Safety info, content warnings and tropes down below.

I enjoyed a lot of this. There were a few strange parts and the first half didn’t exactly fly by, but once it really picked up I didn’t want to put it back down. Well, except for the sex scene because that felt very impersonal and clinical, so it took me a while to read it.

The MCs had really good chemistry outside of that, though. The biting and feeding? So sensual and intimate, which is the best part of any vampire romance imo. It just didn’t quite translate to the sex. One MC is asexual and only just figuring himself out so that might have affected things, but I think mostly it was an awkward writing situation.

The plot definitely gives you the feeling that these characters were destined to meet and for their lives to collide. I thought the plot was neat, and I could follow it better than I did in the previous book.

There’s also about 98% less pirate-related stuff than you’d expect from the cover. That is indeed not rope, a boat, or a pirate (the remaining 2% are Rahil’s pirate-y shirts).

Entirely personal grievance: having both a Leah and a Lydia in the same book apparently fucks me up. Could not keep them straight.

Thank you to D.N. Bryn for the ARC.

Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & content tags ⚠️
Vampire MC
Indian heritage
BIPOC MCs
Divorced MC
Pansexual MC
Single dad
Chronic illness rep
Dog dad
Slow burn
Fae MC
‘good boy'
Bondage
Fang-muzzle
Sex toys
Cock ring
Sensory play — clamps, blindfold, cold dildo
Asexual rep
Fang-induced orgasm

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Blood consumption
Grief and guilt
Death of spouse (past, violent, details)
Death of spouse (past, cancer)
Recreational drug use (gummien)
Insomnia
Animal killed off page (detailed corpse)
Prescription drug use
MC’s pet dog poisoned - medical emergency (survives)
Explicit sexual content
Death of MC’s children (past)
Mentions of MC’s child committing suicide (past, few details)
Vomiting
Alcohol consumption
Past severe injury to MC (hit by drunk driver)
Bondage
Erotic spanking (brief)
On-page graphic violence
Chronically ill child (on-page seizure)
MC injured (stabbed and beaten, on page)
MC killing bad guy on page
Anxiety attacks

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: Rahil has two failed hookups with other people after meeting Mercer for the first time (nothing has happened between the MCs at this point). Rahil uses hookups to get blood.
Breakup: Almost
POV: 3rd person, dual
Genre: Fantasy romance
Pairing: M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Strict roles
Main characters’ age: 64/65 (vampire) and 41
Series: Interconnected standalone
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Pages: 372
Happy ending: Yes


“You really are just like this?” “A stupid, irrevocable flirt with no brain-to-mouth filter? Yes.” If nothing else, he would die how he lived: a terror.

Occasionally, someone would contract an electrical engineer who looked like a South Asian vampiric twink with a pirate’s wardrobe and only worked at night, if he gave them enough of a discount, or they had just the right set of kinks.

He fucking missed Rahil, like a crack had been revealed in his chest, and only that soft touch could fill it again.

“I just want to have a night that’s all mine, and when you’re here, I feel the world is meant for me again.”

“Good boy,” he murmured against Rahil’s forehead.