It was an okay book. ( )

As the owner of a small bookshop and very much aware that vampires are not to be trusted, the heroine is torn between her unease and attraction to the hero. He’s much more light hearted and less dark and brooding than the other vampires in the series, mainly because he’s the child of a pair of characters in the previous book. But…shocking; this book was extremely boring and had zero pulse. You can rarely expect more than 2 stars for your typical Amanda Ashley book because her characters have dull personalities and the written is flat and unimaginative. Plus, it’s like the same plot in very story. My main problem with this story is that the heroine readily admits to be afraid of the vampire hero, wearing a silver cross to each of their dates and not looking him in the eyes for fear of being hypnotized. Yet 6 chapters in, not even halfway through the book, she’s proclaiming she loves him! It was forced and fake. ( )

Read a short story by Amanda Ashley in an anthology that I loved, so I thought I'd pick up one of her full length books.

I really could not get into this book. Ashley's writing is smooth and easy to read. However, the characters and pacing of the story just did not hold my interest. The main character, Kathy, opens up a bookstore in a small town and suddenly finds herself caught in the middle of a battle between werewolves and vampires. From that I thought I would enjoy it as it was a very Underworld set up. But Kathy was such a dull character. She barely played an active role in the book. Most of the time it just seemed like she was just along for the ride. Her one role in the book seemed to ask a crap ton of questions. She was constantly grilling Rafe about his past and what it is like to be a vampire. And when she wasn't grilling Rafe she was brooding because he was a vampire. Rafe seemed like an interesting character, but he never really got the chance to develop on his own. Instead we get information dumps on his past through Kathy's questions. Also, for being the leader of the North American vampires he sure didn't seem to have very many responsibilities.

The other thing that really bothered me about this story is that things about the setting didn't mesh. At the very beginning of the book we learn that this story takes place in a future where vampires and werewolves are known to exist by humans and that there's been an ongoing war between them for quite some time. What bothered me about this is that despite vampires and werewolves being known to exist the character knows absolutely nothing about them except the myths. Which just did not make sense within setting that Ashley had set up.

Overall, I enjoy Ashley's writing style but her pacing and the way she developed her characters drove me crazy. I think I'll be sticking to just her short stories from now on.
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