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Season of the Vampire (Series) by Lana Pechercyvk
I really enjoyed Lana Pechercyvk’s Deadly Seven superhero romance prose series and wanted to try other books by her. I didn’t like the Season of the Wolf (too Alpha male fated-mate for my tastes) but decided to try again with the Season of the Vampire. The results were … mixed.
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON FOR THE SECRETS OF SHADOW AND BLOOD
In the shadows, vision can turn blurry. Truths can become lies. Enemies can become lovers.
When Violet inexplicably wakes thousands of years after a nuclear holocaust, she finds the world very different. Fae exist now. They’re vicious, animalistic monsters who pervert magic and can morph into any shape—including vampires. They hoard the bounty of the new world, and keep humans banished to the wasteland. At least, that’s what the humans of today have told her. Determined to make up for an unforgivable mistake in her past, she becomes a covert assassin and seeks revenge for her human brethren. And she’s good at it. But when the thing she hunts saves her life, injuring himself in the process… her crystal clarity suddenly becomes blurry.
Vampires are meant to be monsters, not protectors… not charismatic, annoyingly handsome and loyal and… everything.
Indigo is a Fae Guardian, and a ruthless vampire protector of Elphyne. The Order has tasked him with finding a human with deadly secrets before the unhinged Unseelie Queen, or the fanatical human leader, can exploit her. They chose him for one reason, and one reason only – the taste of human blood does things to him. Addictive, dark, insatiable things. And when he catches Violet’s scent, they know he’ll do everything in his power to possess her and keep her safe. But Indigo hides his own shameful secret in the shadows of his heart, and if it ever comes to light, Violet will never trust him. She’ll kill him.
The Secrets in Shadow and Blood is the next installment in the Fae Guardians series, and the first in the Season of the Vampire Trilogy. Each book features a separate couple with a satisfying HEA, but to enjoy the full benefits of the over arching plot, start the Fae Guardian journey with book one of Fae Guardians: Season of the Wolf. All Fae Guardian books include steamy romance, a splash of time travel, monster hunting, a band of brothers, fated mates, growly fae protectors, and their strong willed women from our time. If you love your books full of page turning action, romantic tension, and world building you can get lost in, then this series is for you. Warning: Trusting these seductive fae will lead to sleepless nights. But it will be worth it.
MY REVIEW FOR THE SECRETS OF SHADOW AND BLOOD
I started this back in October 2021. Normally I swallow books whole, but the holidays pushed this novel to the backseat. I just couldn’t find time to finish it — until late January 2022, and I’m glad I did.
This is a dark post apocalyptic world, and the women coming forward from our time for the Season of the Vampire series are ones who had a hand in destroying their world, Violet most of all. Her brain conceived the bomb that destroyed everyone she knew. It left her broken in strange ways. And the new world, on her “waking” day, welcomed her with a nightmare PTSD-inducing moment.
Her response is to lash out. To hunt. Push the border of serial killer. To hate herself every moment. To try to redeem her soul. Or, more accurately, pay some imagined balance enough weight of good to offset being one of the instruments which killed billions.
It’s an interesting exploration of psyche. And matches many of the comments I’ve read about those who participated in building and dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
That being said – this is a romance, an action adventure, and a fantasy story with vampires and magic, high fantasy politics and guardian organizations. The dark mental exploration weaves throughout.
If you want a romance that is bit grittier than normal, The Secrets in Shadow and Blood delivers.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON FOR THE LABYRINTH OF FANGS AND THORNS
Since Peaches woke up in a fantasy world full of monsters and fae, she’s been treated like a piece of tasty human meat. After six years as a blood slave to vampires and the evil Unseelie queen – beholden to all, and master of none – there’s nothing left but a broken shell with a fractured soul. Until a deadly warrior turns up unannounced in her room.
Vampire Haze is the muscle of the Fae Guardians elite Cadre of Twelve. He is a spy, a protector of the weak, hammer and sword, a rigid enforcer of rules. He allows no one close to his heart, lest they see the shame driving him. But when he stumbles across a beguiling woman with sad, desolate eyes, he knows he must help her. She calls to him in more ways than one, igniting a passion neither of them can deny, despite the risks.
