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Review

Woohoo!! A new series for me to obsess over!!

I am a massive lover of paranormal books, and this gem took me by surprise! Different from the paranormals that I usually read, this is a very intelligent book with a lot of emotional depth to it. It’s a bit slow to start – rather than being thrown straight into the action, it’s the kind of book you slowly sink into, but I think it sets the mood and fits the story beautifully. I absolutely loved it!

Beatrice is a fantastic heroine. A young librarian, she is confident and sassy and very relatable. She meets the gorgeous and intellectual Dr Giovannni Vecchio at the library where she works when he comes in one a week to translate an ancient manuscript. After weeks of hidden glances and innocent conversation, a tentative friendship develops, and then Gio reveals himself to be a 500+ year old vampire, and offers Beatrice a job as his assistant, helping him track down ancient books and documents (he has some issues using electronic equipment due to his vampiric nature).

Gio is, at first, an unlikely hero. Formal, fastidious and somewhat reserved, he soon reveals himself to have a great sense of humour, a wickedly flirty side, and is oh so sexy! And as the two work together, the chemistry starts to sizzle, and oh my God, it’s awesome! The sexual tension had my heart pounding with anticipation, and the romance is definitely there, but it’s a very slow burn, which I thought was very realistic. There are a few hot moments, but nothing really steamy. It’s more about the emotion. And the tenderness between them and depth of their feelings definitely had me swooning. I loved every minute of it!

She had the simultaneous urge to run away from the approaching menace and run toward him and hold on for dear life. The problem, she realised, was that she had no idea whether he would catch her either way.

The book is written in dual POV, thank God! I loved knowing what they were both thinking – in terms of what they were feeling for each other, and why they acted in certain ways. If I didn’t know what they were thinking, I probably would have been really frustrated. And even though my heart broke at times, because I knew what was going on with them, it all made sense to me, and I was ok with it.

I love these characters!! They are complex, and so well developed, and the dynamics and dialogue are sensational! And there is a fantastic bunch of side characters – Casper, Isadora, and Tenzin are all great. But I need to declare made love for Gio’s best friend and fellow vamp, Carwyn – despite being over 1,000 years old, he’s juvenile and so freaking hilarious, but he has a heart of gold. I love his friendship with both Gio and Beatrice, and his efforts to bring the two of them together – some of them are deep and meaningful and made my heart clench at his sincerity, and others… not so much.

Do you like Gio? Check yes or no.  He had sketched two small boxes underneath the question with a large arrow pointing to the ‘yes’ box.
She rolled her eyes and wrote back.  How can you be this childish after a thousand years?
He raised his eyebrows and jotted down.  That’s not a yes or no.”

“You can cause earthquakes?”
He sighed, a playful look in his eyes. “There’s such a delicious joke there, but I’m going to be good and hold back. With the amount of sexual tension permeating these grounds, even a bad ‘rock your world’ line is liable to ignite something.”

It’s a fantastic interpretation of vampires, and I like the world that Hunter has created. While the paranormal aspect is minor at the beginning of the book, it really ramps up in the second half, and I loved watching Gio and his mates get their badass on!

The mystery is clever, with a few twists, as Gio’s search for his ancient books, and the reappearance of centuries-old letters, start to reveal secrets from long ago, and put both him and Beatrice in danger. I found this part of the story a little tricky to get my head around at first, but it all becomes clear as the story progresses, and the pacing of it all is perfect, as it all unfolds alongside Gio and Beatrice slowly falling for each other.

The ending is bittersweet but the story is far from over! I’m diving straight into book 2 for more!

I loved it – 4.5 stars.

 

The Elemental Mysteries

 

See our Elemental Mysteries page for more information – including spin-off details.