The Cost of Eternity

Eternity #1

by Shayla Kersten

For over two hundred years, the cost of eternity for Lorcan MacKenna has been unending loneliness. Territorial creatures of darkness, vampires can't peacefully exist near each other. Human companions age and die, leaving him to face the long nights alone. After the death of his last lover, Lorcan vows to avoid the pain of loss. Until a down-and-out actor finds himself in danger and Lorcan can't resist saving the young man.

Kevin St. James never expected to find himself offering sex for money, especially not to men. A desperate need for quick cash, a dark alley, and things go terribly wrong. His dark rescuer brings out feelings hidden so deep, Kevin never realized they were there. Reveling in newfound sensations, Kevin welcomes his new lover. But just as Lorcan has a secret, so too does Kevin.

Genres: M M Romance, Paranormal, Vampires, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Gay, Erotica

186 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2007

About the author

By day, multi-published Shayla Kersten is a mild-mannered accountant. By night, she’s a writer of sexy romances. Torn between genres, Shayla writes erotic stories about hot heroes and their sexy women, as well as hot men and their passionate heroes.

A native of Arkansas, Shayla spent four years in the Army as a missile specialist, stationed in Germany and Oklahoma. After her enlistment was up, she spent eleven years in New York City taking a bite out of the Big Apple. Even her love of theatre and the nightlife of the big city couldn’t cure terminal homesickness for the Natural State. In 1995, she returned to her roots in Arkansas.

Shayla divides her time between her mother, her spoiled rotten cats and dogs, her evil day job and her obsession—writing.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually a little bit of an erotic vampire mystery. The sex between the two main characters happens relatively fast, however there is an interesting plot twist that has to do with long-kept secrets, a run for presidential office, crooked senators and vampire secrecy. The love story is sweet and protective, but hot hot hot! ;D

If you like m/m, vampires and a little mystery, read this!

xoxo

[JustJen "Miss Conduct" · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Enjoyable vamp story. Lorcan is the vampire who saves Kevin from a gang rape. They fall for each other. Kevin's secrets and past catch up to him. Lorcan's secret brings Kevin and Lorcan closer. While this was a little predictable at times, the sex was hot and there was a bit of mystery to enjoy.

[Susan65 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked both Lorcan and Kevin, but felt something was missing. I guess my expectations were too high because I am a huge Tennessee Cops fan and was hoping for more of the same. I don't think I will be finishing the series.

[Furio · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of mistakes have escaped proofreading but in general this novella, the first in a series, is professionally written and edited, standing out for this reason in the stormy sea of self-published M/M vampire romances.

It is allright if you do not set your expectations too high: very light entertainment seasoned with a lot of sex is what you will get. Nothing more. Especially not the special thrill of reading a book meant for entertainment and discovering that the author is really talented even if he chooses a popular genre.
This novella is quite short on plot instead and damnably short on characterization but there is nothing that will make you throw your e-reader against the wall.

The reasons I HAD to took a star from the planned four-star rating are unfortunately very common in M/M romances written by women:
- Kevin is not fem in behaviour but there is nothing about his personality that identifies him as a man. Change his name to Kate and you do not need to change much else to make a straight vampire romance out of this M/M work.
- Ms Kersten seems to be another of those authors convinced that gay men cannot be versatile.
Even more damning is the fact that the sex scenes, scorching though they are if taken individually, feel very repetitive if read one after the other as it is bound to happen in a romance. Repetitive in situations and vocabulary. And Kevin really feels like a woman in a male body.

I should have taken a further star and made it two, but I want to reward professionalism when I find it.

[Elisa Rolle]

Lorcan is a centuries old vampire who live in New York City. He is not an eager vampire, he almost has a simple and normal life. Only he lives by night and during the sex he drinks blood from his partners. But he only chooses whore as sexual partner, cause he doesn't want the strings derivating from a love relationship. From the death of his last mate and love, a male, he has chosen to deny himself a male lover.

