Immortal

Imogen Gray #1

by Lauretta Hignett

Immortality sucks.

Just ask Imogen Gray – over two-hundred thousand years old and teetering on the edge of total insanity.

All throughout history, she’s been hunted by an ancient creature who finds her and rips her to pieces every time she dares to access her deepest powers. But Imogen always regenerates. Slowly. Painfully.

She’s on a mission to find answers. She’s almost found them.

Unfortunately for her, there’s a delinquent psychic kid, a dangerously hot Vampire King, and a power-crazed blood witch hell-bent on bringing about the apocalypse standing in her way.

Immortal is book one in the fun, fierce and fast-paced Urban Fantasy Series by Lauretta Hignett.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Fantasy, Vampires, Magic, Romance, Shapeshifters

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2022

About the author

A raving fangirl for all things paranormal, supernatural, supernormal and fantastical, Lauretta writes fun Urban Fantasy, PNR and Superhero adventures with a dash of sweet romance and humour.

She's a massive fan of Young and New Adult fiction, loves a plot twist, hates cliffhangers, and always keeps her readers on their toes.

When she's not writing, Lauretta enjoys fad diets, sunshine, her two little children, weird craft projects and massive amounts of dark chocolate

Reviews

[Jennasis · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Review for books 1-3 no spoilers (small ones are marked)***

Dialog & Characters are great, plot was boring in its predictably. 2.5 stars

I’m torn with this series, I love Imogen and Rafael. And the over arching story is one I want to know more about. And Imogene snark is actually very well done and quoteable, she carried the book, but her and Rafael can only take the book so far. Everything else I have to slog through. I wont be picking up the 4th book, The great characters and interesting over arching story just aren't worth weak villains and predictable plot.

From the first book to the third I was wondering why, even though I liked the characters, I was having trouble focusing on the story. I’d randomly click off the book and watch TikTok’s in the middle of scenes, I never got lost in the story, and towards the middle of the third book I finally figured out why.

No one in these books is cunning or intelligent. Their plots and plans are always so easy to see through and there’s really no mystery, no thrill, because if I haven’t already figured it out outright, I know that what ever the big reveal is, it will be simplistic. Its all very surface level. And because of that I just felt like… why read it if I already know what’s going to happen?

And honestly, I'm a huge villain gal, If Im not falling for the villain, I at least need them to be someone to be feared, but all the villains up until this point have been either:
Book 1: Very lack luster: As in building up this huge evil and the when they finally encounter them its just... not even a fight. Its just them rushing to try to stop a ritual. We hardly even get to interact with him at all.
Book 2: Just downright juvenile
Book 3: Plainly? Just dumb as fuck. And no one wants a dumb villain, that's just no fun. again, we meet him at the very end and all he does is posture, have little man syndrome, parade his abused daughter around and scream about how his army has no choice but to fight for him, that they are all slaves and deserve to die for him to live... IN FRONT OF SAID ARMY. Like the fuck?

In both book one and three we are very early on Suspicious and untrusting of a character, but then proceed to NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Zero follow up, even though they spend the rest of the book raking their brains over who it could be, or why things are happening. And yet Imogen outright avoids or even talks herself out of them being a possibility.

[Nessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally getting Kate/Curran vibes. Love it!

[Valancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It could use a clean edit but overall a fun story! It was predictable but I don't think it was trying to be unpredictable, so that's just fine. I started the second book and put it down when I reached the "Eye eye, Captain" line. I'm trying to convince myself that good storytelling outweighs bad grammar, but it's a hard battle to win!

[Rhiannon Chillingworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second series within this world, and while I didn't like it quite as much as the most recent series (I seem to have picked up the last one first) it has cemented the fact that there is something about this authors writing style and characters that I just really like.

Objectively, there's nothing massively special about this book, or the other series. There isn't great and detailed world building, or twists and turns that will make you gape. However, they are very readable and bingable.

For me, I think that makes me enjoy them is the type of character she writes, or at least that we see with Image in the series and Chloe in the other. They are both very damaged and traumatised, both completely irreverent, and both very tough, yet vulnerable and very morally grey, but with a sweet centre. It's a combination that works very well for me. Add in some great side characters and a dose of dark humour and a sprinkling of an enigmatic love interest and it's another win.

