In book four of The Innkeeper Chronicles, we follow the main character’s sister on an adventure on another planet inhabited by vampires. Maud used to be married to a vampire, until he betrayed his house and got himself killed and his wife and young daughter exiled. In present day, Maud has followed a handsome vampire lord back to his planet to see if they can make a relationship work despite his hostile mother, much political intrigue, and many threats, both internal and external. Maud has to draw on all her knowledge of vampire languages, customs, and politics to keep her and her daughter alive.
I am really enjoying this series, despite my initial skepticism about how the authors decided to make common paranormal creatures, such as werewolves and vampires, into aliens for their origin stories. But once I settled into the world building and magic system, it works. Despite the challenges, Maud is well-equipped to handle everything that is thrown at her, and I can never resist a competent, confident woman, or man for that matter. Maud is handy with a sword, can ride any mount, knows over 12 languages, and even more types of alien customs. She deftly traverses the challenges set before her, and Arland does not try to rescue her, but fights at her side with respect and admiration. So basically here you are getting a great sci-if/fantasy romance with a side of competence porn. What’s not to like?

This book was a bit of a monster romantic suspense fever dream. It felt like the author took all of her favorite monster romance tropes, plus romantic suspense tropes, and threw them into a pile, and called it a story. It was poorly written, though not really more so than other KU monster romance books, some of which are very famous and beloved, such as Morning Glory Milking Farm. The difference is that Morning Glory is a cozy, and this book is a romantic suspense. I personally like romantic suspense, but I don't think it's nearly as popular in general as cozies are, so I doubt this book will catch on.