’m falling asleep at my work desk, it was worth it. A fantastic series that I recommend to anyone who enjoys Urban Fantasy.

A body is found gruesomely deformed, the crime scene points to a ritual having been performed. The method and the body seem to point to Rachel or at least she will be the one blamed if the culprit is not caught. Evidence seems to point to a radical group that would like to eliminate all Inderlanders. As Rachel races to find the suspects and prevent any other deaths, she also struggles to come to acceptance of who and what she is...the end result is a page turning read.

This was the first time I have read Kim Harrison and though Perfect Blood is the 10th in a series the book still stands as a single read as well. Kim does well in developing not only our lead character but all the supporting characters as well blending it in a way that brings all the characters to life and endearing.

Though this isn't for all ages or readers i would highly recommend this to those who enjoy a good paranormal suspense.

I really like The Hollows, and I'm giving this book 3 stars because I got to meet again some beloved characters.
This said, it seems to me that the author, in this book, opens lots of threads just to leave them hanging.
*SPOILERS*
Rachel is afraid to take off the silver bracelet that blocks her magic and hides her from the demons for most part of the book, because she foresees enslavement, persecution by enraged demons, immediate killing at the hands of Al. Then she takes off the d**n bracelet, offers retribution to Al, everybody is happy again and Bob's your uncle.
She makes so much fuss about having her pack tattoo made that you get convinced that this tattoo will have a great importance, somehow. When at least she gets the tattoo, instead, her Alpha is satisfied and everybody congratulates her. Period.
She acquires a bodyguard, and she has several confrontations with him about his skill as such, at the end of which usually one of the two goes away sulking. NOT ONE TIME, in all the book, this maddening character is by her side in a situation of danger: she is beaten, kidnapped, secluded and he's nowhere to be seen.
She spends half of the book sadly remembering the dead vampire boyfriend, and the other half having in presence of Trent Kalamack the behaviour of a high school girl. He looked at me! (blush) He touched my hand! (blush) OMG, how could I touch his face!!! (blush, blush!!) Ohhh, I remember when he kissed me! (lust, lust!!).
Where is the adult, tough Rachel?
Well. I just hope that all these hints will be developed, maybe in the next book...

Wow book ten...

For a while there I was getting quite concerned that Harrison's Hollow series was running itself into the ground. I always enjoy Rachel Morgan adventures, however it seemed each book was getting more and more cluttered with side plots and half-baked romantic interests.

This was not the case with Perfect Blood. Yes there were a few romantic interests, but things seemed a bit more streamlined, and the main plotline also received the majority of the page-time. The main-plotline by the way, was pretty bad-ass; witches are showing up around Cin-city brutally mutated into caricatures of demons, and Morgan is both a key suspect and a target of the true villians.

I only have one criticism, the first is not something that usually bothers me, but the editing errors in Perfect Blood knocked me out of the story on a couple of occasions. (especially when characters grow different names for a paragraph or two)

Perfect Blood is one of the better Hollow's instalments, and the ending will leave you crying out in horror, demanding the next book in the series now!

Book # 10 in the series and the plot and characters are still fresh and exciting. Kim Harrison brings us another edge of the seat thriller. I was enthralled by every page unable to stop thinking about it.
Rachel our little Demon Witch has found herself in a new pickle. She is being hunted. A radical group of haters out to rid the world of non-humans, is torturing and mutilating special types. Junks,Ivy,Trent and several others try to keep her out of danger. They try really hard, unfortunately, That is not an easy task.
Trent really steps forward in this story. He is busy raising his two daughters and building a safe home for them while running his company. He is there for Rachel, leaving her doubts floundering. They develop a new understanding, talking things through. Perhaps there is a future without hate between them ?
This was a transitional book, relationships are changed. Environments are altered and a level of understanding is finally found. The next book looks like a new horizon for Rachel and her friends. I am looking forward to reading their new paths.

I like the Kim Harrison series, really, but... Book 10 was interesting, however, with too much frustration, being somewhat repetitive, and a little out of control.

To me, Rachel comes off a bit juvenile, and even incompetent... seems like the author is not up to form in this episode. Ms. Morgan corrects others several times with the repetitive directive to 'Get it right!', sounding stuck in a pet-slang loop. She also seems inexperienced... using unchecked weapons, missing approximately 5 out of 6 times in first major battle, and just about sidelined throughout the rest. After 9 books of greater experience, she seems amateurish here, along with other lapses.

And the introduction of a bodyguard, doesn't work as a foil to enhance Rachel's 'professionalism'... it actually does the opposite, particularly when she beats him up. The bodyguard is made to stand outside all conflicts... apparently he's only good as a companion for trivial interludes, such as a trip to the coffeeshop. If Ms. Morgan had a serious conflict with the bodyguard, one would think she would simply fire him in a huge argument... just because he was 'hired' by her birth-father, doesn't provide enough assumption of authority to him, that Rachel should have to beat him senseless. The author seems to trivialize the beating to -unconsciousness- when the bodyguard was already down... without a real justification, or anger build-up. Other more serious past antagonists have been treated better. Maybe it's an example of both Were hostility and Demon taint overtaking her, but I can't see the bodyguard reasonably willing to continue his employment, nor a lack of serious displeasure by her parents, in the next book.

Then, of course, the foes are never completely down... maybe that's why Rachel beats the bodyguard until he's 'out'. And no one seems able to properly incapacitate an unconscious prisoner. An unknown charm should have been followed up with a "splat" gun tag... a dangerous human should have been bound hand and foot, a magic wielder should have been gagged. The bad guys have better control of her.

Book 10 just seems a bit sloppy, shallow... even Al loses his viciousness.... all the build up to his insanely violent reaction to finding her alive just leads to a simple discussion. And Rachel, while struggling appropriately with her demonhood, seems pathetic in skills and actions, and over-sexed besides, lusting after every male of more than passing acquaintance.

All in all, a good book. (HuH???) No, I'm disappointed with A Perfect Blood. Hopefully it's a minor stumbling interstitial to a renewed focus in the next novel... but this time, the author seems distracted.

In urban fantasy, human beings are usually the pathetic losers - we don't get any cool supernatural powers that witches, werewolves or vampires get, and we're usually depicted as ineffectual racists. At best, we're just oblivious.

Kim Harrison is among the few authors to tackle the subject with any real depth. "A Perfect Blood" is a smart, witty, fast-paced book where a small but clever cabal of humans humans are the enemy. While the plot gets a little bogged down in Rachel's woes as a new demon, the main plot is tense, taut, and genuinely scary at times.

Rachel is furiously treading water in the government bureaucracy when an old, powerful vampire (via a young one named Nina) offers her a deal -- if she helps solve a bizarre crime, he will arrange for her to be declared "alive" again.

But the crime is more than merely strange: a young man who was ritually murdered, and partly transformed into a hideous beast-man. Even worse, he's not the first. Rachel realizes that someone was trying to transform him into a demon. And the perpetrators seem to be HAPA (Humans Against Paranormals Association), a hate group that wants to destroy all Inderlanders, and is now using magic to do it.

And since Rachel's demon blood makes her a huge blinking target, she begins worrying about the people she cares for -- and what will happen if she finally removes the elven bracelet. But soon she begins to realize that has members hidden in the IS and/or FIB -- and everyone around her might have their own agenda. To keep herself and her friends safe, she might have to trust

I honestly have developed a leetle pet peeve at how humans are depicted in urban fantasy -- usually it's as frothing racists who have no chance against the overpowered supernaturals, but for some reason they're able to oppress the poor Metaphorical Minorities. Ugh.

"A Perfect Blood" is one of the few that DOESN'T annoy me. It's tightly written, burning with dark intensity and filled with taut action scenes and some genuinely scary foes. The scariness of HAPA is not just that they're fanatics using magic, but that they're SMART. And, well, that the authorities don't want to acknowledge that they exist.

With such an intense plot, Kim Harrison spends a lot of time weaving dark plot threads and spidery twists into the story. But she also includes some of her trademark wit and humor (Jenks' stormy love life with Belle) and some touching moments (Rachel has Kisten's pool table refelted), and some genuinely suspenseful mysteries (who is Felix?). The one downside is that for some chapters, the HAPA crisis gets shoved on the back burner so Trent and Rachel can deal with her demon problems.

Rachel spends most of this book being crippled by her fears and her denial of her new demon nature -- and she won't be able to trounce HAPA unless she overcomes them both. And her relationship with Trent is growing by leaps and bounds. While she still doesn't fully trust him, Rachel is starting to see that the stately elf is not the monster she once thought he was, and that he might feel more than friendship for her. It's actually rather cute, in a Lizzie-and-Darcy way.

"A Perfect Blood" isn't quite perfect, but it's close enough to be one of the best books in Kim Harrison's series yet. It's dark and intense, but threaded liberally with humor and a tinge of romance.

** Some Spoilers **

20% into the book: I'm getting a really bad feeling. 20% in and all we've established is that Rachel is making poor choices, even though everyone is advising her otherwise. She is hearing their advice and ignoring it, deciding she doesn't want to comply when she is pushed. This is not the plotline I had hoped for.

65% into the book: After what felt like an eternity (boo hoo, woe is me, I'm scared of demons, Trent looks hot!, etc, repeat ad nauseam),Rachel finally gets her mojo back. I cannot believe it has taken 65% of the book to get to this point but I'm excited we're finally gonna see some of Rachel's demon skills. Yay! Now she can go kick some bad guy butt. After all, when she was captured, she realized how much she could do to her captors if only she had her demonic powers, and now it's time for payback. So, she preps by...making charms and filling her splat gun. Huh? What happened to all those powerful demon curses she used in the past? Forgotten? In her battle with Eloy, the best she can do is put herself into a circle? Really? What about her ability to freeze someone with a word (mentioned on page 277)? That would have been handy, but no, all she does is cower, duck, and make circles faster than a speeding bullet. Hmm.

92% into the book: Apparently the FIB and IS guys are useless, so Rachel will finally get to take down the bad guys after she and Trent find them at Junior's. Oops, no, wait, Rachel is also completely ineffective so Trent steps in to save her. Again.

Sigh. This book was sloppy and forgettable, with way too much stupidity and incompetence, not to mention excessive amounts of angst over Trent. I don't have a problem with the never-before-mentioned HAPA. Sometimes you have to introduce a new idea and it is completely believable that there would be such a hate group. But did I miss how the bad guy humans were able to steal large pieces of equipment from Trent's high security facility, leaving only a cleaned light fixture as a clue? If you create a mysterious circumstance, you have to resolve it! It reminds me of the old cartoon with two scientists trying to solve a complex equation, and they finally write `Then a miracle happens' as the missing link.

