by Michele Hauf
ebook, 380 pages
Published May 1st 2011 by Harlequin
ISBN 1459201590
Courtesy of NetGalley
Vail the Unwanted is a pure-blooded vampire. But raised by Faery, he has neither home nor peace, and when his aid is sought in the recovery of a priceless diamond gown, his price is information. Specifically the whereabouts of his accursed father. His goal is revenge, and the supernaturally sexy Lyric, the icy blond vampiress with whom he must work, is a distraction he can't afford. Outwardly as cold as the diamond dress in which she was kidnapped, Lyric has her own secrets. Desperate to break free from her criminal family, she aligns herself with the brooding Vail. Together they seek justice while each secretly works for freedom and a fresh start. For Lyric that means holding herself apart, even from the smoldering blue-eyed Vail. For Vail, it means a battle to the death for revenge—and for a temptress he can't deny.
My Thoughts:
Vail is a vampire raised in Faery all his life, taught to hate the very thing he is. After being banished he is thrown into the mortal realm and must accept the generosity of his step-father to survive. Despising vampires and snubbing the family that abandoned him he keeps to himself. When Rhys offers him information on the father who brought his mother to the brink of insanity and whom Vails seeks revenge on though he cannot refuse. Vail agrees to take on a job for him, recovering a priceless faery gown and the missing vampiress who had it. But when Vail finds Lyric he quickly realizes that there is more going on here than a simple theft. As they face danger on all sides, passion blooms, and Vail will do whatever it takes to free Lyric from the threat of a faery Lord and her corrupt family.
This took a while for me to get into but I did enjoy the characters, especially the self hating vampire who thought he was a faery, Vail. His bad boy persona had me falling for him immediately; angst ridden and tortured, seeking love and acceptance from a family who doesn’t know how to handle him. Not to mention his penchant for wearing black, leather and guy liner while listening to Johnny Cash, driving fast and living dangerously - sex-ay! He also just happens to have a deadly addiction which he is in denial about but his imperfections added real and believable dimensions to his character, and was endearing. There is much more to his dark, spiky exterior. Vail has an instant connection with Lyric which disturbs them both but they don’t fight it. I thought that she made a great heroine in this story and their chemistry sizzled. Lyric has some secrets that she is hiding from Vail but finds out that her family hides an even darker secret. Their relationship was hot, intense and deeply emotional. Together they undercover what her family is up to while Vail grows to love and accept who and what he is with Lyric’s help.
The story itself what dark & gritty with several surprising twists & turns but I just could not get into the world that Michele Hauf has built of vampires, faeries, werewolves and half-breeds. There was a lot of focus on the Fae and sometimes writing in that world can be difficult and the plot was dragged down by this IMO. I found myself focused more on the romance and dynamics of the relationship Vail had with his family and skimming over the rest. Saying all that, I thought that Forever Vampire was still a good read and I’d be interesting in reading more from this author.
Rating: 3.5
Only 3.5? I was hoping for more.
ReplyDeleteYou might like it better then me, I just had a hard time getting into the actual story.
ReplyDeleteI know how that goes sometime. I have noticed there are a lot of authors that some of us just dont take to and this is one of them. Nice review.
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