So, while these books are unlikely to give you anything you haven't seen before, I would very much recommend them to urban fantasy fans who want a quick read and enjoy the type of main character I mentioned

[Cade · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS WAS SO FUN??? HOW COME NO ONE HAS BEEN SAYING ANYTHINGHSXBSH

[charlene ✿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars  

★★★★★

The Imogen Gray series reviews: 
#1     Immortal: ★★★★★
#2     Immortal Games: ★★★★★
#3     Immortal World: ★★★★★
#4     Immortal Life: ★★★★★
#5     Immortal Death: ★★★★★

First read: April 2023
Second read: March 2024

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[Helen Garraway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauretta Hignett has created a worthy heroine in Imogen Gray. A sassy, smart talking young woman/ancient being who can’t be killed. No matter what attacks her, she will – eventually and painfully- regenerate.

I must admit I wasn’t a fan of losing body parts and disintegrating bodies, but thankfully Imogen can regenerate herself.

I found this book to be a slow starter, not sure why, maybe because of the time spent explaining the world, the creatures, and the monsters. I enjoyed the dialogue, which was quite humourous at times, and loved Imogen, Leroy, and Raphael. Wish there had been more of Raphael as he leapt from the page and was not what I expected.

Once the story picked up, it was unputdownable, and you had to keep reading to find out what happenes next. I am intrigued as to who Leroy really is, and I so hope Imogen and Raphael get it together! Have to wait for the next book to find out.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 ⭐️ (Cayley, before you ask, there’s no spice at all)

[Daisy Delfin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't expect this when I started this series. I really like the series. A plus is that the story is finished at the end of the book no cliffhanger. I love it, when an author can write a story and I want to go on with it even though there is no cliffhanger there.

Each of the two books I read has the same characters and also some new. I enjoyed that in this urban fantasy alle the sups are interwoven and have to work together putting aside feuds or prejudices. They do have them but it still works.

I'm going back to read the next part of the series.

[Cee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so much fun to read!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review. This book was fantastic! The beginning was a bit slow so you have to stick with it, but then it gets good and then really really good! The author as the book goes along seems to hit their stride and the book is amazing once that happens! The story itself is unique and has great concepts/ideas. I love all of the different types of creatures that were in the book, it was extremely creative and well thought out. The main character is very well done and funny! I love her attitude and personality. I binged this book and I’m sure you will too! I’m very excited to read the next book in this series.

[Crazy4more · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars

My cup tea and then some!

I loved everything about this read...just wished a little romance but this proved it didn't need it. Imogen was immortal, compassionate, funny and a tough cookie. Good thing she's on our side. Fast pace and found myself giggle out loud throughout the book.

[ElCee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of set up before we get going. I mean, we have to wade through a bunch of characters and then the pace gets going. But then poof, it’s the climax and the end. The villain doesn’t have his Big Bad speech which is great! I don’t want to read it anyway. But I was hoping for more battle. I liked all the characters.

[Kathy Kennerley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny, snarky, urban fantasy tough gal mystery.

[Disgusted Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hilarious I love it sm

[tanisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

HILARIOUS. ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read books 1 and 2 and I rate them both 2 stars.

I feel bad about the low ratings because I was kinda rooting for this author after reading her sad (in my opinion) dedication statement about her husband not thinking she was a good writer, but unfortunately I was just too disappointed with these books to rate higher.

The book had promise but it just didn’t draw me in. It wasn’t necessarily a new idea to try and bring magical fantasy creatures into the real world and say people just weren’t aware, but I just didn’t think the author executed it well. I also find it very annoying and lazy when an author brings in magical creatures/species and tries to keep actual religion the same. This book had a lot of Christian - specifically Catholic - references, but in my opinion it ruins the fantasy world setup since there is no real in depth description or discussion on how everything relates. As such, the world building is extremely lazy - basically the real world we know with magical species we have all been introduced to in other fantasy books. Nothing in this book felt new and that just made me feel super critical of everything since I’ve read it all before.