I've loved all of the Hollows books, particularly Pale Demon, which was fabulous. I even re-read Pale Demon to get myself into a "Hollows" state of mind before sitting down to enjoy A Perfect Blood, assuming the story would continue with Rachel developing her demon skills and relationships even more. What a horrible disappointment. It's as if Charlaine Harris, Laurell Hamilton and Janet Evanovich all gave Kim Harrison advice on how to ruin your main character.

I recently recommended this series to a friend and he is just now finishing book 6. I think I will advise him to skip book 10 completely. Assuming there is a book 11 someday, will he really miss anything if he doesn't read A Perfect Blood? I don't think so. He should save his money.

This is one of my favorite series, and one of the ones I look forward to reading the most. When I was able to get an advanced copy, I was so excited! A Perfect Blood was a great book, but not as a good as the last one where Ivy, Jenks, and Rachel went on a road trip with Trent. This one started off slow and two of the new characters, Nina and Wayde, were not my favorites. However, it started getting more exciting and was as entertaining as usual when I got halfway through it.

In A Perfect Blood, Rachel is unable to perform magic due the bracelet Trent gave her in the last book, which prevents Al from finding her. Being so helpless makes her insecure and depressed, and Ivy and Jenks moving on with their lives intensifies her depression. A string of gruesome murders are committed by a group that hates non-humans, and Rachel tries to help solve the murders with Nina, a living vampire that is being controlled by a mysterious master vampire.

Nina/Master Vampire bored me. He/she constantly hit on Rachel (of course) and had to constantly try to get touchy-feely at the crime scenes. He/she was just a predictable pervy, old vampire. The beginning of the book just consisted of Rachel going to crime scenes, waiting around, getting hit on by the vampire, arguing with a nagging Wayde, then going home without having learned much. There was a lot of apologizing on Rachel's part throughout the book, which seemed weirdly submissive for her, and Trent was not in the beginning much either.

Eventually, the book did pick up and got exciting. Rachel started acting more like herself and got more confidence, Nina/Master Vampire and boring Wayde were featured less in the last half, while Trent had a bigger role. Trent is always entertaining and the plot of finding and capturing the hate group responsible for the murders made it hard to put down.

Harrison is still going strong with this series, and I wish I did not have to wait over a year for the next one to come out!

4 stars for the book but one for the fact that they published it "with bonus material". One thing I love about the kindle is that when I'm browsing and buying books it will not let me mess up and buy the same book twice. It will tell me that I already have it. When I saw this release I thought it was a NEW release as in a new book not the old book with new material.

I clicked on it, it allowed me to buy it and then I started reading. I kept thinking... I thought this already happened. Finally I started skipping ahead and realized I had read this book. So nice one guys - you got some more money out of me by putting out the same book twice.

Right now you're looking at that star rating and thinking what on earth happened. And that's a fair question. I was over-the-moon excited for A Perfect Blood. The longer running the series, the more often we see waning character growth or tired plots, but I was sure The Hollows series was free of a shift into banality after reading Pale Demon. As a matter of fact, the last Hollows book was one of my favorites in the series and pivotal.

A Perfect Blood does not carry on the series growth in the way Pale Demon did. It misses the wry humor -- though some of Jenks' swearing is excellent this round -- and Rachel has taken an emotional step back. Some of her inner turmoil is to be expected. She's now a demon, and doing her damnedest to hide from the demon collective. By using charmed silver, she's able to shut off her connection to their magic. Only that stunts her abilities, too.

Humans are being mutilated in ways that look to be demonic. Both Interlander and human agencies suspect Rachel, the only known demon on this side of the Ever After. They agree to let her, Ivy and Jenks in on the operations to catch the people behind it with the condition that if she doesn't do so, they'll just pin the whole thing on her.

The plot twists were clever enough. Quickly we learn a hate group is behind the acts, but that only further complicates things. Without the ability to use her magic to act, she's getting beat up more and needing to rely on physical abilities much more. It's nice to see Rachel kick some ass, but also painful to see her miss what a reader sees as obvious clues.

The book isn't bad, but I more slogged through it than read it. Typically, Hollows books are a single-sitting read for me, but A Perfect Blood took a week. With identity issues and conflicted feelings about Trent (lots of thoughts about their one shared kiss juxtaposed to remembering Kisten) regresses much of Rachel's recent emotional growth, especially in regards to Ivy.

I'm willing to call A Perfect Blood a breather book and keep my fingers crossed the next book will have her back on track, accepting her demon nature and maybe giving Trent a proper chance.

I have faithfully read every book in Kim Harrison's The Hollows series. I fell in love with the series while reading chapter one of book one. While, truthfully, the last couple of books lagged a bit for me, I won't stop reading til I know how Rachel finds happiness.

I didn't have the highest hopes for A Perfect Blood. I truly didn't. The more I read, the deeper into the story I got, the more excited I became. Rachel Morgan is BACK!

I won't write a synopsis for you because most other reviewers have. I won't give you any spoilers except to say FINALLY!!!

What I will say is: I love Trent and am so glad to see where Ms. Harrison took his character in A Perfect Blood. SO GLAD! I loved seeing everyone's growth, including Rachel's. My love for The Hollows series has been renewed. I look forward to the next installment and will re-read A Perfect Blood to savor it a second time.

sure i read the criticisms on this book. anything following the most excellent Pale Demon might be pale in comparison... but for UF in general no one does it better than Harrison.

Rachel is forced to put on her big girl pants and realize that with great power comes great responsiblity. what more could one ask for with already so many books behind her. This is good stuff.

so you are dissappointed with the romance storyline? i say ... she wasnt ready for a big girl romance yet ... but maybe for the next book.

this book definately seems to mark a transition period for Rachel. but you know what? it is always like visiting with an old friend. you get to catch up with all the gossip and hear entertaining stories.

i feel that these books get better and better. just dont expect the crazy chaos of the last book.

A Perfect Blood is the newest installment in The Hollows series and my first foray with Rachel Morgan. Not quite knowing what to expect, I was pleased to find a multi-layered, often humorous and very human story- a far cry from a lot of what floods the UF market.

A clandestine, human-based extremist group wants to create their own fifth column of demons to eliminate all paranormals, and they need Rachel's blood to do so. This fanatical gambit puts everything she knows and everyone she loves at risk, forcing our girl to make some hard choices. Other paranormal organizations like the I.S. and F.I.B. are even forced to lay aside old animosities in the face of this very real threat.

The first scene was pretty funny and drew me in immediately; no one ever thinks of a demon/witch/whatever having such mundane problems as getting a new driver's license... and being refused on the grounds that they've been declared dead ("Are you dead? If you're not dead, you should go back to the Social Security Office..."). Good stuff.

Characterizations were very well done and felt natural. Rachel's interactions with her friends, loved ones and potential lovers never seemed phony or forced- these were people whose bonds were forged beyond blood, and it showed.

The layering of the sub-plots reminded me a lot of Babylon 5, where everything had meaning and was relevant to the tale- something a lot of UF/PNR writers tend to miss in their haste to be sexy and edgy. Authors must also tell a story and there needs to be consequences to one's actions other than possibly losing out on a bedmate or three *cough*-Laurell Hamilton-*cough*. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any sexual tension and there's enough here between certain characters that made me want to see what could happen between them.

Since I was new to all this, it was a daunting read at times but a pretty enjoyable one. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got the other 9 books in the series to do some catching up with.

The last few books in the Hollows series, while good, got away from what made the adventures of Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks so enjoyable: a central mystery that built on the characters' growth and development. I certainly don't knock the last few books for being boring, because they weren't, but they were bogged down by a lack of character development. A Perfect Blood reminds us of the earlier novels. We not only have a great mystery that is, at times, both frightening and exciting to read about, but we also have development in the characters. Each of them seems to be moving forward in interesting ways. Some of that moving forward is be going in a direction readers have both wanted and long waited for; in other instances it was completely unexpected.

The central plot involves a string a brutal and sadistic witch killings that brings Rachel back into the fold of the I.S. and under the thumb of a very powerful and old vampire. This plot is probably one of the best mysteries in a very long time for this series. Not only is it an interesting story but exciting from the first minute to the last with many twists and turns along the way.

Of course, no Rachel Morgan novel would be complete without an appearance by everyone's favorite 5,000-year-old demon, Al. Unfortunately, Al appears in only a small portion of the novel, but as usual he's his hilarious and frightening self. I especially enjoyed the final, hilarious pages of the novel.

For fans of Rachel Morgan and the Hollows series A Perfect Blood is a great addition to the overall story. Best of all, it leaves the characters in interesting places that will allow Kim Harrison to expand her series even more.

**Minor spoilers**

Stayed up 'till 1 just to finish. I had my initial doubts about this book because The Hollows series has always had its ups and down, but Harrison scored a home run with A Perfect Blood.

I won't discuss any major spoilers, but I will say that the first third of the book does chug by at a slow pace. Once the plot picks up, it makes up for it (and more!) with some genuinely frightening scenes, great action, and true growth from Rachel.

I also felt that Harrison was wrapping up some final threads left over from previous novels. Kistin's pool table, Marshall, and finally getting her ware tattoo. (Do you remember that she's supposed to be an Alpha of a pack on top of everything else? It slipped my mind too.)

And of course, as a Rachel/Trent fan, I was quietly satisfied. I'll say no more.

Excellent book, nearly flawless except for the slowness towards the front and Wayde who, while was an interesting character... I couldn't figure out a reason why he was there. He didn't add or subtract anything to the plot. He felt like filler.

Still, I closed the book late last night a very happy reader. I felt totally immersed and I know the wait for the next book will be a long one. Five stars!

I enjoy all of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan books in some form or another. They are by far one of my favorite series. Unfortunately, A PERFECT BLOOD was not one of my favorites. This book begins with Rachel being called to a murder scene where a man is strung up in a gazebo, turned into some monstrosity of half human half goat. Members of Humans Against Paranormals (HAPA) are searching for demon blood that can be used to twist curses to eventually wipe out all Interlanders. Rachel, having recently come out of the closet as a demon, is being called out by HAPA as she has "A Perfect Blood" for inhuman purposes. Wearing the silver bracelet Trent gave her in Pale Demon that prohibits here from tapping a ley line and accessing her demon/witch magic, Rachel must now be on her guard against the possible kidnapping from HAPA.

