Vampyres have lived in the dark for centuries. For Lila and Latimus, openly declaring their love for each other seems just as elusive as seeing the sun again.
What’s it About?
Lila, a high born aristocrat of the Vampyre kingdom, was betrothed to Sathan, King of the Vampyres, for a thousand years. The betrothal, declared by the goddess Etherya, was deemed unbreakable. Although she cared for Sathan, and loved him as her king, secretly her heart yearned for his brother. When Sathan falls for another, Lila ends the betrothal, terrified at what her life will become now that she won’t be queen.
Latimus has loved Lila since they played together on the grassy riverbank as children. Knowing that his brother was the better man, he never begrudged his betrothal to the woman he secretly loved. Now that Sathan has married another, Latimus becomes aware of Lila’s feelings. Determined to push her into the arms of a worthier man, he believes that a war-torn army commander such as he could never offer her the life she deserves.
As the war against the Deamons rages, Latimus fights for his people, protecting them from the evil Dark Lord Crimeous. When Lila suffers a brutal attack, Latimus is shaken to his core. Resolved to avenge her, he acknowledges the emotion that has always burned for her in his blackened heart. But Lila has moved on and, as the war ensues, he worries that it might be too late to claim her…
First Impressions
A common theme of this novel focused on how Lila and Latimus struggled to cope with the expectations for the lives they’ve been born into. Both were raised around a sense of duty. For her, it was an aristocratic one. She had a duty to her king, to her people, and an overarching duty to produce heirs for said king to continue ruling their subjects together. For him, it was a duty to lead and command his Vampyre army. Latimus has constantly led a hard life of danger and service, constantly seen as second best to his brother, the king. After the events of the last novel, and with the opening of this one, Lila and Latimus are both starting to realize they’ve had a mutual attraction to each other for centuries.
You can’t help but question why they don’t take full advantage of their new situation in life, and tear each other’s clothes off!! After all, Lila is no longer betrothed to his brother, and she’s free to choose whoever she wants in life. However, when you’ve spent the last 1000 years living a certain life, and fulfilling a particular duty in that life, you can see why they’d both struggle to suddenly toss out everything they’ve been raised to believe about their purpose in life. Duty was always first and foremost to beat out love or emotion. Latimus in particular feels these countless years of killing has tainted him to the point where he’s not worthy of touching Lila considering how much blood he’s had on his hands. He constantly focuses on the bad, whereas she and everyone else can recognize the good in him.
The Slowly Ticking Clock
Obviously seeing the romantic relationship develop between Latimus and Lila was a high point of the novel that makes your toes curl in delight with every scene. However, another one of the more fascinating observations with this read was the concept of time for our immortals. On the one hand, they feel like they have forever, so they convince themselves that some admissions of love or emotion can wait. In reality, they are still vulnerable to the ceaseless and unmerciful Deamon attacks which have been ramping up since the events of the first book.
At one point in the story we see a 1000 year-old vampyre killed in battle. As a human you can’t help but think, geez he had a good run! That was a long time for others to know and love him, and a long time to live as a soldier. Yet in the same vein you see how soul crushing the deaths of comrades can be. When you’re an immortal expecting to live forever, any moment of death is seen as too soon. This also plays out in the relationship between Lila and Latimus. After pushing aside their long-held grievances they finally have an immortal lifetime to spend together, and yet they still lament over how much time they’ve wasted these last 1000 years bickering with each other. It helps them realize that they don’t want to waste any more time, and make up for as much time as they can which was spent apart from each other.
*A copy of this book was provided for an honest review*
Series: Etherya’s Earth, book 2. I am squirming in anticipation for book 3!!
Final Impressions: I am officially addicted to this series. The characters draw you in, and you find yourself holding your breath in anticipation wondering what troubles might befall them. At times Latimus and Lila are almost too overly supportive of each other, fawning over how amazing the other is whenever one says they deserve someone who isn’t flawed. This sequel does sort of lack the sense of urgency and momentum which was so prominent in book one. While the Deamon King, Crimeous, is still an active threat in this second book, the battle against him isn’t really the driving force of the plot. Instead, it’s really about Lila and Latimus learning to communicate their feelings for one another after keeping them secret for centuries. It was still an interesting tale to see their trust in each other and romance unfold, but also kind of lacking in the suspense department.
Smut Level: Daaaaamn! This sequel was 10 times steamier than book one. Plenty of dirty talk and passionate thrusting to really get your blood flowing.
Get it on Amazon: Click Here. $3.99 Kindle Price. Amazon Digital Services LLC. 224 Pages.
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