Juno Books

BLOOD BARGAIN by Maria Lima

Blood Bargain

"Full of more interesting surprises than a candy store." --Charlaine Harris

"Keira Kelly kicks butt...Maria Lima writes hot action and spicy romance with a biting sense of humor, all deep in the heart of Texas. You'll be sucked in." --Dana Cameron, author of More Better Than Death

"Funny, sexy, mysterious, and lots of fun to read." --Nancy Pickard, author of The Virgin of Small Plains

October 2009
Mass Market Paperback
368 pages | $7.99
ISBN: 9781439156759

On Simon&Schuster.com

Something is not right at Wild Moon Ranch...

Keira Kelly has settled in with handsome Adam Walker, but happy-ever-after is not so easy when your vampire lover seems determined to deny his true nature. With Adam starving himself of blood and growing weak, Keira needs to work out how to persuade him to take care of himself, something she's finding difficult to do--even with the advice of her brother Tucker, a millennium-old ex-Viking shapeshifter. And people have started disappearing in the Rio Seco area, making Keira worry about what this could mean, both for her friends in Rio Seco and to the community she and Adam have been creating at the ranch. But her investigation only seems to bring more trouble, especially when a clue leads her to an abandoned cemetery that Keira knew well when she was younger...one that has always been extremely important to her magical family. Evil is definitely walking once again in the Texas Hill Country. Can Keira discover where the danger lies...before danger discovers her?

Second of the Blood Lines Series!

Don't miss these Blood Lines books:
Matters of the Blood (#1) and Blood Kin (#3)!

Reviews of Blood Bargain:

"This second book in Ms. Lima's Keira Kelly series is a real pager-turner...Both books are delightfully fresh and quite different from the dark, graphic paranormals flooding the market; but these are not light, fluffy reads, either. Ms. Lima has created a wonderful blend of paranormal, mystery and romance. She has a real knack for building characters you get to know and care about, and the setting she paints seems so real. She is also darn good at building suspense and keeping you guessing." (5 of 5 Stars)--Bitten By Books

"Blood Bargain is a great sequel in the new Blood Lines fantasy book series by Maria Lima.... If you like the vampire fantasy genre, then this book is a definite 'Next on Your List'. The storyline is wonderfully unpredictable and Maria Lima introduces several different types of supernatural beings which kept me intrigued and entertained. While Adam, Keira's boyfriend, did not play as big a role in this book as he did in the first one, it didn't detract from the romantic aspect of the book. Also, there are plenty of interesting characters in this book to keep you captivated and entertained. Definitely take the opportunity to check out Blood Bargain, an engrossing, well constructed sequel by Maria Lima."--Best Fantasy Stories

...an interesting tale full of twists and turns.... Marie Lima takes readers on a ride that they soon won't forget. Full of magic and action this book keeps you interested until the end. Each of the characters are full of depth and emotions, especially the sibling relationship between Tucker and Keira. This book ends with a bang and has the reader waiting for the next in this series. Fresh Fiction

"Blood Bargain is a marvelous story about the love a girl has for her family, town and companion. This story is the sequel to the first book of the Blood Lines Series, Matters of the Blood. There is enough tension and suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat and wanting it to never end. Every turn of the page was something unexpected. The characters kept the story funny and interesting while serious at times to create a fabulous read."Flamingnet Reviews

"Urban fantasy fans are going to love this romantic fantasy especially the Kelly clan, an extended family of supernaturals living within human society. Each of the major characters is fascinating and readers will particularly appreciate Tucker who was a Viking warrior who can shift into wolf. The mysteries and the town enhance Blood Bargain, a strong tale that fans of Kelly Armstrong and Kim Harrison will want to read." --Genre-Go-Round

"...I couldn't put it down. Maria Lima's second Blood Lines novel is even better than the first, a fun and sometimes poignant paranormal treat.... As the various plots began to converge, I was hooked. I read most of the second half of the book in one sitting. I can't say much without letting a spoiler slip, but I will say that the secret behind the mysteries is a haunting one, rooted both in old folklore and in disastrous family relationships...Along the way, we learn more about Keira's past and family background. Matters of the Blood whetted my appetite for Keira's backstory; Lima didn't disappoint in this area one bit....I also have a deep appreciation for any urban fantasy author who can write female friendship. Too often, urban fantasy novels feature queen-bee women who can't stand any other females on their turf; secondary female characters tend to be either spineless ciphers or jealous harpies. Lima has avoided this cliche by creating a delightful 'best friend' character in Beatriz Ruiz, and exploring the realistic effects that Keira's burgeoning power has on the relationship between the two women....For those who are wondering about the fantasy-to-romance ratio in Blood Bargain, this is more toward the fantasy end of things. There is some romance at the beginning, and a little bit at the end, but the fantasy and mystery elements are predominant for most of the book. Matters of the Blood is far more focused on romance than Blood Bargain is."-- FantasyLiterature.net