We have our usual cast of characters, Jenks, Ivy, Trent, Al and a new cast member who was hired by her father to be Rachel's bodyguard, Wayde. I think this book kept more in keeping with the earlier books. Rachel investigating and getting help from her friends. There wasn't as much action and Rachel really did some boneheaded things in this book. Number one, she refuses to get the Were tattoo that David wants his Alpha to have and then she finally gives in, has it done, then complains about why it took her so long and why did she wait? That whole part was just frustrating! She finally removes her silver bracelet but resorts back to using her Sleepy Time Charms. She is a demon with demon curses but she's using her splat gun and charms as if she's still a witch. The bad guys kick her butt more than once and in the end it's really Trent who saves her. I didn't feel that Rachel really lived up to her potential in this book. This book was all about Rachel moving forward, from her relationship to Ivy and Jenks, to admitting she is a demon, to a new found trust for Trent. I love Trent, always have and always felt Rachel should be with him. He's the only one who has ever truly understood her.

All in all, each book is worth reading just because I love the characters so much. This book is worth your time, it just wasn't a favorite of mine.

Pale Demon left us with a slightly damaged Rachel having been through hell and back keeping the world together from demons, when the real world was at the same time slamming her for her heritage and abilities. APB shows us a side of Rachel that is frightened of the world coming down around her with the release of her designation as a demon and even getting her driver's license is brings about trouble. Money woes are down, but home woes are up and soon to be getting harder to handle as her pack Alpha David is waiting for Rachel to man up and get her pack tattoo while also putting her under bodyguard security since demons are not so welcome above ground as Rachel soon finds out. When authorities come looking for help and to lay blame, Rachel soon finds herself in the middle of not only an agency war, but a growing threat to all supernaturals from an extremist group bent on eradicating anything less than human.

Trent makes appearances that are just plain cozy and smoking hot, so the tension is building there and it is great for Rachel to experience a few slices of cherry pie happiness.

Ivy strives to keep Rachel alive with all of the danger and deceit while also falling for Glenn and then finding herself in trouble with vamps and her liaisons.

A Perfect Blood was just that, freaking perfect for me. I loved that there were many times tidied up in the book while keeping up with plot twist and action that are so inherit in the Hallows series.
The book was fast past and action packed keeping me on the edge of the page. As the story progressed throughout the book and the dangers piled up I thoroughly enjoyed the snark and wit in the character exchanges

Like many Hollows fans I pre-ordered A Perfect Blood and was counting down the days till its release. I was anxious to get my hands on it and stayed up Monday night just to download it promptly at 12:01. I just wanted to read a few pages; such was my anticipation. It took me three sessions to complete this novel, as the gods and life worked against me. Now that I've finished, I am glad because I had a chance to savor it. Now I find myself, stuck right back where I was on Monday...waiting for the next Hollows release..sheesh. A Perfect Blood, had a blended feel of earlier novels and newer ones as Rachel dealt with being a demon and spent much of the novel with limited powers. As always I loved my trip back to the Hollows.

The tale begins with Rachel, a declared demon, trying to gain status as a citizen; well get her car registered. She is wearing the bracelet Trent gave her, and basically has no more power than an earth witch. While it protects her from the entire demon collective and keeps Al from dragging her to the ever-after, it is pitiful to see Rachel like this. She feels stuck and feels like Ivy and Jenks are moving forward. She has a bodyguard, courtesy of Daddy. A delicious werewolf named Wayde and even without all of her powers she is still quite capable of getting in trouble and driving him crazy. While at the DMV she is paged and taken to a back office. She meets a living vampire who asks her to take a seat and then proceeds to be inhabited by a very old Master Vampire. He wants Rachel's to help the I.S. department. Someone is abducting witches and using demon magic on them. Rachel immediately agrees but only if, he gets her car registration taken care of. Rachel is first suspected of committing these crimes, and asked to produce a list of curses that she is capable of performing as a demon. Rachel calls Glenn and the FIB when she sees evidence that this might be a crime involving HAPA (A human hate group). The first part of the book progresses at a slower clip, as Rachel contemplates life without magic, has mini-pity-parties and works to solve the case. The second half of the book is non-stop action and left me breathless. No filler words here my Hollow loving peeps. Tons of twist, trickery, traitors and secret groups will have you turning the pages. Rachel as always finds herself in trouble, kicks butt and never ceases to surprise anyone..even herself.

I love Harrison's characters and many make an appearance along with a few new ones. Trent is back, a softer Trent, a happier Trent. An elf who is embracing his magic. Is that hearts I see in Rachel's eyes? Harrison weaves their stories closer together in this novel and makes Rachel see him in a somewhat different light. It is almost magical, like perhaps this was Harrison's vision all along. Eek gads she is wickedly good. What we also see in this novel is a lot of character growth. While Rachel still (and always will) rushes into things, she is getting better and actually made plans. She, listens (well some of the time) and is starting to think things through and see the bigger picture. Ivy is finding peace and acceptance and Jenk's is surviving the loss of his wife. David makes an appearance and he and Rachel make peace about her position in the pack. Trent has a lot of character growth and I loved it. Our beloved AL puts in an appearance or two...is it freaky that I love that little demon. We meet Ella, the young living vamp, who is possessed by the Master Vampire and Dr. Cordova and FIB agent you will love to hate. We also meet a witch, named Winona, who is held prisoner and befriended by Rachel. I really liked Winona, she is clever, witty and one brave cookie. Daryl is back and living with Glenn and we learn a little more about her.

A Perfect Blood was incredibly slow at times. What happened to the big bad witch? Where did she go? Rachel wasn't Rachel in this book. I understand that she's been branded a demon and is dealing with the fallout but she's far from helpless though she certainly seems to think she is. If she feels so helpless why doesn't she ask for help instead of pushing everyone away or running away from them?

A new to the series organization known as HAPA is killing witches and trying to turn them into demons. They are trying to find a way to wipe out all Inderlanders and Rachel has the perfect blood for them to do that. Instead of following her friend's advice, staying out of the way and protecting herself and in turn keeping her blood out of the enemies hands she runs right into the action and ends up suffering the consequences yet again. Been there and done that. How many times is Rachel going to run off half-cocked and get herself in trouble?

I liked the addition of Wayde even though Rachel treated him horribly. It would've been nice to know how he was at the end of the book instead of just leaving us guessing he's okay. Though painfully drawn out I like that Trent and Rachel seem to be heading in a new, more trusting direction. Jenks was highly entertaining as always and offered many hilarious moments. He and his potty mouth crack me up.

My thoughts on Ivy... Ivy has always been my favorite character in The Hollows and throughout the series Rachel has fought her attraction to Ivy and chalked it up to being nothing but her response to Ivy's vamp nature. Ivy has always been open about her feelings for Rachel. She wants more but will take what she can get. Ivy has never known true happiness and I want that for her. In Pale Demon my hopes were squashed when Rachel finally realized that she and Ivy will only ever be friends. Then in A Perfect Blood Rachel mentions a few times that Ivy looks sexy but oh we can't be together. Why the hell not? Rachel is jealous of Ivy moving on? WTF? Isn't that what she wanted? She doesn't want Ivy so why all the confusion? I found this irritating. Throughout the series I have wanted them together and now I'm not sure. Rachel is so indecisive and irrational and I think Ivy needs stable. Rachel is far from that.

So how will The Hollows end? Rachel's a demon fighting for rights and she still has her team and other friends supporting her. Will she ever grow up and realize how important those friends are or keep questioning their motives until she loses her shot at happiness? I hope that she gets her happily ever after but at this point I don't feel that she deserves happiness with either Trent or Ivy. She still has a lot of growing up to do. I'm just afraid it can't all be pulled together in one book and am hoping that Kim Harrison proves me wrong.

There were many things that irritated me but A Perfect Blood did have good moments. As far as the series goes it was weak but I still liked it. I look forward to reading the final book, Ever After and really hope the series goes out with a bang instead of a whimper.

Rachel is still trying to come to terms with being a demon. She let Trent put charmed silver on her after saving her soul in the last book. After being kidnapped and put in a cage...again. She escapes only to realize how helpless she is without her magic. She is staying the same trying to figure out her life and feels like Ivy and Jenks are moving on without her. She helps to Catch the Bad guys whether they want her help or not. I enjoyed this book!

I'm a big fan of this series [I listen from Audible] because I am fascinated by the central conflict over Rachel's identity and whether what you are can make you inherently good or evil despite your actions and intent. That conflict is advanced in this book and the plot and the new bad guys caught me immediately. And, the ending leaves room for many different sequel possibilities.
On the negative side, I think Harrison needs a more aggressive editor; there is a lot of repetition of Rachel's angsty feelings and some of the action scenes are so drawn out as to be exasperating; there's simply too much detail and some of it could be cut out without destroying the suspense. But overall, a good 'listen' and I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Great series. I love the fact that Harrison shows growth in the characters. The heroine, Rachel, has matured even more by accepting her demon background, yet still holds true to her morals even if the lines have shifted. The story does not revolve around the romance like many paranormal books today, but focuses on the crime that needs to be solved. There is a budding romance (only budding) romance that continues to develop between Rachel and Trent. The best part about the romance is Jenks teasing.

Rachel is called to a horrible crime scene and has to work between the IS and FIB in order to solve it or be accused of causing it. She is less clumsy in her detecting, but still rushes in regardless of her well-being.

Harrison introduces two new characters that definitely have future potential.

1.5 stars actually. I've had to force myself to read this book. It's the same thing every book; Rachel gets in trouble, somebody bails her out and Rachel doesn't learn a damn thing! You'd think after this many books the character would develop. NO! She's the same idiot from the first book. There is nothing appealing about a character that DOESN'T LEARN FROM HER MISTAKES! Oh sure she does a lot of whining & boohoo about her past mistakes but she hasn't learned from them one bit. I kept racking my brain trying to figure out who Daryl is because the name was familiar. Wrong, he wasn't because I haven't read the anthology Unbound. It's really annoying for the author to assume that readers have read the anthologies and throws in a character from there. Extremely annoying. I'm not sure if I'm giving up on Rachel or not, I haven't made my decision but if she's the same twit in the next book I'm pretty damn sure I won't finish it.

In the latest Rachel Morgan book from Kim Harrison, we have a new mystery. Witches are being kidnapped and killed and once again the I.S. wants to pin the crime on Rachel. This books sees her working with both the I.S. and the FIB in an attempt to keep her name clear and force the two agencies to work together. The story comes with plenty of drama and action as our heroine races to keep the last kidnapping victim from becoming the next body they find.
I found it both riveting and slightly disappointing. After everything that happened in 'Pale Demon', I was expecting some really progression of the relationship of Rachel and Trent- though there is some new and refreshing playfulness between them- and something more from Al when he finds her alive. The story was quite interesting, but I felt she fell short where characters were concerned. Personalities where not as strong- she made Rachel whiney and more cowardly than I feel is acceptable, Al is basically a harmless puppy, and it was almost completely about Rachel, her fears, and her were bodygard... Where were the scenes with Ivy, with Jenks? Sure they make some small appearances, and there's the mandatory 'Jenks being mouthy' scenes, but they don't have any parts with real depth to them and Rachel. While Rachel finally has some character growth, it seems it's a little to late, as everyone is apparently moving on without her. It's good to see her finally grow up a little, but this book feels more like a set up for the next as opposed to having any real story progression.
Overall, it's enjoyable, but doesn't hold up to some of her previous work in my opinion.

