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noellelovesbooks's review
fast-paced
3.75
Content Warnings: Sexual scenes, blood/gore, blood play, violence, death, and murder. Mention of: rape, torture, loss of loved ones, forced solitude, forced servitude, and abuse.
Rik has already been established as her Alpha Blood and Shara will do whatever it takes to maintain his spot as Alpha but I worry that Daire, who we got to see a lot in book one, is going to get pushed aside with the addition of more, and stronger, Blood. I loved the dynamic between Shara Rik and Daire in book one and though I’m excited to see new additions to the group I’m afraid we may lose a lot of that original dynamic.
We get a lot of new information and I’m excited to see what else we learn as Shara grows in power and knowledge. I’m also excited to see more lore about the Blood she adds, as she grows her nest.
Although Shara, the Queen, is of course everyone’s main focus I’m hoping that as the series continues we see more friendships/relationships grow between her Blood. It would add so much more strength to the story to see more interactions between the Blood as genuine trust and love grows between them all.
Although this book only really covers…maybe 4 or 5 days it packs a whole lot of story into that time. I look forward to continuing the series as we uncover more lore and history associated with vampire Queens and their Blood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual content, Blood, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent, Torture, Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment
lea_talisa's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I don’t quite know what to say about this book…first of all I reallly enjoyed it!
The story has a lot of potential but in this book there was still some depth missing to the plot. I also still miss deeper connections between the characters apart from their sexual connections. Regarding the sexual interactions I actually expected a lot more from the cover and the explicit sexual labeling. Don’t get me wrong it’s still good! Just not as intense as I expected from an vampire reverse harem novella (excluding the blood play which actually is featured more than I expected).
Another “flaw” in my eyes is the insta-love between shara and especially her newest Blood. Because of the missing depth of the characters and the fact that one really does not know a lot about them Shara’s claim to love them after a few days or even hours seems just not believable to me :/ I understand the instinctive trust und need between the Queen and her Blood is part of the story though I think falling in love should still happen a little separately (but that’s just my opinion).
Sometimes it wasn’t as easy for me to connect with the characters emotions either because of their missing connections or more often because events seemed to happen so fast and out of nowhere that things that should’ve been very emotional didn’t catch me as much as the could with proper transitions from scene to scene or more tension build-up.
What I really liked about the book is the diversity of characters regarding nationality, background, sexual orientation and gender inclusiveness which we will probably see even more of in the next more in regard to the title “Queen takes Queen”. I also loved that consent is expressed clearly at all times.
Despite my opinion on missing depth to various parts of the book I still had fun reading it and I’m curious about the next one !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Murder, Rape, and Torture
I don’t really know what to say about this book.. I definitely enjoyed it and think the story has a lot of potential to develop in the next books. I still miss deeper connection between the characters that separate from their sexual connection. About the sexual interactions I have to say that I actually expected more out of it after the covers and the explicit erotic rating. (don’t get me wrong it’s still good just not as intense as I expected (excluding the blood play). I like the different backgrounds of the Blood though I feel like you still don’t know much about them. Because of this it confuses me more how fast Shara feels love towards men she doesn’t really know. I understand the instinctive trust, attraction and need is part of that universe but going as far as claiming to love someone after a few days or even hours is just a little too much for me. Another thing I really appreciate is the diversity of characters regarding their nationalities, sexual orientation and gender inclusiveness which according to the title of the next book will be dealt with even more. Apart from the missing character and story depth and the insta-love parts I liked the book and am curious about the next one !
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