Disclaimer: I received an electronic ARC of this novella from the author.
I had a lot of fun with this paranormal romance novella because it was a quick introduction to a fascinating new world with lots of possibilities. From the author’s note at the beginning, it’s obvious that Fox has close emotional ties with this particular setting, and her love of it shines through the intriguing paranormal world she has created with that inspiration. She also has a gift for dynamic characters who drag you into their lives, and Lazare is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed the unique voice of his internal narrative, especially regarding his angst over a certain vampire.
Remy, on the other hand, is a pretty straightforward vampire character. He’s a bastion of the familiar in an urban fantasy setting on which Fox has set her unique spin. This characterization does not make him uninteresting in the slightest. Instead, he is almost the reader stand-in for how Lazare’s insertion in his life upends his current reality.
The fated mates trope is often a way for authors to justify “insta-love” between their characters. Fox twists the narrative so that this causes additional conflict between the characters on top of the circumstances in which they already find themselves. Though the happily ever after is inevitable for this genre, Fox doesn’t make the journey easy (she does, though, make it incredibly sexy). I can’t wait to see more of Lazare and Remy as a solid pairing throughout further stories set in this world and the larger scope of story already being hinted at.
Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.