I mostly liked this book. I didn’t like how the warden and other Hispanic and women are treated. There is some foul language. I did feel the Jodi is short-sighted not to suspect Sterling just because he is a kid and her daughter liked him. #BloodMountain #NetGalley

Treacherous weather and duplicitous intentions are front and center in Blood Mountain, where if the major snowstorm doesn’t kill you, a family member or a large animal might cause your demise instead. Alisa Lynn Valdes has crafted a tension-filled, blood pressure increasing, enchanting mystery that will keep you guessing until the shocking reveal.

New Mexico game warden Jodi Luna has been ordered by her boss to lead an elk hunt on the enormous ranch of a wealthy family, one member of which is a woman Jodi has become friendly with. When she arrives, she is thrust into a complicated situation with bickering siblings and an incoming blizzard that leaves them stranded in the lodge. Then one of the family members goes missing and is later found murdered. Jodi, as the sole law enforcement officer on site, must brave the elements and the warring family to determine the motive and figure out which one of the handful of suspects could have perpetrated the crime.

This book is high on drama and contains quite a bit of intrigue that goes beyond the murder investigation. Loud and obnoxious siblings fighting like cats and dogs. Environmental conservation issues. Teenagers thinking they know more than adults. Dynamics of rich vs. poor. A daughter trying to find her place in a family after being united with her birth mother. And a woman referred to as the Goat Lady who shoots homemade arrows at people, keeps a black bear as a pet, and speaks almost exclusively in bible verses. So while this book has a compelling crime and a twisting, turning, suspenseful investigation, the characters are the driving force behind making this story pop.

Blood Mountain is an engaging and gripping tale that succeeds in moving this budding series forward with a positive step in character development while also setting the stage for future installments. A thriller that will entertain crime novel enthusiasts with a predisposition for the outdoors, animals and family drama.

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This story combined two of my favorite things- a taught thriller with an unusual setting in the wilds and snow. I enjoyed the fact that there was plenty of character building and story along with the mystery. Great job. Will read more by this author.

Bogged down by the details.......

I had high hopes for Blood Mountain after reading the first novel in this Jodi Luna Series. Hollow Beasts #1 showed promise of good things to come. That didn't exactly happen here. Blood Mountain suffered from the Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda Syndrome.

We meet back up with New Mexico Game Warden, Jodi Luna, with a different assignment this time. She's a forty-six year old woman with a teenage daughter starting a new career and returning to the home front in New Mexico. Sean Brady, the new head of New Mexico Fish and Wildlife, has issues with Jodi from the get-go.

New assignment: Oversee an elk hunt in the vast acreage of the Sange Monte Ranch owned by billionaire Teddy Evans and his actress wife Claudia. They're having problems with Dona Lourdes Lavato, also known as the Goat Woman, who will not sell her land. The Evans Clan must pass through her ranch in order to get to theirs. Lavato also has a pet bear named Charlie.

So far so good. Blood Mountain started layin' bricks for a good read. Until things went sliding down that mountain. Jodi brings her fifteen year old daughter, Mila, who has been carved out as a bad ass with rock climbing and gun toting talents well beyond her years. Then we have a horrendous snow storm. Nobody bothered to check the weather app for hunting that week.

All the Evans Clan shows up. Alisa Lynn Valdes couldn't help herself with injecting the privileged stereotypical rich folks with bad behavior like the white supremacists in the last one. At the core of this novel is a landslide of issues that we're faced with every day. Day in and day out. Here's a small suggestion: Readers read fiction for escapism. Give us some haardcore crime, serial killers, and just plain murder without all these issues attached. Just sayin'. And the murderer in this one was beyond the pale. All I can say is to check this one out for yourselves, dear readers.I may just have a cocklebur under my saddle.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to Alisa Lynn Valdes for the opportunity.

"Blood Mountain" is the second installment in the Jodi Luna series but is easily read as a standalone. A game warden is assigned to supervise a wealthy family's hunting trip and soon finds herself entangled in their drama.

This book opens with the discovery of a dead body, but readers need to slog through about 25 chapters of family drama before getting to the murder teased in the opening paragraphs. The eventual thrills are bogged down by one-dimensional villains and heavy-handed political references.

All in all, I was disappointed and won't be reading other books in the series.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for sending me an advanced copy of this book for review consideration.

Blood Mountain is an excellent second book to the series. Jodi is a spitfire and I love her grit. I loved the vivid descriptions of nature and the love for natural resources and wildlife. Look forward to reading more.

I started this book a few days ago, and stopped reading for the holidays. When I came back to the story, I realized I have lost interest in the story and no longer wish to read it. I do think readers will like this story, as the writing was good and the characters seemed interesting enough.

Loved this second installment and can’t wait to read more of this series! I hope Jodi stays as a game warden….love the cast of supporting characters as well as the respect for wildlife.

Blood Mountain by Alisa Lynn Valdes starts out with a family gathering in the wilds of New Mexico and ends up with a blizzard stranding them along with Game Warden Jodi Luna. This was a very good locked in mystery with interesting characters, especially Jodi Luna.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

The cover is what drew me in and I’m so glad I was able to read this. Alisa Lynn Valdés has a great way of weaving a tale and making this a story that stands out. It worked well and I enjoyed the use of nature.

