After a short hiatus from reading (and doing anything that didn’t involve my job, actually), here I am with a new review. Truth be told, I’ve added this book to my TBR pile in March, after the author, James Fuller, asked me if I was interested in reading one of his stories. We talked a bit on Twitter, and he suggested this one based on my reading preferences. The blurb intrigued me, so here’s my honest review of Until Death Do Us Part.
What was supposed to be a lustful night of passion and sinful, sexual thrill turned bloody in a way he could never have imagined, revealing a predator that plagued the night and feasted on the living…
Fuelled by the bleakest of hope and the haunting images of the past, Conner cleaves a path of retribution through the midnight world of vampires; dangling his morals and life in the balance to retain what little he has left of his former self, praying each step will bring him closer to finding ‘her’ and the one that took everything from him…
This book is listed as Erotic Horror and Paranormal Erotica on Amazon. I am a sucker (pun intended) for vampire stories, so I was glad to find a story where the vamps are not the good guys for once: these ones are plain evil, willing to commit the most heinous acts just because they can. The main character, Conner, has gone through hell because of them, and he’s willing to do anything in his power to get back what they stole from him.
Despite the occasional typo here and there, the book is an interesting read, with lots of drama going on. I love that the backstory is not thrown at the reader, but shown in tiny bits: I was able to get the bigger picture only toward the end, and it kept me guessing what happened in Conner’s past that made him so determined and disillusioned. From a technical viewpoint, Until Death Do Us Part is a textbook example of a plot that works, and the cliffhanger at the end makes me want to keep reading the series to see if Conner will ever be able to find some peace.
The obvious reason why this book is listed under Erotica is that there are several sex scenes. There seems to be a certain stigma about men writing erotica stories, and even if I like to think of myself as an openminded person, I admit to preferring sex scenes written by women as well, especially after reading the most boring sex scene ever in one of the Dresden Files novels. That said, I was surprised to realize the erotica portion of this book is quite good. Great job!
What bugs me about this story is that I struggle to understand Conner’s obsession to save Grace after everything she’s done to him. Without spoiling too much, I think the book would have benefited from the characters being developed further, because sometimes they felt a little one-dimensional to me. For instance, I’d have liked to see Conner and Kasey interact enough for her to care about him; William too, I wish I could have seen more about him other than his sickness and his need to help Conner. As it is, it was the literary equivalent of a good action movie to me: fun and entertaining, but not as unforgettable as I would have liked. For this reason, my rating is 3.5/5 stars.
Bookshelves & Teacups 