Love Immortal

Lots could be said about this book. Its a slow burn, but it pays off in many ways. It feels rare that modern mlm book could be ao well written or have a good plot to boot, but as I went from expecting expecting to be mildly entertained to engrossed, my expectations shifted too. The feelings are visceral and the main character echoes the voice of many queen people from his time. Its sweet, sad, macabre, beautiful and we'll done. I won't say I loved absolutely everything, but everything has a reason and even what I disliked feels like it belongs, even if it isnt how I wanted it, which I think a novel is allowed to do. If I had to make a complaint, I suppose it feels at some points like the author is working too hard to excuse the nature of the relationship between the main character and his love interest, but its fantasy, and the main character is a consenting adult, and part of the nature of a taboo relationship is that it has an element of the unsettling. Its better to be comfortable with that as both a writer and reader then to attempt.to do mental gymnastics to overcome contemporary sensibilities. I guess my point is thats its a book and contains elements of erotica fiction and the nature of the relationship features a taboo concept, it is what it is. If people dont like it, they dont have to read it. That said... I loved.the book and only wish we could have got to know the personality for the love interest a bit better. And that maybe the main character was slightly…

I wanna start by say I love this concept, I love the 80s vibes, I love the characters. I'll admit I saw the title and had a little chuckle because it reminded me of the infamous fanfic "My Immortal", but I liked the cover art and summary so I gave this a go! I really enjoyed that it was set in the late 80s, though I wish there was more gothic romance tied into the main relationship. I really liked Jonathan, his struggles and interest in preservation and why. Dacian's introduction was fun as was his immediate dislike of Jonathan and cool and aloof aura. A lot of bits were really great, but I feel like they could have connected more, could have been dug into more. Dacian disliking Jonathan bc of his name and his specific connection to another certain "Jonathan" and the special connection Dacian keeps mentioning had me excited that there was a reincarnation/soulmate relationship going on, and I was a little let down it was just 'u have the same name as an awful person who hurt me, therefore ur bad too' (which I get, it's so real to not like someone on SIGHT for the association you have with their name lol). I wanted to feel like the connection between our two guys was deeper (I also wanted to see more of them With each other in general)!! I really enjoyed the vampire-on-vampire showdown at the end, I feel like the build up to that was really well set uo, but the last few chapters of this book were a speed run to the finish line compared to the rest. The first 2/3 felt a…

I went into this book with fairly low expectations for a fun vampire romp, hoping for lots of angst, hot sex and little plot. Even if it was short on the hot vampire sex, the excellent plot and angst-a-plenty were fantastic, along with great characterization and a wonderful setting. My only nit would be that I’m not entirely sure why it was set in the 80s. I suspect it was to ratchet up the tension for the high school experience and to get rid of the convenience of cell phones and the internet. I am guessing that the author was not alive in the 80s since that was the only aspect that I found lacking. There were several places where, as a child of the 80s, I found myself scratching my head about anachronistic choices. For instances, there is reference to using a key card, which was *technically* available at the time, but was treated in a modern way (if they did actually use a key card— which would have been in its infancy and not terribly secure at the time, I truly doubt if they would have the tech available and the modern know-how to simply issue each employee their own card. And if they did, it would have made short work of one of the mystery plot points). Additionally, there were modern dialogue choices that stuck out to me. That being said, it was only a minor issue that I was easily able to forgive for the sake of a lovely story with a satisfying ending. Bravo! This author was new to me but I will certainly be checking out her other books!

Within this story of Jonathan and Dacien are several other, no less beautiful stories, with love, pain, and deep sorrow. The m/m Dracula retelling is done well, yet it is just one of the threads we follow throughout the book. The author takes us through a story familiar to many queer people, love leading to hurt, rejection, loss of family. Slowly as the seasons grow colder at Camden there is warmth found in supportive friendships, the safety and comfort we find in books, a blossoming love, and an edge of something dark happening around the edges of the main story, reminding us of the sharp teeth lurking in the shadows. This book will always have a place on my shelves, and not just because of the author having an excellent name.

Read on KU. Solid 3 1/2 stars. Okay I wanted to like this one more than I did but didn't. I liked the dark academia vibes and that the MC was a book nerd and that a bunch of Gothic novels were mentioned. But in all I just wanted more. More Dacian lore explained and questions answered, more romance, more of it all. There was minimal spice and honestly was hoping for more. I thought at first this was a reincarnation story with our MC Jonathan possibly being the Johnathan Harker from the novel Dracula but it wasn't. Instead they just shared the same name but there was still a connection between him and Dacian that wasn’t explained. The vampire lore was nothing new to what's been told in other stories and I was just wanting to know more of Dacian's side of the story other than some snippets from the past. If you’re wanting to read a somewhat Dracula retelling where the count was actually after Jonathan rather than Mina and he gets his second chance at love with a new human with the same name then read this. It's a decent read if you're wanting a gay vampire romance, will recommend because I was invested enough in the story and characters till the end.