Thursday, April 25, 2013

Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers #1) by Georgiana Derwent


A Tale of the Posh, the Privileged and the Paranormal...
The Cavaliers are the most elite society at Oxford University - rich, powerful, and beautiful. No one realises that they are no ordinary students, but a group of aristocratic vampires from the English Civil War. For four hundred years they have groomed the most promising students to run the government, police, and finance in the way the vampires wish, granting them eternal life in return for absolute obedience.

When Harriet French arrives at Oxford University from her working class northern state school, she’s prepared for a culture shock, but not to become embroiled in the Cavaliers’ scheming and bloodlust. Harriet thought she'd be busy enough juggling her demanding tutor, new friends, and the murky world of student politics. But now, she must find the rebel vampire who is killing off the members, stop the Cavaliers from orchestrating a massacre of the year’s most beautiful and successful students, and defy the Society to be with the man of her dreams.

Oxford Blood is a British, adult, paranormal romance. It's a tale with vampires that aren't afraid to kill and a heroine who's not afraid of sex or her own ambition.
Type: Paranormal Romance, New Adult, England
Heat: 2.5 out of 5 (it's there but not all that detailed/lengthy)
Rating: 3 out of 5
Ahhh, so, we've got a secret society of vampires that rules a major uni and has it's fingers in all the prominent spots in society from the police to politics and isn't shy about using a little force to get what they want... intriguing, right? Yeah, I was totally feeling the set up for Oxford Blood. It took me a good bit of time to actually get into the story and the style (very British in slang, etc) but once I was finally there I enjoyed watching things unfold for Harriet and the world she's just discovered exists. 


Basically Harriet is in her first year at Oxford and while she's studying and partying she's also being dragged into the world of vampires where drama abounds. Especially after two rival vamps set their sights on her. There's a little bit of steam and a couple sweet moments in the romance but for the most part it's rather light. There are a couple decent surprises along the way dealing with her family and the Cavaliers (the vamp society) which I definitely appreciated.

The vamps were really my favorite part despite them being a bit posh (I like my men a bit more...rugged?). They did have a touch of evil in them which is always fun to see.They kill, they manipulate and they take what they want and do so fairly unapologetically. I liked both of the vamps out for Harriet and that you just never knew what to expect from them.

While I did get into the story and the characters there were a quite a few editing blips that kept pulling me out of the story and distracting me which was one of my bigger problems with the book.

In the end I did enjoy the tale of Harriet's first year at Oxford and watching as she found new friends and love, made some discoveries about her family and dealt with vamp dramaI think this one is probably better suited to the younger crowd being a New Adult novel. Harriet really was a bit young for me so was a little hard to relate to, ya know? While it wasn't without it's faults I'm actually still pretty curious to see what unravels next with the series.


What's your favorite take on Vampires? 
Have you read Derwent before? What did you think?


Georgiana Derwent read History at Oxford University. Aside from the vampires, The Cavaliers Series is an exaggerated but fairly accurate portrayal of her time there. She now works in London and lives with her fiancĂ©. He’s been very supportive throughout the writing of her books, mainly because he likes to claim that all the most attractive characters are based on him.

Georgiana fell in love with vampire novels after reading The Vampire Diaries back in 2000. At the time it was a struggle to find any similar paranormal romances, a situation that it’s fair to say seems to have been rectified in the last few years. She now loves paranormal series, fantasy novels, and modern literary works in roughly equal measure.


Ever since her teens, she wanted to write a vampire series. Ever since going to Oxford she wanted to write a book about her experiences there. During a dull few months between finishing university and starting her graduate job, she had the idea of combining the two and The Cavaliers Series was born.




Follow the Tour:
April 9th- Mallory Heart Reviews (Oxford Blood and Screaming Spires)
April 11th- Musings From An Addicted Reader (Oxford Blood and Screaming Spires)
April 15th- Crazy Four Books (Oxford Blood)
April 17th- Paranormal Romance Fans for Life (Oxford Blood and Screaming Spires)
April 18th- A_TiffyFit's Reading Corner (Oxford Blood)
April 19th- Sweet n' Sassi (Oxford Blood and Screaming Spires)
April 24th- Love, Laughter, Friendship (Oxford Blood and Screaming Spires)
April 25th- Froggarita's Bookcase  (Oxford Blood and Screaming Spires)
April 25th- Herding Cats & Burning Soup (Oxford Blood)
April 25th- Full Moon Bites (Oxford Blood)

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