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Villain Gets the Girl #1
Through a Glass, Darkly
1997: Bethany Davis is scratching out a living with her best friend and sometimes lover, Dory Tanaka, when the two of them encounter a pair of impossibly gorgeous, mysterious men who seem inexplicably interested in them. What begins then is a torrid and illicit affair that ends in tragedy and betrayal on Halloween night.
2007: Ten years later, Bethany is working as a support specialist for a gaming portal website that's about to go public. While out celebrating with the team, she meets a man named James who makes her feel things she knows she shouldn't.
What Bethany doesn't know is that she's met him before, and that he's irrevocably tied to her past and future... because he isn't like most men. He's a vampire who likes to play games.
And his latest game is Bethany.
Warning: this will be a dark story with TWs all across the board
Cover by Louisa.
2007: Ten years later, Bethany is working as a support specialist for a gaming portal website that's about to go public. While out celebrating with the team, she meets a man named James who makes her feel things she knows she shouldn't.
What Bethany doesn't know is that she's met him before, and that he's irrevocably tied to her past and future... because he isn't like most men. He's a vampire who likes to play games.
And his latest game is Bethany.
Warning: this will be a dark story with TWs all across the board
Cover by Louisa.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 9, 2020
About the author
Nenia Campbell
57 books20.4k followers
Hi there. I'm Nenia! I'm an author of several villain romances, and creator and moderator of Unapologetic Romance Readers.
I read a lot of amazingly trashy books that I would be happy to rec you. Coffee flows through my veins like ichor. Also, check out what I've written sometime!
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Nenia-Campbell/...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aficionenias
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Shelved as 'someone-with-my-name-wrote-this'
August 10, 20248/10- Paperbacks of THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY are now LIVE!
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thro...
12/15- FREE TODAY ONLY: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08...
UPDATE: THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY is now available on Kindle Unlimited! That means that, with a subscription, you can read it for freeeeee. Please enjoy my dark vampire romantgedy. ♥
Update: this should be out TOMORROW!! Make sure to read the TWs
Edit: It is OUT! And I promise there will now be waaaaay less posts about my own work for a little while so woo! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N18THXB
Since this will be coming out in a few weeks, I'm updating with a few TWs* and more info about the story
*I'm not an expert in trauma and triggers, so my warnings will NOT be comprehensive.
All four main characters in this book are bi/pan and gay things happen in this book.
Also, bad things happen in this book. It is one of my darkest works to date, and I'm not saying that to be cute. I wanted to write a book that-- rather than romanticizing the "old world charm" of vampires as romantic figures of a bygone age-- really shows how dickish vampires would be if they lived forever, since many of them would come from times in history where people were INCREDIBLY problematic and might not adapt to modern times well.
TWs include: depression, anxiety, PTSD, rape, dubious consent/forced seduction, suicidal ideation, depiction of a suicide note (not graphic), substance use, substance abuse, mentions of war crimes (off-page), mentions of genocide and colonialism (off-page, specific to Algeria), mentions of Nazis (off-page, as relating to WWII), misogyny, racism, marital rape (off-page), prostitution (off-page), murder, graphic depictions of blood and gore, and death anxiety.
This is the first book in a series of standalones I'm doing called "Villain Gets the Girl" where, obviously, the villain gets the girl. BECAUSE I LOVE THAT SHIT. I'm roughly 75% with the first draft, and it should come out in early 2021 at the latest if all goes well. The next Villain Gets the Girl book should come out after that.
THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY is a dark vampire erotica where everyone is gay and also it's set in San Francisco and incredibly fucked up and kind of depressing. Hope the dual 1997/2007 timeline gives you all the ~nostalgic~ feels!
Also, ignore the quotes! They are from an unrelated first edition of this story written like ten years ago LOL
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thro...
12/15- FREE TODAY ONLY: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08...
UPDATE: THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY is now available on Kindle Unlimited! That means that, with a subscription, you can read it for freeeeee. Please enjoy my dark vampire romantgedy. ♥
Update: this should be out TOMORROW!! Make sure to read the TWs
Edit: It is OUT! And I promise there will now be waaaaay less posts about my own work for a little while so woo! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N18THXB
Since this will be coming out in a few weeks, I'm updating with a few TWs* and more info about the story
*I'm not an expert in trauma and triggers, so my warnings will NOT be comprehensive.
All four main characters in this book are bi/pan and gay things happen in this book.
Also, bad things happen in this book. It is one of my darkest works to date, and I'm not saying that to be cute. I wanted to write a book that-- rather than romanticizing the "old world charm" of vampires as romantic figures of a bygone age-- really shows how dickish vampires would be if they lived forever, since many of them would come from times in history where people were INCREDIBLY problematic and might not adapt to modern times well.
TWs include: depression, anxiety, PTSD, rape, dubious consent/forced seduction, suicidal ideation, depiction of a suicide note (not graphic), substance use, substance abuse, mentions of war crimes (off-page), mentions of genocide and colonialism (off-page, specific to Algeria), mentions of Nazis (off-page, as relating to WWII), misogyny, racism, marital rape (off-page), prostitution (off-page), murder, graphic depictions of blood and gore, and death anxiety.
This is the first book in a series of standalones I'm doing called "Villain Gets the Girl" where, obviously, the villain gets the girl. BECAUSE I LOVE THAT SHIT. I'm roughly 75% with the first draft, and it should come out in early 2021 at the latest if all goes well. The next Villain Gets the Girl book should come out after that.
THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY is a dark vampire erotica where everyone is gay and also it's set in San Francisco and incredibly fucked up and kind of depressing. Hope the dual 1997/2007 timeline gives you all the ~nostalgic~ feels!
Also, ignore the quotes! They are from an unrelated first edition of this story written like ten years ago LOL
December 8, 2020
⭐️ 4 Stars! ⭐️
“You're looking at me like you don't trust me,” he observed.
“And you think I should?”
“No,” James said. “I don't think you should trust me at all.”
"But everyone's entitled to poor decisions."
let us ward off any vampires from this review! i'm looking at you Grant😒
✰ ✰ Initial Thoughts! ✰ ✰
Well then. . .the vampires of Through a Glass, Darkly very much embody the horror of what it means to be a vampire. Author Nenia Campbell did a fabulous job making her version of vampires actually, well, scary. There were multiple points throughout THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY where I was silently screaming at Bethany to RUN. Each of Bethany's interactions with James always felt a bit off. NENIA CAMPBELL did an excellent job of making James feel like the deadly supernatural predator he was. I think the most apt description I can give of THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY is that it felt like one giant cat and mouse game. James set his sights on Bethany and slowly and methodically stalked and chased her. ✨and they say romance is dead✨
✰ ✰ What's It About? ✰ ✰
THROUGH THE GLASS, DARKLY tells the story of Bethany and her encounter with James. Bethany and James meet for the first time when Bethany is 19 in 1997. At the time she's just been kicked out her house for getting caught with her kinda, sorta, not really, girlfriend Dory. Now she's working at a dead-end retail job and living with Dory. When she meets James something is. . .off. However, she can't help but be intrigued by him. However, whatever tenuous relationship they started comes crashing down at a fateful Halloween party. Flash-forward to 2007 and Bethany is haunted by what happened on Halloween way back in 1997. She's now working at another customer service job and she seems to be struggling with gaps in her memories. But, her past is back to haunt her when she encounters James once again.
‼️ A Quick Note! ‼️
❗️Before I get into this review I do want to mention that I am friends with Nenia here on Goodreads - ✨fancy right✨ - , however I bought this book myself and am going to write an honest review! and if you want to read this book it's on sale for 99cents right now, soooo. . .❗️
✰ ✰ The Highlights! ✰ ✰
✦ The Vampires are SCARY - but also sexy ;) ✦
I think one of the things that authors often underutilize when they right "vampire-romance" is the scariness factor of said vampire lover interest. Because look. . .when you think about it, really think about, vampires are fucking scary.
🦇🦇First, they drink your blood. I can barely get my blood drawn and you're trying to tell me you want to bite into my jugular vein with your mouth? no thank you.
🦇🦇Second, they live forever. FOREVER. That means if you were born in sayyyy 1900 and turned in 1918 (let's say you died in WWI). You'll have lived through WWII, the Spanish Flu, Vietnam, the AIDS crisis, all the political unrest that happened during the Cold War, etc. etc. Everyone you ever loved will have been dead AND if you don't care to keep up on social norms then you have the attitude of a person born in 1900. Yeah. . .I'm not sure how progressive this vampire would be.
🦇🦇And lastly, the longer you live the less in touch with your humanity you will be. You'll probably get used to killing people because to you life is pretty much infinite while humans have a time limit anyway. Essentially vampires are amoral serial killers who are pretty unstoppable. As long as they don't get to suspicious with their actions they can blend in and strike anywhere.
All three points are to say that many authors typically don't explore these themes. Instead they focus on the ✨s-e-x-i-n-e-s-s✨ of being a vampire.
So, what I'm trying to say in my typically longwinded fashion is MS. CAMPBELL made James and Grant (especially Grant) SCARY - occasionally sexy - vampires. There were multiple points throughout THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY where I just wanted Bethany to get the hell away from James. He clearly had a tenuous grip on his mental faculties and poor Bethany really didn't stand a chance. The way in which Grant and James viewed humans was unsettling. They had no qualms about kidnapping, raping, killing, or eating human beings. They did all of those things with zero remorse.
✦ James Béziat + the "romance"- don't judge me plz ✦ Okay look. . .do I probably have some issues? MAYBE. But, despite James being a pretty despicable person at certain points in the book I still really liked him as a character and as a love interest 🙈 I'm not going to sit here and sugar coat it James was a bad dude.
