Buy Link: Other Side of Night: Bastian and Riley
Authors: S.L. Armstrong and K. Piet
Publisher: Storm Moon Press
Length: Novella
Rating: 4
Bastian Rossi has known something is off in him ever since a bad night at a fraternity party last semester. His newfound sensitivity to the sun and his desire for blood are making it impossible to deny that something in him has changed since that terrible night when he was attacked by the guy who was his casual hook up.
When Bastian meets Riley Lynch, he is instantly drawn to him, and the two men slowly start building a relationship. Riley has had a really bad experience in his past (cheating, abusive boyfriend) and has uprooted his life to start in a new school and new city. So although he has strong feelings for Bastian, Riley is incredibly cautious about trusting anyone new and wary about getting into a physical relationship.
As time passes and the trust between them builds, both men are ready to take the next steps. Riley is finally ready for a more physical relationship. And Bastian gets up the courage to tell Riley that he is a vampire. Although things are going well between them, the men face lingering problems related to feeding. They learn that what Bastian really needs is human blood, and although Riley offers his, Bastian worries about the potential harm it may cause Riley. And then the men face an even bigger problem as a life-threatening accident means they may potentially lose each other for good.
One of the issues was with the progress of their physical relationship. It takes about 9 months before Riley is ready for any kind of real physical contact beyond kissing and some clothes on, non-erogenous zone making out. It seemed so extreme that it kept pulling me out of the story. Once we learn the extent of Riley’s abuse, it all totally makes sense, but it threw me off a bit for the first part of the book. Other things seemed odd but were never really well explained, like why Bastian didn’t want to meet Riley’s friends for so long.
After this, things moved along much more smoothly and swiftly as they guys deal with moving in together, the issues of feeding, their developing relationship, etc. Although I do think Riley accepts Bastian as a vampire pretty quickly considering all his trust issues. Things do get quite exciting with the accident and the aftermath. I also liked learning a bit more about the vampire lore, as Bastian finally meets some other vampires. I will say the coda did throw me a lot. Totally didn’t see it coming, and it felt too much out of left field for me, although I think it will make for an interesting continuation of the series.
Even though things felt a little uneven for me, especially in the beginning, I did enjoy the book quite a bit. I think it is an unusual vampire story, which is nice given how many there are out there. I found the characters likeable with good chemistry between them. The issue of trust was a central theme and I thought it was well explored.
>I've been thinking about getting this one. After your review, I definitely think I will. Have you read their other vampire story "Rachmaninoff"? It looks interesting as well.
>@Lisa, no the only other other books of their I've read are the forester which I am reviewing next week and Trust Me which I reviewed last week I think. I have some others in my TBR pile. I'll check out Rachmaninoff too
>I'm always on the lookout for vamp stories. I hadn't heard of this one. You mentioned there's some vampire lore in the story, which I love reading about. Is is the kind of vampire lore that's made up for this particular story or is it the more traditional lore along the lines of Dracula, etc.? Just wondering. Or maybe I could just read it and find out!! LOL.
>@Matt, hmm, I am trying to remember. I would say it is a mix, some traditional stuff (staying out of the sun, etc), and some more for the story. This one features college guys too which you may like.
>I'm glad you liked it, Jay! 🙂 We really enjoyed writing this one. The Coda was meant to kind of come out of nowhere and slap you. *chuckles* We explore deeper into the vampire world in the second book, but it might not be for a lot of our usual audience as it's mainly M/F and M/F/F. But, there are seven books total planned for this series, and half of them are M/M. 😀
>I enjoyed the review; it was a great read. I love their works!
Tracey D