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ciaramcd's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dajoyofit's review
1.0
It wasn't that good. The premise and the romance were promising, but the execution fell flat. There were too many scenes in this book that slowed down and at times stopped the story from moving forward. Sadly, too many times tension and suspenseful scenes were cut off with seemingly unrelated details and passive narration. At other times it felt as if Sands' sole purpose was to reach a target word count. This book was disappointing, especially when the characters and their romance had so much potential.
ramairliz's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
2.5
Boring AF.
avid_reader_96's review
4.0
It was certainly an interesting take on vampires. I loved the romance between Greg and Lissi. It was quite clearly to me early on who the "villain" was. I enjoyed reading it and look forward to reading other books in this series.
nitzanschwarz's review against another edition
2.5
Not bad, but also... not great
So, this was mildly disappointing.
There was the regular things--the insta love, the choosing the girl over everything else after three fucking days of knowing her, the actual lack of getting to know each other explained away by magic mind-melding that allowed them to "see into each other's mind" and know basically all there is to know about the other as a person, instead of actually giving us what we want which is see them fall in love as they get to know each other. I swear, it's like romance authors sometimes have no idea about the reader's basic needs in romance???? Am I alone in this?
Then there was the retconning to the lore that seemed to take place sometime between this book and books 18 and forward, which are the ones I've read (kind of out of order, but you hardly need to read this series in order). The ENTIRE read I was confused by what was going on, from the symptoms of life mates to the turning of vampires--everything was slightly different. Enough that it was really glaring that at some point Sands decided to change things up. The thing is, this is supposed to be the same universe!
Points in case:
1. Turning People - in later books, Sands introduced the rule of "turning one person" not as a rule of "populace control" but of nano evolution. She makes it sound like you CAN'T physically turn more than one, while here it's very obviously "allowed". It makes everything super weird because honestly, I don't see someone in love with a woman simply not turning her as she's dying just because he already turned his brother's mate into a vampire (not an actual example, I'm just saying). Like, if this was just a rule, people would break it. I also don't believe no exceptions will be allowed.
2. Having one child every 100 years - literally was never mentioned in the four other books I've read in the series lol
3. The Lack of Hunger - in this book, the lack of hunger is introduced as you growing bored of food when you don't need it to sustain you (I can definitely understand Greg's outrage at this lol). However, in the other books, food loses it's taste. In fact, it's so dramatic that when you meet your life mate, you begin to be hungry again and enjoy food. While there is a hint of it here, it is not explained by life-mating and Lissi is never shown as hungry, she simply eats what Greg makes her and find it tasty.
4. Fainting when having sex - okay, so this is a BIG one. In all the other books, life mates transfer each other's pleasure while having sex, causing for an extremely heightened experience that leads to the couple passing out from the intensity. Like, yes, it's one of the most ridiculous parts of this series, but the other books make it to be such a big deal that the lack of it here was extremely glaring.
Like, there is a hint of everything in here, but definitely not the extreme reactions that happen in the later books in the series. It's like Sands wanted to make this whole life mate deal more important so she super enhanced every small details and made a mountain out of it. Having come into this series from the later books, it was so odd!
Also, I rolled my eyes a lot.
Definitely not Sands's best
So, this was mildly disappointing.
There was the regular things--the insta love, the choosing the girl over everything else after three fucking days of knowing her, the actual lack of getting to know each other explained away by magic mind-melding that allowed them to "see into each other's mind" and know basically all there is to know about the other as a person, instead of actually giving us what we want which is see them fall in love as they get to know each other. I swear, it's like romance authors sometimes have no idea about the reader's basic needs in romance???? Am I alone in this?
Then there was the retconning to the lore that seemed to take place sometime between this book and books 18 and forward, which are the ones I've read (kind of out of order, but you hardly need to read this series in order). The ENTIRE read I was confused by what was going on, from the symptoms of life mates to the turning of vampires--everything was slightly different. Enough that it was really glaring that at some point Sands decided to change things up. The thing is, this is supposed to be the same universe!
Points in case:
1. Turning People - in later books, Sands introduced the rule of "turning one person" not as a rule of "populace control" but of nano evolution. She makes it sound like you CAN'T physically turn more than one, while here it's very obviously "allowed". It makes everything super weird because honestly, I don't see someone in love with a woman simply not turning her as she's dying just because he already turned his brother's mate into a vampire (not an actual example, I'm just saying). Like, if this was just a rule, people would break it. I also don't believe no exceptions will be allowed.
2. Having one child every 100 years - literally was never mentioned in the four other books I've read in the series lol
3. The Lack of Hunger - in this book, the lack of hunger is introduced as you growing bored of food when you don't need it to sustain you (I can definitely understand Greg's outrage at this lol). However, in the other books, food loses it's taste. In fact, it's so dramatic that when you meet your life mate, you begin to be hungry again and enjoy food. While there is a hint of it here, it is not explained by life-mating and Lissi is never shown as hungry, she simply eats what Greg makes her and find it tasty.
4. Fainting when having sex - okay, so this is a BIG one. In all the other books, life mates transfer each other's pleasure while having sex, causing for an extremely heightened experience that leads to the couple passing out from the intensity. Like, yes, it's one of the most ridiculous parts of this series, but the other books make it to be such a big deal that the lack of it here was extremely glaring.
Like, there is a hint of everything in here, but definitely not the extreme reactions that happen in the later books in the series. It's like Sands wanted to make this whole life mate deal more important so she super enhanced every small details and made a mountain out of it. Having come into this series from the later books, it was so odd!
Also, I rolled my eyes a lot.
Definitely not Sands's best
magikfaye's review against another edition
dark
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
immortal_desi_reads's review
3.0
Favorite quote: “I’m not going to allow us to be vanquished by an idiot with a fake tan and a cucumber in his pants.”
darienjade's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25