Five-Star Vampire Cliffhanger

A cliffhanger can be good, but this one feels like a personal offense. We just tore through The Blood Captive by Paige Mohr and we are bringing you our full, unfiltered reaction to this why-choose vampire paranormal romance: the captive compound, the “special blood type” bait-and-reward system, and the way the story keeps you locked in Kali's moment-by-moment fight to survive and get free.

We talk chemistry, pacing, and the characters who make the book impossible to put down. That includes Peter, the unsettling comic relief we desperately want handled, plus the brothers whose secrets feel bigger than the page. We also geek out over the butterfly reveal, a genuinely striking paranormal power moment that flips the symbolism of hope into something far more intentional and intimate. The more we dig in, the more questions pile up: what is Kali, what do Gray and Reese already know, and why does it feel like the real story is only just starting?

Then we react to Paige Mohr's teaser for book two, The Scarred Captive, including the reveal of Darius and his claim on control. We also debate the “slow burn” label, what it should mean in romance, and why this series feels poised to expand into a bigger vampire universe with real consequences and real war on the horizon. The Scarred Captive releases June 30, so read The Blood Captive now, then come scream with us. If you like the show, subscribe, share this with your favorite romance reader, and leave a review so more people can find us.

Check out our Bookshop.com book store where you can get your own copy of the books we are covering!  https://bookshop.org/shop/wreckedbyfiction

Transcript

Welcome Back And Quick Catch-Up

Emma 0:01

Welcome to the Wrecked by Fiction podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

That's not a cover. Yes, it is. Did I read it on my lunch break? Yeah. I made I made notes because I didn't know there was gonna be a quiz.

Emma 0:13

Hey, everything's for a great while I was watching a movie with my six-year-old. Yeah. I didn't know I could be both right and so fucking wrong. Wrecked by fiction, where we read, cry, and question our emotional stability.

Amanda 0:31

I feel like we haven't seen each other in forever.

Emma 0:33

I know it's been a minute. You've been adjusting the summertime, and so have I.

Why Vampires Are The Bane

Emma 0:41

But we're here to discuss uh my the current bane of my existence.

Amanda 0:50

Vampires. Mm-hmm.

unknown 0:53

Vampires.

Emma 0:54

I texted you the other day because I was like, oh, you have to have finished The Blood Captive. And I need to know, um, because the last time we talked, you had told me that Peter had just woke up. Yeah. And I I have I have questions about how you feel about the whole book in general, but I want to know your, you know, your basic review. Give us The Blood Captive by Paige Moore.

Amanda 1:25

I mean, I believe I gave it five stars on Goodreads. Okay. So Okay. Five stars. Yeah. I don't like where she left us. Um yeah, that was quite the ending.

Emma 1:38

Rude, right?

Amanda 1:39

Ma'am. Rude. Ma'am. I'm gonna need the next one.

Emma 1:43

Yeah, immediately. Yeah. Yeah. I was very um uh thrilled with the book. Yeah. Very upset by the ending. Yes, I could not wait. I didn't well let me rephrase. I did not want, want to wait to get my hands on the next one. I am very excited. Um okay, so for people who haven't read The Blood Captive, um, which why why are you waiting? Makes no sense. Get it now. Um, basically, The Blood Captive is a why choose vampire paranormal romance where a woman has a very specific blood type, basically, and she is used as like

The Blood Captive Premise And Peter

Emma 2:35

vampire bait slash reward system slash you know, whatever.

Amanda 2:41

Yeah.

Emma 2:41

She's living in a compound in a cage. And um, and we mentioned Peter. Peter is this like comedic relief dirty. I don't even know how to describe other than the fact that he just be fapping all the time.

Amanda 2:57

All the time.

Emma 2:58

All the time. I just w other what other purpose does he serve? That's it.

Amanda 3:03

Yeah. He's just gross. He's just there to be a little creepy and a little a little comedic relief, but also you just want to be like, dude.

Emma 3:13

It's gotta be. It it really he is he to me, it feels like he's placed as comedic relief. He's also placed as like um you're waiting for somebody to handle it, you know?

Amanda 3:24

Oh, and somebody handles it.

Emma 3:25

And somebody handles it, not to make a pun. Um but the last time we talked, you were he he was just waking up from having his dingling ripped off bare handed. Um which I mean to note means he you can't they can't die, right? He's a vampire, right? Right. So uh we're not quite in like the twilight realm where they're made out of ceramic and they crack. Um, they're flesh uh and blood, obviously. But yeah, he had just woken up. Um how did you feel uh once the the first brother joined them on the compound? I guess is my my first question.

Amanda 4:14

I was excited to see what happened. Okay. It it kind of went where I thought it was gonna go. Sure. The butterfly thing surprised me. I like that part. I did like that part. That was cool, and that was not where I thought those were going.