The Unseelie queen has other treacherous plans for Haze and Peaches. From a twisted masquerade ball, to a labyrinth filled with goblins, to a hidden prison deep underground, they must work together to survive. The only way out is to trust each other…easier said than done when all he wants to do is feast on her blood.
MY REVIEW FOR THE LABYRINTH OF FANGS AND THORNS
Normally books with a small, delicate, frightened female latching onto the largest, strongest male she finds annoys the crap out of me. THIS ONE WORKS!
Peaches had a PTSD-inducing week when she was brought forward from the past to this post-apocalyptic fantasy world. She manages to survive but she develops classic abuse-survivor symptoms. She can’t escape her present situation because she has never been able to escape before and she has “learned” to just keep the head down and survive. When the perfect chance to escape the clutches of the evil queen shows up in the form of Haze – the biggest and strongest of all the Guardians of the Well -, she timidly choses the situation she knows.
I love this story, as Peaches develops past her abuse personality. THIS CAN BE A HARD READ FOR SOME. (Trigger considerations – we don’t see much of the actual abuse, and the abuse in more fantastical in nature (blood drinking by vampires and psychic damage from magic).)
The Season of the Vampire is a very gritty part of the Fae Guardian series. I didn’t make it deep into the Werewolf trilogy, but I am really loving the Vampires. Looking forward to Feb 2022 and Shade and Silver story.
These stories are a mix of action-adventure, fantasy, and romance and delivers everything these genres represent pitch perfect.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON FOR THE SYMPHONY OF SAVAGE HEARTS
Silver is a beautiful liar.
She’s human.
And a fierce killer of fae.
She marks her kills on a silver vambrace so everyone can see her savagery and stay away. As long as she keeps protecting downtrodden humans from monstrous fae-folk, and hiding the true reason for wearing magic-cutting silver, her loneliness is of no consequence. Selected for a high priority mission, she bravely heads into Elphyne, never expecting one of their worst waiting for her. Wanting her. Craving her.
Shade is sinfully attractive.
He’s a vampire.
And the most hard to resist of the Fae Guardians.
From the Queen’s bed to The Order, he uses the power of sex to get what he wants. Eventually they all succumb, and they all fall short of harmonizing with the darkness hidden in his soul…. until he finds the one woman who resists his every charm.
Seducing Silver will be a challenge, but it’s one he was made for.
Nothing will get in his way. Not the evil creature terrorizing Elphyne. Not the human enemy with dastardly plans of their own. Not the Unseelie Queen’s obsession with him. Not even the betrayal of the one person who can hurt him the most.
This courting of savage hearts is a symphony.
And theirs will be one for history.
MY REVIEW FOR THE SYMPHONY OF SAVAGE HEARTS
I’m not into BDSM and the central romance for Symphony are two characters who need that type of relationship, so I struggled to finish the book. The first 50% of the book centered on the relationship between the two, and, for the most part, they were the only characters for the first half of the book.
This is the standard setup for most of the series.
First, introduce the world and two romantic characters. Next, get the romantic characters to accepted their fated-mate status – hot, hot relationship actions are involved. Then, the second half of the book focused on moving the series story forward – reintroducing all the other characters of the series, explaining where things are, what the leads for this book bring to the table to shift the series plot forward, and then exciting rise and fall of action.
Loved the second half of the book – and the setup for the next trilogy of the Fae Guardians (the Elves) – makes me want to see all their romances and continue to watch as the overarching storyline continues. Will the fae queen continue her descent into madness, or is she savable? Will the fae kingdoms devolve into war and poison the Well beyond redemption? Will the human leader continue his plans? Can humans and fae come to live together?
Book Grade – great for the series, didn’t like the romance or the lead characters of this book at all.
What I would recommend – see if you like the characters. If so, follow their romance. Otherwise, if you are reading this just for the series – jump to the 50% mark and go from there.
What I didn’t like about the romantic leads: The lead characters really are villains. Selfish, wallowing in their black hearts. After power. Don’t consider more than one side to any story until forced to. People love them for no reason. They are like two black holes – taking and not giving. On the other hand, these are very real type of people. I just don’t like them or want to spend time with them, however beautiful and magical they are.