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RELEASE BLITZ: Can’t Say Goodbye by Eden Finley (Giveaway)
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SERIES REVIEW: The Vampire’s Club Books 6-7 by X. Aratare
The Vampire’s Club 6 – X. Aratare
Lucas Daniels knows that witches and vampires are real.
Lucas has discovered that witch blood flows through his veins and he can perform magic, but it is hardly within his control. And the more he delves into his gifts, the more dangerous they appear.
Count Konstantin “the Wolf” Volk must keep Lucas’ parentage a secret from the Nomad while searching for a way to free himself and Lucas from Gaia’s plot. But how can he succeed when the Nomad sees and hears all?
NOTE: THIS NOVELLA SERIES HAS CLIFFHANGERS! EVERY BOOK WILL END ON ONE. THAT’S MY NATURAL WRITING STYLE. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE CLIFFHANGERS, WAIT UNTIL THE WHOLE SERIES IS PUBLISHED TO READ. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Bloodstream
Artist: Stateless
Album: Stateless
The Vampire’s Club 7 – X. Aratare
Lucas Daniels is a vampire… and a witch.
Can he use his newfound powers to help Konstantin “the Wolf” Volk, the dangerous and mysterious Nomad, and the witch, Gaia, to stop the destruction of all vampires by the coven leader Rachel?
If Lucas does, he’ll have to convince the Nomad that he is not a threat to Konstantin. While Konstantin wants only to protect his very new and special fledgling from the dangers that Lucas wants to help him face.
The end of The Vampire’s Club Series!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Sore wa Matta Betsu no Ohanashi
Artist: Amazarashi
Album: Yuuhi shinkou higashizumu
When it was first released in 2019, I was ridiculously obsessed with The Vampire’s Club. The books had such intense level of USTs and squee-tastic moments I was reduced to incoherent gushing emojis. However, the start of Book 6 wasn’t working for me, so the series was stuck in TBR limbo.
Recently, I had a sudden urge for vampire romance and decided to pick up where I left off. This time, Book 6 had me completely engaged.
Admittedly, the emotional distance created by time reduced the impact the books had on me. I wasn’t a gushy stan anymore. I was more aware of how cringey some of the scenes were. Cringey like having Lucas’s mother speaking inside Konstantine’s head while the boys were having sex.
Having read the author’s other works, The Fall and The Bodyguard, I’ve recognized certain themes and tropes they like to employ. The stories are dark and sensual, conjuring images of luxurious, dimly lit rooms heavy with musk.
The stories feature relationships that are vaguely incestuous involving father figures. For instance, here we have Lucas’s stepdad attempting to molest him. The vampires use terms such as Childe, Sire, and Grandpere when referring to their creators and fledglings who are usually also their lovers.
The heroes tend to be barely legal, naive, or innocent young men paired with a much older, worldly love interest. The series underscores that by having centuries-old Konstantine fondly calling college-age Lucas “nevinovnyy”, the Russian word for innocent.
By Book 6, Lucas is not so innocent anymore, fully aware of what he can do, who his real mother is and what Konstantine is. Meanwhile, Konstantine agonizes over the fact that Lucas is the key to lifting his curse, but then his boy would have to pay the prize should the vampire turn him to save himself. The witches are also making their power move to destroy the vampires.
Where the first five books were merely dark and gothic, Books 6 and 7 nearly crossed over to horror because now there’s blood, gore, rape and torture (the latter two were off page). Lucas unleashed was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, a powerful killing machine who can go toe to toe with eldritch monsters from other worlds. And our boy hasn’t even showed 100% of his powers yet!
Konstantine unlocks magical abilities like his Sire, The Nomad, is known for. Then realizes The Nomad’s secret identity. This part I cheered the most because Konstantine was abandoned by his Sire for centuries. Little did he know, The Nomad had always watched over him. The little tidbit I found really endearing was The Nomad was secretly Club Dyavol’s first customer!
Much of the series was spent building tension, both the sexual and the deadly kind, so the big showdown when it exploded sent shockwaves that swept everyone. The fight scenes were thrilling and spectacularly gruesome!
Some of the casualties were especially tragic, like Lucas’s foster mom. This part could have been written differently, less tragically, but I guess it was the way it was to completely cut off Lucas’s ties to the mundane world.
