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Review

4.5 stars!

Wow! This book has been on my tbr forever, and I started it on a whim, and then struggled to put it down. It totally took me by surprise, and I absolutely loved it!

Our heroine, Sam, is a vampire who essentially lives a life of slavery as the consort / assassin of her evil sire. When her exceptional ‘gift’ is noticed by others, she is given the opportunity to try out for the personal army of the Grand High Master Vampire, Antonio. Seeing it as a way to escape from her life, she jumps at the chance and is taken to The Hollow – a beautiful tropical island inhabited by the Master, his legions, and assorted personnel.

She soon discovers that not only is she the first female to ever try out for the legion, but also that the legion has never included a vampire of her kind – there are three distinct breeds of vampires, and her Sventé status puts her at the bottom of the totem pole. So she is immediately thrust into a hostile environment, which is only made worse when she meets the Commander of the legion she is trying out for, Jared.

Sparks fly as Sam and Jared are instantly attracted to each other, but Jared is an arrogant, sexist jerk, and even though she hands his ass to him during the tryouts, he dismisses her. But her talents catch the eye of Antonio himself, who offers her the job of co-commander of the squad with a very unhappy Jared in order to teach the new recruits how to handle their gifts.

You see, this may a book about vampires, but their vamp aspect is not a big part of the story. They still drink blood, and have all of the standard vampire behaviour, but the focus in this book is more on the special powers and abilities that each individual vampire has, and how it can be honed and used in battle. And that is where Sam comes in. With pretty much perfect control over her incredibly powerful gift, she needs to teach the squad how to enhance and control their own gifts in preparation for a foreseen invasion on The Hollow.

There is a big focus on the squad, their individual gifts, and their training, and there is also, of course, the romance. Well, more specifically, there is UST. Oh. My. God, I thought I was going to implode with all of the UST building throughout the story! Mainly told from Sam’s perspective, we also get Jared’s POV, so we can see how badly they want each other. And with Jared extremely pissed that she is there in the first place, and Sam determined to prove herself, they antagonise the shit out of each other. But the chemistry between them is absolutely INSANE!

How could you be attracted to someone who made you so pissed off that you’d considered burning their balls with a lighter?

Jared isn’t shy about telling Sam that he wants her, but they both have conditions on how they can be together (which are actually pretty understandable), and with neither of them are willing to back away from their demands, the frustration and sense of anticipation is maddening!

I didn’t bother masking my desire for her. I let my eyes wander to her full lips. I let the red tint to my irises flare. Then I watched her face as she noticed. She didn’t shrink away. Instead, more defiance entered her expression as she shot me a ‘not a chance’ look.
I strongly disagreed.

Whether she realised it yet or not, this betting stuff and the constant conflict between us was foreplay.

I love these characters!! Sam and Jared are both stubborn, full of attitude, and totally kickass. They have some great battles – physical and verbal…

“Jared’s lips were suddenly at my ear. “The only vampire who’ll be manhandling you tonight is me.”
“If I let you.”
“You get such satisfaction out of teasing me, don’t you?”
“I still maintain that you like it.”

…but underlying everything is a strong connection that they share, which grows from lust to something a lot deeper as the story progresses.

The wanting was quickly becoming aching. I didn’t want to be like this anymore; constantly thinking about and wanting someone that I couldn’t have but who my soul seemed to think was mine.

It all FINALLY explodes in some pretty epic vampire sex, just in time for the big battle and an ending which left me satisfied (hooray, no cliffy), but definitely wanting more.

I loved this book! It’s funny and sexy, and there is a good amount of action. Plus the characters are fantastic – Sam and Jared are awesome, and just as great are Jared’s gorgeous brother, Evan, the token gay best friend, Fletcher, and all of the boys from the squad.

I love the setting, and the world, the story was intriguing and exciting, and it was a genuinely fun read. I’m going straight onto the next book.

4.5 stars.

Deep In Your Veins