Rachel oh Rachel. When will u ever grow up?
Just when it looks like u are making progress, WRONG.

I love Jenks and I'm glad to see that he moving on well.

I would like something between Rachel and Trent but only if they can keep challenging themselves. I don't want to see Trent become a lapdog to her.

I adore Kim Harrison's Hollow series. I have been a avid reader since book six came out. Rachel Morgan is an amazing character with a bevy of quirks that suit her morals and past, and play on every readers' emotions to almost force you to root for her because you enjoy her so much.
But sadly this book fell short in the middle chapters for me. Now I could overlook the tiny almost non exisistent plot developments and the constant self pitying that Rachel has become accustomed to but I could not overlook her stupidity.
I have always rooted for Rachel because her choices and actions were always strong but even I found myself thinking 'You deserve to lose this fight and get caught' during those frustratingly horrid middle chapters and her idiotic choices.
But I do believe in this series and so discounting those middle chapters the book itself was well written and also discounting the barely there plot developments I think Kim Harrison is setting up for a greater plot development in her next book Ever After. So while this book was definitely the 'slowly' I feel confident that her next book wll be the 'surely'.

I thought this book was a great addition to the series. I love watching Trent and Rachel dance around their attraction to each other. They've been connected since childhood...I'm still waiting to find out exactly what happened at that camp. Trent as a dad, Trent wanting Rachel to embrace her demon self and take responsibility for her actions, Rachel enjoying watching Trent be a dad and rising up to the challenge of self acceptance and responsibility...adds up to a great read. I believe Trent and Rachel ultimately belong together and I'm beginning to believe maybe the author is starting to feel that way, too.
As always, Jenks is fun, fun, fun and Ivy doesn't get on my nerves as she has in past books and Al is a hoot.
Looking forward to the next book.

I am totally enjoying Kim Harrison's "The Hollows" series. It has just enough fantasy, paranormal romance, drama, and humor to keep you glued to every single word. The main character, Rachel Morgan, is the glue that holds the series together, along with her partners, a pixie named Jenks and Ivy, who is a "living" vampire. I just finished the 10th book, "A Perfect Blood" and am anxiously waiting for book 11. All of the characters in this series are fascinating and unique. You have to start at the beginning, with "Dead Witch Walking" and read each book in the order they are written to get the whole picture. Definately a MUST READ :o)

Rachel is out of the closet but finding that having been declared dead and being the only Demon this side of the ley lines has added a whole level of frustrating complications to her life. But life is going to get even tougher - someone is killing witches and the reason is connected to the dirty little secret that Rachel's outing exposed. Having seen the brutal results of those 'someones' handiwork Rachel is determined to be the one to bring them down, even though she is magically hobbled and her determination not to fall prey to her demon powers may be just the thing that gives those 'someones' what they need to bring about the deadliest change in the Inderlander world since 'the Turn'.

My comments about A Perfect Blood are going to sound an awful lot like my reviews of the previous two Hollow's books. The first half of the story is action packed but look-before-you-leap-way-too-stupid-to-live-at-times Rachel drove me crazy. She is the prize that gives the bad guys the win, but she just can't stand on the sidelines, even though wearing the bracelet that Trent gave her to hide her demon powers makes her magically only half the witch she used to be and forces her to rely on earth magic weapons that she just can't seem to hold onto. It also drives me nuts that she has great resources in her friends but she refuses to use them, and I really hated the way that she treats her bodyguard, who is a decent character.

But as much as the first half drove me nuts, the second half as always was really good. This is the perpetual trap that I keep falling into with this series - I keep thinking at the end of each book that *now* Rachel is going to grow up and Harrison is going to take advantage of the really cool stuff that she's set up and it this hope that always has me champing at the bit for the next book.

Actually, the former 'bad guys' Trent and Al have been the bright spots in the last few books - and there just isn't enough of them here. But even with what little of him that there was here, I loved Trent in this one - there's some real growth for him at last and his relationship with Rachel is finally finally starting to move past junior high (I think they might be sophomores now). As to the rest of the cast, it's fun to see some oldies making cameos and somehow the foul mouthed Jenks hasn't gotten old yet - and the wingless fairy Belle is adding an interesting dynamic to his clan. And while I am still ready for Ivy to move all the way on, she isn't as tiresome as when the blood balance stuff was fully in play but it's still brought up - and with her master off screen in this one, still lurking waiting to rear it's ugly boring head once more and I am so done with hearing about it.

So when all is said and done, despite the frustration that is Rachel - it is something that I wouldn't put up with a UF heroine that I wasn't already so attached to - and I really should drop my rating a star for this, I did end up enjoying A Perfect Blood and I am looking forward to the next book again with foolish hope that the next time will build off of the good things in the second half of the book. But I just have to say that while I am looking forward to the next book, I am also looking forward to the end of the series (Harrison is supposedly winding things up) because I would really like to see Rachel get her act together once and for all.

Complimentary copy for review provided through the store Vine

I was super excited to get my hands on this advanced copy. This is my absolute favorite paranormal/urban fantasy series, which is why I have a hard time giving it anything other than full marks.

The book opens with Rachel and everyone else in her life trying to adjust to the new "normal". Rachel, now an official demon, is finding that even the most mundane tasks are next to impossible when you aren't considered to be human anymore. Even worse, she has voluntarily cut herself off from the ley lines in order to hide from the demon collective, leading her to rely on only potions and her wits to get by. And, to make things more complicated, her mother has sent a bodyguard to live in her tower, and Trent is acting strangely... familiar. Jenks is also adjusting to live as a widower and unwilling protector of a wingless fairy, and Ivy continues to try to find balance in her life, this time with FIB agent Glenn.

Rachel is unexpectedly recruited by the IS to find out who is killing witches in rather demonic ways. It's not long before she discovers that the culprits are a human hate group, twisted enough to use the very things they hate in order to reach their ultimate goal -- the destruction of all Inderlanders.

If Rachel is going to survive without her ley lines, it's going to take every last wit and resource she has, even the ones she wishes she didn't have to use.

This series could very easily have become stale by now, but Harrison has kept it fresh by giving us fully-realized, complex characters that continue to grow and change throughout each book. No one escapes unscathed, and the possibilities are endless.

...and that is saying a lot. Her interest in Trent picks up but doesn't go anywhere. Obviously it's being slow played over three or four books since it is so downright unbelievable after every low down cold hearted thing he has done to her and others. Shoot, her interest in him makes me think her inner demon is winning.

I'm always happy when a new Kim Harrison Hollows novel comes out. This has been one of my favorite on going series since I got into it a couple years back (I may as well start calling my review 'Late to the Party Reviews', but better late than never!) and once again Kim Harrison gives us yet another enjoyable installment in the helter skelter life of Rachael Morgan. Is it the best in the series? No, but is it still very good? Yes.

This time the focus is on a supposedly defunct human lead hate group, HAPA. This human hate group has been capturing and torturing Inderlanders for some nefarious purpose. In a VERY rare joint FIB/I.S/Vampiric Charms run, Rachael is brought into the fold when the authorities find several murder sites where the victims are on gruesome display. The victims are in some kind of half changed state...not quite witches anymore, but a cross between human looking and demon looking, obviously the results of some type of genetic testing. Rachael with Ivy, Jenks, Glenn and the IS are all fighting the clock to stop the next murder because it's obvious the criminals are working towards something: something that will spell the end of Inderlanders if they have anything to say about it. One thing keeps this from being a normal run for Rachael, however. Because of the events of Pale Demon she has magically castrated herself. Wearing a charmed silver bracelet to keep her out of the sights of the ever after, Rachael has none of her demonic abilities. Rachael has become what she most hates: a useless liability when fighting the big guns.

Most of the usual cast are here. Jenks, Ivy, Rachael, Glenn, David, Trent, etc. Some new characters are brought into the fold as well. Wayde, a Were bodyguard hired by Takata in order to keep Rachael out of harm's way in her new reduced magical state..Nina, living vampire and DMV employee who's is also the vessel for the master vampire head of the IS..there's also Daryl (who apparently was in the short story Ley Line Drifter) who Ivy is getting chummy with.

While there are some good action sequences this is a book very much about Rachael dealing with her current status while those around her, namely Ivy and Jenks, are getting on with their lives. She's always surrounded by friends yet always feels alone..apart. Rachael is stubborn and sticks to her guns as a fault and a lot of this book is her dealing with the consequences of fighting what she truly is. As such there are plenty of 'talking heads' moments but that's fine, IMO. I always enjoyed the 'day in the life of' aspect of this series. It does tend to get long winded at times (a complaint that detractors of the series have brought up numerous times) but I don't mind it. These characters are lively and so fun to read that that's an aspect I've always loved reading. There are quite a few instances of people babying Rachael over and over again however. 'Are you ok, Rachael?' 'What is it Rache?' come up time and again and sometimes the babying gets old..sometimes it bogs things down. Honestly, those are minor quibbles though. Rachael is what she is and her friends are what they are and fans know this and accept it and enjoy it, myself included.

So, what we have here is Rachael's next chapter in a life that hasn't been easy with a disturbingly sick villain, some gruesome murders, an interesting new organization and some progression in the whole Rachael/Trent relationship. Altogether, good fun stuff as Kim Harrison is still in fine form here. Only four more books however so best enjoy them for the first time while they're still here!

Rachael Morgan deals with the fallout from coming out as a demon in "A Perfect blood " and investigates a particularly nasty series of Murders of Witches which seem to involve Demonic Magic. Many of the continuing plot threads are beginning to be resolved and I wonder if the Series will come to an end in the next book or two. There are some new Characters and plot lines introduced so the stories of the Hallows may continue on or possibly restart with some of these new players. There will definitely be at least one more book to resolve some of the remaining plot lines. I found this episode very entertaining, Rachael has matured considerably over the course of the series.

For fellow followers of the Hollows series...I felt like Pale Demon was "One Step Forward" and A Perfect Blood was "Two Steps Back."

Most series I have read (Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, Kelley Armstrong...) eventually have a book that somewhat disappoints me so I cant help but have high hopes for the next installment of the Hollows. Also, this book did have its good parts, it just was not great (like Pale Demon).

(fingers crossed and biting nails for next installment!!)

