Review: Blood Before Sunrise by Amanda Bonilla

Title: Blood Before Sunrise

Author: Amanda Bonilla

Series: Shaede Assassin, book 2

Genre: Urban Fanatsy

Publisher: NAL/Signet Eclipse

Source: Review copy from author

Format: E-book

“ ‘She needed a bargaining chip and this was it. Raif’s daughter’s life for hers. And he knew damn good and well I was right. Just like he’d assured me the night I’d killed Azriel, this was far from over. His daughter was alive, I knew it. And I was going to find her.’

For months Darian and her Shaede guardian Raif have searched for the Oracle who attempted to overthrow the Shaede Nation—and kill Darian in the bargain. But now that they’ve finally found the half-crazed Oracle, for their efforts they are granted a possibility too painful for Raif to imagine, and too enticing for Darian to ignore.

Darian is determined to reunite Raif and the daughter he thought was dead, but her mission quickly proves dangerous when her lover Tyler is almost killed. And when a brooding and mysterious Fae warrior offers his guidance—at an extraordinary price—Darian finds herself willing to risk everything. As her single-minded hunt turns into an obsession, and she and Tyler grow further apart, Darian finds herself caught between the man she loves like a brother, and the man whose love she can’t live without…”

Blood Before Sunrise is the second installment in the Shaede Assassin series by Amanda Bonilla.

Blood Before Sunrise starts couple of months after the events in Shaedes of Gray. Darian and Raif have been searching for months for the Oracle, Delilah. When they finally find her her mind is not as once was, she is talking so much nonsense that is difficult to understand what she is really saying, but in one of her ramblings she says that Raif daughter, Brakae is not dead. Raif doesn’t want to hear anything about it; he has suffered for Brakae’s disappearance for years and won’t believe a crazy maniacal Oracle. But something in Darian tells her Delilah is telling the truth.

Raif is her best friend, the man she loves like a brother. Darian knows how much he has suffered because of the disappearance of his daughter, for that reason she wants to find her for him and sets her mind in finding Brakae.

Reading some books is like taking a ride in a roller coaster of emotions. Reading Blood Before Sunrise is like taking a ride in the first row of that roller coaster. This book grabs you from page one to the end without letting you go, not even to take a breath, be ready to swoon, laugh and almost cry. You heart will rise and hurt and you will experience every feeling in between. Mrs. Bonilla’s writing is so good and vivid that she will make you experience this and more with her words.

Darian has come a long way since we met her in Shaedes of Gray. She is learning to live a life where she is not alone, where she has people that care for her and she can count with them. She has Tyler who loves her unconditionally and is willing to die for her, Raif who is more than a brother to her and even Xander who publicly admires her and covets her.

But getting there has not been an easy road. All this is new to her and sometimes she just doesn’t know how to do it. She doesn’t know how to trust others or how to ask for help when she needs it. This places her in difficult situations where not only her life is in peril but also her relationships strain because of her trusting issues.

Darian made many mistakes and makes same amount of bad decisions in this book, sometimes it was painful to watch, it was almost as watching a train wreck in slow motion, you know is coming but there is nothing you can do to stop it. I would have preferred for her to make better decisions (my heart would have suffered a lot less) but at the same time that was just what she needed to learn from her mistakes and become a better person.

We also learn more about her past, about her human life and the time she shared with Azriel. From those glimpses we learn something that it may affect her in the future.

My heart broke for Tyler in this book, I know how much he loves Darian and everything he has done for her. Seeing him suffer in this book was not easy, I understood that his behavior was something completely out of his control and it pained me to see him like that.

I know Darian loves him but I wish she would have been trust-worthier with him, if somebody deserves her entire trust is Tyler.

Raif was more in Darian’s thoughts than in the pages but still we see how good he is and how much he loves Darian. For him Darian is much more than a simple friend, their relationship has progressed a lot and slowly they have become family.

We see some of Xander, he is still the self-assured leader of the Shaedes and his interest in Darian hasn’t diminished one bit. I really wonder about his real intentions towards Darian. Is it only an attraction? Is it one of those cases where you want what you can’t have? Or does he really have feelings for her? I hope Mrs. Bonilla will answer some of my questions in future books.

The villain in this book is bad and creepy and scary. He is one of those characters that really believe his craziness making him even more dangerous. He is a fanatic of his beliefs and in his head he has the right to do what he does. Mrs. Bonilla writes him so good that even though you wish him a slow and painful death you can help but sympathize with him and his “cause”.

We meet new characters in this book, some I would love to see more in future books like Moira. We also learn more about recurring characters, but still there is a lot to be discovered. Mrs. Bonilla has created in her Shaede Assassin Series a unique and extraordinary world very rich in mythology, with compelling and complex characters and a very well written plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Mrs. Bonilla also does a great job recounting events of previous book without being repetitive; this helped me a lot because I had forgotten a lot of what happened in Shaedes of Gray.

The end broke my heart in thousand shards, it was what was needed but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Have tissues close by, you may need them. 

All in all Blood Before Sunrise is a Great addition to a Great series and a book I recommend to all Urban Fantasy lovers. If you love this genre this book and this series are a Must Read for you. If you haven’t read Shaedes of Gray… What are you waiting for? You need to read it today!  I recommend you to read them in order to get the whole effect of the magic world Mrs. Bonilla has created for us.

I’m really looking forward to March of next year to the release of the next installment of this series, Crave the Darkness.

My Verdict: 4 ½ Paws

Other books in the series

When Shadows Call (Novella)

Shaedes of Gray

Blood Before Sunrise

Crave the Darkness (March 2013)

Other reviews Goodreads

Visit Author's Website