Book Review: The Vampires’ Last Lover (Lifeblood Legacy Book 1) by Aiden James & Patrick Burdine

 
 
Txema is living a normal life as a college student until murders start happening around her campus and then mysterious strangers show up telling her that the murderers are actually feral vampire creatures and that it's Txema they're looking for. Txema is one of the last remaining women with special blood that the civilized vampires need, so they take her to France where they can better protect her and where Txema will have to make choices that could affect all of mankind.

Book Review: The Vampires' Last Lover (Lifeblood Legacy Book 1) by Aiden James & Patrick Burdine | reading, books, book reviews, fantasy, urban fantasy, new adult, vampires
Title: The Vampires' Last Lover
Book Number: Book 1 of TBA
Pages: 186
My Rating: 3 Stars
More Info: Goodreads, Amazon, Publisher
 

Review:

*I received a free ecopy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

I had a hard time choosing a rating for this book because, while I did have a lot of issues with it, it wasn’t all bad, and something about it made me interested enough to consider continuing the series (as of now I haven’t, but I might at some point). Unfortunately some of my issues are spoilers, but I’ll keep those hidden and do my best to list this out.

The Good:

– The writing itself was fine, aside from a few too many exclamation marks.

– The premise was unique—there are certain females whose blood is special and needed by the vampires in order to keep them sane and civilized, but the uncivilized vampires have been killing them all off so that Txema is now the last one.

– Some of the characters were realistic. And the rest were realistic sometimes. None of them were completely absurd, at least. (My favorite was Armando because he cracked me up, and someone needed to step in and remind Txema of where her priorities should be.)

– The romance had me intrigued. It was… surprising. I say that with hesitation because I didn’t necessarily like the direction it went, but it did surprise me and was somewhat unpredictable. This is probably the main reason I’m considering continuing the series—I’m curious to see where the romance ends up.

The Not-So-Good:

– Some of the characters, especially Txema, made some truly terrible decisions. For example, Txema knew the vampires were specifically after her, yet she kept going out after dark, walking out in the open, and generally just putting herself in danger.

– Txema seemed far too unconcerned about the possibility of her friends and boyfriend being dead (I’m not saying whether they’re dead or not, so I’m not spoiling anything). Occasionally she would stop and think something along the lines of, “Oh, wait, that’s right, I forgot, I’m sad about my friends,” and then go back to not thinking about them.

– Txema had nightmares/visions about the bad guy and his plans, yet she never told anyone even though it could’ve been helpful and important.

– This was the part of the romance aspect that didn’t necessarily bother me, per se, but it did make Txema less likeable, and I know it’s something that could bother some readers… *SPOILER ALERT* Txema’s relationship with Peter seemed unhealthy from the start, like she was really only with him for convenience and was just waiting for someone better to come along, and then she cheated on him by kissing another guy pretty much the day she left America. Then she almost had sex with the guy a few days later. Then that guy was the first one she thought of when thinking of who she wanted the father of her child to be, rather than her boyfriend. *END SPOILER ALERT*

– And this was something that might not bother other readers but did bother me… *SPOILER ALERT* I know that she was technically given a choice and not forced, and it was with the man of her choosing, but how much of a choice is it really when someone basically says, “You have to have a child, or the entire human race dies”? Txema seemed happy to have the opportunity since she was otherwise infertile and this was her one chance because of some supernatural thing, but I personally am still very bothered by the idea of anything even close to forced pregnancy. *END SPOILER ALERT*

– The sex ritual was just too much for me. It seemed to be there entirely for edginess. It could have taken place privately and still had the same effect on the story. And the way the characters reacted to it and didn’t seem to feel very nervous or awkward seemed unrealistic.

Overall:

As you can tell, almost all my issues were about Txema. I didn’t find her likeable and couldn’t relate to many of her decisions. But that’s just me, so other readers might like her more. And readers may still enjoy the book for the other characters, the premise, etc. since I didn’t find any major issues with those. Overall, though I did have some issues, I still found the writing decent, the romance intriguing, and some of the characters interesting.

 

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Talk to me!

Have you read The Vampires' Last Lover by Aiden James & Patrick Burdine?
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  1. Angela @ Simply Angela

    Txema seems like one of those too-stupid-to-live types and I can’t handle those types of characters in my books. They drive me up the wall.

    If I don’t like the main character, I normally struggle with the book and end up DNFing it. It was my problem when I first started reading the Outlander books, I ended up not finishing the first book because I didn’t like the main character. Although I gave the series another chance and ended up becoming hooked.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Some of her decisions were rather TSTL, but in some ways she seemed normal and smart, so she wasn’t the worst I’ve ever read about lol.

      For me it just kind of depends. I can deal with those types of characters if there are other characters I like enough that it makes up for it or everything else about the book is good. I’m glad you ended up enjoying the series once you gave it another chance since I recall seeing how much you love it on your blog!

  2. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    I don’t know if I will give this a go or not – I’m undecided. Txema sounds “Bella-annoying” which isn’t a slam on anyone who likes Twilight – I just found Bella to be a problem and always joked that I probably would have liked the series better if Edward and Jacob ended up together and forgot all about Bella. Enough of a rant. Txema does have a unique name though.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I read Twilight when I was in high school so I don’t even remember it, but I’d probably have liked it more too had Edward and Jacob ended up together, haha. I was kind of undecided going in because other reviews said much the same thing as mine about Txema, but sometimes I still love books even when the MCs make bad decisions like that. I figured it was worth a shot since the rest sounded good. It is a unique name, though funny enough I’ve come across another character in a different series with the same name lol, just spelled differently!

  3. Lola

    Those books are always hard to rate when you like a lot of things, but also have a lot of dislikes. It does sound like this one had an original premise and it’s nice that some of the characters acted realistic. And it rarely happens that the romance is slightly unpredictable, so that sounds interesting even though you didn’t fully like the direction., But I can also see why you had some trouble with this one, especially because of Txema. I don’t like it when characters make not so smart decisions, especially when they know something bad is out there and still do it. It just seems they would at least think that it might be dangerous or at least thinks twice about it. That sex ritual does sound weird and what you mention in your spoiler, makes it sound like the entire thing is a bit forced even though it’s her choice. Great review! And I hope the next book is better if you decide to continue the series!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, some books are just hard to rate like that. You’re right though, unpredictable romances don’t come along that often, so it is always a nice surprise when you find one. Even if I didn’t like the direction it went, I still appreciated that it was unpredictable, for me at least. But yeah, making the sex ritual the way it was in the book just felt really unnecessary. Like, I could understand there being a ritual, just not so public and everything. And that thing in the spoiler is just one of those things that really deeply bothers me personally, you know? But it might not bother other people at people since Txema was totally fine with it. Thanks!

  4. AngelErin

    Sounds like this one really was a mixed bag. I’m glad you liked some things about it. Vampire books are always intriguing, but Txema sounds like a moron going out at night and what not lol! That would annoy me. Excellent review!!!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, it was a mixed bag. Some things I liked, some things I didn’t. You know me, I like my vampire books too so any time a book includes them it makes me more interested, haha, but Txema was just a hard character for me to like because of her decisions. Thanks!