DNF @30%

Nothing against the book, I was having a good time, there was enough suspense that I could have kept going, but I fell out of the mood for this once Halloween 2023 passed and if I were to read it again, which I plan on in the future, I'd have to go back to the beginning.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

What a great start to a new series! Extremely well written and atmospheric, with a dark side.
Many thanks to Helbound Productions and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was graphic and had so much potential however is was also super boring. I was bored the entire time.

3.0/5.0

A fast paced novella with an original premise which had me hooked from the very start. Looking forward to the continuation.

This book dealt with some very dark themes, sadly I was unable to finish reading this however for the right audience I think this has the potential to be a really great read.

This was a deliciously written story diving deep into the secret macabre world of Great Depression New Orleans that follows our two main characters, twins John and Wayne Carter. The suspenseful and terrifying grappled me in and wouldn't let me out of its clutches until I finished.

I have always enjoyed vampires and history, and this dark amalgamation of both, with a dash of horror, was just my cup of tea. I am also stoked to read a second novella if one is written because I'd love to reunite with John and Wayne for yet another journey into bloodthirsty madness.

My two favorite quotes:

"Animal nature and human nature were the same in Louisianna. Each was driven to kill or be killed. Dominate and survive."

"Life is painful and uncertain. Death is pain and uncertainty. We live with this for our tomorrows... You must embrace the pain to see through it to the pleasure."

Also, I would like to thank NetGalley for letting me read this eARC version.

An eerie and unsettling horror novel that plunges readers into the story of two brothers, John and Wayne, who wake up in a blood-soaked alley with no memory of how they got there. Their journey to uncover the truth takes them down a dark and twisted path, where they form an alliance with Jacques, a vampire, in exchange for newfound power and a sense of purpose. However, their choices lead to a growing sense of guilt, unsettling nightmares, and confusing memories that haunt them.

“Brothers of Blood” by J. T. Patten is an eerie horror book. While the premise of the book is interesting, I found the narrative somewhat confusing, with the brothers' memories and inner dialogues often conflicting, which made it difficult to fully engage with the story. I wished for more depth in the character interactions, as some of them felt a bit one-dimensional. On the positive side, the book excels in creating a gruesome and cruel vampire world that adds a compelling layer of horror. 2 out 3 stars.

I really love vampire stories so thought this would fit my tastes but I was unfortunately wrong. I couldn't get into this story. I liked the descriptive narrative and the honoring of Anne Rice by writing about vampires in Louisiana. I struggled with the story because it starts out with John, stating how he has memory loss,. Then he quickly starts talking about all these memories he was having. Then he continues to expound on how he can't remember much about his life, while describing his past. It was super confusing to me how someone whose memories where taken could be having flashbacks. The flashbacks were hard to distinguish from his mental musings as well. It was difficult to tell what was memory and what was inner dialogue,, maybe that was the point but it just left me confused rather than intrigued.
You may enjoy the story if the above does not bother you. The descriptive setting and feel of the time period is well done. I may try to pick up the story at another time to see if I can follow along better but it just wasn't for me right now.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy. The opinions are my own.

I, unfortunately, cannot get into this book. It was something I really tried to force myself to read, because it has all the elements that I love. But after struggling to get it to catch my interest, I’ve decided to DNF it for now. I do plan to return to it, perhaps when I am in a different headspace. But because I can find no fault in the writing or the story itself, I’ve opted to give it a 3 star. It is purely my own reasoning to DNF and I do not feel it deserves a low rating because of that.

I wanted to like this, but I was more confused than anything. Not sure if they were vampires or not. Lots of going in between situations and they were confused too and couldn't remember stuff so it made it hard to follow and then it has a really weird abrupt ending.

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Horror rating 🩸🩸🩸🩸/🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Brothers of blood is very dark and I loved it. It was also pretty short for a book, and I wished it was longer tho. Away I rated it 3 out of 5 stars, it was good in the horror or scary way I gave it 4 out of 5 on the horror level so if was pretty scary…if it was longer I would have gave it 5 maybe 🤔

I enjoyed the eerie vibes, but I missed having details, and I have many open Questions and overall I felt like the book was incomplete. The absolute haloween creepy autumn vibes were good and kept me going.