I loved her first book and this one is the same. She writes a well placed book with good characters and a fast paced plot that keeps you guessing. Another good book
Thanks to Netgalley and the people for letting me review the book

Sangre Monte. Blood Mountain. The site of the six hundred thousand acre ranch owned by the very wealthy and very unhappy Evans family. Their new home on the mountain will soon be the site of a death. It’s up to Game Warden Jodi Luna to discover what sort of wildlife is responsible. The kind outside…or inside?

A political assignment brings Jodi to the ranch. She is to supervise the Evans’ hunting forays at the request of the governor. She is accompanied by her teenage daughter Mila to keep her out of trouble. She’ll find it at the ranch. She discovers Adler and Bryce Evans arguing violently while armed with crossbows. Then Bryce storms out into a blizzard and disappears. Jodi needs to find him and keep Mila separated from her new boyfriend, teenaged Sterling Evans. If this sounds complicated, it is. Trapped by the blizzard, Jodi must deal with the warring brothers, a supermodel with secrets, an angry, Bible quoting neighbor, a pet bear and more.

Blood Mountain, the second in a series, is easily read as a standalone thriller. Alisa Lynn Valdés describes the remote, atmospheric location lyrically. The characters here are so vivid that you feel you would recognize them on the street. Adler might be a little over the top but he is a sociopath. Claudia and Dakota are charming as is heroic young Mila. I can’t wait for the next in this excellent series! 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Alisa Lynn Valdés for this ARC.

Really enjoyed the book from start to finish. Author wrote this with great pace. Blood Mountain is now one of my top books of the year for sure. Loved every second of this book.

Blood Mountain is the second title in the Jodi Luna series by Alisa Lynn Valdés. I devoured the first title, Hollow Beasts, and was so excited for the opportunity to review Blood Mountain in exchange for an ARC from #NetGalley.

I find Valdés writing to be poetic without being overbearing about it. Her words flow together and weave such beautiful imagery while not getting lost in the plot. As soon as I opened #BloodMountain I began highlighting. I was hooked right from the very first paragraph.

Our FMC is Jodi Luna, Game Warden and she finds herself shipped off to a hunting ranch owned by the richest citizens in town... in several towns actually. She didn't want to be there, but her boss is unhappy with her job performance and due to political glad-handing requires her to be there for a hunting trip. What happens next? Why MURDER of course! And a blizzard, power outages, suspicion, and a surprising amount of unrestrained aggression on all parties.

While I did love this title, I did not love it as much as the first in the series. Blood Mountain reminds me of Agatha Christie here. Specifically 'And Then There Were None', and follows many similar mystery tropes. Think Arcadia/Black Sheep/Butler Did it/Closed circle etc. The ending felt rushed, and while it definitely left an opening for further books in the series, it left me as the reader feeling a little letdown. It was missing closure in my opinion.

So overall the author I give a resounding 5 stars to for her ability to create imagery with her words, but Blood Mountain fell flat for me and I'll leave it with a 3.5/4 stars. I will likely read more, but I also expected more. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to review this book as an advanced reader #ARC for #NetGalley. Thank you again!

Many thanks to both Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Blood Mountain. This book is #2 in the Jodi Luna series and the expected publication date is October 16, 2024.

And inside the snowy confines of this rustic hideaway, everyone is fair game ... for a killer.
Just imagine being trapped by a blizzard with an unidentified serial killer!

I didn't enjoy Blood Mountain as much as I did Hollow Beasts, probably because this one was a little heavy on religion, particularly Catholicism. I still loved Jodi and her two daughters, and the Goat Lady was quite interesting to read about. (Maybe she should have been named the Bear Lady?) As in the previous book, Mila seemed older than her age but I was still charmed by her.

In my opinion, Blood Mountain can be read as a standalone. Prepare yourself, though. This book has lots of mystery and suspense!!

I was unaware this was part of a series. I was intrigued by the murder mystery but this ended up not being what I expected. I couldn't Gey into this story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

#2 in the delightful entry in the Jodi Luna series as and her youngest daughter babysit a rich family governor's during an Elk hunt. It is not long before Jodi and stumbles along the corpse of someone with the group who was murdered. It is quickly determined that Elk are not the animals being hunted that weekend.

Excellent novel, but they need to replace the editor. Somehow no one catches an error that I immediately noticed, that the killer is hog-tied at one point, and yet he "reached up to feel a head wound," Things like that, which I seldom encountered at least in published books (and I hope they remove before they publish this one, pull me right out of the story, so I had to deduct one star (at least for the version I read).

Until next time, remember to pay attention to details, they are important.

I am enjoying this series and was happy to receive a ARC through NetGalley.

This one has it all. A luxurious hunting lodge in the beautiful New Mexico mountains, a dysfunctional rich family with mucho problems, a former poet turned game warden sent to lead them on an elk hunt and her 15 year old daughter, wise beyond her years. What could possibly go wrong?

A blizzard for one and a cranky old woman who resents the family’s incursion on her home, plus did I mention she has a pet bear named Charlie? Wrap all this up with a murder in the family, tie it up neatly with a no electricity, no cell coverage bow and you have a hunt on your hands. But exactly who or what are we hunting?

I really enjoyed the daughter of the main character. Smart, funny, spunky and very capable of handling difficult situations, I felt she made this story. I hope she figures prominently in future books.