“He raped me,” she whispered. “He fucked with my head and he raped me. For years.”
✨Y-I-K-E-S✨
What I liked however, is that Bethany (and the author) never let him forget the shit he pulled. He did some horrible things to Bethany yet while I disagreed with his actions I understood his perspective. He's a vampire. And the vampires that MS. CAMPBELL created do shit like this. As I stated I DON'T condone what he did, but his actions were in line with the vampires of THIS world. BUT, HA, jokes on him because Bethany ends up fucking with his head probably more than he does to her. . .you reap what you sow baby.
["] I have a lot of bad habits, I told you—now, you're one of them.”
Not only that, but the times where we do see James open up I couldn't help but feel deeply for him. If anything it seems like THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY is two parts a cat & mouse game and one part an out of touch awkward guys attempt at courting his lady love. He truly has no idea what to do with his feelings and continually chooses the most horrible options to get close to Bethany. Like seriously my mans is the type of guy who does THIS during his free time -
“I like to run or go for a drive when I'm upset.”
“Or go for a walk in the woods—it's more fun if you're not alone.”
Again I repeat. . .Y-I-K-E-S. 😅 Poor baby needs to find a non-creepy hobby. 😅
What I thought was so interesting about James was that despite him being the true villain of the story - okay Grant was worse but still - he and Bethany still really connected on an emotional level. Regardless of them being worlds apart - in terms of backgrounds - they both had this deep loneliness inside themselves that connected them.
“I'm actually very miserable,” said James, startling her a little. “I can only pretend at being charming for so long before it all falls apart.”
While they might not have the most healthiest relationship in the world - that's a goddamn understatement - they both couldn't help but be drawn to one another. I'm not really sure if I can call what James and Bethany find in one another a romance, but they sure do have SOMETHING special together.
Also this scene was just. . . -
He was lying in a pool of moonlight, bare-chested now, with his jeans undone, and he was jerking himself off, rough and urgent, to the music, eyes closed, lips stretched out in a grimace that bared his fangs.
Such. a. ✨m-o-o-d✨.
✦ Midori "Dory" Tanaka ✦
I'm saying it now book two in the Villain Gets the Girl series best have Dory as the leading lady. She was freaking awesome. She was such an interesting and fun character who at first glance seemed carefree and free-spirited, but she was actually going through shit. Plus when it's revealed that she
Overall I thought Dory had more of a story to tell and I'm hoping this isn't the last we see of her.
✦ 🏳️🌈 The Representation 🏳️🌈 ✦ One of the things that I especially enjoyed about THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY was all the representation! There was LGBTQ+ representation (James, Grant, Bethany, and Dory were all bisexual), and there was race representation (Dory was Japanese and James was half Algerian). I think more often then not authors don't really want to go there. I honestly don't think I've ever read a romance where the female character was bisexual, had a relationship with a female character(s), but had a male love interest. I liked that instead of just telling us that all of these characters were something other than heterosexual we actually saw it. Dory and Bethany have a meaningful - while flawed - relationship. At one point James was in love with Grant. Not only that but 2 of the characters were a race that wasn't white. That's just refreshing when really it should be common. So, not only was THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY a dark vampire romance but it also had a diverse cast ofvampires characters.
✰ ✰ What Didn't Work For Me? ✰ ✰
✦ The Flashbacks/Structure of the Story✦ Man this pains me to say but while I really really enjoyed this book I had a few issues with it. Mainly the way it was structured. This book is not told linearly, but instead about half of it takes place when Bethany is 19 in 1997 and the other half takes place in 2007 when Bethany is 29. Now I think that would've been fine if not for the fact that every time the story would start to pick up in either 1997/2007 the next chapter would just switch. Thus all the buildup and anticipation that I had from the last chapter dropped right back down to zero. Personally I don't mind flash-backs - and I definitely think at least SOME were necessary here - but I would've preferred both timelines to have converged a bit earlier. Or I maybe half the book was solely set in 1997 and the other half was set solely in 2007. Then again maybe that wouldn't have worked for the story as we would've missed some of the flashbacks to the 10 years in between '97 and '07.
✦ Bethany + Her Memory Loss ✦ WHOMP WHOOOMP. Yeah. . .I wasn't super sold on Bethany as our heroine. Which really stinks because I definitely loved to hate James, was enamored by Dory, and both creeped out and intrigued by Grant. With Bethany I was more. . .meh. There were times when I really appreciated her snark and humor -
Are you bored? Do you want to go outside?” “I'm not a dog. You don't need to take me out for walks.”
But I think her character really suffered from the lack of her memories. I definitely felt more connected to 1997 Bethany vs. 2007 Bethany. I felt like I got a more of a chance to get to know teenaged Bethany vs. adult Bethany. Adult Bethany was plagued with memory loss, nightmares, and was extremely slow on the uptake. Plus, I just really dislike when two characters have a past and a connection that one character can't remember. This memory loss caused not only Bethany to be a bit underdeveloped, but made her end decision feel like an out of nowhere 360 attitude turn-around. Therefore, when Bethany
✰ ✰ My Closing Thoughts ✰ ✰
All in all, THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY was a really awesome dark vampire romance. With this book author NENIA CAMPBELL offers readers a fresh take on the "vampire-romance-genre" that is sorely needed. I will always appreciate sexy sparkly vampires, but I love when authors break out of that mold and really push the envelope of the "vampire genre". MS. CAMPBELL wasn't afraid to make her vampires evil or scary and I appreciated this book all the more for it! If you're a sucker for vampires (pun intended ;), enjoy when the clear villain gets the girl, and want a truly representation heavy book, then I highly highly recommend THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY . This was truly an excellent start to the VILLAIN GETS THE GIRL series and I seriously cannot wait until book 2!
Maybe I just miss the times when people would actually dress up a little to see each other.” He paused and she saw his eyes flick towards her. “Or maybe I just think they're [skirts] easier to fuck in.”
“You're looking at me like you don't trust me,” he observed.
“And you think I should?”
“No,” James said. “I don't think you should trust me at all.”
"But everyone's entitled to poor decisions."
let us ward off any vampires from this review! i'm looking at you Grant😒
✰ ✰ Initial Thoughts! ✰ ✰
Well then. . .the vampires of Through a Glass, Darkly very much embody the horror of what it means to be a vampire. Author Nenia Campbell did a fabulous job making her version of vampires actually, well, scary. There were multiple points throughout THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY where I was silently screaming at Bethany to RUN. Each of Bethany's interactions with James always felt a bit off. NENIA CAMPBELL did an excellent job of making James feel like the deadly supernatural predator he was. I think the most apt description I can give of THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY is that it felt like one giant cat and mouse game. James set his sights on Bethany and slowly and methodically stalked and chased her. ✨and they say romance is dead✨
✰ ✰ What's It About? ✰ ✰
THROUGH THE GLASS, DARKLY tells the story of Bethany and her encounter with James. Bethany and James meet for the first time when Bethany is 19 in 1997. At the time she's just been kicked out her house for getting caught with her kinda, sorta, not really, girlfriend Dory. Now she's working at a dead-end retail job and living with Dory. When she meets James something is. . .off. However, she can't help but be intrigued by him. However, whatever tenuous relationship they started comes crashing down at a fateful Halloween party. Flash-forward to 2007 and Bethany is haunted by what happened on Halloween way back in 1997. She's now working at another customer service job and she seems to be struggling with gaps in her memories. But, her past is back to haunt her when she encounters James once again.
‼️ A Quick Note! ‼️
❗️Before I get into this review I do want to mention that I am friends with Nenia here on Goodreads - ✨fancy right✨ - , however I bought this book myself and am going to write an honest review! and if you want to read this book it's on sale for 99cents right now, soooo. . .❗️
✰ ✰ The Highlights! ✰ ✰
✦ The Vampires are SCARY - but also sexy ;) ✦
I think one of the things that authors often underutilize when they right "vampire-romance" is the scariness factor of said vampire lover interest. Because look. . .when you think about it, really think about, vampires are fucking scary.
🦇🦇First, they drink your blood. I can barely get my blood drawn and you're trying to tell me you want to bite into my jugular vein with your mouth? no thank you.
🦇🦇Second, they live forever. FOREVER. That means if you were born in sayyyy 1900 and turned in 1918 (let's say you died in WWI). You'll have lived through WWII, the Spanish Flu, Vietnam, the AIDS crisis, all the political unrest that happened during the Cold War, etc. etc. Everyone you ever loved will have been dead AND if you don't care to keep up on social norms then you have the attitude of a person born in 1900. Yeah. . .I'm not sure how progressive this vampire would be.
🦇🦇And lastly, the longer you live the less in touch with your humanity you will be. You'll probably get used to killing people because to you life is pretty much infinite while humans have a time limit anyway. Essentially vampires are amoral serial killers who are pretty unstoppable. As long as they don't get to suspicious with their actions they can blend in and strike anywhere.
All three points are to say that many authors typically don't explore these themes. Instead they focus on the ✨s-e-x-i-n-e-s-s✨ of being a vampire.
So, what I'm trying to say in my typically longwinded fashion is MS. CAMPBELL made James and Grant (especially Grant) SCARY - occasionally sexy - vampires. There were multiple points throughout THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY where I just wanted Bethany to get the hell away from James. He clearly had a tenuous grip on his mental faculties and poor Bethany really didn't stand a chance. The way in which Grant and James viewed humans was unsettling. They had no qualms about kidnapping, raping, killing, or eating human beings. They did all of those things with zero remorse.
