Eternal Beast
Mark of the Vampire, Book 4

I Picked Up This Book Because: Continue the series

The Characters:

Grey Donahue:
Dillon:


The Story:

I’m having a tough time with this one. I feel like it must have been very interconnected with book 3 but I read that back in 2013 so I remember nothing. So that aside I’ll try to stick to what I know from this story alone. The Order are jerks (mild word choice) who want to subdue the impures and annihilate the mutori. Well guess what Gray and Dillon are. Gray is not only an impure but the leader of the resistance. Dillon is one of the few mutori who have lived to maturity under the unscrupulous rule of Cruelen (this is probably spelled very wrong).

So now we have Gray fighting the order, Dillon and Gray fighting their feelings for each other. Dillon, and her brothers, struggling to hide their existence from the order. Oh and Dillon has a problem with shifting. She gets stuck as a jaguar at least twice in the book. It’s a lot and that’s to say nothing of any additional characters.

The story leaves us in a place where I want to read the next book. Hopefully it won’t take me 5 years to do so.

The Random Thoughts:

3.5 Stars ( )

One of the things I absolutely love about Laura Wright is her ability to give us a complete story. Each of her books may focus on a different couple, but all the characters are involved in the plot in some way and the overall story arc has had a continuous flow from book one and takes the books to a whole other level.

Dillon and Gray have been the couple I have been waiting for. I was not sure it was ever going to happen though because Dillon is so stubborn! She has had a very difficult past though, and has been burned so many times that she has spent her life shutting down her emotions. She does not want to feel anything because if she doesn’t then no one can hurt her. She also has the Order searching for her because of her status as a mutore, which is a pureblood vampire shape-shifter. They are considered the lowest form of life and are often killed after birth. Not exactly something that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside if you happen to be one.

Gray on the other hand does not want to tame his feelings. He is loyal, passionate and fights for what he believes in. He knows he can help Dillon deal with what she is going through, but she never lets him get close enough to try. He wants to help her so badly, but her constant rejection is turning him cold and he is not sure how much longer he can wait for her to trust him.

Watching these two struggle with trying to be strong on their own but be together was tough. They did not have many obstacles in their way except internal ones. Both of them did not know if they could truly trust the other and it was hard for them to work through that barrier. It took time, but they slowly started opening up to one another and towards the end they experienced some truly heart wrenching moments together. They also shared quite a few explosive scenes together. One in particular took place in a cave. ;) That Gray was one dirty talker and I am not sure why it surprised me, but it was definitely a good surprise.

The action, as it always is in Laura’s books, was constant and very intense. I cannot say too much without spoilers, but I will say that someone is pregnant, someone’s mom comes to visit, we get to see a lot of rescues from the Paleo and the Order is reaping all sorts of havoc on the vampire community. All of these things and more come together to make one astonishing story that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I loved getting to know all of Dillon’s brothers in this book as well. They are mutore too and could shift into some pretty cool things. Laura has always been good at giving each character a distinct and unique voice when it comes to the Roman brothers and that carries over into Dillon’s brothers as well. There were points when they were talking at the same time, but I could still pick out which brother it was speaking.

Holy cow the ending of this book was awesome! Actually it was the epilogue that really got me excited. It is not a cliffhanger, but it sets up the next book perfectly. I am not going to say who it is about and ruin the fun for you, but I cannot believe I have to wait until next May to find out what is going to happen next!

Overall, Eternal Beast was just flat out amazing! I have a couple authors in the paranormal romance genre that I go to when I want a book that is going to exceed all my expectations and Laura Wright is one of them. Her books have everything, amazing characters, a well-developed story that continues from book to book, scorching hot romance, fantastic action and the aspect that always gets me the most is the genuine emotion you feel when reading about the lives of these characters. I don’t know how to encourage you enough to go check out these books without going into total fan girl mode. They are just that good. So do yourself a favor and read these books. I promise you it will be worth it! ( )

Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Michelle L. Olson:

The discovery of MARK OF THE VAMPIRE will always be a highlight for me. Eternal Hunger was the 1st book of LITERAL ADDICTION's 2nd Reading Event when we were still just a tiny Paranormal BookClub with 8 members. As time has progressed, so has the series, and so has my love for both it and Laura!

Immediately upon finishing this book my exact thoughts were: "Holy cow! Smokin' hot & action packed - an amazing read!" :)

Now I want to break it down for you all, but it's going to be a bit tough without spoilers because SO much happens in this book. I shall do my best though...

The MARK OF THE VAMPIRE world is opened up immensely in this release. There is additional information learned about all facets of the world and its inhabitants and each and every tidbit is titilating and incredible.

For those of you that are up-to-speed on the series, the previous eNovella release, "Eternal Blood", revealed to us that Gray's father was the leader of the Impure Resistance. In Eternal Beast we see Gray with a singleminded purpose and an incredible passion, and not only for his cause!

Dillon is still messed up over the trauma she endured at the end of the last book at the hands of the Senator and just isn't herself. She seeks Grays help as a form of therapy and inevitably, though they fight it every step of the way, they grow even closer.

I can't say much more without ruining things, but I can tell you all this... Dillon and Gray together are UNBELIEVABLE! Smokin' hot, smart, snarky, sexy, sarcastic and just about every other fabulous "S" adjective I can think of. ;-)

There are a lot of new characters introduced in Eternal Beast, as well as additional information on ones that we've met briefly before. It was an incredible installment to the series and there are TONS of directions that Laura could go with things now. I'm SO excited to see what the future holds!

LITERAL ADDICTION gives Eternal Beast a well deserved 5 Skulls. If you haven't experienced this series yet, you are TOTALLY missing out, and you REALLY need to add it to your TBR and find it from your favorite bookseller ASAP! ( )

xx ( )