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Red on his lips: M/M Vampire Romance
“So, are you a witch?”
“It depends,” Lars said, leaning just that little bit closer.
Valerian had thought the boy was timid, afraid even, but that wasn’t the case at all. Or maybe Valerian had lost his edge over the last fifty years and didn’t look scary anymore.
“On what?”
“Do you need a witch?” Lars asked pointedly, stressing the you.
The last things Valerian expected to see on the random inspection of his brothel was a wild, pretty thing with blood on his lips. And for some reason, he can’t look away from the boy or leave him there.
The solution to this is to take him home, give him a job, and call him into his parlor every night, pretending he’s only there to elevate Valerian’s boredom. They say the boy is a witch, and when Valerian looks at him in the candlelight, he believes it. How else could he explain his impulsive behavior? His growing attachment to Lars, the feelings blooming in his chest?
Lars should hate Valerian Wilk, after all he’s ended up in the vampire’s brothel, because his stepfather owed him money. But as soon as Valerian Wilk walks into the room, something inside him awakes, tells him to get closer to the man. Mouthing off to the owner of the brothel pays off for him. He’s bundled up and taken to Wilk’s townhouse to be his gardener, but that’s not all he does. Every evening, he sits with Lord Wilk in the parlor and talks to him. Soon he starts looking forward to these hours when they can be alone, and his feelings for the handsome vampire grow and deepen.
But Lars is a mortal witch and Lord Wilk a powerful immortal vampire. Would he even want someone like Lars at his side and in his bed?
This is the first book in the 'Blood on his lips' series, but can be read as a standalone title.
“It depends,” Lars said, leaning just that little bit closer.
Valerian had thought the boy was timid, afraid even, but that wasn’t the case at all. Or maybe Valerian had lost his edge over the last fifty years and didn’t look scary anymore.
“On what?”
“Do you need a witch?” Lars asked pointedly, stressing the you.
The last things Valerian expected to see on the random inspection of his brothel was a wild, pretty thing with blood on his lips. And for some reason, he can’t look away from the boy or leave him there.
The solution to this is to take him home, give him a job, and call him into his parlor every night, pretending he’s only there to elevate Valerian’s boredom. They say the boy is a witch, and when Valerian looks at him in the candlelight, he believes it. How else could he explain his impulsive behavior? His growing attachment to Lars, the feelings blooming in his chest?
Lars should hate Valerian Wilk, after all he’s ended up in the vampire’s brothel, because his stepfather owed him money. But as soon as Valerian Wilk walks into the room, something inside him awakes, tells him to get closer to the man. Mouthing off to the owner of the brothel pays off for him. He’s bundled up and taken to Wilk’s townhouse to be his gardener, but that’s not all he does. Every evening, he sits with Lord Wilk in the parlor and talks to him. Soon he starts looking forward to these hours when they can be alone, and his feelings for the handsome vampire grow and deepen.
But Lars is a mortal witch and Lord Wilk a powerful immortal vampire. Would he even want someone like Lars at his side and in his bed?
This is the first book in the 'Blood on his lips' series, but can be read as a standalone title.
277 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 4, 2024
5 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
J. Tomala
34 books10 followersWriter of (queer) fiction and sometimes artist.
Lover of books, baked goods, plants, art and tentacled things.
Enjoys a bit of horror too.
Gives away review copies (ebooks only).
Lover of books, baked goods, plants, art and tentacled things.
Enjoys a bit of horror too.
Gives away review copies (ebooks only).
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 9, 2024
Page turner
Pulled me into the world right from the start. I’d get lost in the story and forget about life around me. Didn’t want to put it down.
Can’t wait for the next one.
Pulled me into the world right from the start. I’d get lost in the story and forget about life around me. Didn’t want to put it down.
Can’t wait for the next one.
December 3, 2024
DNF @ 60%.
This makes the 5th book from Tomala I’ve read, and while all the other four were 5 star reads, this one is just not working for me.
At first I thought the issue was that I was reading this so shortly after having read Forestborn, that I was comparing the two. But that’s not really the issue.
Plot wise, there’s not a whole lot going on here. The whole thing is just a little to low stakes for me.
As for the romance, the time jumps did it no favour.
Part I starts with Lars being 16, and during that part, his feelings for Val gradually grow to love. But from Val’s perspective, the same can’t be said. And I’m not at all upset that Val wasn’t listing after a 16 year old.
Part II, Lars is celebrating his 19th birthday. And during this celebration, Val and Lars have sex for the first time and declare their love for each other. Um… I guess Val developed some pretty serious feelings during the years off page. Or is it that he is now 19, a switch was flipped? Regardless, it felt like insta-love on Val’s part. Sure, he doted on Lars in the first part, but again, I don’t want to think that the feelings he has for Val at 19 were the same as they were at 16.
