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tomokizu's review against another edition
2.0
Didn't really like it. I had a hard start with this book and it didn't get any better. The story itself is "okay", I just couldn't get into the writing style. Sorry to say.
unwrittensoul's review against another edition
Abandoned. I loaned it out before I could finish it. Had an interesting beginning.
jamie_rc1977's review against another edition
5.0
Such a great book! Kept me coming back and wanting more, I couldnt put the book down
dukesangel002's review against another edition
3.0
This book seemed to start out really slow for me. While I was enjoying the story itself, I just couldn't seem to get invested in the characters in the story, and the way it would switch from Williams point of view to Jack's seemed more of an annoyance. Luckily for me, about halfway through it really picked up. I really started enjoying the characters, the story grew interesting, and I was able to lose myself in the tale.
Jack is a hilariously funny good-ole Georgian boy and he had me cracking up several times throughout this book. By the end I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen, and I loved the surprise ending. All in all, I'm excited to get to the next book. Several of my favorite series have started out with a slow first book and then exploded, and I have high hopes that this one will be the same.
Jack is a hilariously funny good-ole Georgian boy and he had me cracking up several times throughout this book. By the end I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen, and I loved the surprise ending. All in all, I'm excited to get to the next book. Several of my favorite series have started out with a slow first book and then exploded, and I have high hopes that this one will be the same.
wanderinglynn's review
1.0
I won't rehash the premise of the book because you can read that for yourself either on the back cover or in the synopsis above. I could not get into this book, hence the 1 star.
First, I didn't care for the point-of-view changes. It began with the story jumping between William's perspective and then Jack, then Olivia had to have a say. And the perspective switches happened within chapters, so one chapter could have several different perspectives. Back and forth and back again. I'm not a big fan of perspective changes anyway. I find it's a tricky thing for an author to do, and the way it was done here just didn't work for me. There's a reason many writing courses and writers don't recommend doing this.
Second, I just couldn't get into the characters. Both the main characters, William, the aristocrat, and Jack, the good ole boy, felt flat to me. It was clear that the author was setting up something with William "protecting" Jack by keeping him ignorant, but after 150 years? Usually even with the arrogant characters, I feel something, but even William's seemingly cold arrogance was too emotionless to ignite a response. I couldn't even get irritated at it, as William just felt that flat to me.
Third, the pace of the book was off. A lot seemed happened in the first 100 or so pages of the book as we're introduced to the mains and the villain (William's sire), but then again, a lot was missing. 100 pages in and no idea why William feels such animosity (there was a hint that it was more that just his family) and why he went to such length to prepare for this (voodoo anyone?). I know a bit about what his sire was currently doing (freezing other masters in the Arctic), and there were hints of his extreme cruelty, but no real backstory. Of course, some of that was because we had to switch from William, who told us almost nothing, keeping the reader as ignorant as Jack, to Jack, who knows nothing because William doesn't tell him anything and he's clearly too sire-whipped or stupid to do anything about it.
Finally, I didn't care for the world building, or really lack thereof, which also has to do with the pacing. There were all these world fact droplets, such as why there were very few female vamps, vamp powers, vamp soil, the guard dog/humans, and other world info tidbits. I was more interested than Jack in learning about this stuff, but it came in fragmented bits and pieces. I found no solid world building to even give me a base line idea of what kind of vamp world this is and why we need to be ignorant. It might've been nice if William at least explained to the reader why something was and why it was important to keep Jack ignorant of that fact.
Overall, it was just not enough to keep me interested. I know someone will try to tell me most of the pacing and world building is fleshed out, but I gave it 100 pages. I tried to get to the next chapter and then it was get to the next perspective shift, but I just couldn't force myself to read anymore to get to the point where "all is explained." So, for me, it was a disappointment as I need a new series to read. But clearly this is not the series for me as I won't force myself to slog through book 1.
First, I didn't care for the point-of-view changes. It began with the story jumping between William's perspective and then Jack, then Olivia had to have a say. And the perspective switches happened within chapters, so one chapter could have several different perspectives. Back and forth and back again. I'm not a big fan of perspective changes anyway. I find it's a tricky thing for an author to do, and the way it was done here just didn't work for me. There's a reason many writing courses and writers don't recommend doing this.
Second, I just couldn't get into the characters. Both the main characters, William, the aristocrat, and Jack, the good ole boy, felt flat to me. It was clear that the author was setting up something with William "protecting" Jack by keeping him ignorant, but after 150 years? Usually even with the arrogant characters, I feel something, but even William's seemingly cold arrogance was too emotionless to ignite a response. I couldn't even get irritated at it, as William just felt that flat to me.
Third, the pace of the book was off. A lot seemed happened in the first 100 or so pages of the book as we're introduced to the mains and the villain (William's sire), but then again, a lot was missing. 100 pages in and no idea why William feels such animosity (there was a hint that it was more that just his family) and why he went to such length to prepare for this (voodoo anyone?). I know a bit about what his sire was currently doing (freezing other masters in the Arctic), and there were hints of his extreme cruelty, but no real backstory. Of course, some of that was because we had to switch from William, who told us almost nothing, keeping the reader as ignorant as Jack, to Jack, who knows nothing because William doesn't tell him anything and he's clearly too sire-whipped or stupid to do anything about it.
Finally, I didn't care for the world building, or really lack thereof, which also has to do with the pacing. There were all these world fact droplets, such as why there were very few female vamps, vamp powers, vamp soil, the guard dog/humans, and other world info tidbits. I was more interested than Jack in learning about this stuff, but it came in fragmented bits and pieces. I found no solid world building to even give me a base line idea of what kind of vamp world this is and why we need to be ignorant. It might've been nice if William at least explained to the reader why something was and why it was important to keep Jack ignorant of that fact.
Overall, it was just not enough to keep me interested. I know someone will try to tell me most of the pacing and world building is fleshed out, but I gave it 100 pages. I tried to get to the next chapter and then it was get to the next perspective shift, but I just couldn't force myself to read anymore to get to the point where "all is explained." So, for me, it was a disappointment as I need a new series to read. But clearly this is not the series for me as I won't force myself to slog through book 1.
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