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The Vampire's Club #1

The Vampire's Club: Book One

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Find the Wolf.

What is that supposed to mean? Those are the words Lucas Daniels hears before stumbling through the brass doors of the elegant Club Dyavol, a club that seems to appear out of nowhere. The club is his last hope of getting a job to escape his predatory stepfather’s home.

Who would dare enter a vampire’s sanctuary uninvited?

Count Konstantin “the Wolf” Volk may be weakened by a curse, but he is still a primal predator. And when he sees a young man venture into his club, bypassing all of his magical and physical protections, more than just his curiosity is aroused.

Is there more to this meeting than simple chance?

NOTE: THIS NOVELLA SERIES HAS CLIFFHANGERS! EVERY BOOK WILL END ON ONE. THAT'S MY NATURAL WRITING STYLE. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE CLIFFHANGERS, WAIT UNTIL THE WHOLE SERIES IS PUBLISHED TO READ. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!

X. Aratare writes gay paranormal romance with witches, vampires, magic, and mystery. Though some books may venture into dark territory, they will all have happy endings.

74 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 14, 2019

412 people are currently reading
907 people want to read

About the author

X. Aratare

90 books704 followers
X. Aratare is the pseudonym for Raythe Reign's Gay(M/M) books.

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5 stars
466 (30%)
4 stars
545 (35%)
3 stars
406 (26%)
2 stars
88 (5%)
1 star
33 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
June 20, 2020
Audio - 5++++ Stars

Authors and audio producers take note: Ethan Holtan has TALENT! TALENT! TALENT! His performance is like listening to a full cast audiobook! He gives each character a distinctive voice and personality. Get rid of the robots and hire this HUMAN!

Story - 3.5 Stars
Profile Image for Imme [trying to crawl out of hiatus] van Gorp.
792 reviews1,933 followers
June 23, 2024
|| 3.5 stars ||

This is definitely showing some potential.

The vampire/witch plotline here is really rather interesting, and I’m eager to find out more about what is going on and what will happen in the future.
Nothing about any of it appears to be particularly mind-blowing, but it kept me entertained and intrigued well-enough, so I count it as a win.

The characters seem likable and interesting, and they already have a pleasant dynamic going on.

Lucas and Konstantin have a decent amount of chemistry, and I especially love the possessiveness already beginning to come from Konstantin.
However, there is more than just romance that connects these two, namely something paranormal, and I’m intrigued to find out what exactly it is.


'The Vampire's Club' series:
Book One - 3.5 stars
Book Two - 3.5 stars
Profile Image for Eugenia.
1,898 reviews319 followers
May 16, 2019
WOW! This narration knocked me off my feet!

This short and mysterious vampire story leapt off the pages with the STUNNING NARRATION by Ethan Holtman!! I need more books by him—his voice is pure gold!!

The premise:
A 21 year old wanders into a private club for vampires—a club he should not be able to see nor enter.

Who or what is he? And what are the mysterious feelings and voices he follows? I won’t say more so as not to ruin the story.

I LOVED THIS serial and can’t wait for the next one!

Very well written and SUPERBLY NARRATED!
Profile Image for Darien.
867 reviews321 followers
November 22, 2019

The Story: 3.5 Pants Off

The Narration: 4.5 Pants Off

Now wait a whole damn minute now...who is Ethan Holman because mans got the gift. I legit was not expecting greatness and yet 🥳 I love when I find a new fave.

Hire this man for all the things!!
Profile Image for Bev .
2,223 reviews481 followers
June 25, 2020
I'm hooked and see great things for this series. Thank goodness the series is complete else I would have lost my damn mind! Straight on to the next book
Profile Image for Cat the bookworm (semi hiatus ish).
920 reviews178 followers
May 1, 2024
Entertaining start to a interconnected series around a mm vampire/human(?) couple.

Is it breathtakingly amazing? No, and would be difficult to pull off an entire world building, as well as character and relationship development in only 74 pages. But it has potential, and listening to a new (to me) narrator with a lot of potential, too, totally made it worthwhile.

Said narrator is called Ethan Holtan and he’s a man of many voices (and accents). His narration alone makes me pick up the sequel right after this one, because the book does end in a cliffhanger of sorts: Lucas, the human (?), stumbles upon a vampire club while looking for a job. And Konstantin, the reclusive owner of said club, takes interest in him because of… reasons 😬

Any further development (and as I said, there’s a lot of potential) is about to happen in the upcoming books.

