*I received an ecopy of this book via Hidden Gems. This has not influenced my review.*

This is one of those books with great everything!

The best thing for me was the characters and the emotion they brought. They felt believable and developed and unique—even the spirit in the house Byron was living in was unique and interesting and her own character—and I felt for them. I felt for Byron most though. He had so much personal angst and turmoil, feeling like he’d been abandoned and forsaken by his friends, the man he loved, God. After the sexy biting scenes, my favorite scene was the one when I realized the true depth of his angst and guilt and pain and when he finally learned the truth about things that had been haunting him. *SPOILER* He’d been so convinced of his guilt, but it turned out even in his bloodlust, the worst thing he ever did was kill a goat. And knowing that Chester never abandoned him, went out of his way to search for Byron in fact, was so heartwarming. *END SPOILER*

The romance was perhaps a bit fast, but it didn’t really feel too fast. They had a good connection. Also, hot damn, this author knows how to write sexy vampire biting! Seriously, those biting + sex scenes were just fantastic.

Friendship was an important element too. Nick and his friends were close in school, but the trauma they experienced together on the night of their graduation brought them even closer. For ten years or so since then, they’ve lived together and hunted down baddies together and stuck together through thick and thin. The friendship between Chester and Byron, what Chester, and even Sean, did for Byron, was heartwarming too.

I liked that the trauma from the graduation day incident wasn’t brushed off. It affected Nick and his friends and the trajectory their lives took.

I also liked the way the vampirism was portrayed. At least, Byron’s experience with it. Not monstrous, plenty sexy, but also not overlooking the less nice elements of it, like wanting to lick blood off the floor.

The world was basically ours, but with supernaturals and magic as an accepted part of it. There was a magic system that uses spells and components and focus stones and the stars.

There’s no indication as of right now that this will be a series, and this was a complete story, but there is a little plot thread that could definitely be followed into a sequel, and I would gladly read it. I really liked Nick and Byron and their friends, and I’d love to read more about them.

Overall, this was a solid book all-around, it gave me some feels, and that sexy vampire biting really gave it an extra kick 😉

*Rating: 4.5 Stars // Read Date: 2022 // Format: Ebook via TTS*