✦ James Béziat + the "romance"- don't judge me plz ✦ Okay look. . .do I probably have some issues? MAYBE. But, despite James being a pretty despicable person at certain points in the book I still really liked him as a character and as a love interest 🙈 I'm not going to sit here and sugar coat it James was a bad dude.
“He raped me,” she whispered. “He fucked with my head and he raped me. For years.”
✨Y-I-K-E-S✨
What I liked however, is that Bethany (and the author) never let him forget the shit he pulled. He did some horrible things to Bethany yet while I disagreed with his actions I understood his perspective. He's a vampire. And the vampires that MS. CAMPBELL created do shit like this. As I stated I DON'T condone what he did, but his actions were in line with the vampires of THIS world. BUT, HA, jokes on him because Bethany ends up fucking with his head probably more than he does to her. . .you reap what you sow baby.
["] I have a lot of bad habits, I told you—now, you're one of them.”
Not only that, but the times where we do see James open up I couldn't help but feel deeply for him. If anything it seems like THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY is two parts a cat & mouse game and one part an out of touch awkward guys attempt at courting his lady love. He truly has no idea what to do with his feelings and continually chooses the most horrible options to get close to Bethany. Like seriously my mans is the type of guy who does THIS during his free time -
“I like to run or go for a drive when I'm upset.”
“Or go for a walk in the woods—it's more fun if you're not alone.”
Again I repeat. . .Y-I-K-E-S. 😅 Poor baby needs to find a non-creepy hobby. 😅
What I thought was so interesting about James was that despite him being the true villain of the story - okay Grant was worse but still - he and Bethany still really connected on an emotional level. Regardless of them being worlds apart - in terms of backgrounds - they both had this deep loneliness inside themselves that connected them.
“I'm actually very miserable,” said James, startling her a little. “I can only pretend at being charming for so long before it all falls apart.”
While they might not have the most healthiest relationship in the world - that's a goddamn understatement - they both couldn't help but be drawn to one another. I'm not really sure if I can call what James and Bethany find in one another a romance, but they sure do have SOMETHING special together.
Also this scene was just. . . -
He was lying in a pool of moonlight, bare-chested now, with his jeans undone, and he was jerking himself off, rough and urgent, to the music, eyes closed, lips stretched out in a grimace that bared his fangs.
Such. a. ✨m-o-o-d✨.
✦ Midori "Dory" Tanaka ✦
I'm saying it now book two in the Villain Gets the Girl series best have Dory as the leading lady. She was freaking awesome. She was such an interesting and fun character who at first glance seemed carefree and free-spirited, but she was actually going through shit. Plus when it's revealed that she
Overall I thought Dory had more of a story to tell and I'm hoping this isn't the last we see of her.
✦ 🏳️🌈 The Representation 🏳️🌈 ✦ One of the things that I especially enjoyed about THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY was all the representation! There was LGBTQ+ representation (James, Grant, Bethany, and Dory were all bisexual), and there was race representation (Dory was Japanese and James was half Algerian). I think more often then not authors don't really want to go there. I honestly don't think I've ever read a romance where the female character was bisexual, had a relationship with a female character(s), but had a male love interest. I liked that instead of just telling us that all of these characters were something other than heterosexual we actually saw it. Dory and Bethany have a meaningful - while flawed - relationship. At one point James was in love with Grant. Not only that but 2 of the characters were a race that wasn't white. That's just refreshing when really it should be common. So, not only was THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY a dark vampire romance but it also had a diverse cast of
✰ ✰ What Didn't Work For Me? ✰ ✰
✦ The Flashbacks/Structure of the Story✦ Man this pains me to say but while I really really enjoyed this book I had a few issues with it. Mainly the way it was structured. This book is not told linearly, but instead about half of it takes place when Bethany is 19 in 1997 and the other half takes place in 2007 when Bethany is 29. Now I think that would've been fine if not for the fact that every time the story would start to pick up in either 1997/2007 the next chapter would just switch. Thus all the buildup and anticipation that I had from the last chapter dropped right back down to zero. Personally I don't mind flash-backs - and I definitely think at least SOME were necessary here - but I would've preferred both timelines to have converged a bit earlier. Or I maybe half the book was solely set in 1997 and the other half was set solely in 2007. Then again maybe that wouldn't have worked for the story as we would've missed some of the flashbacks to the 10 years in between '97 and '07.
✦ Bethany + Her Memory Loss ✦ WHOMP WHOOOMP. Yeah. . .I wasn't super sold on Bethany as our heroine. Which really stinks because I definitely loved to hate James, was enamored by Dory, and both creeped out and intrigued by Grant. With Bethany I was more. . .meh. There were times when I really appreciated her snark and humor -
Are you bored? Do you want to go outside?” “I'm not a dog. You don't need to take me out for walks.”
But I think her character really suffered from the lack of her memories. I definitely felt more connected to 1997 Bethany vs. 2007 Bethany. I felt like I got a more of a chance to get to know teenaged Bethany vs. adult Bethany. Adult Bethany was plagued with memory loss, nightmares, and was extremely slow on the uptake. Plus, I just really dislike when two characters have a past and a connection that one character can't remember. This memory loss caused not only Bethany to be a bit underdeveloped, but made her end decision feel like an out of nowhere 360 attitude turn-around. Therefore, when Bethany
✰ ✰ My Closing Thoughts ✰ ✰
All in all, THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY was a really awesome dark vampire romance. With this book author NENIA CAMPBELL offers readers a fresh take on the "vampire-romance-genre" that is sorely needed. I will always appreciate sexy sparkly vampires, but I love when authors break out of that mold and really push the envelope of the "vampire genre". MS. CAMPBELL wasn't afraid to make her vampires evil or scary and I appreciated this book all the more for it! If you're a sucker for vampires (pun intended ;), enjoy when the clear villain gets the girl, and want a truly representation heavy book, then I highly highly recommend THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY . This was truly an excellent start to the VILLAIN GETS THE GIRL series and I seriously cannot wait until book 2!
Maybe I just miss the times when people would actually dress up a little to see each other.” He paused and she saw his eyes flick towards her. “Or maybe I just think they're [skirts] easier to fuck in.”
March 20, 2024
“To be honest,” James said, after a pause, “sometimes I get a little lonely.”
She turned her head towards him. “I think that's part of being human.”
His mouth quirked bitterly. “Probably,” he said. “But there are different kinds of loneliness. There's the kind that makes you get out and meet people, and there's the kind you wallow in; where you just lie somewhere and watch the shadows move and think of nonexistence.”
Bethany gulped. “You mean like death?”
“No,” he said, his voice weaving in and out with the music. “Just meditating on what it means to be alive. How short life is—so short that it's unclear whether it's a blessing or a curse.”
She stared at the dashboard. “And that makes you feel lonely?”
“Sure,” he said. “Because then it's like every moment you spend alone could be part of someone else's countdown. You only get so many minutes. They could end at any moment.”
Summary:
In 1997, Bethany's best friend disappeared. Ten years later, Bethany starts receiving messages from someone claiming to be her friend.
What happened to Dory, and is it related to Bethany's strange memory gaps? Why does a horror movie scene trigger a full-on panic attack? Maybe a handsome 'stranger' has the answers.
Review:
At its core, Through a Glass, Darkly feels like a book about loneliness, desolation, escape, and fixation.
I have read a lot of vampire novels (60+ is a low estimate), and this one still stands out as original yet also classic. It's a fascinating consideration of (im)mortality and just a really good Gothic monster story. James is a tragic romantic "monster," who is nonetheless an actual monster by his actions.
The non-chronological timeline is disorientating in a way that mirrors Bethany's own confusion due to her vampire-induced memory gaps.
Despite its bleakness, Through a Glass, Darkly has a wry humor. Dory and Bethany's tongue-in-cheek dialogue offers comedic relief amidst despair. As James says, "you made me laugh when I felt empty.”
I love that, whatever the story, Nenia's novels pull you right in, transport you somewhere else. Each feels like a completely new world, totally immersive; it's so easy to get absorbed and lose yourself within.
November 19, 2020
Disclaimer: Nenia is my friend, but that doesn't affect my rating. I beta read this book and then bought the final copy, so this is an honest review.
"Misery felt good when it was with you."
This is a dark vampire novel that takes place across a dual timeline spanning ten years. The first half of the book is steeped in 90s nostalgia and as Bethany and her friend Dory navigate San Francisco as young, single ladies... eventually getting in over their heads when they meet a pair of mysterious men. In the present, Bethany is alone, and we know something terrible happened back when she was only nineteen.
I really enjoyed the poignancy of this, and it had one of my favorite scenes from any vampire novel: tragic backstory, no shirt, driving at night. I alternated between liking James and feeling put off by him, which is maybe similar to how Bethany feels. But I appreciated how his character had developed by the final version. These are vampires how I like them: amoral and darkly sexy, playing with humans until they break, their existential angst tinged with the bleak ache of eternity.
The heartless villain:
The unfortunate couple:
3.5 stars!
"Misery felt good when it was with you."
This is a dark vampire novel that takes place across a dual timeline spanning ten years. The first half of the book is steeped in 90s nostalgia and as Bethany and her friend Dory navigate San Francisco as young, single ladies... eventually getting in over their heads when they meet a pair of mysterious men. In the present, Bethany is alone, and we know something terrible happened back when she was only nineteen.
I really enjoyed the poignancy of this, and it had one of my favorite scenes from any vampire novel: tragic backstory, no shirt, driving at night. I alternated between liking James and feeling put off by him, which is maybe similar to how Bethany feels. But I appreciated how his character had developed by the final version. These are vampires how I like them: amoral and darkly sexy, playing with humans until they break, their existential angst tinged with the bleak ache of eternity.
The heartless villain:
The unfortunate couple:
3.5 stars!