Based on the description I knew I was going to love this book. Vampires are my favorite horror genre so I was very excited. While the writing was beautiful and much like Anne Rice’s style, the book left me wanting more. The story was good but I needed more fleshing out of the characters and the history behind them, which is a testament to how great the writing was. The vampire lore itself was unique which is hard to come by these days with the saturation of vampire fiction and I really hope this becomes a series. My favorite part of the book was how it used vampire lore to shed light on abuse, especially emotional abuse. The chapters were named for and highlighted the stages of abuse. The descriptions of the grooming and psychological turmoil the characters go through were detailed and chilling. I’d recommend this book to any vampire lore enthusiast or psychological horror lover. Thank you to NetGalley and HellBound productions for providing me with this book for review.

This is the second horror novel I have ever read both in the entire genre and also by the creative and dark mind of JT Patten. I have found the Brothers of Blood to be everything I like in a good novel. Everything from fallible characters who give in to their human nature to a dark and twisted antagonist with Jacques and a great setting. Patten does a great job of also bringing these elements together in Prohibition era New Orleans so well that the reader almost feels if they are walking the dark streets of the French Quarter not sure if what is lurking behind them is a mugger or one of the many vampires or rippers that stalk the streets of the Vieux Carre. Hats off to you JT on this latest successful read and to anyone else reading this, do not waste your time and dive into this story of mystery and unknown!!

Very atmospheric writing, moody and fit in perfectly with the setting. The lore explored was interesting enough that I wished there was more to read, but also I think the amount that was included was cohesive and fit well with the plot. The plot dragged on at points but then felt extremely rushed at other times, and I wish there were a few more pages dedicated to the brothers' time with Jacques for a more nuanced take on the manipulation. A few more pages on their descent into bloodthirsty would have also made the plot feel less rushed.

I read the first few pages of this book and immediately noticed the lack of editing and cohesiveness in the writing. It was distracting enough that I could not bring myself to read more. I wanted to like this, but could not. I'm not cruel and therefore will not be posting my review anywhere but here.

New Orleans in the late 1910’s and early 20’s. The Axe Man murders. And the ‘folk lore’ vampires that inhabit the French Quarter.
I must admit that this isn’t my first encounter with regards to the axeman murders in New Orleans. There is a fable behind this story, the details of which I won’t go into. Whilst touched upon in this tale, it doesn’t go into any great detail.

This is a really well written noir novella. That looks into one of the seedier side of New Orleans. The brothers, whilst novices in life are far from shy when it comes to the participation.

The plot is really strong, the characters are well rounded and developed. This could easily have been 2-300 pages longer and still have had the ability to hold interest, and keep you wanting more.

This is the first time that I have encountered this author. And, if his other works a written half as well as this. He’s going to be onto a winner.

I hope that we are going to be able to come across this cast line again. And hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the next instalment, if there is going to be one (I have my fingers crossed that this is going to be the case).

Status: Completed

Rating: 5.0/5.0

This was a great start to this vampire horror series, it does everything that I was hoping for. It worked as a opening to this series and as a introduction. The characters were a great concept overall and worked in the vampire setting. J.T. Patten has a strong writing style and can’t wait for more.

it’s defiantly a horror story with vampires and art in new orleans.

so the summery was right about that.


but i expected more… in all those aspects.

the start was something else entirely , almost getting too much with the horror with the descriptions on how the vampires drank and how it was described from the humans perspective.

it set a specific tone… that i didn’t feel the rest of the book could keep up with.

this short start section that was so horrific and bloody and brutal and descriptive in its brutality made me expect similar tones.

and while i won’t say that it was bad to not keep up that level of horrific scenes - the rest of the story felt slow and stilted. the chapters felt almost like connected short stories instead of one consecutive story and we didn’t even end where the story started even thought after that start we go back in time.


for me this book just had some pacing issues and also had some tone struggles - either too horrific or not enough to keep a horror story of a novella length interesting enough for me to want to keep turning the pages.
it’s a bit of a strange mix this novella manages to be honest.


for me it felt more like this is the start of a bigger idea. almost as if this is the pitch for a whole novel that is send to a publisher to see if they are interested (if that is how that works no idea!)
it gives an overview of an idea: new orleans around 1920, kids forced to grow up to fast, monster that can compel you and you don’t know what’s real and what’s not whos honest and who isn’t…. it’s intriguing, it has potential.

i just didn’t feel like those story reached where it should have gone with the pages it had to do it in.

i can see people enjoy this, even love this.

but for me it wasn’t quite were it could have been and left me wanted more - not in the good way.

3.5. There were parts of this that I quite enjoyed! Firstly, I love a good novella in between heavy books. I also quite liked the setting. There's something promising here.