Demon's Blood by Shari Sakurai
Genres: Contemporary, Paranormal, QLTBG
Immortal blood is precious and Kokawa Taku’s
makes him especially unique.
After vampire hunters force them to flee Tokyo, Taku and his lover, Thane, try to make a new life for themselves in England. But three months later Thane is still tormented by nightmares of the fire that almost cost them their lives. This leads to carelessness and the discovery of one of his victims.
When faced with threats from all sides Taku tries his best to protect them although his actions are met with disapproval and anger from Thane. Unknown to his lover, Taku is also struggling to keep hidden the truth of what really happened three months ago.
However, it is only a matter of time before Taku’s past and bloodline catches up with him.
Shari is such a good writer and Demon's Blood is an excellent debut novel. Sure, there are plenty of places for her to grow and expand on her skills. But she has raw talent. All of the characters have very defined personalities and you can just tell that they were well thought out. The romance was also something that I enjoyed. I feel like if I say too much about the characters I'll give something away. But for someone like me who really appreciates good characters, Demon's Blood did not let me down.
This book felt like it flew by. I was swept away by this unique story in no time. Fans of M/M romance and traditional vampires will flock to this stunning debut by Shari Sakurai!
**I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review with no compensation.
Unique
2. Why did you decide to go with a darker type of vampire that's more traditional instead of the romanticized versions that are popular lately?
When reading vampire novels I prefer the vampires to be darker and more traditional. I’m not a fan of the romanticized versions.
For my vampires it’s a very difficult and painful existence really. They are essentially the same people that they were before they were turned, but to survive they have to drink blood and many of them have to kill their victims too. One point made in Demon’s Blood is that vampires, generally, do just kill to survive and that humans will kill other humans sometimes simply because they can. But drinking human blood, or the thought of it, is not something that anyone would be okay with. So this makes them, in their eyes and in the eyes of others, monsters. Some of my vampires adjust to their immortal lives better than others but they all still carry a darkness within them, even if they don’t want to acknowledge it!
3. Which character from Demon's Blood was the easiest for you to write?
Taku. He’s got such a strong personality and writing him comes very naturally to me.
4. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Take your time with your novel. Once you’ve finished it it’s a good idea to have a ‘cooling off’ period of a few weeks/months before coming back to it for the final read through.
5. Choose one character from Demon's Blood that you have to be trapped in an elevator with for an entire day. Who and why?
Koji. He’s seen so many periods of Japanese history and could tell a lot of fascinating stories – the day would pass in no time!
6. You can only read one book (that isn't one of yours) for the rest of your life. Which is it?
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It’s such a beautiful, touching and thought provoking piece of work. It’s one of those novels that stays with you long after you’ve read the last page.
7. Are you more similar to Thane or Taku?
Taku! We have a lot of similar insecurities, which we’re both very good at hiding! We also have the same sense of humour!
8. I'm so happy that Demon's Blood features gay romance. What inspired you to write a M/M couple?
I read a lot of m/m romance and I prefer the dynamics in a m/m relationship to a m/f one so when I write very often my works will feature a m/m relationship.
9. Lastly, what's up next for you? Any projects we should be looking out for?
My second novel, Perfect World, is being released as an ebook on the 19th July. Perfect World is a science fiction/m/m romance set in 22nd Century London. I’m also drafting an outline for another m/m romance/vampire novel, which I’m going to write for this year’s NaNoWriMo.
Myself and artist, Zoe Annear, will be exhibiting at Hyper Japan, Earls Court, London on 25-27 July where the print edition of Demon’s Blood will be available to purchase.
This giveaway is open internationally! Good luck!
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Shari is very interested in other countries’ cultures and mythology; in particular Japan. Japanese themes and influences can often be found in her work.
Shari's debut novel Demon's Blood was released in ebook format on 25th January 2014. She has participated and won the National Novel Writing Month challenge for the past seven years.
5 stars! I haven't heard of this before but since I do love Japanese culture and reading about traditional vampires after so long is intriguing, I'm gonna have to check this out :)
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