4 1/2 stars
Caleb Taylor and Katrina Rawlings have finally settled down into a semi-normal, living together relationship. As normal as it can be for a human, Caleb, and a vampire, Katrina to get that is. Caleb and Kat (as Caleb calls her) have had a rocky relationship up to this point, what with a centuries old alpha vampire trying to kill Kat, then on vacation in London a small sect of vampires trying to kill Caleb.
Caleb and Kat are just trying to get on with life as mates and enjoy time with Kat’s best friend and Caleb’s surrogate vampire, Paige. Paige plans on moving to the Atlanta area close to Kat and Caleb just as soon as she finishes an assignment out of the country she already agreed to do. In the mean time, Kat’s oldest friend and mentor, Alton Rutherford is trying to get the couple to come to Slovenia for a first ever vampire summit. Kat is reluctant but when strange vampires keep threatening Caleb in order to get him to convince her not to go, its game on.
At the conference they learn that Paige’s assignment is actually as security for the conference, so the gang is together again. Of course, things can never go as planned, Caleb gets suspicious of the activities of one of the members of the summit and he and another human mate decide to do some undercover work to try to find out what is going on. Welcome to the world of alpha vampires, human mates, vampire politics, murder and mayhem.
This is the third installment in Mr. Primo’s vampire series and, in my opinion, the best so far. The characters have developed into a well rounded group of people, each with their own personality and their own story to tell. Caleb is getting used to his role as Kat’s mate and all that it entails. Bless his heart; he just can’t seem to keep himself out of trouble, no matter how hard he tries. He has a rebellious streak in him and doesn’t always make the best decisions but he does try. His love for Kat is everything to him and he builds his life around that.
Kat, on the other hand, has worked very hard to reign in some of her alpha tendencies, not always succeeding but she is trying. She has her hands full trying to keep Caleb out of trouble while working with Alton at the summit and relies heavily on Paige to help her out. Maybe she shouldn’t, Paige is another alpha and has more than a small crush on Caleb. We see a lot more of Paige in this book and I enjoyed her. To be honest, I like Paige more than I do Kat, Kat scares me more than a little bit. Paige makes me laugh, she is brazen and fun loving; my kind of gal.
We meet some new characters in this book, too many to name, but I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of Dr. Ethan Reynolds (a vampire) and Dorianne Rousseau (Alton’s mate). I liked both of them, and look forward to possibly getting to know them better in the future. We meet more of the vampire community, some good, some bad, and all creatures to be wary of.
I have to admit I do have a few very small issues with this series. While I know Kat and Paige are alpha females, the way they treat Caleb gets on my nerves at times. They treat him like he’s a child more often than not; of course he allows it so I guess it’s not all their fault. I just want to say “grow a pair” every once in awhile, but then I guess that might be the alpha in me coming out. I know it’s the role reversal that’s getting to me; it’s almost as if Kat is the man and Caleb the woman (and not a woman I would like by the way).
Other than that one little issue, I enjoyed this book and look forward to more in the series. It’s not necessary to read the first two books before you read this one, but it wouldn’t hurt. There is some violence here, Kat and Paige both like a good fight but not too much to worry about. There is fade to black kind of sex, you never actually see it, but you know it’s happened.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys strong women, a good mystery, and a few good bar fights, a good romance and even a little slap stick humor thrown in.
Reviewed as a Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team