Another gripe is that there were too much dialogue on what should have been a time for action. It happened when Lucas and his real mother teamed up. They received texts that Konstantine and The Nomad were in grave danger and needed to be rescued ASAP. Mother and son then proceeded to have pages of dialogue, all the while mentioning the urgency of the situation. It was like those scenes where a character is dying, but still managed to have a lengthy monologue. Meh!
The Vampire’s Club 6 and 7 wasn’t quite what the first books were, but this finale pulled out all the stops! Lucas reclaimed his heritage and became so much more than anyone could have predicted. Konstantine reclaimed his Sire and his best friend, his beloved nevinovnyy, and his home Club Dyavol. A fairy tale ending for the vampire romance of my dreams!
Overall, The Vampire’s Club is a heady mix of fluff and steam, dark and sweet. It’s pure escapism, seductive, enthralling, dangerous. Yes, exactly like our favorite undead creature.
P.S.
The Vampire’s Club is a serial. The books are meant to be read in order because seriously, that dream sequence and the elevator scene are two of the most unforgettable scenes of my entire reading life!
Incoherent squees a.k.a. reviews:
The Vampire’s Club
The Vampire’s Club 2
The Vampire’s Club 3
The Vampire’s Club 4
The Vampire’s Club 5
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The Vampire’s Club: US
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NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Roanoke River Omegas by Will Okati (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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REVIEW: Savage Rivals by Becca Steele
Savage Rivals – Becca Steele
Asher Henderson.
Captain of the Highnam Academy football team, and the bane of my existence.
As Alstone High’s team captain, I’ve been pitted against him from the beginning, but our conflict isn’t only reserved for the pitch.
Everyone knows we’re enemies. From our first encounter, our rivalry has been escalating, spiralling out of control.Until one night when everything between us changed.
He pushed me too far, and we crossed a line that should never have been crossed.
Now, I can’t get him out of my head.
Can we ever be more than rivals, or are there too many obstacles in our way?One thing I know for sure.
Things between us will never be the same again.Savage Rivals is a standalone M/M new adult high school romance with enemies to lovers and gay awakening themes. This book contains mature situations and content.
I *Originally included in the Brutal Boys on Devils Night collection. This edition of Savage Rivals has been expanded with additional content.
I stepped into Savage Rivals blind, knowing only that this is enemies to lovers as per title and not much else. I was also drawn to the narrators’ voices. This savage book immediately held me in its grip, right until the very end. This is a guaranteed one-sitter!
It starts with two bitter rivals, football captains of competing high schools, Asher Henderson and Levi Woodford. Their teams are trying to one-up each other in the pitch and in pranks. The ball is currently in Asher’s team’s court, the boys swearing revenge for a vicious prank by Levi’s team.
The two captains’ rivalry is legendary. It’s reaching a particularly intense peak when Levi does the unthinkable. Now, Asher and Levi still claim they hate each other but are super, super confused about certain feelings.
Part of what makes the enemies-to-lovers trope fun is the hate part. This is what most books tend to get wrong, delivering lukewarm animosity that barely lasts a couple chapters. It’s the passionate hate that gives the flip to lust/love it’s spine-tingling zing.
Savage Rivals did this so deliciously! The two boys nearly killing each other at knife point and then going nuclear, albeit confused, angry, but hella horny. That scene scorched my brain! Everything leading to it was a tightly wounded ball of tension skillfully woven to detonate at maximum capacity. I am a happy casualty.
It didn’t stop there. Once the two stopped resisting the magnetic pull towards each other, they became the ultimate relationship goals. Though secretly at first. They had to find a way to break it gently to their warring teams. Many might not take kindly to the news.
Ash is from the poorer districts, while Levi lives in a posh neighborhood. The two were surprised by how much they had in common. Their chemistry was off the charts!
My favorite thing about them is how honest they are to each other, even as enemies. As a couple, this kept them strong, even as everyone else pushed them to fight because the school rivalry was just that bitter. They are one of the most memorable couples of this year.
Savage Rivals is one of the swooniest romances I’ve read! It perfectly captures the blurring line between love and hate, and the bliss thereafter, in all their breathtaking glory, I exploded in a puff of squees!
Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfectSoundtrack: War of Hearts
Artist: Ruelle
Album: Up In Flames
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SAVAGE RIVALS
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NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Summer’s Second by Jeff Billington (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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NEW RELEASE: Wrecked But Not Ruined by Nicole Dykes
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RELEASE TOUR: The Roles We Own by C.D. Rachels (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Bete Noire by Mickie B. Ashling (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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COVER REVEAL: Monica Adams Skips Christmas by Krista Harper
