I picked this up at a secondhand store, knowing that I had read some other books in the series, but unable to recall whether or not I liked them. According to my BC shelf, the answer was mixed! I enjoyed the fifth book, but left the second book in the series unfinished.

This one I finished, but felt very ambivalent about. I read it on a day when I wasn't feeling well and wanted to spend my day curled up in bed, under a blanket and accompanied by a distraction that didn't require too many braincells or a good focus to follow. It fulfilled that role just fine!

My biggest issue was not finding the characters memorable or likable, and the pointless sudden sex scenes. I was particularly annoyed that the main character has a partner she loves and respects, and yet repeatedly hops into bed with another guy, only to angst about how bad she feels cheating and lying to her boyfriend, and then does it all again. I think the intention was supposed to be showing how much she's struggling with her newly vampiric nature and the sudden intro to vampiric society, but it was not well done. This greysexual says trying using more blood and less sex, please! I get that there has been an expected standard for the minimum number of sex scenes in this style of urban fantasy and that it could be hard to meet that quota when both parties have jobs, but there are better ways to show angst about life changes. (I'm only half joking about that standard, and suspect we have Laurell K Hamilton to thank...)

Left under a pavilion near the entrance to the herb gardens