Long time fans of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series -- and I'm certainly one of them! -- have much to rejoice about in her latest, "A Perfect Blood". Harrison's ability to craft an engrossing, multi-layered plot just keeps getting stronger. As for the characters we've all come to know and love, they're all here:

* Our strong, yet vulnerable heroine, Rachel Morgan, who continues to grapple with the knowledge that she's the demon's only hope to save their species.
* Rachel's roommate and best friend, Ivy, a sexy vampire who is literally a femme fatale.
* Jenks, the chivalrous and defiant Pixy who is the third member of the Vampiric Charms detective agency with Rachel and Ivy.
* Algaliarept, otherwise known as Al, the demon who's been both Rachel's mentor and tormentor for years.
* Glenn, the human FIB detective who's been in Rachel's corner for years and now, much to Rachel's surprise, is also in Ivy's bed.
* The loveable yet awkward Bis, a teenage gargoyle who's moved into the tower in the church where Rachel, Ivy and Jenks live.
* And last, but certainly not least, Trent Kalamack, the capitalist/politician Elf whose complicated relationship with Rachel has kept the sparks flying throughout the series.

When we last saw Rachel, she'd surrendered her ability to practice ley line magic out of fear that an angry Al would trap her in the Everafter where, due to her demonic genetics, she could single-handedly (womb-edly?) save the demons as the only one capable of giving birth to more of them. But a witch without her magic is vulnerable in ways even Morgan couldn't imagine, though she quickly discovers just how great of a danger she's placed herself as she's hired to investigate murders committed by HAPA (Humans Against Paranormals Association), a militant human group bent on destroying all the magical species.

But practicing ley line magic isn't the only thing Morgan's isolated from. Jenks continues to recover from the loss of his wife, thanks in part to the attentions of a fairy warrior named Belle, while Ivy continues to solidify her romance with Glenn. Even Bis has someone to keep him company in the form of Wayde, a werewolf hired by Rachel's step-father to act as her bodyguard. With her friends moving on with their own lives, and maturing in ways that she has rejected out of fear of getting hurt again, Rachel is forced to confront how her emotional shields have not only isolated her from finding love but, thanks to HAPA, might very well lead to her own destruction.

Of course, Harrison has introduced another fascinating character in this tenth book of the Hollows series. Felix, an ancient vampire in charge of the I.S. (Inderland Security), occupies the body of a young, inexperienced vampire (Nina), though the girl may very well go insane once he's done "borrowing" her. It's Felix who gets the story rolling as he approaches Morgan to investigate a series of murders in which HAPA is experimenting on witches in an attempt to wipe out their species, after which they plan to move on to the other paranormals. But he's got a nasty little ultimatum for Morgan (naturally): solve the murders, or be implicated in them, since whoever's behind them is clearly using demonic magic and, as we all know, that's up Morgan's alley.

But having isolated herself from ley line magic as well has her friends, whom she's trying to protect not only from the demons but from HAPA as well, Rachel has no choice but to acknowledge -- at long last -- that she can't kick ass entirely on her own. And it's there that we finally -- FINALLY! -- see some personal growth in Rachel Morgan, something that's caused many devoted fans, myself among them, to grow restless waiting for. Something else we're finally (!) treated to: a growing and charming (no pun intended) attraction between Rachel and Trent Kalamack. On this front, Harrison not only delights but sets herself above other urban fantasy authors (*cough* Anita Blake *cough*) by penning some seriously enticing, sexy interactions without devolving into one smutty scene after another. In fact, the potential love interest storyline kept me turning pages just as often as the mystery part of the plot!

Sadly, here's something Kim Harrison told me on Facebook when I mentioned how excited I was to receive my advance copy of A Perfect Blood: "I hope you like it, Kate!!!! I'm starting to set up the last book..." As someone who pretty much drops everything to read Harrison's books as soon as I get my grubby hands on them, I have to say those were the very first words of her that I didn't like. Then again, I'm fairly certain I'm going to enjoy whatever project she pens next. I just hope it's soon!

I am not done with the book, but I am now remembering that no matter how good these books turn out to be, there is the long period in the middle where Rachel acts like a complete idiot and you wonder how it is she doesn't kill herself by accident. A hate group is looking for people exactly like Rachel or to turn people into Rachel - but of course Rachel puts herself right in their hands. And an entire strike force of FIB and IS cannot subdue two of the bad guys. Seriously?? Incredibly frustrating as a reader because we know Rachel is better than this but the author purposely dumbs her down to set up the tension in the book. So in the end, you just feel manipulated by the author. I will read on, and trust again that Kim Harrison will pull it out of the dumps. But really, as MANY characters say in the book, Rachel needs to grow up. Having the heroine be a petulant twit for most of the book is painful to read. All I'm saying is the ending better be freakin' awesome. Like Piscary level awesome. Or Rachel storming into the church to arrest Trent at his wedding awesome.

I absolutely adore the Hollows series. Rachel Morgan is a bada$$. I have to say this one isn't my favorite in the series. I don't hate it, not by any means but it was such a slow start that I had a hard time getting into it. Normally this series gets you sucked in within the first few pages but still, in the end, this was a good read and a good part of the series!

Another fantastic book by Kim Harrison! I'm VERY impressed with this series I keep thinking that these books can't get any better, but then Kim keeps proving me wrong and blows me away anew with each addition to the Hollows series!
2nd time reading it.... LOVE IT!!!! Left me on the edge of my seat wanting more! I love the special chapter at the end and Trents view of the situation... Fantastic!!!!

I absolutely love the Rachel Morgan series and wait with bated breath for each new release. This one was just as wonderful as I've come to expect from Harrison. The main character, Rachel Morgan, is funny, lively, original, "real", and just plain good. Jenks, Trent, Ivy, Al, etc, are all superb as well. There is always a surprise; the story line is never predictable. I can't get enough of this series. Highly recommended to all!

The Hollows series is a fun, enjoyable way to spend a day. Ms. Harrison weaves an exciting tale of adventure, friendship and love between pity, vampire, witch, elf werewolf, demon and human. It is engaging. I find the pity to almost be my favorite character with his sarcasm and wit. His exclamations are wildly entertaining.

from the first chapter on I found it kinda of slow and just keep going on through out the book. I was't too happy with this purchase I was very disappointed in fact. I expected so much more from this author but I guess she just could deliver? Maybe next time she'll get it right? But for now I'll just have to settle for this book that I'll never read again laying around my house. But I would highly recommend a real page turner that I couldn't put down THE FOREVER GIRL (an Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance Novel of the Occult) (Forever Girl Series #1)

This was the first book of the 10 that I actually put down and stopped reading. I could look past the fact that Rachel pretends to be moral and not hurt anyone but be friends with everyone who does. Roommate with a vampire who has killed many people, sure no problem, it wasnt her fault! Roommate with a Pixie who kills fairies no problem, its their nature! Keep teaming up and being friends with an elf who keeps trying to kill you, admits to murdering dozens of others, released a demon who destroys San Fransisco and St. Louis, sure hes got a cute butt and a baby!

But I got passed that and what made me throw the book away in disgust was when you had a warehouse surrounded by a team of FIB and IS agents get owned by 5 humans with magic? So a couple dozen agents including vampires and other FIB agents who are trained to specifically handle these situations cant stop 5 humans from escaping and even kidnapping 2 people? And out the friggin front door in a car even? Just lazy writing.

I can't get enough of the Hallows tales. Every time i finish one of Harrison's books I'm immediately on the look out for the next. The subtile hints and foreshadowing are always given just a brief explanation always leaving me wanting more. Characters you should despise are the ones you end up rooting for. A must read for any urban fantasy fan.

I love The Hollows. I've been following it since the beginning - although I was shocked to find out when I got this book that I had missed two in the series! I had to back up, and I read three of the novels back to back. Generally, that's a formula for me of getting tired of a series, but Harrison hasn't worn me out yet. The characters are consistent but their relationships grow and change; the character of Rachel herself evolves...if sometimes with a maddening slowness. It's not her slowly growing power levels I find maddeningly slow - Harrison I think has good pacing on that - it's her acceptance of what it all means. There's conversation here about how adaptable Rachel is, but if you ask me she's actually kind of slow on the uptake sometimes. I love her anyway.

So what if you haven't read Harrison before? She has a skill with exposition; she can slip in backstory in a relatively seamless way that might catch you up, but honestly the mythology in this series is so rich that I can't recommend this as a starting point. You won't be lost, but you might not enjoy the trip as much as if you start at the beginning with Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, Book 1). The interweaving cast of characters alone make it worth the investment to start in the beginning.

For those wondering what to expect in the series, the focus is more on the mystery and the magic than the romance of Harrison's Rachel, but there's enough of that in the books to potentially keep romance fans engaged. I find it interesting that Harrison seems more dedicated to the story than she does matching the needs of a specific genre. Some novels trend more that way than others. Not that relationships in general are ever sidelined. Rachel doesn't always play well with others, but she's always surrounding by friends and frenemies, some of whom are particularly core. (I think Ivy's a bit underplayed at this point, but I love the depth in pixy partner Jenks and really can't wait to see where things go with Trent.) The villains of the books remain complex and interesting, and I myself enjoy the fact that distinctions between hero and villain are not always clear.

If you like Women of the Otherworld or early Anita Blake (please note I said _early_; can't stress that enough), these books could well be for you.

For those of you already into the series, I found this a strong entry in it. It seems like a logical step forward in Rachel's progression as a character, and while I'm never 100% happy with the direction a story goes (she's not writing to _my_ specifications, after all), I am satisfied. It's internally logical, I think, and consistent. It introduces some new twists and sets up some future villainy, plays forward some earlier characters and keeps me wanting more. That's a good book to me.

It's truly appalling that the vast majority of the negative reviews on here are clearly written by cynical cretins. So sorry if that sounds harsh. Oh wait, no i'm not. If you didn't like the book, fine. Everyone's standards differ, do they not? I'm quite positive that most authors have flaws in their writing at one point or another in a series. This should be a given. Presumably you are on the store to sell it (thereby foisting this misery onto others for profit)? Or did you really just get on here for the sake of writing these grossly half-witted reviews? By the collective tone i'm hearing I guess you would rather waste an hour or two typing up something clever so that we all know how incredibly intelligent and discriminating you are. Bravo!

Now that I got THAT out of the way...
I love this series. Yes, this book was a little less exciting than past books in several areas. I was a little sad to see the direction Glen seems to be going in, but i'm not going to call for a stake-burning over it. Yes, this book was majorly introspective for Rachel. She is often a bit slow on the uptake, so it's nice to see her beat herself up for the stupidity she exhibits. We didn't see much of Al for a reason, so I'm OK with it. I would have read this book for the Rachel and Trent interaction alone! It was fantastic and completely makes up for any shortcomings with the rest. Now I'm glad I purchased the paperback and thus got to see things from Trent's perspective to make a lasting impression. Kim Harrison continues to keep it funny and charming. I can't wait for the next installment.

