This read is, to me, "off the charts" amazing. It is an outstanding debut effort by Raven Belasco in a sub genre of romance novels that I have been gorging on during the better part of 2020, the dark erotic vampire trope. Allow me to elaborate:
I, like many across the world, have been overwhelmed with a deep life-pervading sorrow over the tragedies and misfortunes befallen so many souls during the COVID-19 pandemic. My sadness has interfered with my reading and writing goals, however, this is nothing in comparison to the hardship and suffering of those who lost loved ones, jobs, homes, the list is unending.
Aside from helping in ways that I am able just as I find so many others do, it seems we all look to the creative people in our society to provide us with distractions in film, books, tv, art, music or, we have busied ourselves with new and old information pursuits.
I have personally retreated to the worlds of sexy, hot, irresistible vampires. I began with reading J. R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series for the first time. I read all 23+ books back-to-back and then went on to read through the Midnight Breed Series of Lara Adrian. As anyone who loves romance, paranormal romance, gorgeous, conflicted, over-heated Alpha males or vampires know, these authors have taken readers into whole new worlds and
rewritten the entire lore and lure of the vampire.
Now here comes Ms. Belasco and she combines the uber-romantic, beautifully dangerous mysterious Alpha male vampire theme with the legend and history of Vlad Dracula from Romania.
Our heroine who narrates her story, her amazing adventure really, is masterfully relatable, truly funny, and the perfect librarian "geek" girl. Through her perspective we as humans are experiencing this other being and their world. While the plot holds your interest for its basic intrigue and action elements, the character development of our heroine is central.
This author sets the mood by careful description of the scenes from around the world, often using the witticisms of the heroine. For example, one underground meeting place is referred to by our heroine as the "Rave" cave. With the modern freshness of American colloquialisms and some Library Science techno-speak, we also are treated to characters uttering phrases in Romanian, Arabic, even French. I loved the occasional obscure book or document reference. These details support the believability of the important geeky element in our heroine's character. No small feat for the author.
All of these elements described combine in a fluid, highly readable engaging writing style that flows. IOW You don't need to worry about getting every obscure reference but when you recognize a few it's a pleasurable bonus!
My only slightly negative, if not neutral, observation is that I thought the Epilogue was superfluous to the ending.
This truly is a lush, sexy vampire story. It is well written and infinitely satisfying. Any lover of the vampire Alpha male lover will want more as I am eager to read the next book in what I believe will be a trilogy!
Congratultions, Raven Belasco! Brava!
Favorite quote:
"Indeed, part of our job, part of our very selves, is our thankless toil, quietly saving culture and society from the barbarians at our doors. Although nowadays, “barbarians” are lowest-common-denominator shows and social media influencers, a society in which educating kids comes dead last in priorities and science is seen as the enemy, and whacked-out ideologists and fanatics want to ban knowledge and burn books. We are the invisible organizers who quietly save the stacks of human knowledge while the past, present, and future Romes burn. We do not get capes or costumes of spandex. We do not find ourselves starring in the sorts of novels we usually shelve in the romantic fiction section."
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2020
Top reviews from other countries
jgabrielehay
Starts off playing to vampire stereotypes but ends up somewhere very different
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 24, 2020