Rating: 3 stars
Buy Links: Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novella
With one goal in mind, achieving his Ph.D., Gavin Summers finds himself in the middle of a battle between vampire supporters and vampire protesters. A battle that may cost him everything.
On his way home from work one night, Gavin is rescued from certain death by a vampire of the Night Watch. He’s never met a real vampire, never even seen one. Intrigued by the creature of the night, Gavin tries to befriend the vampire, Dillon, or at least find out more about him. What Gavin discovers leaves him with more questions than answers.
The vampires of Atlanta are under attack, some murdered and some missing. And Gavin’s graduate study supervisor, a known vampire hater, is suspected of having something to do with the attacks. When Gavin is given no choice but to help his professor in upcoming protest rallies, Gavin finds himself working to prove his innocence to the only vampire he knows. And when Dillon becomes one of the kidnapped vampires, Gavin goes to any length to find the vampire he can’t forget.
Facing judgments by humans and vampires alike, fighting against vampire politics, hoping to complete a study he’s worked most of his life for, and searching for the vampire he wants most in this world, Gavin discovers that he can’t have it all and must decide what is truly worth fighting for.
Part of Less than Three Press’ Proud to be a Vampire Bundle One, The List by Sandra Bard is a very creative read. So, I’ll start with that…creativity. In reading this story, I found the world very interesting. A world where vampires are common knowledge, and not only are they the good guys, they save lives and protect the public. I like the basis of this world, but I think it could have been better. I just don’t feel that it was complete. There was so much that felt like it was just thrown in as an afterthought that, had it been expanded upon, would have made for great world-building.
On the upside, the plot of this short read is new and entertaining. The bumpy meet-cute leading to a complicated friendship and eventual even more complicated maybe relationship makes for a fun story that can’t be taken too seriously. There is a lot to this story that happens in a relatively short period of time. It was a little jumbled at times and slow at others, but overall a good read.
I enjoyed the characters, but there was nothing about them that stands out to me. Gavin was brave, but only when he was forced to be. Otherwise, he’s a bit of a coward. And readers really don’t get to see Dillon that much. I would have liked to get to know Dillon better.
So, the set-up, the basis to this story is fun and so promising, but it the story and the world never quite reach the full potential.