I love this series,but have to say this book was a bit of a let down,especially after Pale Demon. It felt like a filler book,with not much pregress.

Jenks was great as always,and I still laugh at just aboutn all of his lines!

Eager for some great love scenes in the Trent and Rachel relationship.

This book gives you the opportunity to travel to a new and marvelous world where Rachel kicks some butt and gets her life back on track. Yet, the hinted romance going on will make you curl up in a tight ball in sweet delight wanting and craving for more. Rachel has such whit and love that no matter what she faces she'll come out on top even against crazy humans. Please, read these books it is so worth it!

I know that Kim Harrison is now seriously setting us up for the end of this series. In A Perfect Blood, Rachel is finally starting to make more adult like decisions and she is thinking more about the consequenses of her actions. I love that. Although there are definitely some things I absolutely love about the Rachel of Dead Witch Walking and so on. I know that some people were frustrated with Rachel for wearing that bracelet for so long, but to be honest, I would be just as scared as she was to take it off. I love the reality of Rachel's reactions to the circumstances in her life - although how real witches, werewolves and vamps are... well..

I am so uber pleased with this story. Kim Harrison continues to keep me enthralled!

When I received this book for reviewing, I realized I hadn't read the three books before it. I have been reading nonstop, trying to catch up. I wish now I had read slower and savored each book to it's fullest. Reading them back to back was no chore. The pace was fast with nonstop action. I found myself turning the pages as fast as I could to find out what was going to happen next.

Rachel is still annoying and I found myself wanting to slap her silly with some of the choices she makes. Why would she put her life on the line to save people who were trying to kill her? I wondered if she would ever learn her lesson. Aside from that, Rachel has had to come to terms with the fact that she is a demon. She has fought this label through the whole series but her last time in the Everafter with Al proved it to her once and for all. Almost as soon as she acknowledges it, she is almost killed. Trent saves her life and also fashions a bracelet for her that keeps her invisible to the demon collective. Even Al believes she is now dead. It also keeps her from doing ley lines and so much more of her magic. Her terror of being dragged back to the Everafter and of Al overrides the disadvantages this brings to her. She soon comes to realize being a demon stripped of her powers isn't being true to herself.

This fact is brought home when a hate group begins targeting people like her. They are mutilating them,trying to turn them into demons. Her blood is the element they need to succeed. She faces off with them more than once but not being about to tap a ley line nor having access to her demon magic has her failing.

This book is about so much more. It's about friendship and love and trust and facing hard truths. It's about Rachel and her relationship with Trent growing. However for every two steps forward she takes with him, she is pushed back one because of her mistrust of him. I wanted to shake them sometimes. It's about change between herself and Jinks and Ivy.They always have her back but Rachel knows change is coming. It's about self acceptance and taking responsibility for her actions. It's about being the only demon this side of the Everafter and the fallout from that.

This series has really evolved and I will be sorry to see it end. I hope the last book is still far far away. I read a lot of urban fantasy and count this as being in my top 5 good reads.I can't believe I have to wait a year for the next book.

A Perfect Blood is A Perfectly Boring Book. Rachel is more whiny than ever ("Oh, what have I done to myself?"), and unfortunately it permeates the entire book. But what's worse - she's completely incompetent and ineffective as a witch or a demon. Come on, when Rachel was just a witch, she handled vampires, demons, black witches, but now she's a self-neutered demon who allows a few human adversaries to bring her to her knees while fingering her silver bracelet and crying, "what have I done to myself?" Every time I came across this particular phrase, I found myself mentally yelling at her, "Either lay down and die or grow a pair already!" By now, her relationship with Trent should be solidified. He's been there for her, but she uses her self-righteous and spineless conscience (Trent is a murderer, oh my!) as a way to avoid admitting they work very well together. Then there's the scene with Al, whom Rachel has been hiding from. After reading throughout the whole book about how terrified Rachel is of confronting him, when she finally admits she's alive, Al gives in without a whimper. Talk about anti-climatic! All of this, coupled with Jenks being downgraded from a strong main leading character to one who doesn't do much more than utter worn out "Tink's panties...." one-liners and get ordered about by everyone, and Ivy giving only brief walk-ons, these two characters who have made this series what it is have been thrown into the trash. All that's left of them is to take the trash to the curb. And the explanation for the abrupt exit of Glenn's character was a very lazy bit of writing. Nor will Wayde's weak and ineffective werewolf fill the void. Together with being forced to skip pages and pages of Rachel's unending self-flagellating angst to get to the next bit of action, I had to force myself to finish reading this book. As for the wit that flew between the three characters, it went bye-bye a long time ago. This is a filler book, and not a good one.

I have enjoyed most of the books in this series, so was thrilled to get an advance copy for review. Sadly, it was a disappointment.

So much repetition; little depth - where is the stuff we can sink our teeth into? Rachel was ineffectual through a majority of the book - and that great personality of hers seems to be disappearing; it was frustrating to read. Al is basically "neutered"; Trent is moving forward as a family man - interesting twist; new characters start off wonderful - then sort of drift off ...

If you are a fan of this series; be prepared to be frustrated with this book; it leaves you hungry. Hopefully, if there is another in the series, it will give us something more.

If you're already a fan of the "Hollows" series you'll like this one too. The character development and descriptions are not overdone and easily paint a picture to draw you in to the story. Jenks, the pixie, is not as loveable as he usually is, so I was a little disappointed with that.

A Perfect Blood, was okay. I love Rachel, Jinx and Ivy, but my favorite character AL was barely there. Trent just doesn't excite me, sorry all you Trent fans. Give me Al any day. I hate the fact that IVY and Glenn sort of broke up. I hope that can be revisited later. But if not Glenn, Ivy needs somebody, probably someone not human to get her a little more challenge. The Ivy/Rachel thing needs to end. Someone else could save her soul. Their friendship is hot, all the jealously stuff, is eeeh! I cetainly want to see more of the new dead vamp, I like his style, even if he is a little unstable. Somebody needs to figure out how to get some more demon babies, besides Rachel. As we can see though devilish, Al has a soft spot for babies..........love AL!!!

I loved this book so much, as I did all the others, I am never let down! I really want to see Rachael and Trent get together and I hope to see that they do in the future, They are so cute together. I love how much Rachael has grown and I cant wait to see where this story is headed next!

The Hollows is one of my favorite places to visit and Harris has never failed to deliver.

Recent disappointments with other favorite authors (Robin Hobb, Charlaine Harris) have highlighted the importance of keeping both plot and characters in a state of dynamcy. In Perfect Blood, Harris delivered a page turning adventure with complete resolution, including the wrap up of some internal conflict with the main character.

Former fans of LK Hamilton will love the Hollows (current fans please do your 6th grade homework before mom gets mad).

I've really enjoyed this series but the plot seems to be meandering. Rachel spends more time wondering who she can love than preparing for her work. Taking on an enemy by letting them beat you up and then escape time after time is the rankest incompetence. I had to force myself to read this book as I ground my teeth in frustration. What happened? The books used to be good.

This was the first book of the 10 that I actually put down and stopped reading. I could look past the fact that Rachel pretends to be moral and not hurt anyone but be friends with everyone who does. Roommate with a vampire who has killed many people, sure no problem, it wasnt her fault! Roommate with a Pixie who kills fairies no problem, its their nature! Keep teaming up and being friends with an elf who keeps trying to kill you, admits to murdering dozens of others, released a demon who destroys San Fransisco and St. Louis, sure hes got a cute butt and a baby!

But I got passed that and what made me throw the book away in disgust was when you had a warehouse surrounded by a team of FIB and IS agents get owned by 5 humans with magic? So a couple dozen agents including vampires and other FIB agents who are trained to specifically handle these situations cant stop 5 humans from escaping and even kidnapping 2 people? And out the friggin front door in a car even? Just lazy writing.

I can't get enough of the Hallows tales. Every time i finish one of Harrison's books I'm immediately on the look out for the next. The subtile hints and foreshadowing are always given just a brief explanation always leaving me wanting more. Characters you should despise are the ones you end up rooting for. A must read for any urban fantasy fan.

I love The Hollows. I've been following it since the beginning - although I was shocked to find out when I got this book that I had missed two in the series! I had to back up, and I read three of the novels back to back. Generally, that's a formula for me of getting tired of a series, but Harrison hasn't worn me out yet. The characters are consistent but their relationships grow and change; the character of Rachel herself evolves...if sometimes with a maddening slowness. It's not her slowly growing power levels I find maddeningly slow - Harrison I think has good pacing on that - it's her acceptance of what it all means. There's conversation here about how adaptable Rachel is, but if you ask me she's actually kind of slow on the uptake sometimes. I love her anyway.

So what if you haven't read Harrison before? She has a skill with exposition; she can slip in backstory in a relatively seamless way that might catch you up, but honestly the mythology in this series is so rich that I can't recommend this as a starting point. You won't be lost, but you might not enjoy the trip as much as if you start at the beginning with Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, Book 1). The interweaving cast of characters alone make it worth the investment to start in the beginning.

For those wondering what to expect in the series, the focus is more on the mystery and the magic than the romance of Harrison's Rachel, but there's enough of that in the books to potentially keep romance fans engaged. I find it interesting that Harrison seems more dedicated to the story than she does matching the needs of a specific genre. Some novels trend more that way than others. Not that relationships in general are ever sidelined. Rachel doesn't always play well with others, but she's always surrounding by friends and frenemies, some of whom are particularly core. (I think Ivy's a bit underplayed at this point, but I love the depth in pixy partner Jenks and really can't wait to see where things go with Trent.) The villains of the books remain complex and interesting, and I myself enjoy the fact that distinctions between hero and villain are not always clear.

If you like Women of the Otherworld or early Anita Blake (please note I said _early_; can't stress that enough), these books could well be for you.

For those of you already into the series, I found this a strong entry in it. It seems like a logical step forward in Rachel's progression as a character, and while I'm never 100% happy with the direction a story goes (she's not writing to _my_ specifications, after all), I am satisfied. It's internally logical, I think, and consistent. It introduces some new twists and sets up some future villainy, plays forward some earlier characters and keeps me wanting more. That's a good book to me.

