A Beauty and the Beast retelling with vampires is pretty much an automatic yes for me, so I went into Vow of Eternal Night with high expectations. While it didn't end up being as good as I hoped, it still kept my interest enough to finish.

I definitely enjoyed the first half more than the second. The enchanted house is a delight, and the inspiration from Beauty and the Beast is clear from the start. The author has a great sense of humor, and it comes through in Clara's inner dialogue and her banter with Raleigh. This was probably my favorite thing about the writing throughout.

After that, though, there were more misses than hits. For a standalone, I expected the plot to keep moving, but the pacing ends up feeling slow, and the story gets a little boring at times.

I also found the characters a little flat and the romance didn’t work for me either. It's a slow-burn, and a few of Clara and Raleigh's moments together are cute, but I wanted to see them spend more time getting to know each other, and watch Clara gradually shift toward accepting what Raleigh is. I also needed more from Raleigh's side. He comes with this fearsome reputation but doesn't have any other defining character traits.

Even with all that, this is a decent debut. If you're after a standalone vampire romance, especially one inspired by Beauty and the Beast, it's worth a look.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the ARC!

I loved the first half of A Bargain So Bloody. At the 50% mark, I was ready to give it a high four stars, but the second half was a different story. All the momentum built in the first half fizzles out in the second, and the plot wasn't all that memorable in the end.

The worldbuilding is close to non-existent, which was part of what made the beginning so bingeable. We lightly touch on the magic system and the tension between the kingdoms, and those pieces were interesting without bogging anything down.

The book starts off with a prison break that turns into an escape to the vampire kingdom. Once we arrive, the story slams on the brakes and becomes a drawn-out, repetitive montage of similar scenes. I didn't mind it at first, but the more I saw of Samara's actions in the vampire kingdom, the more frustrated I became.

I loved her character early on. She's gritty, she's a survivor, and there's clearly an interesting backstory being withheld from us that I'm hoping future books get into. When she arrives at the vampire kingdom, she turns impulsive and extremely self-righteous, making snap decisions based on assumptions. A huge pet peeve of mine is when conflict could have been avoided by just asking one question, and that was definitely the case multiple times in the latter half of the book. It made all the drama and tension feel forced.

Raphael is exactly my type of MMC. He's grumpy and brutal, but he has a soft spot for our FMC. He literally gives her anything she wants, and I ate it up. Overall, the romance lost me, though. We're meant to buy a deep connection built on surface-level interactions, and it didn't make a lot of sense to me. I think it was the right call to not have any spice scenes. It would have been out of place here.

I'll be reading the next book in the hopes of getting some answers about Samara's past and the cliffhanger ending. If you want a fast, bingeable read with vampires and witches, this is worth picking up!

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Thank you to Edelweiss and Scarlett Press for the ARC!

Arcana Academy walked so Prince of Swords could run. This was one of my favorite second books I’ve read this year, perfectly building off all the foundation set in book one.

If you wished for more plot in book one, you'll like this one. We start off right where we left off, with Clara arriving at Halazar (again), and it doesn't take long for the plot to take off.

One of my chief complaints about book one was that the worldbuilding was too dense and info-dumpy, but that was not the case here. The magic system was much easier to follow this time around. Every time a card was used, its powers were quickly defined to jog our memory. Some readers may find this hand-holding too much, but I found it the right amount of helpful since I didn't want to re-read the first book.

We caught glimpses of Clara's trust issues in the first book, but we see a lot more of them here. At times her decision-making was frustrating to watch, but I guess I'd be a little unsure of myself too if I was remaking the world. There is pretty clear growth by the end and her development was believable.

And Kaelis, omg, Kaelis! Between book one and book two, Kaelis transforms into a cinnamon roll. He's still dark and mysterious, but turns into a real softy. I’ll admit the change in his character was a little abrupt but not wholly unexpected (or unappreciated).

My biggest complaint is that the overall pacing was slow until around 70%, and then all the twists and subplots started unraveling so quickly that the ending felt more chaotic than necessary.

The cliffhanger in this one was brutal, and I mean downright diabolical. I can't believe I have to wait to find out what happens next, so if you don't like insane cliffhangers, I'd hold off on reading this until book three is out.

Recommend if you liked the first book, especially if you wished for more plot! I definitely think this sequel hits the mark on that front.

Jenna Levine strikes again! The second book in this series, My Vampire Plus One, was one of my favorite reads of last year, so when I spotted My Roommate is a Vampire while browsing at the library, I snatched it up.

This one was so, so much fun. I read this in one sitting and was at a loss as to what to read next when I was done. It certainly isn't perfect but it made me so genuinely happy for the short time I was reading it, hence my five star review.

The setup of the story is pretty simple. Frederick is a vampire who just woke from a hundred-year sleep and is looking for a roommate with the secret intention of using them to help him learn about modern society. He finds Cassie, a struggling artist who agrees to move in mostly because rent is cheap.

I was a little lukewarm on our FMC Cassie. I didn't dislike her, I just didn't find her all that interesting. He was incredibly sweet and just so earnest. He was also hilarious. It's hard for a book to make me laugh, but I was laughing out loud in almost every scene with him. There is something about a male character who is out of touch with modern society that just works for me every time.

I was also obsessed with the little notes Cassie and Frederick leave each other throughout the book. Every part of the romance was adorable.

My one small gripe is that the ending and the solution got a little too ridiculous. It didn't bother me much, since the whole book is meant to be light and unserious anyway.

Highly, highly recommend if you're looking for something light, funny, and romantic. It was the perfect palate cleanser between my usual heavier fantasy reads.