Some SPOILERS BELOW! ————————


Full disclosure I was reading this first for the romance - which was really lacking so likely that lends a lot to my lower rating. The vampire king had promise - he seemed very interesting at first - but if I had to read his full name Rafael Stefano Di Stasio one more time I was going to scream. It was so excessively used it drove me crazy. Their relationship was practically non-existent in the first book and then tainted in the second book with the threat of the fae prince who wants to have sex with Rafael. Imogen is extremely jealous that Rafael might want to have sex with the fae prince and the two of them don’t really talk about it until well into the book. They are both extremely old and likely have had all types of sex with all sorts and so the whole thing felt very immature.

Part of my issue with this book was I just couldn’t connect with Imogen - she was over 200,000 years old and yet according to her she never gets any smarter and unfortunately it shows.

Imogen goes to Emerald Valley to search for her father - she says she does not plan to get involved with the blood lord other than getting the supernatural authorities involved (who never show up at all??) and yet as soon as she arrived in Emerald Valley all she is doing is looking for the blood lord and we barely hear about her father again until the end.

No one ever mentions how people deal with the magical species that don’t age - like Imogen or the Uber rich socialite vampires. How do the humans not notice the vampires not aging? They are apparently photographed and constantly using them for blood but the books never mention any of that.

Overall it’s is not a series I would recommend.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

*This review is for the whole series.*

It is not great, but it’s not bad. The story is interesting and I read the entire series in a week, so clearly… I was entertained. BUT…the editing. There’s almost always a problem with editing with these Kindle Unlimited books. For this series, it’s quotation marks. It’s a simple concept (or at least I think so), but so many authors struggle with it. The end quotation marks are so often missing and it's really annoying and gets old. The last book, however, showed some improvement. Still not perfect.

Another issue I had was it seems like the author doesn’t do well with keeping track of the timeline. In the first book there was a countdown to “doomsday” but it seemed like she couldn’t keep track of what day she was on. For example, it went from like 7 to 9 to 5 to 2 days. You can see time tracking issues in the rest of the series too when you get confused on whether she’s talking about something now or in the past (like the day before past, not thousands of years ago). And there’s also not a clear mark of when the day has ended and next started so sometimes you’re like “did I miss something?”

With all that being said, the story in and of itself is entertaining. Imogen (MC) isn’t the all-powerful, all-knowing immortal most books will give you. In fact, she can be a little dense and slow. To be fair though that’s because of thousands (hundreds of thousands) years’ worth of trauma. She works through it though and you can definitely see the growth by the end of the series.

Each book would have 4 stars if it was edited and redrafted to fix the quotes and, more importantly, the time frame issues.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5*
I got to 30% and it was still all one big info dump. Imogen also kept mentioning how ‘perceptive’ the kid was when he was literally pointing out the obvious. It got much better from there and I liked Imogen’s sass

[Angell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, I’m impressed with this writer. There is a lot of big supernatural elements and it’s written with such grounding and skill. The pacing is natural, the characters are interesting and there’s unique perspectives on what should really be quite a formulaic story. Really enjoyed.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is just my cup of tea. it was interesting, funny, even though I knew who the baddie was since we met him but anyway. the characters are great, I liked the writing style and the science like magic

[Dorothy Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story line

Nor predictable. Unusual characters. I read a lot of fantasy books and this one has unique story twist really enjoyed can’t wait for next one

[Lola May · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let’s say it’s so far interesting after reading 1 chapter

[Imani Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off slow but got better... heading to book two of I ca n find it on libby

[Amyiw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another recommend that I did not have a my radar. This was humorous and will probably continue.

[Heather T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

So glad I saw recommendations from authors Heather G. Harris and Helen Harper for this book. Non-stop action. Several laugh out loud moments. Great characters. I've already purchased the rest of the series.

Imogen Gray is an immortal. She has no idea what kind, but has experienced every kind of death there is and always comes back. She saves a young boy from an evil witch and then they set out to stop the apocalypse from an even more evil witch, the Bloodlord. Along the way she befriends a good witch, some shifters, and the Vampire King.

[Bokuvera · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mystery is predictable and the romance is very light but the constant monologue and the humor is fun and the constant I give no *f….* is refreshing. I enjoyed Imogeans character development and meeting the whole host of characters. 4 stars just for the fun!

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lonely woman creates a family

[Cali · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Over the top in a way that really worked for me:).

Favorite bits:

- “We could send him an email, or something,” Leroy said, breaking the silence. “He’d have the IP address traced,” I said. “He would have the resources to track us down in no time.” “VPN? We could jump on a computer at an internet cafe, maybe? Or we could just write it down on a piece of paper and fold it into a paper plane, and throw it over the resort gates?” “He has security cameras everywhere,” Marigold muttered. “He can probably even access the town’s security network.” “Carrier pigeon?” I glared at him.

- “I’m not an exorcist.” “You’ll help me, you will.” “No, I will not.” “We will investigate, and if they’re pests, you can handle them,” he said matter-of-factly. “Hang on. How many of these ‘hauntings’ turn out to be rogue beehives and scared opossums?” “All of them, so far,” Jeff smiled at the old priest.

- And here I was, thinking she couldn’t possibly get any more offended. Guess I was wrong.

- Capiche?” Sonja did not capiche. “I’m going to rip out your intestines and string them through these very trees,” she hissed at me. “I’m going to pluck out your eyeballs and give them to the fly-fishing club to use as bait.” “That sounds both inventive and charitable,” I said, nodding. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve lost body parts to fish, you know, and it would be for a good cause.

- I've never seen such a beautiful man in all my life. None of the photos I've seen have ever done him justice. He slammed the door of the Maserati shut, and slowly, moving with the predatory elegance of a panther, walked towards me. I wound down my window, leaned out and shouted at him. “Get out of my way, idiot! I've got shit to do!”

- “Okay,” I said cheerfully. “Sonja and her fang gang have eliminated two possible Bloodlord suspects, and also murdered an innocent travelling podcaster. Good for you guys.” I gave her the thumbs up

-“You ordered your minion to bring me back to you, and I respectfully declined.” “Respectfully?” The dangerous tone shifted slightly; he was amused. “You pushed my valet out of a moving vehicle.” “She deserved it.” “You didn’t even stop the car.”

- But really, what was he going to do? He wasn’t going to murder everyone in the world. He wouldn’t have the resources, for starters. All he wanted was power and adulation. He’d need slaves and acolytes. He’d have to keep them alive, so he’d have to keep the economy going just to feed them. Let’s be practical here. Most likely, he’d only kill a few very powerful people, probably a few world leaders, and– Hmm. I shelved that thought.

[Kim McDougall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me introduce you to Leroy. He’s 12 but looks scrawny enough to be only 10. That’s because his mother is an addict who’d rather buy drugs than food. She even sold him to a blood witch for cash. Leroy’s had a hard life, but it has honed him rather than defeated him. He’s smart and funny and endearingly kid-like, not overly precocious as you often see in kid characters (I’m looking at you Princess Leia).

Here’s Leroy regurgitating the MC’s rather horrific advice back to her:

>>I looked at the kid, lying on the couch. “He’s better at looking after himself than you think,” I told her. “Leroy, what do you do at the first sign of trouble?”
“I run,” he recited absently, typing on the keyboard. “I run until my feet are bloody stumps, then I crawl with my hands until they are bloody stumps, then I keep going.”
“Good kid.” <<

And then there’s Sonja, a vampire who has been given to the MC by her liege lord as a gopher. Sonja hates the MC with a fiery passion and makes no bones about it. Sonja keeps threatening the MC with colorful warnings such as:

>>“I’m going to rip out your intestines and string them through these very trees,” she hissed at me. “I’m going to pluck out your eyeballs and give them to the fly-fishing club to use as bait.”<<

And then there’s the witch and her bear-shifter wife and the octogenarian priest who tries to exorcise raccoons and other nasties with a water gun filled with holy water.

Why am I pointing out all these side characters when the MC is Imogen Gray who rocks the humor and compassion already? Because I believe it’s the mark of a great author when the minor characters are so well-developed and memorable.

I finished this Imogen Gray book a few days ago, but I’m still thinking about it. Imogen is a unique character in that she’s thousands of years old. As a result of her long life, she has some social issues that keep her isolated. But what really makes me love her is her reluctant compassion. She doesn’t want to be responsible for a pre-teen, but she steps up when no one else will. She doesn’t want to like the water-gun toting priest, but she does. She even helps him on his demon hunting crusade.

Add to all these great characters a bunch of unique cryptids and mad blood-witch hell-bent on ruling the world and you’ve got the makings of a great series. I can’t wait for the next one. Lauretta Hignett has created a really fun, fast-paced story with characters I wish I could call my BFFs.

I read this on Kindle Unlimited.