September 26, 2024
Wow.
First of all: A vampire romance by Nenia? Hell yes!
Now, this is not your typical romance for sure.
The thing I love most about Nenia's books has got to be the way she paints unconventional beauty in roughness and shadows. Her MMC, while instantly attractive, is contradictory and dark enough to leave me with a restless sensation. The atmosphere and aesthetic are as rugged and rough, stunningly beautiful in their imperfection, as the characters and plot.
I enjoyed this so much. Nenia's books just... feel different is all I can say. I love an author that is bold enough to not explain and resolve every detail and trusts the reader to fill out the blanks with their own fantasy. It makes for an immersive reading experience that, to me, is unmatched.
This book might not be for people that require to be coddled and wish for fluffy, traditional closure. For all those that find beauty in crude darkness though, the story of Bethany and James might offer solace in sadness.
First of all: A vampire romance by Nenia? Hell yes!
Now, this is not your typical romance for sure.
The thing I love most about Nenia's books has got to be the way she paints unconventional beauty in roughness and shadows. Her MMC, while instantly attractive, is contradictory and dark enough to leave me with a restless sensation. The atmosphere and aesthetic are as rugged and rough, stunningly beautiful in their imperfection, as the characters and plot.
I enjoyed this so much. Nenia's books just... feel different is all I can say. I love an author that is bold enough to not explain and resolve every detail and trusts the reader to fill out the blanks with their own fantasy. It makes for an immersive reading experience that, to me, is unmatched.
This book might not be for people that require to be coddled and wish for fluffy, traditional closure. For all those that find beauty in crude darkness though, the story of Bethany and James might offer solace in sadness.
September 25, 2022
Now that was a good story! Loved the concept!
James was such a villain and he loved the heroine even if he didn’t realize it. That’s my favorite kind of story - when actions, even if they are twisted, convey love rather than words.
I loved that the heroine, Bethany, fell for him every time.
One nitpick, the typos nearly drove me crazy but not enough to distract nor detract from the story.
Highly recommend.
James was such a villain and he loved the heroine even if he didn’t realize it. That’s my favorite kind of story - when actions, even if they are twisted, convey love rather than words.
I loved that the heroine, Bethany, fell for him every time.
One nitpick, the typos nearly drove me crazy but not enough to distract nor detract from the story.
Highly recommend.
January 31, 2021
I DID IT I FINALLY WROTE A REVIEW I DESERVE A COOKIE
I read another book with the same title written by Karleen Koen that was set in France sometime before the French revolution. I also read the first letter to the Corinthians from where the title was borrowed.
"Through A Glass, Darkly" has so many pieces of literature to it, it is a daunting title to use. It has a gothic taste and feel. Many expectations rest in such a title. A more apt title for this book, of course, would have been the second part of the New Testament quote; "Now Face to Face", which, incidentally, is the name of the Karleen Koen sequel to her original epic.
I've been following Nenia's reviews for years, but never read one of her books. I often interact with authors whose books I've read, but I've never jumped from reading someone's cheerfully vitriolic reviews to reading their books. Does the fact we both enjoy reading bodice-rippers even matter, when what Nenia mostly writes is at least somewhat paranormal? Does the fact that Nenia hates YA novels that lack braveness or oomph mean her books are brave and full of oomph? Will the dark nasty asshole hero make a fool of himself and forever exile himself from my good graces? I had a lot of doubts so it took me a long time to decide to actually read one work by Nenia. To test the waters.
Reading this book gave me a lot of anxiety, because:
• it's written in an anxious way
• narrated from a run-down, anxious POV
• the heroine has little agency and she's isolated and her life sucks
• the hero is a dangerous emo predator who ought to go to jail forever
• there are two timelines, past and present, that culminate in horror and then more horror
• all the 90s references were painfully reminiscent of the life of an isolated goth nerd
• the past timeline has a painful, harsh and anxious lesbian relationship that isn't going the way everyone hoped it would
• generally everything that happens appears unavoidable and trainwrecky
This book didn't do to me what Philippa Gregory's Wideacre did (that book is something else; if you ever want to know what gutwrenching hate-filled existential angst feels like just try reading that book and you'll see. I'm hardcore and reading Wideacre made me depressed for two full weeks and I never got the courage to read the sequel), so the anxiety was a well-done effect rather than a trigger for my miserable lockdown experience. But anxiety does put me on edge so it made me more aware of what was happening with words and sentences and plot developments, when I am normally a rather inattentive reader.
This book reminded me a lot of a bleak, anxious film I watched on the franco-german ARTE channel over ten years ago. Starring Léa Seydoux and Louis Garrel, the movie is called "The Beautiful Person". Superficially, it's a french movie about a somewhat hot new chick in class who draws all the boys in but then inevitably fucks the teacher instead. Less superficially, the movie is depressive dread captured with a camera and rolled out in blues and blacks and whites so that when you watch it, you just know that the lust the director makes us feel for the beautiful person is just the very last thread of the will to live any of the washed people at that school have left after leading a life that is tainted and bleak and colorless. It's a good move and Louis Garrel looks dangerous in it, so go watch it. I think James probably looks a lot like Louis Garrel in that movie.
It also had similar vibes to my all time favorite movie, Oldboy by Korean maestro Park Chan-Wook. Oldboy is superficially a revenge movie with lots of action. Less superficially, it's a dark retelling of the Oedipus story, with poor people and rich people pitched in a horrible headlock and no winners. If people actually cared for good cinema, Oldboy would have won every single international film prize back in 2003. I still think that Parasyte got the 2020 Oscar nod because the jury felt guilty after ignoring Oldboy. Whatever you do, do not watch the Hollywood remake of Oldboy. It's like heresy but in your TV.
Anyway, back to this book: Nenia does the miserable bleakness of existence well, which is why the first half of the book, as well as the entire past timeline is a solid 5 stars of perfection for me. You could probably make a movie out of it. The French have a thing for bleak erotica in their cinematic oevres. Sadly no one else does.
Let me give you the basic plot and vibes:
In 1997, Bethany is 19 and lives in a shitty apartment with her best friend (who she also has sex with) and works a shitty job and has absolutely no prospects of improving either her situation, her career, or her relationships. She is a friendless, socially awkward young woman who prefers to sit at home and watch Anime and Chinese dramas (100% can relate) while not having much to eat and getting anxious about her best friend maybe fancying someone else. She is clingy and needy and depressed. In short, Bethany is at the lower end of the food chain in all senses of the word and she has no ambition to change that. Some people will find this annoying, because Bethany's passivity means that she has no agency either in her life before James, nor after meeting him.
In 1997, James is a depressed vampire trapped in an abusive, co-dependant relationship with his creator. He has no life goals or ambitions toward happiness. When James meets Bethany in a music shop, it's not love at first sight, but rather a slight ripple of interest in a sea of bland inertia. Since James is so bored and so anhedonic, you'd nearly think he might just be devoid of any real drive or passion, yet he isn't. Though sluggish in his response to bait, he does react to Bethany like a shark to fish slush. Maybe possessiveness is his unique drive in life, who knows.
It's a very strange dynamic of two passive, miserable people coming together through their active, driven partners. The entire time, Bethany and James are always offset by Dory (Bethany's lover) and Nick (James' lover), who act like hot and cold air meeting and clashing. It's an incredibly well-done dynamic, even more so when all the cards are played in the end and we see more than just one point of view of the situation at hand. It was fascinating, gorgeous characterization. Everything played neatly into the crafted people: the locations, food, interactions, and even the pop culture references did not seem arbitrary.
I was flying on a high reading it. So of course I had to come crashing down at some point.
SLIGHT SPOILER (you can still read and enjoy after knowing this)
If there is one trope in fiction that I would like to set on fire, it's the Captivity Romance trope. Once a heroine gets kidnapped by the hero and put in a locked room, most books are pretty much over for me. Not because I think kidnapping and captivity are tropes that can't work for me. It's the opposite. I'm the Antoine Ego of Captivity Romance.
Remember that gourmet guy from Ratattouille who said "I LOVE food. What I don't love, I don't swallow."
That's me.
Captivity is a trope that is challenging to pull off, even from just the technical perspective:
• prison life is repetitive and boring
• the prisoner is robbed of agency, putting the focus on monologues and descriptive prose
• captivity is inevitably a lonely state of existence, so the interaction with the captor who is also the romantic interest has to be all the more poignant
• if themes like self-harm and suicide remain unmentioned, it feels weird
• there is usually a tipping point after which it just gets tedious
• the prisoner generally has to be realistically and visibly depressed and not optimistic. If the prisoner was that way before, reflecting the changes without overwriting gets hard
• cold bare rooms with nothing to do aren't sexy unless you have a fetish for humiliation that goes way beyond a simple rape fantasy
• the captor has to be opaque enough to be fascinating but transparent enough for the reader to wrap their head around: the opaqueness is were most writers just fail
My personal opinion about books that dive deep into mid- or longterm captivity as a trope in rape fantasy romance novels is that authors should decide whether they can make up for the pitfalls of the trope or not. Most writers cannot. They write this trope unthinkingly; as if captivity that goes on for longer than a day really were an extension of the popular kidnapping trope. It is not. Prolonged captivity of the main character is either a vehicle for character development or the complete dismemberment of your cool, sexy idea. Readers have to put up with a mopey, desperate person locked into one position which they have no hope of changing. Giving the mopey desperate person horny feelings does not change the main problem of the trope, which is its rigidness. If you hold your main character prisoner, you also hold the audience prisoner, so the pay-off has to be greater than if the reader can expect the main character's next day to be more interesting or at least different than the last.