Part III, which I won’t be making it to, has Lars at 21 years old. Which, admittedly, I’m confused by, as a few pages before I decided not to finish, Lars thinks:
So, maybe a few years have passed, and I didn’t realize it. And he is almost 21 but not quite… or maybe that’s just an editing issue.
Speaking of editing issues… while I can’t really speak on the first two books I read, I had noted a few in the third. But Forestborn and this book have quite a few typos. Again, same as with Forestborn, it’s mostly of the wrong word being used:
- “bathed breath” v “bated”
- “sparked to live” v “life”
- “Huch” v “Huh”
However, there’s also a point in which Ian tells Lars to call him Mr. Baker, and Lars replies, “Of course, Mr. Barker”. Later on, Lars calls him “Baker”… so while I wasn’t originally sure if the “Barker” was snark or a typo, I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.
Another thing that threw me, was during the first sex scene, Lars mentions he brought “lube”. Considering that automobiles are still rare, I put this at the start of the 1900s. Typically, in a historical setting, you’d see “oil”, “salve”, or “lubricant”… “lube” felt very anachronistic. In fact, mid scene, I put down the book, read a blog post about the history of lube, and searched for the first known use of the word “lube” (1930s).
I know J. Tomala always thanks the beta readers, editors and proofreaders in the afterword… but with all the typos, I can’t help but wonder what those people are actually doing.
While Part I was enjoyable, Part II didn’t develop the romance I was hoping for, but rather pulled it out of thin air. The plot development with the brothel is odd, too. I would have thought after the two incidents Lars experienced there, he’d never want to step foot in there again. But also, should you really completely change how you business operates and plan to leave on a trip (for a few years!) in the same breathe? I can’t imagine sticking it out for another 40% is going to suddenly sell me on the romance. And if something were to go wrong with Ian or the brothel, that’s their own stupid faults.
I’m sad to end my 5 star streak with J. Tomala, but I can’t say I’m sad about DNFing this book.
This makes the 5th book from Tomala I’ve read, and while all the other four were 5 star reads, this one is just not working for me.
At first I thought the issue was that I was reading this so shortly after having read Forestborn, that I was comparing the two. But that’s not really the issue.
Plot wise, there’s not a whole lot going on here. The whole thing is just a little to low stakes for me.
As for the romance, the time jumps did it no favour.
Part I starts with Lars being 16, and during that part, his feelings for Val gradually grow to love. But from Val’s perspective, the same can’t be said. And I’m not at all upset that Val wasn’t listing after a 16 year old.
Part II, Lars is celebrating his 19th birthday. And during this celebration, Val and Lars have sex for the first time and declare their love for each other. Um… I guess Val developed some pretty serious feelings during the years off page. Or is it that he is now 19, a switch was flipped? Regardless, it felt like insta-love on Val’s part. Sure, he doted on Lars in the first part, but again, I don’t want to think that the feelings he has for Val at 19 were the same as they were at 16.
Part III, which I won’t be making it to, has Lars at 21 years old. Which, admittedly, I’m confused by, as a few pages before I decided not to finish, Lars thinks:
He’d learned a lot about sex over the last few years and, more importantly, he had learned about sex with Valerian.
So, maybe a few years have passed, and I didn’t realize it. And he is almost 21 but not quite… or maybe that’s just an editing issue.
Speaking of editing issues… while I can’t really speak on the first two books I read, I had noted a few in the third. But Forestborn and this book have quite a few typos. Again, same as with Forestborn, it’s mostly of the wrong word being used:
- “bathed breath” v “bated”
- “sparked to live” v “life”
- “Huch” v “Huh”
However, there’s also a point in which Ian tells Lars to call him Mr. Baker, and Lars replies, “Of course, Mr. Barker”. Later on, Lars calls him “Baker”… so while I wasn’t originally sure if the “Barker” was snark or a typo, I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.
Another thing that threw me, was during the first sex scene, Lars mentions he brought “lube”. Considering that automobiles are still rare, I put this at the start of the 1900s. Typically, in a historical setting, you’d see “oil”, “salve”, or “lubricant”… “lube” felt very anachronistic. In fact, mid scene, I put down the book, read a blog post about the history of lube, and searched for the first known use of the word “lube” (1930s).
I know J. Tomala always thanks the beta readers, editors and proofreaders in the afterword… but with all the typos, I can’t help but wonder what those people are actually doing.
