After enjoying the first two Lore and Lust books, I was very excited to read The Awakening. I’m happy to say it met my expectations!

While Haruka and Nino appear in brief scenes, The Awakening is Junichi and Jae’s story. A pureblood vampire who ran Haruka’s realm while he was MIA, Junichi is a fun-loving dapper gentleman who knows how he likes to walk around the block. Jae is a human doctor who specializes in vampiric medicine. He bridges the medical difference between the two species–and questions why vampires find his blood oh-so-tasty until they take a bite.  

The mystery of Jae’s blood is the thrust of the novel, along with the burgeoning romance between our two leads. Both are stuck in their ways, and it was a toe-curling pleasure to watch them grow as individuals and as a couple. Nikole expands the lore of Lore and Lust quite nicely, especially The Great Vanishing. One ongoing quibble I had with the series is the overuse of the words “male” and “female” as nouns. I get Nikole used this narrative tic to connote how vampires are a different culture and species than human women and men, but I’m happy she uses it less and less each novel. Each installment has less talk of blood quantum too, which eases my anxiety. The Awakening takes it a step farther by Jae stating that any amount of vampire heritage makes a person a vampire. Very refreshing to hear.

Despite some bumps in the road, Lore and Lust continues to be a squee-ful series. If you want an achillean vampire/vampire romance with lots to say about cultural exchange and diversity, check it out!

My review of Book 1: Lore and Lust: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4c6ba413-fdb2-4cb6-9062-c1162d57044b

My review of Book 2: The Vanishing: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c43e3737-e92a-4233-89e8-9865cb3f7a51