Written in Blood by Elaina Lee

Written first on The Romance Reviews

In WRITTEN IN BLOOD, Elaina Lee has built a tale of death and destruction, full of ugliness and pain, but she has found a way to weave in a spark of life and light. She has drawn hope from the self-destructive natures of two different and diverse personalities, twisted and guided them, and then found that piece that welds them together. While this is a story of finding the murderer of young women, it is also the story of finding one's self. Very imaginative and well done.

Lyndi Crisdean is struggling in her life as a defense attorney. She works in the same office of her most recent ex-husband. He has dumped her because she makes him feel too old and he has moved on to a younger woman, one of the women working at the firm. While she is beyond him, it still is a wound that bleeds. He is quite a bit older then she is, so the reasoning stings. She has also just recently been assigned several cases, one dealing with a serial killer, who is a strange and foreboding man, and definitely gives her the creeps. When he makes some threats, instead of admitting defeat and having him assigned to another, she refuses to acknowledge that she may not be able to handle it.

Alek Trevian is an investigator for the District Attorney's office, and is well known for his skills. He is attracted to Lyndi from the beginning and yet any dealing with her outside of the scope of their jobs could cost both of them their jobs. But Alek finds that Lyndi may be in the middle of the investigation that he is currently looking at. They are on opposite sides of the fence, yet when Lyndi becomes the focus of the madman, Alek finds she may hold the answers and this binds them in a way that may not be altogether healthy.

Lyndi has been married and divorced four times, she does not always make her choices in the right frame of mind, and she has been without sex for some time now. When she meets Alek for the first time, she has no idea who he is or how he will become a part of her life. She is electrified by the heat and
electricity the flows between them, and when he does not make his move, she is stunned. When she finally finds out who he is, she is also relieved, and yet there is that electricity, that burning need to have him. He too knows that need and knows the places that they can meet where they will not be known.

The sex is brutal and yet sensual, like no other that Lyndi has ever known. Knowing that their jobs are in jeopardy only makes it all the sweeter, and yet they decide that they must not meet again. And then again, and then again. They are drawn and cannot seem to help themselves, the sex is raw and needy, and yet addictive, and in the midst of it all, Lyndi is being followed. She is ripe for the plucking of a cult that has twisted itself free of the killer that started it. Will Alek be able to trust her with his secret?

Elaina Lee builds the tension, and the sex is brutal, yet tantalizing and addictive. Her characters are needy and flawed in ways both real and imagined. The story is well written, and believable, and the background is painful. Will they survive the investigations and hold all that is dear, and if they do, what will happen with the budding feelings growing between them? Ms Lee sucks you in and never lets you go. An intriguing and lustful story.

Rating 4/5
Written in Blood

This e-book was received from the publisher through The Romance Reviews. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.