Then he meets Kevin. Kevin is a young man whoring himself to gain quick money. But his third john almost kill him, and so Lorcan take him at home and soon falls in love for him. But Kevin has his own segrets and maybe the fact that Lorcan is a vampire will not be their bigger problem.

I like the characters of Shayla Kersten; like in Thirty Days we have a lover more caring and protective of the other, but the feelings of love are mutual. What I like best is that Lorcan is not so special: he is a real person (apart the fact he is a vampire!!!) not so beautiful, not so overwhelming... very normal, but the love makes him invincible at the eyes of Kevin. He is his dark savior.

A really inusual vampire romance where you can find more sentiment and romanticism than paranormal element. A sweet Valentine's reading.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1419956655/?...

[Unapologetic_Bookaholic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kevin, the abused son of Sen. Chandler, meets Lorcan in an alley while being assaulted by a group of men threatening to rape him. Lorcam, a 200 year old vampire, longs for more from his partner during sex than the just feeding. But when Lorcan's lover was murdered, he lost his will to ever love again.

I liked reading Shayla Kersten. Her characters were likable and I enjoyed the pacing of the story. Though short is did not feel rushed. Kevin and Lorcan had issues, that, with each other, was slowly healed. The vampiric element was sensual but not as erotic as some romance. The love shared between Kevin and Lorcan was a perfect way to spend an evening.

I look forward to more Shayla Kersten. Recommendations welcome.

[Don Bradshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lorcan MacKenna is plain old tired of hiring his meals from hookers. Walking home hungry one night he hears the sounds of a struggle. He finds two guys beating a handsome guy and getting ready to rape him. Lorcan drains the two assailants and brings the young man home. Each man has his secrets and wants to keep them. The young, would be actor,Kevin St. James, awakens in Lorcan's bed afraid but aroused at the samed time. Feelings grow between the two men which tend to add extra stress to keeping their secrets. The writer has managed to rely on and develop the relationship the men grow instead of relying heavily on the sex to hold the reader. A neat twist on the usual Vampire book.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cost of Eternity was a good read. It has some problem areas, like, too often quick and easy solutions to problems were used instead of flushing out the scene and giving the reader something unexpected. At times the story felt stagnant, not enough movement/excitement to keep the story progressing.

While I did have some problems with this book, I did still like it. However, I think it will be the last book in the series that I read because from what I can gather the remaining books are not M/M.

I give The Cost of Eternity three stars.

[Heather C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good story with and interesting premise, just had some issues with execution: adjective over-load, repetitive sex and rushed epilogue. Not sure if I will continue the series.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it, but had some issues. Very hot though.

[Sharon Kurtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was kindle freebie. A lot of
m/m sex and I was pleasantly surprised to find it had a pretty good story also. Glad I read it.

[Tonileg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contemporary Vampire finds a life partner while living in New York city.
Lorcan MacKenna tried making himself a life partner once and it ended terribly which now makes him only take blood from one off prostitutes. Which makes Lorcan a strange eclectic mix of bi-sexual and gay with so many memories from his long life. So he isn't looking for love in the back alley where he finds it, but love doesn't wait for any man. Kevin St. James had a terrible childhood and he seems more like a 20 year old, then a 27 year old because he is so sexually retarded as well as anti-social, but once he does fall in love, he is inventive, tender and loyal to his love.
There is a terrible step-father in this story with a very short and anti-climatic ending because I would have liked an awful death scene, but at least we get a hint to an eternal HEA for the sweet couple, although I don't see where or how they are going to get blood with out 'cheating' on each other. I liked how Lorcan uses his family to keep his secret and Tomas was sweet.
Well written and edited with a good cosmos imagined by this author that makes the Vampires living among us story believable.
Less then 200 pages and kindle freebie
2 stars

[Kazza · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book it was probably a 3.5 star read but no half stars so 3 it is.