"Readers often approach second books in series with a bit of trepidation: they're excited to find out what happens next but wary that the second book might not live up to the excellence of the first. Well, have no fear when picking up Maria Lima's Blood Bargain, she has created an even more riveting novel in her follow-up to Matters of the Blood....Maria Lima captures the essence of urban fantasy, mystery and romantic elements in Blood Bargain." -- SFSite

"...Lima has served up a braided tale of several plot lines that converge and twist about each other enough that a reader is kept solidly invested in finding the clues and hoping to reach the conclusion before Keira. However, while Lima plays fair, there's a number of puzzle pieces that may or may not fit in this puzzle. Once you finish the book, it's a satisfying end that leaves you waiting for the next book.

Part of what makes this series so interesting, is that Lima uses well known tropes of the fantasy genre, yet gives them enough of a spin to make the recognizable to readers but keep them wondering if things will play out as expected. The differences are slight but make for the feeling that you're entering new territory. For not only are the shapeshifters, vampires, and magic systems just a bit different, but the whole series takes place in Texas -- a vast land that is new to most readers of fantasy. The mystery of the central plot is solidly constructed and doesn't necessarily depend upon the fantastical elements, though they are involved. Fantasy adds flavor to the story while human greed and villainy manage to keep it grounded in the here and now."--SFRevu

"Maria Lima creates a plausible and captivating world which is oddly different from ours and yet eerily the same. The rules of logic work equally well in this world where vampires, faeries, and shape-changerscan coexist with humans, most of whom do not even know that strangers live among them....The sense of place in this, the second in the series, is magnificent. It is set in the Hill Country of Texas and that area is made so real that the reader can see the dust, feel the heat, and smell all the odors of the countryside. The small town where Kiera grew up, Rio Seco, is like small towns everywhere -- slow to change, unwelcoming of strangers, cognizant of everyone's business. (In fact, the first paragraph of the book captures the small town beautifully.) The images throughout this book paint a vivid and indelible picture in the reader's mind. The story is told in first person by Kiera. She is a fully developed character, one that the reader can empathize with regardless of her non-humanity....Other characters are intriguing and sympathetic as well...I am not fond of paranormal books and most of the time do not read them because I think many of them do not play fair with the reader. Giving a character special abilities can be a cop-out. But these characters are so well developed, their world is so logical and believable, the book is so well-written that I simply suspended my disbelief and accepted and enjoyed this world."--DorothyL mailing list by Sally Fellows

"Ms. Lima spins a suspenseful tale and packs it with paranormal elements that will hold the reader's attention to the end. Blood Bargain is fast moving and reveals answers to many of the questions that fans have from book one. Romance is a strong factor in the heroine's actions, and adds to the building emotion in the storyline. Readers will be anxious to see where Keira's next supernatural adventure will lead." -- Darque Reviews

"[A] wonderful supernatural filled sequel to the first book Matters of the Blood. With vampires, shifters and faeries all making an appearance, this series definitely covers the main paranormal genre favourites. Mystery, suspense and things that go bump in the night are all packed into this second part, making the first book weep in envy and the third book having to live up to an even higher standard. (A PNR Reviewer Recommended Read) -- Paranormalromance.org

About the Author

MARIA LIMA is the author of the Blood Lines series from Juno Books: Matters of the Blood, Blood Bargain, and Blood Kin. She was born in Matanzas, Cuba before the Revolution to a family of voracious readers and would-be writers. After her family emigrated to the United States, Maria discovered the magic of books. She started writing her own stories and has been at it ever since. Her writing turned corporate as she used her journalism degree to crank out marketing copy, feature stories, and book reviews. The fiction muse kept calling and, in the spring of 2005, was finally fed as Maria's first published short story, "The Butler Didn't Do It" was published in Chesapeake Crimes I and garnered an Agatha Award nomination for Best Short Story. Maria spends most of her days working at a Web agency in the D.C. area. Her evenings and weekends are spent writing.

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