Book Review of Chosen by the Vampire Kings

Genre: Paranormal Romance/Erotic Romance

So I found a book that mixed my penchant for mfm romance with my favorite supernatural beings, vampires, and I couldn’t wait to crack open this great read. Further encouraged by the fact that it was a full novel and not a novella. Chosen by the Vampire Kings by Charlene Hartnady is great until it disappoints me.

Heres the Blurb:

Every hundred years, tradition dictates that all eligible females in Sweetwater assemble for the choosing ceremony. Two vampire kings have separate territories within the surrounding countryside. Both are eager to pick their future brides. What a waste of her freaking time. Tanya is among the many women at the choosing ceremony. As far as she’s concerned it’s an outdated, sexist event and if it wasn’t mandatory she so wouldn’t be here. It’s not important that the two males are ridiculously rich and handsome. Deep down she knows a plain Jane like her will never be picked by one of the kings anyway. Many of the women in the town square are stunningly beautiful and model thin. Most seem enthusiastic about being a queen even if it means being mated to a blood sucker, which suits her just fine. Imagine her surprise though when King Brant sets his sights firmly on her. Once a vampire king has decided, there’s no going back. But her home is in Sweetwater. Being forced to live amongst the vampire species…big gulp…forced to mate with a vampire…is not what she had in mind for herself. Maybe she can convince him to let her go, to pick again. If not, she’ll have to find a way to escape his – very muscled and rather delicious – clutches.

[one_half]

[/one_half]So I’m a love the cover, check the blurb kind of girl. Reviews only come into play when it comes to the price of the book. However, this cover wasn’t what sold me. I went off the blurb. Mostly because the style of this cover reminded me of a historical novel with the deep reds and gold, and the main characters dressed as if they just stepped out of the 1800s. I love historical’s and I love vamps, but not together. But I saw the words vampire and three hot people and I was a determined woman to get to the bottom of whether this would be any good.

Down to the story itself. You’re immediately thrust into the action as the main character finds herself at a party for King Vampires in want of choosing a human mate. They must choose a mate to bear a child or risk the extinction of there race. (I know vamps having babies. What kind of sorcery is this? The ignoring of vampire folk lore is one I was willing to ignore considering who didn’t want to have Damon’s baby from ** TVD.)

Because the action is immediate the story keeps you engrossed from beginning to end. There was a small subplot inserted at what seemed near the end. But as there was a bit of a lag in the story it was the opportune time for it. Now the characters. No spoilers either. I found Tanya to be extremely annoying in parts only because I questioned her decision making when it came to both Zane and Brant the love interests. And in a story where, as a reader, you have to love both love interests; I much preferred Zane.

Also what makes a mfm romance work in novels is that all parties agree and Brant’s reluctance rubbed me the wrong way. It seemed like a situation forced upon him because of circumstance and not one he accepted willingly. Which maybe more realistic, but not what I want to personally read. Once I became disenchanted, getting through the rest of the long novel was a test. The sex quickly became like a chore because they were having so much of it. I could feel myself thinking, can we just talk. I feel a headache coming on lol.

So just as I was contemplating the pros and cons of still reading the novel for the sake of this book review. Boom. The twist (a subplot), and suddenly I found myself up an hour past my bed time. Trying to figure out what happens next. But it doesn’t add to the angst in the way I was hoping. And I found myself once again listening to how much Brant doesn’t want this. Suffice it to say that they all pull through in the end. However, it was done in such a way that left me unconvinced. Its a rather long book, 400 odd pages. Brant complains for 350 of them. The last 50 pages wasn’t enough to convince me that Brant had somehow reformed despite the HFN (Happy For Now) ending. Nonetheless, the whole novel was well written from beginning to end.

So if you don’t have my hang ups about mfm romance. Then you may want to read this more realistic portrayal of it in the supernatural world. Go for it. If not, skip it. You’ll save yourself the time.

My Thumbs Up For:

Believable Characters
A plot that was pretty interesting

My Thumbs Down For:

More realistic portrayal of mfm romance, but it lost a bit of its allure, and fantasy.
Too much sex (expanding a 400 page book for just 1 more sex scene. I’m not an editor, but its pretty clear what she could have cut. One of the earlier sex scenes. The one at the end was probably necessary.).
The character were so believable, I actively hated one of the love interests

THE TRS BOOKS SYSTEM:

Book Cover Appeal:

Story & Narration:

Romance:

*Sex Scenes:

Overall Reading Experience:

Chosen by the Vampire Kings gets three strawberries (stars) from me.

Book Info:

Pages: 489

Publisher: Charlene Hartnady

Available: On Amazon

*sex scenes were judged on how well written and explicit they were. Not the oversaturation.

**There will only be one Damon Salvatore, but the books are better and I wouldn’t recommend the show to anyone. Lets argue lol, it died after season 2 or 3.

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