As a rule of thumb, I avoid captivity romances for that reason. I do not trust any writer to hold my interest for a hundred pages while the main character whose thoughts I am reading about is physically and emotionally hogtied into a pretzel of doom. It's like watching the great show you like for 16 episodes, but three full episodes are just Girl A waiting in a room, monologuing and moping and the only highlights of the episodes are Boy B coming in and saying things of no consequence to her. It's miserable.
Since the book was great overall, the appearance and resolution of the trope did not ruin things beyond repair; but it did soften the heavy blows dealt by the intertwining timelines to a disappointing "oh, so that's how it was".
The prose was truly brilliant at times. When Bethany finds out what James has been up to through nonverbal cues by Dory, I nearly wanted to cry because I read so much overwritten trash. As I said, the locations were used with purpose and so where objects and foodstuffs. I was delighted. Positively shocked. The characters weren't bazillionaires either. And even though the female lead was destitute, James did not lead a much better life in terms of material possessions. That was a fucking departure. i loved that. If I have to read one more billionaire kidnaps the hot destitute street rat storyline I will choke on my evening tea.
I would have really liked to give the whole ride 5 stars; but the chapters of dull prisoner life made that impossible (I also didn't care much for the silly fight with Nick and James' attempt at ... was that supposed to be an apology?? Idk but that's a whole different can of worms).
4 stars I really liked it great job, I will be reading that dark step bro romance even though the guy is rich (ugh)
Initial pre-review:
Reading this book made me anxious
Writing this review is making me anxious too
Maybe I'll get back to it.
The dual timeline was very well done. The writing was good. Some other things weren't so much.
CJ Roberts should be punished for inventing this genre by having to sit in a bland cell without a vibrator and having to read every single dark captivity romance that was published after her shite book.
I read another book with the same title written by Karleen Koen that was set in France sometime before the French revolution. I also read the first letter to the Corinthians from where the title was borrowed.
"Through A Glass, Darkly" has so many pieces of literature to it, it is a daunting title to use. It has a gothic taste and feel. Many expectations rest in such a title. A more apt title for this book, of course, would have been the second part of the New Testament quote; "Now Face to Face", which, incidentally, is the name of the Karleen Koen sequel to her original epic.
I've been following Nenia's reviews for years, but never read one of her books. I often interact with authors whose books I've read, but I've never jumped from reading someone's cheerfully vitriolic reviews to reading their books. Does the fact we both enjoy reading bodice-rippers even matter, when what Nenia mostly writes is at least somewhat paranormal? Does the fact that Nenia hates YA novels that lack braveness or oomph mean her books are brave and full of oomph? Will the dark nasty asshole hero make a fool of himself and forever exile himself from my good graces? I had a lot of doubts so it took me a long time to decide to actually read one work by Nenia. To test the waters.
Reading this book gave me a lot of anxiety, because:
• it's written in an anxious way
• narrated from a run-down, anxious POV
• the heroine has little agency and she's isolated and her life sucks
• the hero is a dangerous emo predator who ought to go to jail forever
• there are two timelines, past and present, that culminate in horror and then more horror
• all the 90s references were painfully reminiscent of the life of an isolated goth nerd
• the past timeline has a painful, harsh and anxious lesbian relationship that isn't going the way everyone hoped it would
• generally everything that happens appears unavoidable and trainwrecky
This book didn't do to me what Philippa Gregory's Wideacre did (that book is something else; if you ever want to know what gutwrenching hate-filled existential angst feels like just try reading that book and you'll see. I'm hardcore and reading Wideacre made me depressed for two full weeks and I never got the courage to read the sequel), so the anxiety was a well-done effect rather than a trigger for my miserable lockdown experience. But anxiety does put me on edge so it made me more aware of what was happening with words and sentences and plot developments, when I am normally a rather inattentive reader.
This book reminded me a lot of a bleak, anxious film I watched on the franco-german ARTE channel over ten years ago. Starring Léa Seydoux and Louis Garrel, the movie is called "The Beautiful Person". Superficially, it's a french movie about a somewhat hot new chick in class who draws all the boys in but then inevitably fucks the teacher instead. Less superficially, the movie is depressive dread captured with a camera and rolled out in blues and blacks and whites so that when you watch it, you just know that the lust the director makes us feel for the beautiful person is just the very last thread of the will to live any of the washed people at that school have left after leading a life that is tainted and bleak and colorless. It's a good move and Louis Garrel looks dangerous in it, so go watch it. I think James probably looks a lot like Louis Garrel in that movie.
It also had similar vibes to my all time favorite movie, Oldboy by Korean maestro Park Chan-Wook. Oldboy is superficially a revenge movie with lots of action. Less superficially, it's a dark retelling of the Oedipus story, with poor people and rich people pitched in a horrible headlock and no winners. If people actually cared for good cinema, Oldboy would have won every single international film prize back in 2003. I still think that Parasyte got the 2020 Oscar nod because the jury felt guilty after ignoring Oldboy. Whatever you do, do not watch the Hollywood remake of Oldboy. It's like heresy but in your TV.
Anyway, back to this book: Nenia does the miserable bleakness of existence well, which is why the first half of the book, as well as the entire past timeline is a solid 5 stars of perfection for me. You could probably make a movie out of it. The French have a thing for bleak erotica in their cinematic oevres. Sadly no one else does.
Let me give you the basic plot and vibes:
In 1997, Bethany is 19 and lives in a shitty apartment with her best friend (who she also has sex with) and works a shitty job and has absolutely no prospects of improving either her situation, her career, or her relationships. She is a friendless, socially awkward young woman who prefers to sit at home and watch Anime and Chinese dramas (100% can relate) while not having much to eat and getting anxious about her best friend maybe fancying someone else. She is clingy and needy and depressed. In short, Bethany is at the lower end of the food chain in all senses of the word and she has no ambition to change that. Some people will find this annoying, because Bethany's passivity means that she has no agency either in her life before James, nor after meeting him.
In 1997, James is a depressed vampire trapped in an abusive, co-dependant relationship with his creator. He has no life goals or ambitions toward happiness. When James meets Bethany in a music shop, it's not love at first sight, but rather a slight ripple of interest in a sea of bland inertia. Since James is so bored and so anhedonic, you'd nearly think he might just be devoid of any real drive or passion, yet he isn't. Though sluggish in his response to bait, he does react to Bethany like a shark to fish slush. Maybe possessiveness is his unique drive in life, who knows.
It's a very strange dynamic of two passive, miserable people coming together through their active, driven partners. The entire time, Bethany and James are always offset by Dory (Bethany's lover) and Nick (James' lover), who act like hot and cold air meeting and clashing. It's an incredibly well-done dynamic, even more so when all the cards are played in the end and we see more than just one point of view of the situation at hand. It was fascinating, gorgeous characterization. Everything played neatly into the crafted people: the locations, food, interactions, and even the pop culture references did not seem arbitrary.
I was flying on a high reading it. So of course I had to come crashing down at some point.
SLIGHT SPOILER (you can still read and enjoy after knowing this)
If there is one trope in fiction that I would like to set on fire, it's the Captivity Romance trope. Once a heroine gets kidnapped by the hero and put in a locked room, most books are pretty much over for me. Not because I think kidnapping and captivity are tropes that can't work for me. It's the opposite. I'm the Antoine Ego of Captivity Romance.
Remember that gourmet guy from Ratattouille who said "I LOVE food. What I don't love, I don't swallow."
That's me.
Captivity is a trope that is challenging to pull off, even from just the technical perspective:
• prison life is repetitive and boring
• the prisoner is robbed of agency, putting the focus on monologues and descriptive prose
• captivity is inevitably a lonely state of existence, so the interaction with the captor who is also the romantic interest has to be all the more poignant
• if themes like self-harm and suicide remain unmentioned, it feels weird
• there is usually a tipping point after which it just gets tedious
• the prisoner generally has to be realistically and visibly depressed and not optimistic. If the prisoner was that way before, reflecting the changes without overwriting gets hard
• cold bare rooms with nothing to do aren't sexy unless you have a fetish for humiliation that goes way beyond a simple rape fantasy
• the captor has to be opaque enough to be fascinating but transparent enough for the reader to wrap their head around: the opaqueness is were most writers just fail
My personal opinion about books that dive deep into mid- or longterm captivity as a trope in rape fantasy romance novels is that authors should decide whether they can make up for the pitfalls of the trope or not. Most writers cannot. They write this trope unthinkingly; as if captivity that goes on for longer than a day really were an extension of the popular kidnapping trope. It is not. Prolonged captivity of the main character is either a vehicle for character development or the complete dismemberment of your cool, sexy idea. Readers have to put up with a mopey, desperate person locked into one position which they have no hope of changing. Giving the mopey desperate person horny feelings does not change the main problem of the trope, which is its rigidness. If you hold your main character prisoner, you also hold the audience prisoner, so the pay-off has to be greater than if the reader can expect the main character's next day to be more interesting or at least different than the last.
As a rule of thumb, I avoid captivity romances for that reason. I do not trust any writer to hold my interest for a hundred pages while the main character whose thoughts I am reading about is physically and emotionally hogtied into a pretzel of doom. It's like watching the great show you like for 16 episodes, but three full episodes are just Girl A waiting in a room, monologuing and moping and the only highlights of the episodes are Boy B coming in and saying things of no consequence to her. It's miserable.
Since the book was great overall, the appearance and resolution of the trope did not ruin things beyond repair; but it did soften the heavy blows dealt by the intertwining timelines to a disappointing "oh, so that's how it was".
