Genre: Urban Fantasy

Disclaimer: Reading is all about exploring new worlds, but this Book Review does not shy away from spoiling specific scenes as this is more of a look inside the good and bad of a book.

The Analysis:

Saw this book in a free blog-type newsletter, and loved the cover and blurb. Not the same newsletter as the last book as I’m subscribed to about a handful of them. It jumped the TBR line because of the book cover. So, let’s book review it.

Here’s the Blurb:

I can handle anyone who walks into my pub. Except him--the most powerful vampire who ever lived. The First. Dark, damaged, and hot as hell. He says I’m his one and only Vampire Bride, and that five years ago, I buried him alive.

Obviously he’s crazy, because I don’t remember any of that. All I know is that if I want to escape his vengeance, I have to help him infiltrate a deadly secret society.

I’m going to use the time to prove that I didn’t try to murder him, and that I’m not his Vampire Bride. Because if I am, he’ll be forced to kill me. But we're like colliding stars, and the heat is irresistible. As the danger thickens, I start to wonder if maybe I did kill him. Whatever happens in the end, there’s no escaping our twisted fate.

This cover is gorgeous. It definitely is a product of the genre so there is not necessarily anything unique to it. However, it would make a great piece to anyone's bookshelf, and the character is true to the story.

Now The Story:

Book Info:
Pages: 266
Author: Linsey Hall
Available: Amazon

This was a surprisingly short read. My Goodreads Challenge certainly appreciates it lol. First thought looking at the book on Amazon was that it was labeled a humorous fantasy. I didn't find anything about this book to be humorous. That's not a good or bad thing as I wasn't expecting it to be either. Just my surprise, upon seeing the classification, but let's get into what this book really is.

Our heroine is a badass bartender and we're introduced to her through the lens of her putting a jerk in his place. She has a reputation for not taking any mess, and this is just another day. No one starts trouble with this one and I certainly can appreciate it.

Until a vampire comes into her bar looking for her and she's not sure why. She's not one to make enemies unless you count the drunks at her bar. Now briefly, it's mentioned that the club also acts as a doorway between the human realm and the supernatural one. This was not completely fleshed out in this story. So I'm not completely sure what the story was behind that, but it must not be too important because she left it.

Anyhoo, the vampire is intense (in true vamp fashion), and he's also deadly. But she puts up a good fight even rendering him unconscious for a brief period of time. But this guy will not go down easy. He swears that she was the woman that tried to kill him five years ago by putting him into a coffin and he wants revenge. She thinks he's crazy. With no time, she offers up her skills as a psychic to help him with a problem that he reluctantly admits to having.

She's hoping that, by helping him with his problems, it will buy her some time to prove her innocence. She even enlists the help of her witchy friends who all live in this like magical tower for the well, magical. As supporting characters go, they all seem pretty cool and I definitely wouldn't mind learning more about them in other books. This is my first foray with this author, so there may be other books.

Her vampire mate eventually spirits her away on a magical train to a secret society that's accepting new members. The vamp isn't really interested in this club. Someone at the club has kidnapped his friend and he just wants girl to help him find him. Of course, she's a psychic, so he tested her all along the way by not telling her what they looking for or better yet who. He just wanted her to, guess right, psychic.

But her powers come and go and she's not particularly strong at navigating them. So she does the best she can. Luckily for her, one of her witchy besties gave her a purse of goodies that include magical bombs and truth serums, among other things. All that come in handy for the huge undertaking awaiting this team.

This club doesn't take just any new members and you have to prove yourself. Tests abound and this was the meat of the story and the most interesting part. They worked really well together and learned to listen to each other. More importantly, he was appreciating who she was as a person.

But he was also on to some of the lies she was telling about the strength of her abilities. So, the heroine pushed herself to really provide him with answers and sort of stumbled along to the truth with the help of her badger familiar. If this was the funny part, it wasn't. But I wasn't looking for it to be. I was just like aww, cool, talking animal.

So, our team survives the gruesome trials that I enjoyed reading because of their uniqueness. This puts them close enough to meet the leader of this secret society. And he may know the heroine, but she can't place when and where. This is becoming a common thing. She knows that it's more and more likely that she did try to hurt her mate and simply can't remember. Any efforts from her friends to help with this magical amnesia doesn't work.

And she still has to save the hero's friend. Which they manage to do at the swearing-in ceremony where some minor truths are revealed, and most have only just begun. So, why the score? It's a slow burn, not my favorite, but I didn't hate it here. I took off a point because as cliffhangers go I felt like a lot was left unfinished. I just didn't feel satisfied. We don't know if she'll be with the hero or not (of course, we know eventually they will be). We also still knew very little about her magical amnesia. If the first story was just about rescuing the friend then more inference should have been on his relationship with the hero.

Story At A Glance:

Recommendation:  4 out of 5

Read Series Continuation:  Yes

 The Ratings:

Book Cover Appeal:

🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓

Story & Narration:

🍓🍓🍓

Romance:

🍓🍓🍓

Character/(s) Personality:

🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