The days are still a bit short and that’s when I love fantasy books the most. So I decided to curl up with The Book of Blood and Roses. Today I want to tell you about the start of a new series and what I thought. Keep on reading to find out more!
A big thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.
In book one of a seductive sapphic paranormal fantasy, a vampire hunter goes undercover at a mysterious university and falls in love with her roommate, an alluring vampire.
“Then her red eyes are on mine, gentle, deadly. She takes her time kissing my neck. I pull her closer and say: Bite me.”
In the mists of the Scottish Highlands is a university where vampire students study alongside humans.
Rebecca Charity is a vampire hunter undercover at the university, searching for the mysterious Book of Blood and Roses, a lost compendium of ways to kill vampires. If she finds it, she’ll be one step closer to avenging her parents, who were slain by those creatures of the night.
But when Rebecca arrives, she finds something unexpected: a coffin. Her new roommate is Aliz Astra, scion of one of the most powerful vampire families… and the most beautiful woman Rebecca has ever met.
The maddeningly gorgeous Aliz is everything that Rebecca has always hated, but also everything she ever wanted, and now Rebecca doesn’t know if she wants to kiss or kill her.
When Aliz rescues her from a vampire attack one moonlit night, she accidentally makes Rebecca her familiar. Now, they must work together to break the curse, but as they get closer to solving the mystery, Rebecca and Aliz get closer, too.
But can a vampire hunter ever fall in love with a vampire?
Review
When I see vampire hunter falls in love with a vampire and that it takes place at a mysterious university, I’ll sign up immediately. That setting and trope are two things I very much enjoy and The Book of Blood and Roses sounded like it would give me everything I needed as a new vampire romantasy.
Rebecca has been a vampire hunter for a few years and really wants to climb the ladder in the organization she works for. She gets that chance with the assignment at a university for vampires (who is now accepting humans) to find a secret book. So vampires and secret books? Yes, please! The setting pulled me in from the start. I love the darker setting and idea of secret libraries. The writing makes it easy to fly through this book and I had a great time.
I will say that the bond between Rebecca and Aliz interested me and it felt very mysterious. That being said, it did feel insta love and I wanted the relationship to be explored a bit more. Maybe through Aliz’s POV or just some more time together. Same thing with The Book of Roses. I really enjoyed learning everything as they did. As well as Rebecca learning more about her parents’ murder. Many aspects felt like they stayed very surface level, leaving me wanting just a bit more.
All in all, I did have a good time and there are many side characters I’m curious about. I will read the next book in the series, because I want to see where everything goes from here.
I love that vampires seem to be popular again! I definitely wouldn’t mind some more vampire romances in my life. Also, I’m curious to see where this series goes. Have you read any vampire books lately? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.
