Book Review: Stripped with the Vampire by Jax Garren

Stripped with the Vampire
Book 1 Austin Immortals
by Jax Garren
M/M Urban Fantasy/Vampires
Review copy from Netgalley
3 Stars

Blurb:

In a world of dark spells and blood ties where no one is safe, love is the most powerful magic of all.

Shy vampire Charlie never intended to see Vince again after the bad boy human broke his heart. But when Vince turns up beaten and marked for sacrifice to an Aztec God, Charlie will do anything keep him safe.

Vince has never forgiven himself for the lie that ended things with Charlie. The spark between them is as hot as ever, and Vince would risk body and soul to make it a fire again. But as they hide deeper in Austin’s supernatural society—a world of lies, dark magic, and warring immortals—he finds the path to reconciliation more twisted than he’s ever imagined.

Review:

I don't normally go for urban fantasy, but I saw this one as a read-now on Netgalley and decided to give it a go, get out of my comfort zone as it were.

I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't get into this book at all and I can't really put my finger on why.

The author can write, there's no doubt about that, but I was left feeling I was dropped into the middle of something and left to my own devices. It doesn't read like the first in a series, it reads like a contiuation of something else and I was lost from the start.

The romance scale is very low on this one and there is a lot of plot that is confusing. Too many other characters when I really wanted to read Vince and Charlie's story, not have history lessons on vampire politics etc. I could hardly keep track of who was who.

There were lots of hints of what Charlie and Vince had been to each other in the past, how Vince had to wear the vampire down, woo him in fact. That was the story I wanted to read, not this one.

Disappointing for me, but I think other vampire fans would enjoy it, as there is a lot of world-builidng and mythology etc. about the vampires. I'd say it was urban fantasy/paranormal with a bit of romance rather than an outright romance. Maybe my expectations were just too high.