3.5 stars, rounded up because of the really well done narration.
Profile Image for Mir.
4,974 reviews5,331 followers
October 15, 2021
I picked this up for the Lovecraft angle -- it's set in Arkham and in the opening there are some obvious references to the canon (the unfriendly business owner at the interview is an Innsmouth person, everyone is looking at the MC funny because he's from out of town) but then he finds the vampire club and from there on it seems like standard PNR with sexy brooding vampires and people feeling mysteriously drawn to each other.

It wasn't bad. I'd probably try the second installment if it became free. But it wasn't great, either, and I'm always kind of annoyed by this new "turn a novel into a series of shorts for extra sales" approach.
Profile Image for Gerbera_Reads.
1,681 reviews154 followers
August 25, 2019
This was a short novella that was more like a set up for the story. Both MCs meet, the backgrounds are more or less explained. It was rather interesting. A vampire exclusive club under witch's protective spell that nobody sees, and yet a young man can see and can get in. Lucas peaks everyone's curiosity especially the owner himself, elusive Konstantin. The subsequent meeting brings even more curious discoveries about who Lucas is and the possibility of something more between them. I liked it. There was tinsy bit of angst, no steam but a promise of one. This is going to be good. I just wish it was longer.
Profile Image for V.ya.
432 reviews34 followers
April 2, 2025
A promising start of a series.

Vampire.
Witches.
Sexy blood drinking.
Count me in!
Profile Image for M'rella.
1,459 reviews174 followers
March 5, 2021
Writing a book about a country/language you don’t know? ASK. A. NATIVE.
Here is "Ask An Expert" link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... . There is a "Regional Experts" thread. Please, use it.

I really regret getting the audible version of this book. One easily avoidable mistake almost ruined it for me.

While the accents were good, I just can't comprehend why the vampires who speak many languages and over a very long period of time still retain very heavy accents. Any thoughts anyone? Really wanna figure that one out.

Club Diavol is all nice and dandy, and is correct in its written version. However this narrator's version "DIA-VOL" is nowhere near correct and not even remotely recognizable to the native speaker.



The narrator should have used English version "devil", since it's much closer to the Russian pronunciation "d'yavel" than "dia-vol".

Check this out (google gave me results within 5 sec): https://ru.forvo.com/word/%D0%B4%D1%8...

Распиздяйство, господа! Простите за выражение :/

Bottom line: great story, but a full star off for the lack of research.
Profile Image for Al *the semi serial series skipper*.
1,659 reviews850 followers
June 17, 2020
Just finished the entire series!

I am so glad I came across this series, a couple of friends were discussing it and I hadn't heard about the author, talk-less the book. I decided why not, I didn't have anything else to read.

It was a terrific book and series, some were better than the other but overall, it was good. I liked Konstantin and Lucas and especially enjoyed that they had dual POVs.

Profile Image for Yarie ☆.
326 reviews25 followers
October 1, 2020
RTC

Rating: 4 Stars.
Steam: 5 out of 10.
Triggers:
Love Triangle:
Cheating:
HEA:
Profile Image for Kaity.
1,980 reviews24 followers
March 22, 2024
Audio: 5 stars Ethan Holtan is a new to me narrator and I really enjoyed his narration of this book!

Book: 4 stars

This book is less than 100 pages, but so much detail and things go on in this first book that it flew by! Thank god I knew that X. Aratare is notorious for cliffhangers until the last book so I made sure this was a finished series lol!

Love Lucas and Konstantin so far, I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Profile Image for Dig.
381 reviews1 follower
June 5, 2019
It's a gay book about vampires. OF COURSE I'm going to buy the shit out of it.

The writing is average. The audible version is torturous to get through - the fake Russian accent makes me want to die.

There's a cliffhanger and you are forced to purchase part 2 to find out what happens and what is happening.

All of this could have easily been one book but 3 parts is too much. (And yes, I'm going to get them and then rip the shreds out of them b/c...)

There's no sex in part 1.

Disappointed dig is disappointed.
Profile Image for Simona.
679 reviews62 followers
April 3, 2022
Great beginning!
I'm curios to read the next
Profile Image for Jocelynn.
Author 141 books2,890 followers
June 15, 2019
I loved the first two books and I'm anxiously waiting for the third. Yes, they are quite short and you will devour them in one sitting. But the writing is positively lovely, the characters are beautiful, and the world building is exquisite. I rarely ever write reviews but the first two books made me so happy that I have to share them.
Profile Image for Ray Flores.
1,689 reviews255 followers
September 1, 2020
This is my first time reading the author and let me tell you, I think I got myself into a series that has the potential to become a 2020 favorite.

