BR: Vampire Protector

Vampire Protector by Amy Corwin

5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed for The Romance Reviews, revised for blog

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I expected a lot of romance and a mediocre plot. But Vampire Protector stays clear from the cheesy girl-meets-vampire love story that we have seen so many times before, and turns it into a good urban fantasy with a heroine you will feel for.

Gwen doesn't remember much about what happened to her parents. She does know they were killed by vampires. Ever since, she helps people to protect them against these creatures. Nevertheless, she decides to take her vampire neighbour with her for safety as she returned to her childhood home. This simple decision leads to a series of events that concern master vampires, old family heirlooms and life-threatening situations.

The author created a lot of tension throughout the story by revealing Gwen's past step by step. We learn with her, and we only know what she knows. Therefore you feel more connected to the main character, and it keeps the plot going. Her remembering her childhood was very well done, by not only telling us about it, but also showing it to us through flashbacks.

What I also liked is how well written this book is. After a lot of so-so writing reading other books, it feels good again to have a proper dialogue that flows and clear and with vivid descriptions. The prose was kept simple, yet not annoyingly so. Overall, it was very pleasant to read.

The only thing that kind of lacked here was the romance. We get told about how their love for each other grows, but I just didn't really buy it. It didn't really feel genuine. There is some obvious lust, but this seems to stem more from our heroine's lack of intimate partners than true love. In the end, for me, they seemed more like best friends than true lovers. 

I had the same problem with the relationship between Gwen and her best friend. I kept thinking the whole time that her friend actually was a traitor that would stab Gwen in the back the moment she least expected it. Maybe I have read too many stories where this happens and I’ve become a little bit paranoid, but again I just didn’t see the sincere connection. In the end there was nothing wrong with the friend, but I kept having this feeling she was more of a stranger that randomly came to Gwen’s rescue than someone that has known her for several years.

The plot was well-rounded, no obvious holes there, and the overall story felt like the author put a lot of work into tying every loose end and making sure every little piece of mystery we come across is explained. It did feel slightly overworked at times, but not so much it disturbs the flow of the story.

Vampire Protector is a very well written urban fantasy with plenty action and suspense to keep you hooked throughout the whole book.

Blurb

Exploring Gwen's deliciously spooky and long abandoned childhood home in the company of her handsome neighbor sounds like a brilliant way to break her dating dry spell and find a few missing memories. Unfortunately, she soon discovers her mistake. John, her date, is a vampire and her house is not exactly empty. Secrets—and the dead—don’t always stay buried, and John’s extraordinary strength and determination may be all that can withstand what awaits them.


Gwen must unlock her memories and survive the devastating company of her Vampire Protector if she hopes to prevent the past from destroying her future.

Updating..

O my, it's almost Christmas, and pre-Christmas time always brings so much to do! For some reason it always seems those two last months of the year you have more obligations than those ten other months together. So, I'm behind on my review work *ashamed*, but I also have some very exciting news!

More reviews coming up for The Romance Reviews, including:

More YA reviews, including:

This blog's first guest posts and interviews!

And last but not least, my very first giveaway!

It will be international so anyone can join in on the fun.


So stick around for some more updates in this very busy time!

BR: Absolute Perfection

Absolute Perfection by Stephanie Burke

4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed for The Romance Reviews

There is one word that truly describes this book: unique. This will be something you have never read before.

By a twist of fate, royal naga Astika saves the little sea horse Taza when he is being followed by a crazy human who believes that eating a sea horse will give him immortality. And everyone knows that's just a fairy tale, right? Anyhow, by saving Taza's life, Astika is bound to him forever. They are destined to be mates for life. Astika's dreams of having a naga mate to lay a clutch for him to protect and look over are instantly destroyed. But even his divine parents cannot help him in this matter. He will have to make the best out of it.

I have never read any story about paranormal sea creatures before, and after Absolute Perfection, I can certainly say, I'm a fan. It's amazing to read a story that is so different from all the standard paranormal literature out there, to have a completely new lore to dig in and new creatures to get to know. The downside of this is that, because I had never heard about all these deities before, it was hard to keep track of them all. The author has included a summary of them, but I didn't really feel like looking them up while reading, because that would take the pace out of the story. It would be nice if there had been more time to get to know them. From what we can see in Absolute Perfection, those gods seem like an interesting bunch.

