Review: An emotional and intellectual roller coaster that will have you hanging on to the edge of your seat!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 28, 2014
First of all, this is NOT a Twilight knock off in any way shape or form. Yes, there are two vampires vying for the affection of the heroine, but that is the only similarity; and that is just part of one of the plots of the series.In book 1, Eve is a serious college student whose mother was murdered years earlier because of her role as a vampire-killing researcher and operative. Eve is reading her mother's documents and hopes to take up the fight where her mother left off. When she seeks a translator for a 13th century journal, she unwittingly meets with none other than the writer of the journal, the 800 year old vampire, Michel de Cernay. She subsequently becomes involved with Michel's twin, Julian de Cernay, a former knight and a warrior who fought in all of the major conflicts taking place during his 800-plus years of existence. Eve becomes a key player in events set forth before her birth and that rapidly accelerate because of her involvement.What most humans do not know is, first, that vampires and ancients are real, and, second, that there is a political movement of some vampires for "Dominion" that would enslave all humans to the vampires and end human civilization as we know it. Both Julian and Michel are involved in fighting Dominion, but have very different ideas and agendas to accomplish that. With only partial knowledge and with Julian and Michel alternately manipulating her and protecting her, Eve knows that she is being used and lied to, but she is also helpless to resist her attraction to Michel (first) and later to Julian.There are some very explicit and scorching erotic romance scenes, but there is much more story, and it is a very high quality story, which is the distinction I make between erotica and a tale that is "steamy" (steamy because it is more about the story). Part of the angst is Eve's disgust with herself over loving both of the brothers and how she comes to terms that. This is not a ménage romance (at least through the end of book 3, Retribution).In books 2 and 3, more of the politics and battles of fighting Dominion unfold. The pro-Dominion and anti-Dominion forces have members who belong to both sides, and both sides know who the double agents are. There is a shocking reveal that occurs with clues throughout books 2 and 3 as to the origins of the villains and the antiheroes of the story. I can't say much more without spoilers, but as readers identify with Eve, they will experience repeatedly alternating states of bliss, agony, longing, guilt, and more bliss. There is no traditional happily-ever-after, at least not yet, as the story is very much in progress at the end of book 3.This series is so much more than I anticipated, and I cannot wait for the release of book 4, which is scheduled for some time in 2014 per a note at the end of volume 3.