Description
When up-and-coming actor Ash is unexpectedly turned by ancient vampire Emma, he revels in the freedom of his new life. But freedom soon turns to crushing oppression. As Emma’s grip on him tightens, he begins to lose everything decent, everything human, inside him. When he realizes the strange woman who haunts his dreams is the same one Emma wants dead, will he stand by while Emma has her way again?
Mara killed her demons and left everything behind—so why does it feel like she’s still not free? She doesn’t know if she’s being haunted or hunted, but one thing she’s sure of is that she’ll have to face a reckoning for her past. Will she find a way to the future, or lose everything?
Bleeding Heart by Aspasia Bissas 5/5
This is book 2 in The Love Lies Bleeding series but it can be read by itself, without reading book 1 first. The events in this book happen co-currently to the events in book 1 and go beyond them to a satisfying conclusion.
Ash is a really sympathetic main character whose unreal life as an actor is cut short when he meets the vampire, Emma. I loved the way Ash oscillates between apathy and giving in to his patron’s demands and trying to fight against her and her way of life. (Or should that be un-life?!)
This is a dark, gritty tale examining in even more detail (than book 1) the effects of an abusive, domineering relationship and the inner turmoil of an unwilling victim. The torture scenes were incredibly well-written and made my toes curl! There are also dashes of humour, including jokes about hemo-vampires and Fangbook!
Dominic plays an intriguing part in this tale. In book one I found him annoying, probably because I empathised with Mara. In this book, he is really entertaining and almost amusing, despite his dark side. I enjoy having my mind changed about characters as the tale progresses!
The ending, whilst concluding this story, hints at another book to come, and I, for one, can’t wait to read it!