The prose was truly brilliant at times. When Bethany finds out what James has been up to through nonverbal cues by Dory, I nearly wanted to cry because I read so much overwritten trash. As I said, the locations were used with purpose and so where objects and foodstuffs. I was delighted. Positively shocked. The characters weren't bazillionaires either. And even though the female lead was destitute, James did not lead a much better life in terms of material possessions. That was a fucking departure. i loved that. If I have to read one more billionaire kidnaps the hot destitute street rat storyline I will choke on my evening tea.
I would have really liked to give the whole ride 5 stars; but the chapters of dull prisoner life made that impossible (I also didn't care much for the silly fight with Nick and James' attempt at ... was that supposed to be an apology?? Idk but that's a whole different can of worms).
4 stars I really liked it great job, I will be reading that dark step bro romance even though the guy is rich (ugh)
Initial pre-review:
Reading this book made me anxious
Writing this review is making me anxious too
Maybe I'll get back to it.
The dual timeline was very well done. The writing was good. Some other things weren't so much.
CJ Roberts should be punished for inventing this genre by having to sit in a bland cell without a vibrator and having to read every single dark captivity romance that was published after her shite book.
January 15, 2021
Review to come
Want to read
September 4, 2013Is Nenia writing a new book?
Automatic add to my TBR pile ^^
Now,in another note, why would someone rate 1 star a book that isn't even published ?
I don't get it :X
Want to read
October 14, 2020I have a thing for weird, twisted vampire stories okay
October 9, 2023
4 solid stars
Another great read written by Nenia. I would say though this was more horror than romance and that James was more obsessed or addicted to Bethany than in love with her, but for a vampire/erotic horror novel, this was great. I like the added element that the vampires were mentally stuck in the decade or era that they were turned in. I think it's a unique weakness to their physical strength as vampires or "perfect hunters". It also makes sense why the vampires would turn humans so they could help them blend in. I kind of hated Dory tbh though, I think it's because I've had friends like her in real life lol. Another great read from Nenia, she never disappoints.
I am wondering is if this will be apart of an interconnected series or not as Nenia has this listed as "Villain Gets the Girl, #1". I haven't seen her post anything about it, but Nenia, if you're reading this, is this apart of a series (just curious)?
Another great read written by Nenia. I would say though this was more horror than romance and that James was more obsessed or addicted to Bethany than in love with her, but for a vampire/erotic horror novel, this was great. I like the added element that the vampires were mentally stuck in the decade or era that they were turned in. I think it's a unique weakness to their physical strength as vampires or "perfect hunters". It also makes sense why the vampires would turn humans so they could help them blend in. I kind of hated Dory tbh though, I think it's because I've had friends like her in real life lol. Another great read from Nenia, she never disappoints.
I am wondering is if this will be apart of an interconnected series or not as Nenia has this listed as "Villain Gets the Girl, #1". I haven't seen her post anything about it, but Nenia, if you're reading this, is this apart of a series (just curious)?
August 7, 2024
4 stars
I liked the mystery and the vampire aspect. I liked James, the Vampire. His inability to stay away. The sneaky way he’d interact with her and then make her forget by drinking enough blood so despite the “relationship” they’ve had for over 10 years where he knows her intimately and long term, she doesn’t recall him. Bethany was depressing as f@*k. I wasn’t a super fan but I like that he liked/loved her. I have mixed feelings about Dorey her bestie and surprisingly, I kind of liked Grant- who was a complete assh* but can respect his “cut off the diseased limb” attitude. I liked the relationship he had with James.
I liked the ending.
So liked it but not as much as raise the blood. Recommended for sure.
I liked the mystery and the vampire aspect. I liked James, the Vampire. His inability to stay away. The sneaky way he’d interact with her and then make her forget by drinking enough blood so despite the “relationship” they’ve had for over 10 years where he knows her intimately and long term, she doesn’t recall him. Bethany was depressing as f@*k. I wasn’t a super fan but I like that he liked/loved her. I have mixed feelings about Dorey her bestie and surprisingly, I kind of liked Grant- who was a complete assh* but can respect his “cut off the diseased limb” attitude. I liked the relationship he had with James.
I liked the ending.
So liked it but not as much as raise the blood. Recommended for sure.
August 24, 2024
Although this is a dark romance, for me the most painful thing about it was watching the protagonist struggle with undiagnosed autism. The fact that she was only a year or two older than me (I graduated high school in '97) meant it hit pretty hard.
Anyway, to the readers: if you really connect with Bethany's difficulties connecting with other people, with her desire to hang out with just one or two close friends rather than a group, with her need to go home and recharge after just a few hours at a social event, or with her turning to drugs to self-medicate, go see a psychologist, because you might be neurodivergent.
Anyway, to the readers: if you really connect with Bethany's difficulties connecting with other people, with her desire to hang out with just one or two close friends rather than a group, with her need to go home and recharge after just a few hours at a social event, or with her turning to drugs to self-medicate, go see a psychologist, because you might be neurodivergent.
April 25, 2023
I think this is the most realistic vampire book ive read. It has all the existential dread and moral philosophising that i loved from Anne Rice’s vampires with more smut and cruelty and modern references. Its also from the perspective of the human but the vampires she meets while being seductive are also fucking weird. Like its obvious from the get go there’s something unnatural about them and that theyre caught out of time. The blend of attraction and fear was done masterfully - most books romanticise vampires and this one did too but this one didnt hide from the very real fear and the cruelty. I also really appreciated meeting a depressed vampire - i felt that the nihilism and loneliness would be exactly what eternity would be like.
November 10, 2020
4,5
This was actually good - rather depressing and deep at times, but it was so interesting to see a bit different take on the vampire fiction. And if Gavin from Horrorscape series is number 10 on the obsessed-villain-scale, then James has to be close to number 9. He had the right ratio of good looks, possessiveness and depression. Ahh, yes, perfect.
Bethany was also a curious character to read about, although I'm still not sure
The story itself was rather intriguing and not that predictable. I enjoyed the dual timeline so much, it made me want to keep reading and reading. And all these late 90s/early 00s pop-cultural references were just a cherry on top. It was bringing back so many memories (the cringey MySpace usernames and listening to Lady Gaga and emo bands on iPod? My 15 y.o. self would be like
There were parts where I had chuckled out loud because of some innuendo or small thing that reminded me of how old I am for remembering that and all of a sudden that made me feel very uncomfortable. So yeah, job well done!
This was actually good - rather depressing and deep at times, but it was so interesting to see a bit different take on the vampire fiction. And if Gavin from Horrorscape series is number 10 on the obsessed-villain-scale, then James has to be close to number 9. He had the right ratio of good looks, possessiveness and depression. Ahh, yes, perfect.
Bethany was also a curious character to read about, although I'm still not sure
The story itself was rather intriguing and not that predictable. I enjoyed the dual timeline so much, it made me want to keep reading and reading. And all these late 90s/early 00s pop-cultural references were just a cherry on top. It was bringing back so many memories (the cringey MySpace usernames and listening to Lady Gaga and emo bands on iPod? My 15 y.o. self would be like
There were parts where I had chuckled out loud because of some innuendo or small thing that reminded me of how old I am for remembering that and all of a sudden that made me feel very uncomfortable. So yeah, job well done!
December 12, 2023
Based solely on the Horroscape series and Through a Glass, Darkly, I'll make the generalization that Nenia Campbell's books have a meandering, melancholy quality to them. Her heroines tend to be passive, not because of some underlying societal expectation of femininity, but because of their depressive personalities: learned helplessness mixed with cognitive dissonance in the face of the dark desires the villain awakens in them.
I think it's purely a matter of taste that I don't enjoy the worn down, depressed side of dark fiction as much as the sadomasochistic (which Nenia has plenty of in her work too) and proactive side. Through a Glass, Darkly felt like more of a nostalgic mood piece (as a millennial, I did appreciate this) with less external plot than the Horrorscape series (though it also meandered a bit too long for my liking in places). There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it's something I enjoy in smaller doses.
It might take another reread to be more certain of this, but the book felt less focused than I would have liked as well. It didn't move toward a clear goal or end. And while I found them interesting enough, I didn't get enough information about James and Grant or James's motives until near the end to put either of them on my most compelling villains list.
Still, beautiful writing and character depth count for a lot with me, as does any novel that mixes dark eroticism (and bisexuality that includes FF! Loved it!) and nuanced, attractive villains with an actual story. Nenia Campbell is so far above most authors in my estimation that a so-so book from her still tops the list of the better books I've read in a given year.
That said, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes any of the following: dark melancholic mood pieces, 90s nostalgia, truly dark vampires with some of the existential despair of Anne Rice's creations, well-written smart fiction, gothic fiction, attractive villains who get the girl
I think it's purely a matter of taste that I don't enjoy the worn down, depressed side of dark fiction as much as the sadomasochistic (which Nenia has plenty of in her work too) and proactive side. Through a Glass, Darkly felt like more of a nostalgic mood piece (as a millennial, I did appreciate this) with less external plot than the Horrorscape series (though it also meandered a bit too long for my liking in places). There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it's something I enjoy in smaller doses.
It might take another reread to be more certain of this, but the book felt less focused than I would have liked as well. It didn't move toward a clear goal or end. And while I found them interesting enough, I didn't get enough information about James and Grant or James's motives until near the end to put either of them on my most compelling villains list.
Still, beautiful writing and character depth count for a lot with me, as does any novel that mixes dark eroticism (and bisexuality that includes FF! Loved it!) and nuanced, attractive villains with an actual story. Nenia Campbell is so far above most authors in my estimation that a so-so book from her still tops the list of the better books I've read in a given year.
That said, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes any of the following: dark melancholic mood pieces, 90s nostalgia, truly dark vampires with some of the existential despair of Anne Rice's creations, well-written smart fiction, gothic fiction, attractive villains who get the girl
January 9, 2023
Loved it.
