Review: Lush, Steamy, Enthralling...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 13, 2013
This scrumptiously delicious, incredibly romantic vampire novel kept me awake for two nights pawing its pages eagerly, devouring its exquisite content much in the way its characters suckled their meal. Beautifully written, its stylish voice was both Gothic and haunting, evoking a feel of a period piece, but with a modern sensitivity that made its poignant storyline a swift read. The words "swept away" come to mind, for that is precisely what the book did to me and such was the tremendous reaction that the two central lovers had for each other.Three hundred-year-young Keith D'Ameron is out and about one evening, listening to the cacophony of human heartbeats of the city he lives apart from. He is on the hunt, undecided whether it is substance or company he hungers for, when he hears a heartbeat that stands out from the others. An unusually powerful heartbeat, holding a persistent secular charisma that he cannot ignore. Sweet as a siren's song it is to his preternatural ears and he finds he must locate its origin. His search brings him to a beautiful, green-eyed blond man, young, virile, brash, confident and...cheating, he discovers with some amusement, at the game of cards he is playing with his compadres. So begins the fascinating hunt and chase story of the vampire Keith D'Ameron and the man whose heartbeat has stolen his heart, Javier Estas.This is a tale of great love, sacrifice, blood, pain and tantalizing joy, and it touched me deeply. I have always been enamored of the vampire legend and have read pretty much all of the classic tales: Dracula, The Hunger, the Saint-Germain series, Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, The Space Vampires, Brian Lumley's Necroscope series and my personal favorite, Tananarive Due's two-volume vampire epic, and am happy to say that the caliber of this story is of that quality.While the tale is of the male-male romance genre, the author makes no attempt to play "lets take a classic and turn all the female parts into males". Rather this is an original story which pays homage to traditional vampire lore by focusing, not on the thirst for blood, but on the hunger for love, the lust for life, and the very real need all creatures bear, for companionship.I immediately fell in love with the character of Keith D'Ameron, warming to his restrained emotions, wry wit, and his inherent desire to be honest, despite his ability to simply "take "or seduce" until things go his way. I will admit initially Javier took me aback, his overbearing confidence made me want to smack him around a bit, but he quietly crept under my skin, in the best of ways, and soon I was championing both of these passionate men in their quest for a union. The supporting characters were wonderful, bringing to mind the requisite Renfield's, Lucy's and gypsy folk of Dracula, while being nothing at all like them. I loved the highly original gruff were-wolf-man, Amaroq, and welcomed the mentions of Dante, D'Ameron's twin brother whose acquaintance I hope to make in a sequel to this lovely Gothic treasure.Thank you, M. Peters, for this lush addition to the vampire legend. Please place pen to paper as soon as you are able...I hunger for more.