Reviewer: Holly Scarlet Heat by Evangeline Anderson
Series: Born to Darkness #2
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: 04/16/2013
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Pages: 365
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Series Rating:
Scarlet Heat is a plus length novel, over 100,000 words long about vampires, werewolves, and witches. Not to mention sex. Lots and lots of steamy sex. It also contains chapter two of Shadowed, Brides of the Kindred 8 coming soon.
Taylor is a vampire—but she doesn’t want to be. Turned against her will by her sadistic mistress, Celeste, she has been living a miserable life of bondage and abuse for the past six years. Finally, through the help of her best friend Addison, Taylor is rescued but she can’t relax for long. In order to save her from an even worse fate, she is married off to Victor—a very reluctant groom who just happens to be a werewolf.
Victor doesn’t want to be responsible for the fledgling vampire, no matter how beautiful she is. Especially when he finds out he is the only one he can drink from. But aside from the strange arousal that overtakes him every time she sinks her dainty fangs into his throat, he has other problems to deal with…and a very big secret to hide.
Their marriage of convenience is only supposed to last for three months but Victor and Taylor finds themselves drawn together by more than the vows they took. But as their attraction grows, so does something else. Inside Taylor, something is changing. She begins to have physical cravings she has never had before, insatiable appetites that only Victor can satisfy.
Will she succumb to the madness growing within her or can Victor save her from the Scarlet Heat?
I’ve read several of Anderson’s books in the past. She has some writing quirks that really frustrate me, but I generally enjoy the premise and meat of her stories. I didn’t love Crimson Debt, the first book in this series, but I was curious enough about the heroine of this book to continue reading the series. Anderson is good at dropping just enough hints to make the next book almost impossible to ignore.
We met Taylor in Crimson Heat. She was turned into a vampire against her will and has spent the past 7 years living in absolute hell. As a made vampire, she’s forced to serve her maker in whatever way she’s told. Celeste, her maker, is a sadistic bitch who forces her to have sex, degrades her and physically and mentally abuses her. When a vampire even older and more cruel than her maker comes to town and Celeste gives Taylor to him, her best friend seeks the help of another master vampire to protect her and Taylor ends up blood bonded to Victor, an alpha shifter and lone wolf.
At first Taylor is terrified she’s traded one bad situation for another, but it isn’t long before she realizes Victor is a really good guy. He promises not to touch her or hurt her in any way, and he keeps that promise. Though Taylor doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to stand to have sex again, she eventually comes to trust Victor and craves a real marriage from him, not just the three months they have to remain together to get her permanently out of the reach of her maker.
Victor, too, comes to enjoy Taylor and wants to make their bonding permanent. Unfortunately he’s keeping a big secret from Taylor..he’s cursed. There’s a beast (aside from his shifter animal) inside him that he can’t control. He’s afraid he’ll end up inadvertently hurting Taylor if he loses control.
Of the three books in the series, this is my favorite. I really liked both Taylor and Victor. There are a a lot of silly misunderstandings that could have been cleared up with some simple communication, but when they were together I really enjoyed their romance.
What this book (and really, all her books) need is the services of a good editor. The writing is often choppy, there are continuity and consistency errors and masses of spelling and grammatical errors.
3.25 out of 5