The vampires in this story are NOT redeemable, sparkly repeat-highschoolers. They're vampires in every sense of the word and embody what these creatures of lore actually are - long lived parasites that are physically designed to appeal to their victims to make hunting prey easier.
James feeds from our heroine both physically (her blood) and emotionally (he craves her youth, naivete, her bitterness, her humanity). He's addicted and keeps coming back. He's a monster.
The vampires in this story are NOT redeemable, sparkly repeat-highschoolers. They're vampires in every sense of the word and embody what these creatures of lore actually are - long lived parasites that are physically designed to appeal to their victims to make hunting prey easier.
James feeds from our heroine both physically (her blood) and emotionally (he craves her youth, naivete, her bitterness, her humanity). He's addicted and keeps coming back. He's a monster.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2022
Just how I like my vampires, real, dark and twisted.
October 21, 2023
Moving Gothic Fic
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gothic Fiction but ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Paranormal Romance
“The world isn't fair, and neither am I. I was impatient and wanted you, so I plucked you for my own.”
I love Nenia Campbell's voice as an author. After I read this book, I felt it wasn't romancey enough, but it was a good spooky vampire mystery.
"The world isn't fair, and neither am I. I was impatient and wanted you, so I plucked you for my own.”
👍🏾Obs£ssive MMC vampire
👍🏾Vampires are not glittering
👍🏾MM/FF/MF boomshakala
👍🏾1997 Tubthumping & Depeche Mode references
👍🏾MySpace and Friendster make an appearance
👍🏾headpopping explosions
👍🏾lots of 🩸
👍🏾sucking then sucking
👍🏾engarde used correctly with swords
👍🏾eternal James Dean
This book has a strong meandering sense, a lyricism to the writing that sets the tone as far away, and a mood that brilliantly feels haunting. Yet the biggest issue is that this book isn't necessarily a romance, even though it's billed as one. Even though we have a romance arc, the romance often takes a backseat to the mystery; it is dismantled and forgotten in service of the mystery and spooky vibe, which is a shame.
By the time the story ends, I know so little about James, our MMC, as a romantic partner. He has these fleeting moments of obsession, yet he doesn't know how to quantify or label it. Is it love or just obsession? There is a difference; in a romance book, obsession should be based on love. Love should be the prevailing action spurring on all behaviors. Love is what a romance boils down to.
#vampiretale #mystery
A haunting mystery with a romantic angle is about the mystery; the mystery spurs the actions, and the mystery is how relationships are built. So, I'm both disappointed by this book and enthralled. Going down memory lane into 1997 was nice and beautifully done, and this book got me to enjoy tropes I would never read. However, I did it to see how this romance would evolve, seeing how it didn't. It was at an odd stalemate, with behaviors and actions we don't see on the page, character longing and growth we don't actually see, and an intriguing male main character who we barely get perspective from leaving a longing great narrative choice for a Gothic story horrible for romance.
I do appreciate the author giving us an authentic vampire. It's so rare to get one who is terrifying with the right amount of social mores and fear. There is no glittering here or just basic biology. No, these are apex predators.
#3rdpov #quietsocialanxiousFMC #mysteriousdashingMMC
For me, Dory didn't work as a long-term character in the story to fuel the mystery, which was fine, but anything outside of that hindered our FMC. I find that was the point but Bethany was a walking bowl of insecurity and inertia. Seeing the 2007 version of her is sad because we know she didn't go very far, and the thrilling nature of a vampire story isn't really there. She is still tagged into her sad, sorry little life limping along. Living but not really living. It was a colossal mistake narratively not to give us James's POV with the same equal gusto as Bethany's, and we never truly found out what weird relationship builds we had.
"It's a beautiful night to begin eternity.”
#unethicialnonmonogamy #teensmex The relationship pairings in this book are odd. We have FF (both 19-year-olds in the 1997 timeline), albeit unenthusiastically. We have MM, and we have MF. I typically only read MF books and don't particularly care for FF or MM. However, the FF was represented in a way that provides insight into Bethany as a character. The issue I had was that there was a lack of strength in her convictions. She thought she loved Dory, but as a parallel to James, I wondered if it was a "love" born from her loneliness and desperation or a true love.
Also, I didn't like the smex with other characters once a relationship of something has been established with theains. It makes the obss£ed moniker seem diluted and wrong. James clearly has something with Beth, but the night he is intimate with her, he is having rough smex with Grant. Without his perspective, we have no true way of knowing what is going on with their relationship. We spend so much of the story in the mystery. The question we face as readers is, does James love the FMC in any way, or is she just some oddity in his mundane and unfeeling existence?
#weaksauceeroticism The idea of the smex was better than the actual scenes. I'm so starved for anything to help place this as an emotional romance that the few scant scenes we do get are nice but brief, with choppy writing. I would re-read the scenes in less than a paragraph to understand the lovemaking better.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gothic Fiction but ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Paranormal Romance
“The world isn't fair, and neither am I. I was impatient and wanted you, so I plucked you for my own.”
I love Nenia Campbell's voice as an author. After I read this book, I felt it wasn't romancey enough, but it was a good spooky vampire mystery.
"The world isn't fair, and neither am I. I was impatient and wanted you, so I plucked you for my own.”
👍🏾Obs£ssive MMC vampire
👍🏾Vampires are not glittering
👍🏾MM/FF/MF boomshakala
👍🏾1997 Tubthumping & Depeche Mode references
👍🏾MySpace and Friendster make an appearance
👍🏾headpopping explosions
👍🏾lots of 🩸
👍🏾sucking then sucking
👍🏾engarde used correctly with swords
👍🏾eternal James Dean
This book has a strong meandering sense, a lyricism to the writing that sets the tone as far away, and a mood that brilliantly feels haunting. Yet the biggest issue is that this book isn't necessarily a romance, even though it's billed as one. Even though we have a romance arc, the romance often takes a backseat to the mystery; it is dismantled and forgotten in service of the mystery and spooky vibe, which is a shame.
By the time the story ends, I know so little about James, our MMC, as a romantic partner. He has these fleeting moments of obsession, yet he doesn't know how to quantify or label it. Is it love or just obsession? There is a difference; in a romance book, obsession should be based on love. Love should be the prevailing action spurring on all behaviors. Love is what a romance boils down to.
#vampiretale #mystery
A haunting mystery with a romantic angle is about the mystery; the mystery spurs the actions, and the mystery is how relationships are built. So, I'm both disappointed by this book and enthralled. Going down memory lane into 1997 was nice and beautifully done, and this book got me to enjoy tropes I would never read. However, I did it to see how this romance would evolve, seeing how it didn't. It was at an odd stalemate, with behaviors and actions we don't see on the page, character longing and growth we don't actually see, and an intriguing male main character who we barely get perspective from leaving a longing great narrative choice for a Gothic story horrible for romance.
I do appreciate the author giving us an authentic vampire. It's so rare to get one who is terrifying with the right amount of social mores and fear. There is no glittering here or just basic biology. No, these are apex predators.
#3rdpov #quietsocialanxiousFMC #mysteriousdashingMMC
For me, Dory didn't work as a long-term character in the story to fuel the mystery, which was fine, but anything outside of that hindered our FMC. I find that was the point but Bethany was a walking bowl of insecurity and inertia. Seeing the 2007 version of her is sad because we know she didn't go very far, and the thrilling nature of a vampire story isn't really there. She is still tagged into her sad, sorry little life limping along. Living but not really living. It was a colossal mistake narratively not to give us James's POV with the same equal gusto as Bethany's, and we never truly found out what weird relationship builds we had.
"It's a beautiful night to begin eternity.”
#unethicialnonmonogamy #teensmex The relationship pairings in this book are odd. We have FF (both 19-year-olds in the 1997 timeline), albeit unenthusiastically. We have MM, and we have MF. I typically only read MF books and don't particularly care for FF or MM. However, the FF was represented in a way that provides insight into Bethany as a character. The issue I had was that there was a lack of strength in her convictions. She thought she loved Dory, but as a parallel to James, I wondered if it was a "love" born from her loneliness and desperation or a true love.
Also, I didn't like the smex with other characters once a relationship of something has been established with theains. It makes the obss£ed moniker seem diluted and wrong. James clearly has something with Beth, but the night he is intimate with her, he is having rough smex with Grant. Without his perspective, we have no true way of knowing what is going on with their relationship. We spend so much of the story in the mystery. The question we face as readers is, does James love the FMC in any way, or is she just some oddity in his mundane and unfeeling existence?
#weaksauceeroticism The idea of the smex was better than the actual scenes. I'm so starved for anything to help place this as an emotional romance that the few scant scenes we do get are nice but brief, with choppy writing. I would re-read the scenes in less than a paragraph to understand the lovemaking better.
December 1, 2020
3.5/5 but that half a star is heavily contested in my mind, hence the 4 label.
I loved a lot of things about this book! The TWs are not to be taken lightly; the material was incredibly dark at times but always dealt with respectfully and not glorified the way I think a lot of other authors may have been tempted to do. I personally feel like I've learned from experiencing this book; some of the TWs are personal fears for me, but I think it's healthy to experience them through fiction. Campbell painted us a very real picture of Bethany and James' conflicted emotions throughout, and her writing style is excellent, her words lovingly chosen and the narrative a finely-honed point. Additionally, the supporting cast was colorful and lovely, right down to the once-or-twice characters we see only in flashes. I liked the small references that really brought the setting to life; references to real places and real games that were hot in the time periods let me sink into the narrative.
