400+ pages for a whole lot of what felt like nothing until maybe the last 60 pages, and it was a slog to get through. Will I read the next one? Absolutely, because I really hope that as the publication dates creep closer to the advent of social media I'll see some writing choices change when it comes to characterization. They are...certainly a product of their time, and Mary does give me hope that as Ward learned better she did better.

Now, as for this book, I felt lost as a reader. I was tugged from scene to scene with no clear arc to follow or characters that resonated with me, and despite stuff happening it was more melodramatic than anything that had actual teeth to it.

The romance was more like "it's not assault because she likes it" and that's... well, par for the course when it comes to the early 00s. But there was so much more that could have been done to develop feelings between Rhage and Mary, and it felt like scenes in between were just used as page filler to skip back into the bedroom.

Please, for the love, I just wanted these characters to be able to have a conversation with each other and get to know one another. But like a lot of paranormal romance, there is no diplomacy when one has access to muscles and fangs.

As an aside, there is no straight explanation for the character of Butch.

I love my meat head vampire brotherhood, but they feel more like caricatures of hypermasculinity a la Bandit Keith or Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure.


I also dislike how Ward heavily relies on coding the vampires with Black-ness -- their taste in music, the slang they use with each other -- without actually making them Black.