Title: Crouching Tiger Forbidden Vampire
Series: Love at Stake bk 16
Author: Kerrelyn Sparks
Genre: Paranormal
Russell wakes from a coma to find he’s become a vampire. Now he has a thirst for revenge. Determined to hunt down the master vampire who turned him, he’s used to working alone . . . until he meets Jia. She is after the same vampire for murdering her parents and insists she can help Russell on this mission. Reluctantly, he agrees, and sets up some ground rules:
Rule #1: Their partnership is strictly business. If he holds her a little too close . . . if she looks at him with those exotic eyes . . . well, that has to stop.
Rule #2: He’s in charge. Jia isn’t used to taking orders and questions every move he makes. So he stops her the only way he knows how.
Rule #3: Don’t fall in love. But the kiss that was supposed to quiet her awakens something else in him . . . something forbidden. Because Jia is engaged. To someone else.
Thoughts: This has been one of my favorite vampire series ever since I read the first book oh so many years ago. So I was sad to see that this is the last book in the series even though there was a story line that was brought up several books ago and then dropped. I was hoping that would be the last book, but I guess we’ll never know what happened to Shanna and Caitlyn’s brother.
Okay now that I’m done whining I can talk about this story. I really liked Russel and Jia’s story. Russell is the reluctant hero, Jia is the heroine who is determined to avenge her family regardless of the cost to herself. If Russel won’t willingly help her, then she’ll force him to help her.
Russell wants nothing to do with Jia, for a host of reasons. Number one being he doesn’t want her in harms way. He’s already lost so much thanks to Han he doesn’t want to lose anyone else. But he also can’t stay away from her. She pulls at something inside of him he thought long dead.
I loved this dynamic of Russell’s personality that we haven’t seen before in the other books.
Jia, she’s the so called pampered tiger princess…at least that is what everyone in her family thinks. What none of them know is that behind closed doors she’s trained relentlessly to avenge her parents and brother’s death at the hands of Han. When she meets Russell she knows he’s the key to helping her, if she can just convince him to let her go with him.
Because the end is coming in this series lots of things are tied up, except for the one thing I wanted, but the big thing was the revelation of who Han is. I have to admit I didn’t see this coming, not even when it happens. I had to re-read the scene a couple of times to believe it.
Overall this is a great book and the ending, minus that one thing I’ve already mentioned, was perfect for this series. I know I’m going to miss this series and will have to re-read it often.
Grade B+
I love the opening line, he woke up from a coma to find he was a vampire. I haven’t read any vamp books, but would guess that is a differenent concept. LOL.