It's truly appalling that the vast majority of the negative reviews on here are clearly written by cynical cretins. So sorry if that sounds harsh. Oh wait, no i'm not. If you didn't like the book, fine. Everyone's standards differ, do they not? I'm quite positive that most authors have flaws in their writing at one point or another in a series. This should be a given. Presumably you are on the store to sell it (thereby foisting this misery onto others for profit)? Or did you really just get on here for the sake of writing these grossly half-witted reviews? By the collective tone i'm hearing I guess you would rather waste an hour or two typing up something clever so that we all know how incredibly intelligent and discriminating you are. Bravo!

Now that I got THAT out of the way...
I love this series. Yes, this book was a little less exciting than past books in several areas. I was a little sad to see the direction Glen seems to be going in, but i'm not going to call for a stake-burning over it. Yes, this book was majorly introspective for Rachel. She is often a bit slow on the uptake, so it's nice to see her beat herself up for the stupidity she exhibits. We didn't see much of Al for a reason, so I'm OK with it. I would have read this book for the Rachel and Trent interaction alone! It was fantastic and completely makes up for any shortcomings with the rest. Now I'm glad I purchased the paperback and thus got to see things from Trent's perspective to make a lasting impression. Kim Harrison continues to keep it funny and charming. I can't wait for the next installment.

I love this series,but have to say this book was a bit of a let down,especially after Pale Demon. It felt like a filler book,with not much pregress.

Jenks was great as always,and I still laugh at just aboutn all of his lines!

Eager for some great love scenes in the Trent and Rachel relationship.

This book gives you the opportunity to travel to a new and marvelous world where Rachel kicks some butt and gets her life back on track. Yet, the hinted romance going on will make you curl up in a tight ball in sweet delight wanting and craving for more. Rachel has such whit and love that no matter what she faces she'll come out on top even against crazy humans. Please, read these books it is so worth it!

I know that Kim Harrison is now seriously setting us up for the end of this series. In A Perfect Blood, Rachel is finally starting to make more adult like decisions and she is thinking more about the consequenses of her actions. I love that. Although there are definitely some things I absolutely love about the Rachel of Dead Witch Walking and so on. I know that some people were frustrated with Rachel for wearing that bracelet for so long, but to be honest, I would be just as scared as she was to take it off. I love the reality of Rachel's reactions to the circumstances in her life - although how real witches, werewolves and vamps are... well..

I am so uber pleased with this story. Kim Harrison continues to keep me enthralled!

When I received this book for reviewing, I realized I hadn't read the three books before it. I have been reading nonstop, trying to catch up. I wish now I had read slower and savored each book to it's fullest. Reading them back to back was no chore. The pace was fast with nonstop action. I found myself turning the pages as fast as I could to find out what was going to happen next.

Rachel is still annoying and I found myself wanting to slap her silly with some of the choices she makes. Why would she put her life on the line to save people who were trying to kill her? I wondered if she would ever learn her lesson. Aside from that, Rachel has had to come to terms with the fact that she is a demon. She has fought this label through the whole series but her last time in the Everafter with Al proved it to her once and for all. Almost as soon as she acknowledges it, she is almost killed. Trent saves her life and also fashions a bracelet for her that keeps her invisible to the demon collective. Even Al believes she is now dead. It also keeps her from doing ley lines and so much more of her magic. Her terror of being dragged back to the Everafter and of Al overrides the disadvantages this brings to her. She soon comes to realize being a demon stripped of her powers isn't being true to herself.

This fact is brought home when a hate group begins targeting people like her. They are mutilating them,trying to turn them into demons. Her blood is the element they need to succeed. She faces off with them more than once but not being about to tap a ley line nor having access to her demon magic has her failing.

This book is about so much more. It's about friendship and love and trust and facing hard truths. It's about Rachel and her relationship with Trent growing. However for every two steps forward she takes with him, she is pushed back one because of her mistrust of him. I wanted to shake them sometimes. It's about change between herself and Jinks and Ivy.They always have her back but Rachel knows change is coming. It's about self acceptance and taking responsibility for her actions. It's about being the only demon this side of the Everafter and the fallout from that.

This series has really evolved and I will be sorry to see it end. I hope the last book is still far far away. I read a lot of urban fantasy and count this as being in my top 5 good reads.I can't believe I have to wait a year for the next book.

A Perfect Blood is A Perfectly Boring Book. Rachel is more whiny than ever ("Oh, what have I done to myself?"), and unfortunately it permeates the entire book. But what's worse - she's completely incompetent and ineffective as a witch or a demon. Come on, when Rachel was just a witch, she handled vampires, demons, black witches, but now she's a self-neutered demon who allows a few human adversaries to bring her to her knees while fingering her silver bracelet and crying, "what have I done to myself?" Every time I came across this particular phrase, I found myself mentally yelling at her, "Either lay down and die or grow a pair already!" By now, her relationship with Trent should be solidified. He's been there for her, but she uses her self-righteous and spineless conscience (Trent is a murderer, oh my!) as a way to avoid admitting they work very well together. Then there's the scene with Al, whom Rachel has been hiding from. After reading throughout the whole book about how terrified Rachel is of confronting him, when she finally admits she's alive, Al gives in without a whimper. Talk about anti-climatic! All of this, coupled with Jenks being downgraded from a strong main leading character to one who doesn't do much more than utter worn out "Tink's panties...." one-liners and get ordered about by everyone, and Ivy giving only brief walk-ons, these two characters who have made this series what it is have been thrown into the trash. All that's left of them is to take the trash to the curb. And the explanation for the abrupt exit of Glenn's character was a very lazy bit of writing. Nor will Wayde's weak and ineffective werewolf fill the void. Together with being forced to skip pages and pages of Rachel's unending self-flagellating angst to get to the next bit of action, I had to force myself to finish reading this book. As for the wit that flew between the three characters, it went bye-bye a long time ago. This is a filler book, and not a good one.

I have enjoyed most of the books in this series, so was thrilled to get an advance copy for review. Sadly, it was a disappointment.

So much repetition; little depth - where is the stuff we can sink our teeth into? Rachel was ineffectual through a majority of the book - and that great personality of hers seems to be disappearing; it was frustrating to read. Al is basically "neutered"; Trent is moving forward as a family man - interesting twist; new characters start off wonderful - then sort of drift off ...

If you are a fan of this series; be prepared to be frustrated with this book; it leaves you hungry. Hopefully, if there is another in the series, it will give us something more.

If you're already a fan of the "Hollows" series you'll like this one too. The character development and descriptions are not overdone and easily paint a picture to draw you in to the story. Jenks, the pixie, is not as loveable as he usually is, so I was a little disappointed with that.

A Perfect Blood, was okay. I love Rachel, Jinx and Ivy, but my favorite character AL was barely there. Trent just doesn't excite me, sorry all you Trent fans. Give me Al any day. I hate the fact that IVY and Glenn sort of broke up. I hope that can be revisited later. But if not Glenn, Ivy needs somebody, probably someone not human to get her a little more challenge. The Ivy/Rachel thing needs to end. Someone else could save her soul. Their friendship is hot, all the jealously stuff, is eeeh! I cetainly want to see more of the new dead vamp, I like his style, even if he is a little unstable. Somebody needs to figure out how to get some more demon babies, besides Rachel. As we can see though devilish, Al has a soft spot for babies..........love AL!!!

I loved this book so much, as I did all the others, I am never let down! I really want to see Rachael and Trent get together and I hope to see that they do in the future, They are so cute together. I love how much Rachael has grown and I cant wait to see where this story is headed next!

The Hollows is one of my favorite places to visit and Harris has never failed to deliver.

Recent disappointments with other favorite authors (Robin Hobb, Charlaine Harris) have highlighted the importance of keeping both plot and characters in a state of dynamcy. In Perfect Blood, Harris delivered a page turning adventure with complete resolution, including the wrap up of some internal conflict with the main character.

Former fans of LK Hamilton will love the Hollows (current fans please do your 6th grade homework before mom gets mad).

I've really enjoyed this series but the plot seems to be meandering. Rachel spends more time wondering who she can love than preparing for her work. Taking on an enemy by letting them beat you up and then escape time after time is the rankest incompetence. I had to force myself to read this book as I ground my teeth in frustration. What happened? The books used to be good.

Book 10 of a ten book series (so far). Rachel is dealing with her new demon status and dealing with the anti-paranormal people. Jenks is dealing with the loss of his wife and his 45 kids are driving him nuts. All in all, a good book for the Urban Fantasy crowd.

Lordy, lordy, talk about boring. The first few pages started out great, then we get pages and pages of drivel at the DMV where I have no idea what's going on because the writing isn't interesting enough to hold my interest. Put your hand up the last time you found the DMV interesting. I agree with all the other low star reviews. Painful. DNF.

Fantastic! A perfect blend of old-school gumshoe detective hitting the streets to solve a mystery, new fangled kick-butt heroine, and paranormal detective novel. Phillip Marlowe meets Sherrilyn Kenyon ... and outdoes them both!

"Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book, as part of a promotional tour, in return for an honest review."

Someone is targeting and killing witches with the Rosewood syndrome and Rachel gets involved in the investigation, with both FIB and IS.
Rachel feels, to me, like she's growing up, making decisions and Trent has got her back more than once. Loved the book and the progress and can't wait for the next one.

I didn't feel A Perfect Blood advanced the storyline by much. It may just be me, but I feel that Rachel's woe is me attitude and her inability to trust anyone has become somewhat tiresome. This book did seem like it was setting up the scene for the books in the future... I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Okay, so I know that everyone keeps saying they wanted more more more from this book after pale demon...I get it, lol...I think that was the idea, Kim Harrison is a TEASE!!! lol. Let me just tell you that I have never been into the sci-fi, urban fantasy type of book before, but I started reading this series last month, and I just finished Perfect Blood this morning...already I feel like a heroin addict waiting for my next fix! i LOVE LOVE LOVE this series!!! I thought that after Pale Demon, where Rachel was kind of on rock bottom and ashamed of who she was, this was perfect in showing her accept herself and everything that comes with being her. The only thing I wish was that her and Trents relationship would have developed a little more. I've kind of always had a feeling they would end up hooking up at some point...but I mean tinks little red shoes! just a few books ago Trent WAS bashing Rachels head against a tombstone, so I'd say they've still come a looooong way. Bottom line is, this is an AWESOME series, and I actually highly recommend the audiobooks as Margeurite Gavin does an AWESOME job narrating. Happy reading!

I have mixed feelings about this, but mostly I loved it. First half of the book was kinda slow, it wasn't actually bad just slow going. Second half was were it finally picked up. Also loved the interaction between Rachel and Trent! :D

I have been reading this series since the beginning and this book was a huge disappointment. Rachel did not grow as a character and actually did less magic than in previous books. She reverts to shooting (and not very well I might add) the bad guys with a splat ball gun, again, and yet she's a Demon! What?? When she finally removes the barrier to her magic, one would think she would kick butt having all of the knowledge and skill that she's gained in previous books, but no....she takes a step back and becomes the victim, yet again. <sigh> Very disappointing.

