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A review by hsinjulit
Longing for You by Jenny Frame
3.0
Content warnings: a lot of blood, murder, pregnancy, light BDSM, sexism, brief indications of homophobia/homomisia
Disclaimer: I haven’t read the first book Hunger for You, but Frame wrote Longing for You in a way that made the story completely understandable. However, I do recommend reading book one because there is a fascinating paranormal rivalry storyline going on that I surely have missed parts of.
Longing for You opened with the jovial wedding of Byron Debrek and Amelia Honey, whose story is featured in the previous book. Duca Alexis Villiers (b. 1792) is scarred by her fiancée’s violent death more than a century ago and is not ready to fall in love again, but it is practically impossible to not think about the head housekeeper Katie Brekman. When Alexis keeps acting mean, Katie believes that her crush hates her. Meanwhile, Victorija’s Dred clan is teaming up with dark witch Anka and working to destroy the Debrek clan.
In the beginning, I disliked Alexis for her rudeness to Katie while acting like she belonged to her. But throughout the book, I slowly warmed up to her; she still isn’t my favorite person, but I feel like her actions were really justified, despite the fact that their communication could have been better. I enjoyed the sort of hate-to-love romance between the pair, even though they were in fact both deeply in love with each other before either of them said anything.
The paranormal world conflicts were what kept me reading non-stop. In this book, Alexis and Katie’s romance isn’t the sole focus. We follow Amelia’s journey of becoming a witch after learning that her biological mother (I had a bit of issue with the word choice “real parent” even though her adoptive parents were awful) was a witch all the while getting glimpses of Victorija struggling to be the powerful villain she was before some blood mania overtook her.
There were many POVs, and by many I mean a lot. During some scenes, the POVs shift and I picked up on a total of seven different ones: Alexis, Katie, Victorija, Byron, Amelia, Drasas, and Anka. I like that we also get the thoughts of the Dreds, but I would love to see more of the Debreks.
I really love that feeding is a very sexual thing in this book and that the sex scenes involve having sex while feeding. It feels very powerful and intense. I also love that in the Debrek clan, feeding is always consensual.
Frame’s Longing for You is a very solid paranormal story, and with it ending on a slight cliffhanger, I cannot wait to find out what happens next.
I received an e-ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Disclaimer: I haven’t read the first book Hunger for You, but Frame wrote Longing for You in a way that made the story completely understandable. However, I do recommend reading book one because there is a fascinating paranormal rivalry storyline going on that I surely have missed parts of.
Longing for You opened with the jovial wedding of Byron Debrek and Amelia Honey, whose story is featured in the previous book. Duca Alexis Villiers (b. 1792) is scarred by her fiancée’s violent death more than a century ago and is not ready to fall in love again, but it is practically impossible to not think about the head housekeeper Katie Brekman. When Alexis keeps acting mean, Katie believes that her crush hates her. Meanwhile, Victorija’s Dred clan is teaming up with dark witch Anka and working to destroy the Debrek clan.
Love was meant to be joyful, and yet [Alexis] was in torment.
In the beginning, I disliked Alexis for her rudeness to Katie while acting like she belonged to her. But throughout the book, I slowly warmed up to her; she still isn’t my favorite person, but I feel like her actions were really justified, despite the fact that their communication could have been better. I enjoyed the sort of hate-to-love romance between the pair, even though they were in fact both deeply in love with each other before either of them said anything.
The paranormal world conflicts were what kept me reading non-stop. In this book, Alexis and Katie’s romance isn’t the sole focus. We follow Amelia’s journey of becoming a witch after learning that her biological mother (I had a bit of issue with the word choice “real parent” even though her adoptive parents were awful) was a witch all the while getting glimpses of Victorija struggling to be the powerful villain she was before some blood mania overtook her.
There were many POVs, and by many I mean a lot. During some scenes, the POVs shift and I picked up on a total of seven different ones: Alexis, Katie, Victorija, Byron, Amelia, Drasas, and Anka. I like that we also get the thoughts of the Dreds, but I would love to see more of the Debreks.
I really love that feeding is a very sexual thing in this book and that the sex scenes involve having sex while feeding. It feels very powerful and intense. I also love that in the Debrek clan, feeding is always consensual.
Frame’s Longing for You is a very solid paranormal story, and with it ending on a slight cliffhanger, I cannot wait to find out what happens next.
I received an e-ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.