Emma 4:27

Okay.

Amanda 4:28

Um, so I thought that was really

Butterflies, Symbolism, And New Brothers

Amanda 4:30

cool. Um, yeah, it was the second brother that surprised me. Yeah. I wasn't expecting the second brother. Okay.

Emma 4:38

So yeah, the the butterflies I loved. Yeah. Um the him devolving into butterflies to fly through the bars and then becoming whole again. I just I loved that. Um what a cool I want that power. Right. What a cool, like, that's his thing or their their thing, that fa the family thing.

Amanda 5:10

Yeah.

Emma 5:11

I thought that when he realized that her, or well, I should say, when she realized that the butterflies that were always drawn to her, and she thought that was like her thing and like her symbol of hope, and you know, whatever, it was him. Right. Um, and they were just finding her. I I some the symbolism is just so beautiful. I'm just like, page your brain. Your beautiful, messed up brain. Apparently never sleeps. No, she's not, she's not a sleeper, as far as I can tell. Um, but yes, it was it cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers for sure. Um, we meet brother number three, who I honestly arguably might end up being my favorite brother. I love a broody, hate you at first. You know, that the the real and true enemies to lovers, like, you know, he's a black cat. She's gotta win him over. Right, that situation. I love that. I think arguably that might end up being my favorite like relationship in here. Yeah. Um, I I the goofy brother thing too, I do like. And then of course there's the I found her first brother. So we'll we'll see how it goes how it turns out. Um but Paige did send us something to tide us

TikTok Teasers For The Scarred Captive

Emma 6:42

over. Tease us? Yeah, we'll see.

Amanda 6:45

She's just trying to tease.

Emma 6:46

We'll see. She gifted us with two videos, actually. Two? Two. I didn't know I didn't know about the second one. Um we didn't get TikTok's freaking out. Um, we didn't I didn't get the second one right at first. So, hold on, let me go in.

Amanda 7:03

You still haven't watched either one?

Emma 7:05

No, I have not, I swear to you. Okay. Oh, hold on. Here we go. Okay. So um there are two. We're gonna listen to the first one. I will say it says TikTok gave a warning. And it says, we care about your safety. Media files can sometimes contain sensitive content. So I don't know. Good luck to us, I guess. Okay, you ready? Okay.

unknown 7:36

I'm dying. The oldest.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

The one you shouldn't feel the most that they chose alone. I chose control. This isn't their story anymore. It's mine. The scared captive book two by page more going soon to Amazon.

unknown 8:00

I'm dying.

Emma 8:01

Oh my god. The growl like he might not even be speaking words. I don't I don't think he I'd mm mm. That was just meant to like for you to feel in places inside your body. Uh quivering, if yeah, if I want to use some of the worst book language ever. Dare I say butterflies in your tummy. Holy mother of God. Okay, so the book is called The Scarred Captive, which we know she's covered in scars. Right. Because of all the biting. Uh this this is our Jesus Christ. This is our cover. We're yellow. I see that.

Amanda 8:46

I like it.

Emma 8:46

The Scarred Captive by Paige Moore. Okay. The real release date for the Scarred Captive is um June 30th. Okay.

Amanda 8:56

That's not soon enough.

Emma 8:58

No, you can't wait three weeks. No. Almost four weeks? No, I can't. Actually, four weeks. No. Um yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amanda 9:12

Rude.

unknown 9:14

I'm Darius.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

The oldest. The one you should feel the most. I chose control. This isn't their story anymore. It's mine. The scarred captain. Book two, I page more.

Emma 9:34

Okay. Nope. So I just figured out w the context of what he's actually saying. Which is humorous considering I just said that I figure I was going to end up enjoying the third brother the most. They chose love, I chose control. Holy Mother of God. I feel like I need to hold on to something. Whoa. I'm so excited. I what is it about that man's he is growlier this time than the last video? Yeah. Huh. That's okay. You ever meet somebody who uh says they can't understand accents? Why can't they understand? Like they listen to like a Highlander speak and they have no idea what they're and I'm like, unless they're like deep in the dialect of even then you can pick through and understand enough. And understand enough to get the gist of what they're talking about. Right. I've always wondered. I ha I I we meet people all the time, right? That they can't understand someone who has a Spanish accent or you know, yeah, Scottish accent or an Irish accent because they speak so differently or whatever.

Amanda 11:02

Yeah.

Emma 11:03

Cause it did at first I was like What's he saying? I was like, I need a second. I need to listen to it a couple times because I just heard the growl and there were no words. I was like, I I didn't it didn't even register. Nope, didn't need the words. Well, no, you got there without the words. Um yeah, so okay. Well, that is quite the teaser. So brother number three chose control. He's the one we should be worried about now. Oh, I'm not worried. Oh, and I'm thrilled. Oh my gosh. Okay, so to bring us back to a little bit more about the blood captive.

