Author: Toni Griffin
Publisher: Amber Allure
Pages/Word Count: 92 Pages
At a Glance: This was a quick, fun read that was over all too soon.
Reviewed By: Janet
Blurb: NOTE: This is a previously published work. The title, author, and/or publisher may have changed.
The last thing centuries-old vampire Bryce Denahli expects during a routine night at Hot Encounters is to get arrested. He’s even more surprised when the sexy, straight police detective turns out to be his mate. Bryce has been alone for a long time, and he doesn’t care what the law says about stalking…the man is his!
In all his life, Lucas Ford has never had romantic feelings towards a man. But after one meeting with a certain vampire, he can’t get the man out of his head. It doesn’t help that Bryce keeps showing up everywhere Lucas goes. Unable to fight the feelings, Lucas tracks down Bryce and puts the man’s life in danger with his actions.
With bodies piling up around the city due to rogue vampires moving in, the last thing Lucas needs is a complicated love life. Can Lucas reconcile his thoughts and feelings towards another man before it’s too late?
Review: This was a relatively short novella that I wished were longer. I really enjoy this author’s voice and find it easy to suspend disbelief and drop into the vibrant worlds she creates.
This story is set in an alternate earth, where vampires and all sorts of creatures exist side by side with humans; although this is a recent development, as the paranormal were only exposed to the humans five years previously. Lucas is a cop who is investigating a series of attacks and murders involving rogue vampires. He is a straight man and not a relationship sort. He meets Bryce in the course of his investigations, and things do not get off on a good footing.
Toni Griffin writes with colorful language; we can easily picture the environment that a story is being told in. She also has an awesome sense of humor that comes through the book so well. One of my very favorite lines is at the end of Chapter One, when we have met all the characters and are getting a sense of where the story is going –“Bryce just groaned as he was walked outside and placed in the backseat of an unmarked police car. He was having a little trouble reconciling the fact that his mate had just arrested him.” Mates are still something relatively secret within the vampire community, and Luc doesn’t know what being a mate entails. Even though Luc is straight, he is very attracted to Bryce, so the learning curve as Luc adjusts to the idea of mates and the feeding process that is required is pretty huge. The entire situation is amusing and also kind of touching as a real relationship evolves between them. The sex is hot too.
This was a quick, fun read that was over all too soon. I am glad to see there are plans for two more books in this series, as I really want to spend more time in this world Toni Griffin has created and spend more time with the characters we met. It was great to get a glimpse of Freddie and Merrick again, and to see them from another POV. Overall, I am very impressed with the author’s world building skills and can’t wait to see more of it. Her characters are fully formed, solid people who I had a great time getting to know. I did find the ending very abrupt, though, as I was not ready for the book to be finished yet.
You can buy Bryce’s Cop here:
