Vlad

 
 
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
So I have to admit I struggled a little with how to rate this one. The writing was f-cking fantastic. The pace was perfect. The plot was super engaging and had me turning the pages like a madwoman. Alas, the “romance” aspect just fell short for me. First, I LOATHE sibling sharing so the minute I realized where this was heading I was disappointed. Now one could say I should have figured that out from the blurb, but the “hero” is basically engaged to the heroine's sister for almost the entire book. They kiss. He touches her (no sex). They all live in the same house. Since I am not a fan of that type of setup it was just a bit too much for me. On top of that, and maybe because of that, I struggled with the pairing of Vlad and Irina. It felt like it took forever for them to actually get together and I would have liked a bit more time with them as a couple without the engagement between them. But like I said, apart from the less than stellar “romance” aspect this book was fantastic and set up the series extremely well.


~HERO~
VLAD...what can I say about this character? I liked him for the most part. He was hot as f-ck. He was ruthless. He was dangerous. He was f-cked up in the head. He was rapey. All that said, I didn't 100% love him until very near the end. I struggled with him being OK marrying Diana but keeping Irina as a side piece. I wanted him to man up and put an end to things and go after what(who) he really wanted. He doesn't do anything until his hand is forced.


~HEROINE~
IRINA...I liked her character for the most part. She started off seeming to be this meek little virgin and then turned into this kinky little nympho basically overnight. But OK, I went with it. It also bothered me that she seemed perfectly OK with sleeping with her sister's fiancée behind her back. Now I get Diana had her own little dalliance going on, but still, it all didn't sit right with me. I feel like I am being picky about this issue and I am really not trying to be. I know this is a “dark romance” and I generally go into those in a different mindset, but ugh, the setup just bothered me a lot. C'est la vie.


 

~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
There was an EXCELLENT array of secondary characters in this one. So many families and people that it did become a bit confusing at times. WAY too many people with names and last names that started with “V” (lol). But these authors do include a nice list of who all the characters are at the start of the book. I am certainly looking forward to reading about a lot of these guys. And even though I did not like the “engagement” setup with Diana I LOVED her character and I cannot wait to see her wreak vengeance on everyone.


~HEAT LEVEL~
Fairly High. The sex scenes were smokin' and the frequency felt right for the story. There was a lot of rapey sex (dubious consent) in this one. Choking. The couple had amazing on page chemistry as well.


~ANGST LEVEL~
Medium. “I” didn't find this one particularly angsty. Technically there WAS cheating as Vlad IS engaged to Diana (Irina's sister) for almost the entire book and he starts a sexual relationship with Irina while still engaged. That said, Diana was also cheating so I imagine most folks won't be bothered by that. There is one OW sex scene near the beginning a threesome, but Vlad basically just observes. Other than that there was no OW or OM drama.


~IN THE END~
Overall, I enjoyed it A LOT. I adore the pairing of these two authors and again with this book we have another fantastic read. That said, the whole engaged to the sister Irina and Vlad sleeping together while he is engaged to Diana. lowered what could have been a 5-Star read for me to a 4- Star one. Still, a very respectable rating in my opinion and I am sure I will be in the minority in regard to the issues I had, but sometimes things just bother you. What can you do? shrug That said, yours truly is still going to give this one two solid thumbs up and I CANNOT wait to see what these authors have up their sleeves with VEN in book two.