Even though you cannot relate to the main characters at all, their story is incredibly touching. It's really cute how they get attached to each other and find out that their fate isn't that bad at all. I fell in love with the tiny sea horse immediately and found his view on humans hilarious. I laughed out loud when he was telling about his adventures in trying to fit in into human culture. Absolute Perfection has a nice balance between touching and emotional scenes, and light, funny scenarios.

There is also a small amount of extra plot building around their blooming relationship. I thought this was done nicely, the plot enhancing their bond and giving them a reason to grow together. It gave the story a comfortable pace, making you want to keep on reading, without giving it a rushed feeling.

Basically, this is a male/male romance story. With the accessory sex. And some scales, sea foam and split tongues thrown in. This sounds like an awful and incredibly gross combination, but in this book, it actually works. It was quite sexy. Of course, this is only for the open-minded among us. But if you are open-minded and you let the story unfold, you can see the brilliance of it. The scales and long blue hairstyles almost make sense, and you can enjoy the refreshingly different love scenes. They are a little bit silly at times, but still remain a certain amount of credibility, and also very important, a certain hotness.

This book is not for you if you are looking for a serious book. You need to have a liking for this kind of weirdness that makes this book so good. If you cannot enjoy this, you will not be able make sense of it and you will probably hate it. If you think the idea of a sea horse paired up with a naga is awesome, you will thoroughly enjoy Absolute Perfection.

BR: Bloodmaiden

Bloodmaiden by Christine E. Schulze
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This review was written for: The Romance Reviews

There have been countless dragon stories in the fantasy genre. We have seen them in all kinds of different colours and shapes, and we have seen them with all kinds of different personalities. Still, Bloodmaiden manages to give us an alternate view on this overused theme.

The story is set in the world of Sulaimon, consisting of four dragon dynasties, in which dragons live in harmony with the people they protect. But in the dragon dynasty in the north, in the land of Tyrnan, the dragons ask horrible sacrifices of their people. And a young couple, Crisilin and her husband Chalom, have been chosen to fulfil the frightening ritual. By a twist of fate they are able to escape from their certain death, and get the opportunity to free their people for ever. We follow them on their quest to collect the four Aria, parts of a magical song that have been created so the dragons will never abuse any human being.

This book is truly beautifully written. The way the author describes the world, the way she chooses words and makes them flow. It draws you in, makes you feel what the characters feel. There are many sad stories in this book, and I really felt for those characters. But herein lies the biggest flaw too. In some passages we see such amazing writing, but then we have to fast-forward to the next event and the next environment with other characters. There just isn't enough time to enjoy it.

This story is incredibly fast paced, too fast paced even. We jump from kingdom to kingdom, travel at an inhuman speed, get all important events and plot twists dished up right after each other. There is just no time at all to get to know our travellers, to enjoy the fantastic world that is created in Bloodmaiden. It does keep you at the edge of your chair once the story sets off, but sometimes you need to catch a breath as reader. It sometimes gets a little bit too overwhelming, too much information in one time.

This also showed in the narration and the interaction between our couple. The events are described pretty accurately, but we seldom hear what Chrisilin, our first person narrator, feels, what she thinks about it. And this feels like such a waste, because we have seen how amazing Mrs. Schulze can write, and what she could have done with it, but just didn't. Our couple never talks, the only interaction we see is them holding hands or sleeping in each others arms. Sometimes Chalom throws in a "Are you alright, love?" and that's it for deep conversation that chapter. I did buy their love for each other though, there certainly is a bond between them. Sometimes we get a peek into their carefree past, and then they truly shine together.

Another little annoyance I had while reading this is that Chrisilin refers to our world. She once compares something to a roller coaster, or calls a palace "Chinese looking". How is this possible when she lives in a totally imaginary place? She tells us her aunt has told her about other worlds (including ours, apparently) but then forgets to mention how this different-worlds thing works. It felt like something the author didn't think through well enough.

This book has so much potential. If it had been longer and more extensive this would have been one of my favourite books. It has everything, but everything crammed in too few pages. I'd love to see what happens when Mrs. Schulze takes her time to write a book. This is a promising author I would keep my eye on in the future!