Review:
I’m a major vampire book fan. I’m also a Keary Taylor fan. So I was rather excited when I found out she had written a book about my favorite supernatural creature.
This book, however, is a good one for even those who aren’t vampire fans because it isn’t so much about vampires as it is about a character just trying to find her place in a crazy new chapter of her life.
The forbidden romance took center stage, as you can probably tell from the blurb, and I liked that there was insta-chemistry and then feelings that built up rather than insta-love.
My favorite thing about the book though was actually just Alivia herself. She was super down-to-earth and mature about things. She never made mountains out of mole hills or got overdramatic, and she had her priorities straight. She also never sat around doing nothing, waiting for people to make decisions for her—she got proactive and took her fate into her own hands. And I definitely loved how she stood up for herself and didn’t let the people in her life push her around. It all made her really relatable and likeable to me. I don’t often genuinely like female protagonists, especially when they’re written in first person, but Keary Taylor writes them well. And though Alivia was my favorite, Ian was also great—he was an adorably gruff closet sweetheart!
Another thing I liked was how beautiful and interesting the Mississippi setting sounded. It added a lot of atmosphere and charm to the book.
Overall this was a book that was focused on characters and intrigue rather than action, but it still flowed well and kept my attention until the end. And the next book has more action, more angst, more emotion, more intrigue, and more vampires, so this book did an amazing job of laying the foundation (while still being interesting) and creating a story I couldn’t wait to keep reading!
Recommended For:
Readers who like character growth, complicated relationships, chosen family, intrigue, and a different take on vampires.
More Books in the Series:
Book Review: House of Royals (House of Royals Book 1) by Keary Taylor
Book Review: House of Pawns (House of Royals Book 2) by Keary Taylor
Book Review: House of Kings (House of Royals Book 3) by Keary Taylor
Book Review: House of Judges (House of Royals Book 4) by Keary Taylor
Book Review: House of Ravens (House of Royals Book 5) by Keary Taylor
Book Review: Garden of Thorns (House of Royals Book 6) by Keary Taylor
I haven’t read a vamp novel in years. I was turned off when the market was over-saturated like 6 years ago (remember that??)
Thanks for the review! The cover is really puzzling to me. I feel like the guy is modern, but the girl looks like a princess from a YA novel!
Well this is a good one if you don’t want anything *too* vampire-y. The way she does the vampires is pretty unique. But I’m cool with the market saturation because it means more vampire books to choose from, haha.
Your assessment of the cover is kind of accurate lol. I mean, the book is completely modern, but she is the Royal in House of Royals lol.
I like to read books about vampires, although shifters are my favourite type of supernatural creature. I like it when I find a good and original vampire book. I don’t read books with vampires that often though, but i do enjoy vampires as paranormal creature. And I like forbidden romances, something about the forbidden aspect can make them more exciting. I love when a setting is described well and you can visualize how it all looks. Alivia sounds like a main character I woudl enjoy reading about. It sounds like a good book, so I checked it out on amazon and saw it was free for kindle. I just grabbed my copy! I am looking forward to reading this one!
I noticed that it was free now, glad you downloaded it! Unfortunately I paid like three dollars because I bought it before it went down in price lol. That’s ok though, authors gotta make a living!
I just finished Book 2 last night, and it was amazing, even better than the first, so that’s good news if you end up enjoying this one.
I think I feel about shifters how you feel about vampires. I like them enough, I just don’t read about them as often. This one is a pretty original take on vamps though, not the standard “human girl falls for mysterious, brooding, centuries old vampire” fare, so you might like it.