While Part I was enjoyable, Part II didn’t develop the romance I was hoping for, but rather pulled it out of thin air. The plot development with the brothel is odd, too. I would have thought after the two incidents Lars experienced there, he’d never want to step foot in there again. But also, should you really completely change how you business operates and plan to leave on a trip (for a few years!) in the same breathe? I can’t imagine sticking it out for another 40% is going to suddenly sell me on the romance. And if something were to go wrong with Ian or the brothel, that’s their own stupid faults.
I’m sad to end my 5 star streak with J. Tomala, but I can’t say I’m sad about DNFing this book.
October 6, 2024
I enjoyed Lars and Valerian quite a lot. Lars has such a strong heart and Valerian loves him so. I also appreciated how Lars' powers expressed themselves. It made sense and it was beautiful.
Theirs is a low angst, easy going story of two men in love. A lovely relaxing read. My only problem with the book was the time jumps. They would happen with no warning and could be days, weeks, months, or years. They would go to bed and you couldn't be certain the next page wasn't six months later. I understand why, but several times I was left very frustrated. I wish the author had just made the book twice as long and given us the stories that were skimmed over in these time jumps. I would have liked to see more of this couple's experiences.
Since many readers like to know going in, I'll say this is a book on the low end of the heat scale. There are explicit scenes and there are ftb scenes. The explicit scenes do have a lot of telling which shortens them and I feel is much less intimate, but to be fair to the author, that's probably the point. lol So that's a me thing. Still, I appreciated what was put in and that they weren't all ftb.
I'll definitely be reading more of this author.
Theirs is a low angst, easy going story of two men in love. A lovely relaxing read. My only problem with the book was the time jumps. They would happen with no warning and could be days, weeks, months, or years. They would go to bed and you couldn't be certain the next page wasn't six months later. I understand why, but several times I was left very frustrated. I wish the author had just made the book twice as long and given us the stories that were skimmed over in these time jumps. I would have liked to see more of this couple's experiences.
Since many readers like to know going in, I'll say this is a book on the low end of the heat scale. There are explicit scenes and there are ftb scenes. The explicit scenes do have a lot of telling which shortens them and I feel is much less intimate, but to be fair to the author, that's probably the point. lol So that's a me thing. Still, I appreciated what was put in and that they weren't all ftb.
I'll definitely be reading more of this author.
December 8, 2024
3.5 stars rounded up to 4
This was a good read.
I really liked the combination of soft, sassy Lars with cool, controlled Valerian. They were a good match for each other and I loved following their story (I have to admit that Magda was probably my favorite). At the same time, I found the writing a little disjointed. The insta-love / slow-burn combination partially worked, but also made things feel a little disorganized. Characters were introduced then removed without much explanation and the whole situation with Adele and Salvatore also felt a bit “thrown in. The two of them only had a small appearance in the beginning, and then they were the main “villain” in the last quarter of the book.
In the end, I wish there was just a bit more planning of the plot, but I definitely enjoyed the book enough to want to know what happens next. I will be looking for the instalment.
Thank you Voracious Readers and J. Tomala for my copy! I received an ARC of this novel and am voluntarily leaving a review. All above thoughts and opinions are my own.
This was a good read.
I really liked the combination of soft, sassy Lars with cool, controlled Valerian. They were a good match for each other and I loved following their story (I have to admit that Magda was probably my favorite). At the same time, I found the writing a little disjointed. The insta-love / slow-burn combination partially worked, but also made things feel a little disorganized. Characters were introduced then removed without much explanation and the whole situation with Adele and Salvatore also felt a bit “thrown in. The two of them only had a small appearance in the beginning, and then they were the main “villain” in the last quarter of the book.
In the end, I wish there was just a bit more planning of the plot, but I definitely enjoyed the book enough to want to know what happens next. I will be looking for the instalment.
Thank you Voracious Readers and J. Tomala for my copy! I received an ARC of this novel and am voluntarily leaving a review. All above thoughts and opinions are my own.
December 30, 2024
Lars and Valerian were really entertaining. I enjoyed their ability to reach out to one another. Truly strong characters and wonderful plot.
If you love vampires, I recommend giving this one a try.
I received a free copy of this book via Indie Author Creative and am voluntarily leaving a review.
If you love vampires, I recommend giving this one a try.
I received a free copy of this book via Indie Author Creative and am voluntarily leaving a review.
September 27, 2024
I really devoured this book! I love vampires, and MM so this was definitely a hit! Chemistry between the characters is strong, I would like more of this!
December 10, 2024
Vampires and great chemistry are exactly what I wanted and what I got. This book has a work that it very fun to visit. This is a book that you can get lost in.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews