What do you think?
Rate this book
Neck Deep
Elanna is an exceptional assassin with unnatural sight and no connection to anyone. When she gets a job to hunt down a lone Vampire she sees it as easy money, but the tables quickly turn as the dangerous Valia bites Elanna, turning her. Now hunted by her former employers, the fanatical Oren and his gang of hunters, Elanna has to work with Valia if she wants to survive.
It’s a race against time to stop Oren and his hunters from turning the city of Praza on its head. All the while Valia and Elanna grow ever closer, learning that love can indeed be found in the most unexpected of places.
Cover Illustrator: Kristina Smith
It’s a race against time to stop Oren and his hunters from turning the city of Praza on its head. All the while Valia and Elanna grow ever closer, learning that love can indeed be found in the most unexpected of places.
Cover Illustrator: Kristina Smith
117 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 3, 2013
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 23, 2018
I hate when I forget to review a book. Which is why I, randomly, gaze about my shelves to see what I’ve read recently and what doesn’t have a review. Whereupon I saw this book here with the review column empty. Pfft.
Genre: Fantasy – mostly confined inside one city-state (Praza)
Setting: Not earth
Of note: I rarely read books involving vampires that are set on ‘not earth’ locations. Not exactly sure why that is – I’ve read many shifter books set ‘elsewhere’ but . . . well there’s this book that has vampires in a not earth setting and . . . can’t think of any other work.
Story: Elanna, while not immediately obvious, is an elf. She’s also blind, though the kind of blind that can see. Heh. Though she sees things differently than those who still have eyeballs – she sees . . . light, and colors, and . . . impressions. She has the ability to ‘tell’ if the ‘thing’ over there is an elf, vampire, hunter, etc. etc. by the ‘colors, scars, etc.’, and has the ability to ‘see’ through walls to see what’s going on in various rooms. Oh, and she’s an assassin.
The book opens with Elanna in a bar talking with a ‘hunter’ – a religious fanatic who believes all creatures that are not human are evil and must be killed. With slight exceptions – like Elves are near the top of ‘vaguely acceptable’ list. The hunter, whose name is, I think, Oren, wants to hire Elanna to hunt down and kill a vampire. Which she has no problem doing – for the right price. Oren gives her a bag of gold and says he’ll give more after the fact. Elanna says she’ll get the job done within a week – possibly even by the end of that night.
Elanna promptly gets bitten by Valia, the vampire (also an Elf), and turned into a vampire.
After a bunch of back and forth, Elanna joins Valia on her hunt of Oren. Some feelings between the two women also begin to develop.
A quick satisfying easy read. I do not specifically recall if there is or isn’t graphic depictions of a sexual nature, but I do see the book on at least one shelf titled ‘Great Sex’ so . . . there probably was graphic depictions of sex in there. I assume that the sex was neither disturbing to me, nor exciting/arousing/whateverthefuck as I didn’t even recall if any sex occurred and it has only been two days since I read the book and I recall everything else about the book (including the part where we have yet another awful mother in lesbian fiction scene).
Rating: 3.8
February 23 2018
Genre: Fantasy – mostly confined inside one city-state (Praza)
Setting: Not earth
Of note: I rarely read books involving vampires that are set on ‘not earth’ locations. Not exactly sure why that is – I’ve read many shifter books set ‘elsewhere’ but . . . well there’s this book that has vampires in a not earth setting and . . . can’t think of any other work.
Story: Elanna, while not immediately obvious, is an elf. She’s also blind, though the kind of blind that can see. Heh. Though she sees things differently than those who still have eyeballs – she sees . . . light, and colors, and . . . impressions. She has the ability to ‘tell’ if the ‘thing’ over there is an elf, vampire, hunter, etc. etc. by the ‘colors, scars, etc.’, and has the ability to ‘see’ through walls to see what’s going on in various rooms. Oh, and she’s an assassin.
The book opens with Elanna in a bar talking with a ‘hunter’ – a religious fanatic who believes all creatures that are not human are evil and must be killed. With slight exceptions – like Elves are near the top of ‘vaguely acceptable’ list. The hunter, whose name is, I think, Oren, wants to hire Elanna to hunt down and kill a vampire. Which she has no problem doing – for the right price. Oren gives her a bag of gold and says he’ll give more after the fact. Elanna says she’ll get the job done within a week – possibly even by the end of that night.
Elanna promptly gets bitten by Valia, the vampire (also an Elf), and turned into a vampire.
After a bunch of back and forth, Elanna joins Valia on her hunt of Oren. Some feelings between the two women also begin to develop.
A quick satisfying easy read. I do not specifically recall if there is or isn’t graphic depictions of a sexual nature, but I do see the book on at least one shelf titled ‘Great Sex’ so . . . there probably was graphic depictions of sex in there. I assume that the sex was neither disturbing to me, nor exciting/arousing/whateverthefuck as I didn’t even recall if any sex occurred and it has only been two days since I read the book and I recall everything else about the book (including the part where we have yet another awful mother in lesbian fiction scene).
Rating: 3.8
February 23 2018
August 4, 2014
I really liked this book. The world and story wre fairly original, which is difficult in modern fantasy novels. I really like the main character too, she seems like an amalgamation of many different people and characters. There are certain elements that are slightly Assassin's Creedy but I liked that as I am a gamer :D Valia is also an awesome Vampire as she seems to hold true to a lot of their original traits (bloodthirsty pun intended, calculating, gorgeous, dangerous) but also has some modern aspects too, like being able to turn into a beasty thing (Underworld anyone) and having a little bit of a conscience. I also liked this book because the author self published this and I think that was pretty damned brave. If you buy it on Kindle too it was really cheap so that is another good point.
It seems like this author was pretty well invested in her characters and the plot so I hope that more of her stuff gets published and that there is a sequal to this book too as I want to know what happens to the Blind Slayer of Praza.
It seems like this author was pretty well invested in her characters and the plot so I hope that more of her stuff gets published and that there is a sequal to this book too as I want to know what happens to the Blind Slayer of Praza.
January 31, 2014
One to read, what an excellent book, snuggle down as you will read it in one sitting
June 10, 2014
A tasty $3 snack. :)
July 1, 2026
3.5/5
So, as I was reading I kept thinking it felt more like a draft than a finished product. Just some parts felt they needed a little more polishing but the substance was still all there. Only to read the authors ramblings at the end where they mention, it was an unedited mansucript bc the editor ghosted them.
Considering this is a manuscript, that bumps this to a 4.5/5 hence the 5 star rating. I would love to see a more finished product of this!
I really enjoyed this book! I read it in 3 days! As I was reading I was constantly intrigued by what was to come. Some aspects I could predict while others I couldn't. I really liked the main characters and the author did a great job of making the antagonist be someone you wish the downfall for.
That being said, I do wish some aspects were expanded on. Such as the backstories for the characters, the downsides of Elanna's blindness, and how some of the magic in this world works. What we did see was very exciting though.
Additionally, as I was reading I kept being surprised that it didn't fall into many of the common pitfalls in books of this genre have in the last few years. It was like those didn't really exist. When I checked when this book came out, 13 years ago, that explained why. Then that impressed me because I feel like there was a lack of queer fiction at that time, especially published, which made me very happy that this book came out when it did.
Overall, good good book. Very enjoyable and fun.
So, as I was reading I kept thinking it felt more like a draft than a finished product. Just some parts felt they needed a little more polishing but the substance was still all there. Only to read the authors ramblings at the end where they mention, it was an unedited mansucript bc the editor ghosted them.
Considering this is a manuscript, that bumps this to a 4.5/5 hence the 5 star rating. I would love to see a more finished product of this!
I really enjoyed this book! I read it in 3 days! As I was reading I was constantly intrigued by what was to come. Some aspects I could predict while others I couldn't. I really liked the main characters and the author did a great job of making the antagonist be someone you wish the downfall for.
That being said, I do wish some aspects were expanded on. Such as the backstories for the characters, the downsides of Elanna's blindness, and how some of the magic in this world works. What we did see was very exciting though.
Additionally, as I was reading I kept being surprised that it didn't fall into many of the common pitfalls in books of this genre have in the last few years. It was like those didn't really exist. When I checked when this book came out, 13 years ago, that explained why. Then that impressed me because I feel like there was a lack of queer fiction at that time, especially published, which made me very happy that this book came out when it did.
Overall, good good book. Very enjoyable and fun.
April 11, 2021
Underrated treat. This is a book for thos
e who like action and adventure blended with romance. I loved the push/pull dynamic between the two main characters, and the world building in the novel.
e who like action and adventure blended with romance. I loved the push/pull dynamic between the two main characters, and the world building in the novel.
April 9, 2015
To short
To short a bit rushed but overall it's a pretty good book. I just wish for more backstory. And a little more something
To short a bit rushed but overall it's a pretty good book. I just wish for more backstory. And a little more something
September 28, 2015
The plot was interesting, but the writing style was too simple for my taste.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews