Blurb
A secret society, a witch, a psychic, vampires, modern day knights, heroes, elves, fae, assassins from another dimension, and fairytales come together where emotions intersect.
Two souls, joined by a mystical bond, separated by distance, must simultaneously struggle through pain and darkness in an ultimate confrontation with character and an ultimate struggle for life proving that true love waits patiently through lifetimes and finds courage to survive. Even in the strangest places. Even when you’re least expecting it. Even when you’re far, far from home.
Review
In the third book in the Knights of the Black Swan series, former vampire Istvan Baka is working on a special project for The Order of the Black Swan to hopefully cure the vampires in Edinburgh. Hes working with Heaven McBride, a scholar and demonologist, on the project, and hes fascinated with her even though he knows she cannot stand him.
Heaven doesnt like or trust Baka, even though hes been cured of the vampire virus and has always been kind to her. After he goes missing, shes the first person to realize something is very wrong and does everything in her power to find him. In doing so, she reads up on his personal history in The Orders books—six hundred years of him being a vampire—and realizes something extraordinary.
Baka is one of my favorite characters in the series. His back-story is deep and tragic, and very bloody. As a vampire without a conscience, he was truly a monster. Once he regained his humanity and realized right from wrong, he became an honorable vampire and someone worthy of a second chance. Now, as a human, he has a second chance at life.
The story mostly focused on two big plot points: Bakas past as both a good and decent human man and then as a heartless vampire; and Eloras disappearance in the woods and her subsequent rescue. Though Baka and Heaven are supposed to be the main couple in this book, Ram and Elora (the H/h from book 1) took precedence, just as they did in book two with another couple. The series seems to focus more on Ram and Elora while new couples fall in love as a secondary plot.
Throughout most of the book, Baka and Heaven were separated by things beyond their control but finally landed on page together at the end of the story. Thats when their romance finally bloomed, and the sex was super hot!
Baka has lived a long life and needs to keep his mind occupied, so hes published a popular series of vampire romance novels. I absolutely love this, but I dont understand why a chunk of one of his books was written into this story. It didnt seem to serve a purpose.
As for Ms. Dananns writing style, theres a lot of head hopping and lengthy descriptions of scenery, clothes, and character thoughts/emotions. There were also some minor typos. The world building, however, is amazing and keeps growing with new characters and obstacles to overcome. I dont have the next book in the series, but I do have a novella from the spin-off series, New Scotia Pack, so stay tuned for the review.
4 Stars
— If youve read this book, Id love to know what you think of it. Please comment below.