The Cost of Eternity had some problems, like over use of MC's names in a paragraph. 'Lorcan/Kevin laughed, Lorcan/Kevin smiled, Lorcan/Kevin moved, Lorcan/Kevin thought'..... Plus there was a lot of repetiton about the characters that did nothing to aid development, so they were left somewhat 2 dimensional. It was what I would deem as 'tell me not show me' style of writing, which never quite sits comfortably on me. The epilogue was too short, fuzzy and thus a bit unsatisfying as well.

There were definitely things that worked for me - I'm a sucker for a vampire, a younger/older guy mix and I'm not adverse to a needier kind of guy storyline as well (when in the mood). I would have to say that, basically, the book was enjoyable, the characters likeable and the sex, whilst a bit repetitive, was pretty good. So, I would recommend The Cost of Eternity for a lighter paranormal, M/M read.

[Deirdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very good especially after all the bdsm stuff by this author. I read this traditional love story except one of the men is a vampire in 2009 at the beginning of September 2009 as a paperback. It was nice to read this one after so much other crap.
Traditional vampire lore (vs walking around in the sun)/ rescue from an attack / senator's son / scandal/ abuse / friendship / rape/ father figure / tenderness / fear / loneliness / grief stricken / suspense / FBI / sweetness / jealousy / love / aspiring actor / too proud to beg / kidnapping / revenge / afraid to love again / very hot / sensual /a touch / a look / longing /each willing to sacrifice for the other. The fun of finally transposing these reviews is that I am finding some great books to reread. This one was a keeper eleven years ago and I'll definitely be rereading soon.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erotic vampire [m/m:] novel - lonely older man [much, much older :-) ] rescues young man from what appears to be a simple [can that be simple?:] gang rape. Turns out it was intended as a premeditated murder - with the rape just a bit of frosting on the top. The plot mixes the love story between them and American politics at the highest level. Good read. If gay love stories, stories of rape, or incidents of child abuse in the past bother you, stay away!

Eternity Series [only the first is in paper - the rest are available as ebooks at Ellora's Cave:]
The Cost of Eternity
The Rememdiu
Longing For Eternity
Fighting For Eternity

[Lisa ~ Books Are My Drugs ~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the way Lorcan let his feelings for Kevin develop; he really didn't want to have another relationship because he didn't want to get hurt again, but Kevin was really special so he allowed it to happen. He never pushed Kevin faster than what Kevin was ready for and because their feelings for each other were mutual, his feedings from Kevin were more satisfying than what he was used to getting. There was one instance of sexual contact with someone else for feeding purposes once he'd met Kevin, but once he'd told Kevin about himself that never happened again

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out great but had a disappointing ending that introduced a major conflict that the MCs would have to work out in order to stay together. I didn't think it was even a HFN. None of the following 3 books in the series continue with these characters. The story got a little slow in the middle and the sex scenes became repetitive which would have made me rate it 3 stars. With the lack of a definite ending and since I want a feel good HEA, I rated it 2 stars.

[D.S. Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautifully written m/m erotica, involving a vampire and a young male actor. The writing was excellent and the story kept beating along at a steady pace. There is some fairly full-on m/m sex scenes, but overall, I found the story was interesting and the most important part of the storyline - always an important consideration for me when reading erotica. Highly recommended.

[Nancy Carbajal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it! I love Vampire love stories and this one wasn't harsh either. It did have some really sad elements of child abuse, but love conquered all. Sexy love scenes and erotic love play...vampire teeth (yeow). One thing, (isn't it always so with me?), the vampires name, Lorcan...it reminds me more of a werewolf than a vampire. Otherwise a really good and sexy read. Thumbs up!!

[Nile Princess · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual the couples are great, the sexual tension is delicious and the sex itself is OMG, lovely, but Lorcan didn't really seem to be in a position to put his vampire powers to good use and that resulted in what I felt was a lot of unnecessary stress at the hands of Kevin's human stepfather. Still a good read. Off to Book 2. 3.5

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Cecilia Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book but I was a bit disappointed that it had a HFN ending instead of a HEA. I would have loved to know if they stayed together after the year.

[Lb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paperback
at first I was enjoying it but then it was just boring. there was no character development for any of the MC's. it really might have still worked with out the vampire aspect.