Book Review: Sire (Beautiful Monsters Book 2) by Jex Lane

 
 
It's been a year since the last book, a year that Matthew has spent trying to discover his past and who his parents and sire were, all to no avail. But then he runs into a strange teenage oracle, who offers to help him in exchange for protection, and a beautiful man who has abilities that exceed even Matthew's but keeps calling Matthew "my prince" and is unable to explain why because of a curse. Matthew hasn't felt like he's fit in anywhere since he was turned... until now, and he'll do whatever it takes to keep those he cares about safe.

Book Review: Sire (Beautiful Monsters Book 2) by Jex Lane | reading, books, book reviews, fantasy, urban fantasy, lgbt, m/m, vampires, incubi
Title: Sire
Author:
Book Number: Book 2 of TBA
Pages: 369
My Rating: 4 Stars
More Info: Goodreads, Amazon
 

Review:

*I received an ecopy of this book from the author. This has in no way influenced my review. Quotes used in this review were from an ARC and may be different in the final book.*

This book was kind of different from the first because, whereas the first book was all sex and violence and torture and not knowing who to trust, this one was kind of quirky and funny and focused more on Matthew’s newly acquired ragtag band of misfits/strange little family. And though this book took an unexpected turn at the beginning *SPOILER ALERT (it happens within the first 15%, but it wasn’t in the blurb)* (Matthew accidentally sired his own vampire child) *END SPOILER ALERT*, I certainly didn’t enjoy it any less. If anything, I might’ve enjoyed it more because it had more touching character dynamics.

That being said, it still had plenty of action and fighting and gore and awful situations, so don’t go into this expecting something cute.

And of course the book also had lots of sexy times because how could it not with so many vampire and incubus characters? I actually liked these sex scenes better than those in the first book because they had a little more emotional connection and weren’t all slave/master-y.

I also still just liked Matthew himself and found myself cracking up at his dialogue and thoughts, especially since I think I would’ve felt the same in his situation.

“Okay, here are some rules. You seriously need to stop calling me ‘my prince’, it’ll make us stand out and—really—since I don’t know why you are doing it, it’s pissing me off.”

Matthew did seem a little overdramatically lovelorn at times though. *SPOILER ALERT (for Book 1)* It’s been a year, man. I know the way it happened was terrible and would’ve made it a lot harder to ever get over, so I could understand still feeling something, especially after unexpectedly running into him again, but calling him from a random number just to hear his voice when he picks up the phone and then spending the next three days moping around was a bit much. *END SPOILER ALERT* I’m not saying that men, or Matthew, can’t have emotion (Matthew has never been emotionless), just that that part seemed out of character for him.

Matthew has also been a little too amazing at everything, but, since he’s had so much terrible stuff thrown at him and has still ended up in bad situations anyway, I can let that slide. And other parts of him were still human and realistic enough that I felt for him and could relate. And I really did feel awful for him. Jex Lane sure does take the whole “put your character up in a tree and throw rocks at him” writing advice thing to heart. *whispers* Does she know she’s also supposed to get them down again?

Anyway, to wrap this up, I really did enjoy this book just as much, if not more than, the first. It had action and violence but also some quirky and sweet character moments, and I’m looking forward to more Matthew in the next book!

 

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Talk to me!

Have you read Sire by Jex Lane?
Do you like when books have both terrible moments and sweet moments, or do you prefer one over the other?

 
 
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  1. Greg

    I’m kinda wondering about the teenage oracle and the ancient vampire or whatever he is- sounds like an intriguing little band. I like stories where people are thrown together and form bonds and have to protect each other, while getting to know each other too. You can do a lot with that. And it sounds like a riot too with all the violence and stuff going on. I do get annoyed sometimes when MC’s are too powerful or capable but sounds like it’s not too bad here…

    Nice cover too with the mask.

    1. Kristen Burns

      He’s only 9 years old as a vampire, so not ancient lol. Just really strong and powerful and special. It was a cute little band of misfits though. I liked their unique dynamic and how much they cared about each other. I mean, Matthew was exceptionally good at fighting in both books, and he had special abilities and whatnot, but like I said it worked alright for me since there were at least some times when he couldn’t win. And it is a pretty cover 🙂

  2. verushka

    There are some things that you said about him being too perfect that would give me pause, but then there’s all the other goodness that sort of balances the scales in the grand scheme of things and I am impressed at this series — the author has a such a fine sense of balance with her (his?) writing, I think.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Her writing lol. And yeah, I was definitely able to overlook the perfectness because the rest was so good, and like I said, he still ended up in bad situations anyway, so it did balance that a bit.

  3. Bookworm Brandee

    I just one-clicked Captive, Kristen. And put this series on *your* shelf…I still have to go back and put books you rec’d before I created your shelf on your shelf. But I’m rambling….
    I love that the second book, despite it having a slightly different feel, was perhaps more enjoyable than the first. It’s almost rare for that to happen. I’m very curious about “my prince” as well as seeing how Matthew gets into and out of all these sticky situations. And I really like that there were deeper connections between characters in this book – I’m sure that’d make a difference in how I feel about a book. 🙂 So is this series a general moving toward an end or is it separate plot line(s) used in advancing with the over arcing plot line?
    At any rate, great review!
    I apologize for comment bombing you this morning…I tried to keep up but with my daughter here, I got behind. 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol damn straight, fill that shelf up! I want my shelf to overtake all the others and be the alpha shelf! 😛

      I don’t know, I don’t seem to have the second-book bad luck that other people have. But it’s still worrisome every time you find a good book, wondering if the second will live up to it or end up disappointing you. And I too like those character connections. I don’t know how many books there will be or what exactly the end goal is yet, but it’s definitely an overarching type of series.

      Thanks! And no worries, I love when you comment bomb me, it makes me all excited to open my blog and find a whole bunch of comments!

  4. Lola

    Sounds like this one has quite the different feel from the first book, but sometimes that works best with each booking having a slightly different focus and feel. Plot twist early on in the book can be interesting. I had to click the spoiler tag and thought the title of the book makes sense when you know that.

    I don’t think this would be a series for me with all the violence and torture in the first book and the gore in this one. The sex scenes and character dynamics do sound well done. Sounds like this author put her characters through a lot, although I hope for her characters they do get down from that tree as well. Great review!

    1. Kristen Burns

      It did have a different feel, but it was still similar enough that it wasn’t a problem, at least not for me. And the title works twofold because Matthew also finds out who his sire is in this one 🙂

      No, I don’t think it’d be for you, especially with all the torture in the first book, but it works for me 🙂 She really does put her poor characters through hell though. I feel awful for Matthew. The ending was terrible (not bad book terrible, just terrible for the character). So I’m eagerly awaiting but also dreading the next book lol. I like when characters get put through hell, but I want Matthew to have a happy ending once it’s all over. Thanks!