In this first one we get introduced to Lucas, a regular guy that’s looking for a job when suddenly he notices a mysterious place, and even a voice inside him tells him he should look for the wolf in there. He doesn’t know why or how, but he feels like he should get inside the building. This is nothing but a club called Dyavol, a place that’s meant to be a vampire Sanctuary, leaded by Konstantin Volk.

Now, supposedly, Dyavol has its own protection from strangers and only vampires and human guests can join, but Lucas is different, you see? There’s something inside him that is both intriguing and dangerous, even if he doesn’t realize it himself.

On the other hand, we have Konstantin, a powerful vampire who’s bound to a curse that has him in constant pain. At least, until he drinks Lucas’ blood. But, what is the meaning of this? Why is this kid’s blood helping him? I guess we’ll found out in the next book, which I cannot wait to get my hands on!
Profile Image for AussieMum.
1,393 reviews56 followers
August 3, 2021
3.5 stars.
Intriguing start. Off to read book 2.
Profile Image for Ben Howard.
1,489 reviews246 followers
April 24, 2022
This series starter has me intrigued. While it is a very short novella, it packs enough plot, relationship, and world-building that it hooks you into wanting more.
Profile Image for Rina Pride.
362 reviews105 followers
March 19, 2021
Tem vampiros? Estarei lá ( menos crepúsculo, claro 😅) o primeiro livro foi rapidinho mas curti o mistério em torno do Lucas, acho que ele ainda vai surpreender muito nos próximos livros. Fiquei curiosa e com certeza vou para o book two 😉
Profile Image for Mir.
1,114 reviews63 followers
January 15, 2023
Meh. Entertaining enough but not mind blowing. I will check out the second book and maybe it will get better :)
Profile Image for Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight).
973 reviews162 followers
May 4, 2021
3.5 Stars

Review:
I’m going to do a series review, which I’ll get to in a moment, because I really liked this series and only reviewing this book won’t do it justice. This story is more of a serial than a normal series. Each book doesn’t have a full story with a goal and resolution. Rather, they all link together to make one big story. I’ve given this one a 3.5-star rating on the caveat that it is only the very beginning of a story. I wasn’t super hooked until Book 3 (the first few are pretty short), but this was a decent start with believable enough characters and a bit of a mystery about why Lucas is so different from other humans that made me interested enough to keep going.

Now for my spoiler-free series review:

To get the negatives out of the way first…

– The pacing felt a little strange. It didn’t feel slow, and yet, the story took place over the course of less than a week. When I think about it, it seems like an awful lot happened, including the formation of deep relationships, in such a short period of time.

– This wasn’t something that bothered me, but I feel like I should mention there were minor editing issues. The occasional typo, but also the occasional continuity error. Like a character learning some information, and then later learning it again and being shocked, as if it were the first time.

Now for why I liked this series so much!

– I thought Konstantin would be a vampire alpha jerk, but he was very much the opposite. He was compassionate and good and really valued and cared for the vampires in his little found family.

– I liked a lot of the characters. Some were good people. Some were just plain interesting. Some were a bit of both.

– There were all sorts of complex relationships among these vampires—especially between Konstantin, the Nomad, Arsene, and Marius—and I loved it. Relationships that were familial and/or decidedly not familial, but also with rifts between them. Relationships that had love, devotion, and longing but also pain, betrayal, and jealousy. I especially loved the exploration of Konstantin’s feelings toward both his sire and his adoptive sire, and how hurt he was by the father figures in his vampiric life.

– There was an interesting vampire society structure and dynamic, with the houses and sires and relationships among them. It was a bit weird the way they called the ones they turned their children and “nursed” them but also treated them as lovers, but I can accept some weirdness in paranormal books.

– The romance was fast—less than a week, and they were already in love, willing to kill for each other, and wanting to be together for eternity—but sweet. They really cared for each other and tried to do right by each other.

– There was sexy blood drinking! (And also sexy sex. But, to be honest, I still think the hottest scene was between Marius and Arsene in Book 3, which was neither sex nor the typical sexy blood drinking.)

– I liked the acknowledgement of the feelings of abuse/assault victims. How having the people you thought cared about you choose to look the other way is a form of betrayal. How that can hurt just as much, if not more than, the actual act of abuse/assault.

– There was a very sweet found family element.

– There was also drama, action, secrets, vampires, witches, magic, and other interesting things going on, but I won’t get into detail about those because spoilers.

Overall this was a great series with romance, drama, action, secrets, betrayal, complex relationships, found family, magic, and sexy vampires!

*Rating: 3.5 Stars // Read Date: 2020 // Format: eBook*

Recommended For:
Anyone who likes vampires, witches, mlm paranormal romance, drama, complex relationships, and found family.

Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews

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