Secrets, Missing Backstory, And The War

Emma 11:51

Because while there's not like a significant amount of information, you know, it's very like here and now what we're dealing with it day to day. The details are in the moment. Right, right. We're not getting a whole lot of background. We're not, um, we don't know. Callie is our main character. We don't have a whole lot of like why and how, and you know, a little, right? We do, but it feels to me, and it could be subtle foreshadowing, it could be my mind making up details where there is none. Um, but it feels to me like Gray knows far more well, both of them. Yep. Okay, so we've got Callie, Gray, and Reese. And then when we get the third brother, I'm assuming we just learned his name is Darius, is that right?

Amanda 12:43

I think so. I think he's I think they say his name towards the very end. The very, very end.

Emma 12:47

I'd have to like go deep and double check, but they introduce her to him when she walks up and then. Yeah, when they get to the Okay. But yeah, you get lots of moments where like Gray and Reese look at each other and there's not a conversation, right, that takes place even in like an alternate POV. Right. But where they you can tell that they know a lot more about um who she is and what she is, and then they get to the house after escaping, and brother number three says, You guys haven't told her anything. Why aren't you telling her anything? Right. Um And they told her that they would tell her, but they they hadn't yet. So And they've been keeping it. And then uh he said that they've brought a war to their house. Yeah. And she's like, What did I walk out of one cage just to walk into another? Because he locks her in her room. Right. And I'm like, I paige, I was left with too many questions. I have too many. I also like destroyed that book. I started at like 8 p.m. I stayed up and until like 2 a.m. the first night and read almost all of it. In I would say it took like that is six hours, six hours on my first like extent, like straight, six hours straight of reading. And then I would say probably another hour and a half after that to finish it um throughout the next day. Yeah, a solid maybe eight hours to read that book. Yeah. I and so I Paige Moore is she's not new to us, right? Like we we kind know her personality, like we've had conversations with her. We um I would consider her like a friend of the pod, and maybe even my a personal friend too, at this point. Um and she has another book that I have been uh looking at, and it's called Heaven Break. And you know, we know that I read the Christmas one, the silly uh Christmas romance book. Yes. Um, but when originally when she had approached us, she had given me a list, and when I looked at them, Heaven Break felt like the most like my normal read. Um, and it's like fallen angel situation.

Amanda 15:27

Okay.

Emma 15:28

Um, and then of course she hits us with the slutty vampires, and I'm like, well, how do I say no? Gotta do that. How do I walk away from vampire brothers? Okay. But yeah, I I don't know. I'm four weeks is too many weeks. Cause we're it's yeah.

Amanda 15:50

Yeah.

Emma 15:51

By the time that this episode releases, we will be three weeks from release, exactly.

Amanda 15:57

Right. So I have a feeling both of us will be blowing page up later. Oh, oh yeah.

Emma 16:03

I'm gonna need an advanced copy. Um, how much do you love us? Send it over immediately. Also, any chance that um G can read it and to us. Right. Just live. Get him on a Zoom call, take notes. Um, because I yep. Nope, that's not appropriate to say on the internet. I mean, a lot of things are said on the internet, but it's not appropriate to say on the pod. Um but I yeah, no, we are blessed to have the opportunity to number one communicate with all of these people and the authors that we have been connected with and you know the connections that we've made, and I just I think it's it's so fun. Um it's just an incredible thing that we have been going on, and Paige is killing it, and I'm so excited. I really hope like if this is the books that explode, then you know, we were there at the beginning, and I'm so glad she found us. I would love to be able to, you know, meet in person with her and whatever. Um but I just, you know, uh we probably wouldn't sleep for that would be like a vacation that nobody ever went to bed. Right. It would be a little bit. It would be a little bit for sure.

Slow Burn Debate And Series Predictions

Emma 17:42

Also, Paige, you you labeled the blood captive as slow burn. I don't know if I would say that's true. I mean, it doesn't go directly into like penetrative sex or anything, so I guess maybe. But I think maybe slow burn adjacent. I wouldn't call it slow burn.

Amanda 18:00

I would agree.

Emma 18:01

I would say that the heat is probably like mid-level between the foreplay versus like with everybody, and you know what I mean? Like yeah, I wouldn't call it a slowburn. No, I wouldn't call it like insta-love either, or like especially on her part, right? Um, on Callie's part, main character, but I wouldn't say that we get, you know, 90% of the book done and then they kiss for the first time. Because to me that's what slowburn means. Yeah. Slowburn means like the book is 375 pages, the first 300 pages where nobody's touching.

Amanda 18:36

Yeah.

Emma 18:37

That's what I mean. Or it's a trilogy, which it page. I don't know if there's a third book. There are three brothers. So I'm gonna take step out on a limb. Maybe it's three books. Um, right now we have two books, but let's say it's a trilogy. Slowburn to me is nobody touches at all in the first book. Maybe the second book we get like halfway through and there's like a love declaration. Right. But there's no like third-based intimacy until like the very end of the second book, and then yeah.

Amanda 19:11

Yeah.

Emma 19:12

So I don't know. I think uh she has set herself up here for a very interesting universe. For sure. Because even with the character introductions in the blood captive with all of the other vampires, I really you know, I'd love to see sp like the ones that like cared about Cali or like even if that you, you know, Cali was even like, well, I know that I'm a food source, but maybe like you know, you know what I'm saying? Do any of them come back? Right. Yeah.

Amanda 19:47

Or do any of them become an enemy?

Emma 19:50

Yeah. Right. Right. They they are, you know, part of the army of vampires that comes and attacks or whatever. To try to get her back. Hmm. Yeah, because what I I meant like side story, like like second generation is what yeah, I was like, you know, but maybe could be either way. I I would assume that there will be actual death, probably, because from what we've seen, you know, the vampires um are are quite difficult to kill. Right. Also, Peter is still alive? Did he die? No, he's still alive.

Amanda 20:22

He's very upset.

Emma 20:24

Yeah. I would be too. Very upset. But uh he deserved worse than he got, so uh he should be dead. Yes. He should be dead. Nobody needs Peter fapping around in the corner.

Amanda 20:37

Well, I mean he can't anymore.

Emma 20:38

So it will grow back, they said.

Amanda 20:41

Oh, I thought they said that they couldn't reattach it. I thought that it grows back. I don't think so. I think he's just a eunuch now. Does it? Now I have questions. I'm saying I'm gonna have to go back through. Questions have missed that part.

Emma 20:53

I for some reason I thought that like it takes a while, but like that eventually it would grow back.

Amanda 21:01

Page 911. Right. We need to know. Yeah, maybe I misunderstood that. I thought that they just said that it was that they couldn't reattach it and that it would, you know, it was too late.

Emma 21:12

Yeah. I just I yeah, no, my question would be like if you lost a finger, eventually would that finger grow back?

Amanda 21:19

I don't think so. But I could be wrong. Hmm.

Emma 21:22

Maybe I'm thinking of a different like universe, right? Where eventually it'll reappear. Okay. No, that that is something to ponder on, I suppose. Hmm. Okay. Well, Paige, we're really excited. Yes. Very I am salivating, waiting for I need more of the third brother. It wasn't enough. That was like the worst tease at the end. I was like, how dare you give me 12 pages of just of him and then he's a dick. Right.

Amanda 21:58

Oh, I knew when I finished it, I was like, oh, Emma is mad.

Emma 22:01

Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda 22:04

Emma is big mad.

Emma 22:05

Yeah. Yep. No, I'm ready. I'm ready to, especially because it vi the G's teaser video is very like lends itself to being like, this book is going to be very like Darius forward. Right. Like, hold on, let me open it and see. Let me make sure that that's the name. I hate, I just I'm opening it and I'm like, that's such a good scene. No, that's Gray and Reese. Okay. Doot do do do. Darius. Yeah, that's right. Also, um, if I can't convince you to read The Blood Captive off of just hold on.

Favorite Lines, Release Date, And Goodbye

Emma 22:45

It says His fangs graze my skin, not breaking, just threatening. And the danger of it makes me even wetter. I want to bite you, he breathes against my neck. I want to taste you again. I want to feel you come apart while I drink. A knock at the door makes us both freeze.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Hmm.

Emma 23:02

I'm like. Rude! Darius, you're fucking up. Playtime. Okay? Right. We weren't ready for that to be over. Me or Callie, okay? I'm just, yeah, I am. I'm I'm ready for the the next installment for sure. Yes. Okay. Well, we'll go, we'll come back and have a a chat soon. Maybe um we get Paige on next and That would be awesome. Um, you know, maybe like right before she releases or right after she releases. We can see if we can get her on to chat, talk through her process and stuff.

Amanda 23:42

I think that would be really cool.

Emma 23:44

Okay. If you haven't read The Blood Captive, it's been out since March. Right.

Amanda 23:48

You better Oh, February. Yeah.

Emma 23:50

What are you doing? Get on it. And uh The Scarred Captive comes out June 30th, and uh we're first in line, so you better get the fuck back.

Amanda 23:59

So just get behind us. It's fine.

Emma 24:02

Okay.

Amanda 24:03

We're wrecked by fiction. Have a great day. Bye.