Finally! Rachael is continuing in the path of growth we started seeing in Pale Demon. She is starting to think about the consequences of her choices before making the choices! She's accepting that there are limits to her influence. I'm loving how things are going with Trent.
I had all but given up on these this series, but Pale Demon got things back on track and A Perfect Blood continues the revivial.

Rachel and company are back at it! Rachel's in grave danger (again :), but unlike the other times, much more vulnerable to attack. Exciting story, riviting with all the quirky characters we've come to love.

Ok, so I looked at the reviews to see if anyone else was mystified as to why Rachel couldn't handle a few ...um ...humans. We've all seen her take on much bigger, badder banshees, demons and vampires. I just didn't get it. I mean once she took that bracelet off she should have kicked their butts.
That said, I can't give it less than 4 stars because I'm sad that I've finished the book and out of her world. I'll still be checking the dates for the next book...

Another great installment in the Rachel Morgan Series. I love the evolution of Rachel's character and this book moved along with a perfect pace. Kim Harrison has such a way with developing her characters and creating a world that is utterly unique in this packed genre. She is definitely the strongest voice in the field today. I never miss a book and look forward to reading her short story collection.

Rachel, Rachel, Rachel! Exasperated page after page, I kept reading. C'mon Rache! Get a clue! Mentally pleading with my fav bad girl. You are NOT.... you ARE... and then... ZING! It hit's me! She's my hard headed friend. If I say blue, she's going to say red just to prove a point.

Rachel needs to know that her bodyguard can beat HER. Not Bruce Lee but HER. When did you become the baddest fighter since the turn dearest? Are these bodyguards are coming from the Goons R Us? That is my own personal bit of whoopdedoo. Just never made sense to me.)

This books has a few ...why? and what for? moments but a lot of OMy and HELLO moments.

Rachel has had her shunning reversed by the coven, but since she has also officially declared herself a demon, things aren't exactly going her way - she has no official or legal standing as a citizen and that is making her life difficult. She can't get a license or registration for her new car, she can't have a bank account or credit cards, Social Security considers her to be dead ... so, of course, now is a perfect time for some loony to be running around trying to turn people into demons. I.S. calls Rachel in to try to find the people behind the scheme - or, if she is unsuccessful, to take the blame. Being a demon isn't all it's said to be ... Can Rachel find who is committing these atrocities and clear her name ... again?

One thing I love about the Hollows series is that it remains fresh - Harrison seems to continually find new and inventive ways to make Rachel's life difficult. I loved this book, but there were parts of it that I had difficulty reading, as there is a hate group that is integral to the plot - and they are nasty. They consider Inderlanders to be nothing but animals, not even sentient, and treat them worse than they would treat a dog and reading that vitriol almost made me physically sick. It makes me wonder what is wrong with people, that they can be like that - and I certainly know that people can be like that. So, issues of hate and hate groups play a big part in this book, and if you think that will bother you - if you are a very sensitive soul - you should be sure you are in a strong frame of mind when you are reading this. Highly recommended!

I loved the book. was getting slightly annoyed w Rachel in beginning as she debated on who and what she is and how to live her life. wish there was more Al but in book 11 I'm sure it'll have a lot of him. excellent book. series has stayed fresh and continued to keep me surprised. LOVE IT my fav series. now what am I gonna read till next book comes out. ugh

Kim Harrison is one of my favorite authors; I need to say this right off, but this latest addition to the Rachel Morgan series is a sad cry from her previous works. I read the book cover to cover and was bored out of my mind the entire time. I kept expecting something, I don't know, deeper, more involved, something to really show that Morgan was coming into her own as a demoness, but what I got was a sad storyline of whining and saying how life isn't fair.

I fully expected Ms. Morgan to come into her own finally and begin finding solutions to the problems of Trent and her demon teacher Al. I kept thinking that finally Rachel Morgan would understand who and what she is and embrace the path she's chosen and stop being beat up, pushed around, and threatened all the time by those around her. She really can't hold her own with anyone, and is so weak even now that I am not sure how she really survives.

I hope that the next installment in the series has a bit more pomp then this one did, and that Ms. Morgan shall begin to really embrace the demon inside her and relish her new path. She needs to fix the "ever-after" and establish her place in the demon world that she is now a daughter of. I hope that Ms. Harrison, will take more time to establish her character and not just throw something together, which is what I feel she has done with this novel addition.

My favorite was actually Dead Witch Walking until I read A Perfect Blood. They have all been wonderful, quirky reads that I've enjoyed. However this book seemed to bring back some of the elements I loved so much from the first one. The personalities mixed with Rachel understanding her role more brings an exciting element into the series.

The book was great! Rachel is coming into her own and I love reading about who she is becoming. The only reason I gave it 4 was because I felt it dragged a bit in the beginning but great book none the less!!

I enjoyed this book a great deal and was so pleased to be able to read it early. Kim Harrison is one of my favorite authors. Mainly because she manages to keep her books fresh. She has a rich cast of characters and I'm going to be sorry to see this series end but it's one I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy again and again.

A perfect blood is another entertaining installment in the Rachel Morgan series. If you enjoyed the other nine books, you will enjoy this one as well. Unlike some of the other on going fantasy series (re: Anita Blake novels), Harrison's books do not get old and continue to deliver fun exciting plot lines.

This book felt so incomplete it wasn't funny. It was very frustrating leaving relationship question marks left and right. Wade starting to say something about sex and was interrupted leaving you wondering did he mean with him or Trent. I'm really starting to lose interest. The reason I started reading this series was because of Ivy and Rachel, once they kept hammering into my head that she will never want to have a sexual relationship with Ivy I started to wonder why I was still reading this series. Also there has been no mention of Rachel actively working on how to save Ivy's soul.

A little reminder to the author, we haven't lost focus maybe she should check her focus and the plots that are being forgotten.

Kim Harrison never fails to deliver suspense, action, laughs and romance all in the right proportion. Each book makes me want more and more. These are characters one can really connect with, even if they are fictional. I would love to have a house full of pixies, especially one with Jenks' wit!

I really enjoyed this book. The characters kept me glued to the pages until I was finished with it and still I am thinking of how the next will turn out (or my hopes anyway.) Thank you Kim for this installment of Rachel Morgans journey. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had to force myself to finish this book. It was that poorly done.

I won't elaborate on some of the major reasons why this book is a fail. Read the other one star reviews.

This book makes me wonder if the author was depressed or having major life issues. It is unfocused, devoid of fun, and the writing and editing are sloppy. There is practically no character development. Plot devices are clinches and the ending is just lazy.

Ive been a fan of this series since its inception, and I'm too loyal not to give the next book a try. But if it reads like this one I am done.

It was actually painful to read.

As a writer myself, I am pulling for Ms. Harrison to get it together for the next one.

I love the Rachel Morgan series and this is no different. Another winner from Kim Harrison. New villians to keep you on the edge of your seat. The sexual tension is mind blowing. I can't wait for the rest of the series. No spoilers here. You will have to read it yourself.

Remember when Rachel had the stupid things happen with Nick - you know, where you said in your head "don't do it" and she did anyway, and then the stupid things with Ivy then the multiple stupid things with Pierce then...., well you get my drift. If it's the stupidest choice possible, Rachel makes it and then complains about it. Boo hoo, poor me and other endless droning. With all her bad choices she should of been dead by book 3. Rachel seemed like she was in heat the whole book - it seemed like every single guy was described as being hot with a description to follow. Boring!!!

*spoiler alert*

I couldn't believe that Rachel pissed, bitched and moaned about not having her magic and then, after 24 chapters, when she finally did she didn't use it and got the daylights kicked out of her. Absolutely the stupidest plot "twist" in a series that has been steadily going in the crapper. I wouldn't of read this except I got it as a gift, but now I am sorry. I will have to add Rachel to the list - the one that includes Anita and Sookie!

Most stupid book I've ever read. Warning, minor spoilage.

Main character Rachel devolves to bratty pouty self centered immature person and yet mary sue like is embraced and praised by fictional persons of reknown despite having done absolutely nothing to truly earn their admiration. Contrived main plot of out of the blue human hate group miraculously never mentioned so much in passing in 9 previous books despite being some big deal that every Inderlander knows about like their version of the boogyman. HAPA apparently makes the IS crazy paranoid and willing to paste responsibility for their terrorist like crimes on hapless Inderlanders with possible means if no reasonable motive or other logical underpinnings.

Gee someone is trying to make artificial demons! Lets pin this on someone who has the means to actually make REAL demons, bwah ha haaaa... we IS r so smart!!! Add into the fact that previously known Inderlander prejudiced humans on FIB are pulled into a joint effort with IS to help pull down the big bad HAPA who despite their trying to be blatant with their crimes and gain public recognition and abilities to kick both IS and FIB and Rachel's collective rear ends continuously and gleefully... somehow miss the bright light bulb every other terrorist group has of informing the media and taking credit for their big bad terrorist acts.

Stupid add on sprinkles - supposedly ancient powerful vamp who can't even control the living vampire he's riding. really? Slave trader elf abducting responsible for a 1000 years of pain and suffering for Ceri, AL the demon being allowed to play with the elf babies? REALLY?!?! the one bright spot of giving Ivy a love/blood relationship, then yanking it out from under her in the last couple pages in the book. Rachel learning some really important information about Black Ops groups and enjoying the crush like glow in sharing the "secret" with Trent, instead of say informing her deeply close friends and business partners Ivy and Jenks.

Most of the book is act of stupidity followed by more stupidity of Rachel, and everyone but the crazed and ranting HAPA cell of terrorists who inexplicably trounce IS and FIB over and over. Oh, and Rachel finally realizes, gee might be some human who hate inderlanders helping HAPA working in FIB at the very very end of the book. Something blatantly obvious that clearly never occurred to ANYONE ELSE the entire rest of the book.

Ow. This book made my brain hurt. I could feel it killing IQ points as I read it. I honestly could not believe someone who gave us such wonderful first books in this series could do such poor plotting and actually expected anyone with working intellect to swallow this... omg it was so bad :(

I tend to write reviews when I like the book so this is one of those. This book has humor, mystery, adventure and a bit of romance. If you are not familiar with the series, be aware that there will be spoilers from earlier books.

I have read all of Kim Harrison's novels and have really enjoyed them. But there is NO WAY I am going to pay $12.99 for an ebook. I am overwhelmed by the greed of the author and publisher. When the price is reduced to a more reasonable value, I will consider purchasing it. But NOT until then!