For me, the book began around page 70 (in the Kindle edition) when Bethany and her coworkers went to Sayonara. I feel this book could have benefitted from showing us that version of the main character right from the get-go, as a lot of my issues with the book stemmed from how utterly unlikeable Bethany was in the beginning, with very little to root for or justify how cruel she was to the people around her. And to me, I don't know if that was ever totally redeemed. A case is present to defend her as being 19 and angsty, and I concede she has a lot to be angsty about, but for me, I found it a chore to read through - but read through I did, because I was sure Campbell would pay us off eventually! I found myself wishing, up until the Sayonara scene, that Dory was the main character or perhaps even James himself. It was difficult to put up with the angst without the reward that came, for me, much too late.
I was also surprised the book ended where it did! I thought the ending was absolutely perfect, right where it had all started for them. It was very poetic, and I thought their interaction was genuine and heart-tugging. My surprise came from feeling as if we hadn't been given any moments where they really reconciled much of anything. All James gave her was his words - and, admittedly, swooping in at a critical moment, although she doesn't really remember it happening, so to me it counted a bit less - and it would've been so meaningful to see him be tender with her in a final love scene to really give the readers the concrete image of James as a man redeemed, a man who wanted to change for her.
All in all, an incredible read that really bends what we see from the mainstream genre at large. The scenes were hot, the drama was intense and progressed at break-neck, page-turning pace, and by the end, I was surprised at how deeply immersed I'd become! Dory was such a stand-out for me. I found myself wanting more and more of her story, so I'm crossing my fingers Campbell has big plans for her. I'm so glad I picked up this book, and I'll definitely be waiting with patience for the next installments to the series. Thank you to Campbell for writing!
I loved a lot of things about this book! The TWs are not to be taken lightly; the material was incredibly dark at times but always dealt with respectfully and not glorified the way I think a lot of other authors may have been tempted to do. I personally feel like I've learned from experiencing this book; some of the TWs are personal fears for me, but I think it's healthy to experience them through fiction. Campbell painted us a very real picture of Bethany and James' conflicted emotions throughout, and her writing style is excellent, her words lovingly chosen and the narrative a finely-honed point. Additionally, the supporting cast was colorful and lovely, right down to the once-or-twice characters we see only in flashes. I liked the small references that really brought the setting to life; references to real places and real games that were hot in the time periods let me sink into the narrative.
For me, the book began around page 70 (in the Kindle edition) when Bethany and her coworkers went to Sayonara. I feel this book could have benefitted from showing us that version of the main character right from the get-go, as a lot of my issues with the book stemmed from how utterly unlikeable Bethany was in the beginning, with very little to root for or justify how cruel she was to the people around her. And to me, I don't know if that was ever totally redeemed. A case is present to defend her as being 19 and angsty, and I concede she has a lot to be angsty about, but for me, I found it a chore to read through - but read through I did, because I was sure Campbell would pay us off eventually! I found myself wishing, up until the Sayonara scene, that Dory was the main character or perhaps even James himself. It was difficult to put up with the angst without the reward that came, for me, much too late.
I was also surprised the book ended where it did! I thought the ending was absolutely perfect, right where it had all started for them. It was very poetic, and I thought their interaction was genuine and heart-tugging. My surprise came from feeling as if we hadn't been given any moments where they really reconciled much of anything. All James gave her was his words - and, admittedly, swooping in at a critical moment, although she doesn't really remember it happening, so to me it counted a bit less - and it would've been so meaningful to see him be tender with her in a final love scene to really give the readers the concrete image of James as a man redeemed, a man who wanted to change for her.
All in all, an incredible read that really bends what we see from the mainstream genre at large. The scenes were hot, the drama was intense and progressed at break-neck, page-turning pace, and by the end, I was surprised at how deeply immersed I'd become! Dory was such a stand-out for me. I found myself wanting more and more of her story, so I'm crossing my fingers Campbell has big plans for her. I'm so glad I picked up this book, and I'll definitely be waiting with patience for the next installments to the series. Thank you to Campbell for writing!
February 5, 2023
Through a Glass Darkly was thoroughly enjoyable. I went through a period back in the late nineties/early 2000’s, where all I read were vampire novels. It was just before the vampire became an insanely popular literary figure, and I had to scour the used book stores for mostly obscure novels. Half the fun was finding something reasonably original. This story has the retro feel of one of my better finds. It didn’t really work for me as a romance although the villain does get the girl; but it did work as an entertaining and original vampire tale.
The story starts in 1997 with 19-year-old Bethany Davis eking out an existence after having been booted out by her Churchy parents because they caught her with her girl - her classmate Midori Tanaka, who she now shares a studio apartment with as besties with benefits. Introverted, slightly agoraphobic Beth would totally be into a relationship with Dory; but Dory is a free spirit and doesn’t do monogamy. Truth be told Dory even finds Beth to be a bit needy and clingy at times.
Into Dusty records and their lives come the vampire boys. Although "boys" is probably a poor description. They identify as being 35, but blond-haired, green-eyed Grant, who sets his sights on Dory is a 15th century feudal Baron. "600 years old and bitter and broken and unable to adapt to modern times". And a real sexist asshole as one would imagine. His…friend? Companion? Also, bestie with benefits 55-year-old James gives off young Marlon Brando vibes, dark hair, curls falling over his eye, leather jacket and an aura of jaded apathy. James is attracted to Bethany’s ennui. Grant tells him that he sees a bit of himself in her, “a lost little street rat love starved and sharp tongued”.
The events of 1997 have a lasting impact on Bethany’s life. They take Dory from her as well as her memories. Over the next 10 years, 5 of them are plagued by fugue states, memory lapses and weird longings. James can’t stay away, but he also can’t be present. These vampires don’t have to kill, but sometimes they do because…why not? Bethany falls for James every single time. She’s sees in him a hint of vulnerability, loneliness and sadness that resonates with her own inner turmoil. But then VAMPIRE and that’s a lot for a gal to wrap her head around. The reason this didn’t work for me as a romance is I didn’t feel a deepening connection between Beth and James. Their relationship felt like a cross between Ground Hog Day and Fifty First Dates.
However, there is a connection. A decade passes. Bethany grows up, gets a decent job, becomes self-sufficient, tries to establish some degree of social connection with peers while dealing with the disappearance of her friend and her half-forgotten memories and longings for some rough sex of questionable consent which leave her wondering just what the hell is wrong with her. And as the tale unravels, the Villain gets the girl.
The story starts in 1997 with 19-year-old Bethany Davis eking out an existence after having been booted out by her Churchy parents because they caught her with her girl - her classmate Midori Tanaka, who she now shares a studio apartment with as besties with benefits. Introverted, slightly agoraphobic Beth would totally be into a relationship with Dory; but Dory is a free spirit and doesn’t do monogamy. Truth be told Dory even finds Beth to be a bit needy and clingy at times.
Into Dusty records and their lives come the vampire boys. Although "boys" is probably a poor description. They identify as being 35, but blond-haired, green-eyed Grant, who sets his sights on Dory is a 15th century feudal Baron. "600 years old and bitter and broken and unable to adapt to modern times". And a real sexist asshole as one would imagine. His…friend? Companion? Also, bestie with benefits 55-year-old James gives off young Marlon Brando vibes, dark hair, curls falling over his eye, leather jacket and an aura of jaded apathy. James is attracted to Bethany’s ennui. Grant tells him that he sees a bit of himself in her, “a lost little street rat love starved and sharp tongued”.
The events of 1997 have a lasting impact on Bethany’s life. They take Dory from her as well as her memories. Over the next 10 years, 5 of them are plagued by fugue states, memory lapses and weird longings. James can’t stay away, but he also can’t be present. These vampires don’t have to kill, but sometimes they do because…why not? Bethany falls for James every single time. She’s sees in him a hint of vulnerability, loneliness and sadness that resonates with her own inner turmoil. But then VAMPIRE and that’s a lot for a gal to wrap her head around. The reason this didn’t work for me as a romance is I didn’t feel a deepening connection between Beth and James. Their relationship felt like a cross between Ground Hog Day and Fifty First Dates.
However, there is a connection. A decade passes. Bethany grows up, gets a decent job, becomes self-sufficient, tries to establish some degree of social connection with peers while dealing with the disappearance of her friend and her half-forgotten memories and longings for some rough sex of questionable consent which leave her wondering just what the hell is wrong with her. And as the tale unravels, the Villain gets the girl.
June 7, 2021
This book was all kinds of intense. It is told in a split narrative, bouncing back and forth between two time periods, allowing the reader to slowly piece together what is going on with our main character, Bethany. This book has an interesting cast of characters and plenty of dark intrigue. I was tense, on the edge of my seat going through this book. I felt much of the anxiety and fear that Bethany was experiencing throughout. It is decently paced and leads to an ultimately satisfying conclusion. I will warn, this book may not be for the faint of heart as there are some very potentially triggering things that occur. However, if you like dark, chills and thrills, with some steaminess nestled in between, this will be a fun read for you.
January 24, 2021
An unexpected story
This story had me caught. Very well written. Fresh modem take on vampires. I love how Grant is very much a product of his time. There are grammar errors and some words are not spelled correctly. Some words are completely missing. LOTS of triggers - but still a great story
This story had me caught. Very well written. Fresh modem take on vampires. I love how Grant is very much a product of his time. There are grammar errors and some words are not spelled correctly. Some words are completely missing. LOTS of triggers - but still a great story
January 31, 2021
Depressed soulmates ft. deadly dates at the pier, nygmobblepot style
I love so much reading about characters falling in love again and again thanks to memory loss (and/or time travel) and that's basically what we got here... But with a twist.
Also, I know James doesn't like sharing, but he will just have to share this huge piece of my heart with Gavin.
I love so much reading about characters falling in love again and again thanks to memory loss (and/or time travel) and that's basically what we got here... But with a twist.
Also, I know James doesn't like sharing, but he will just have to share this huge piece of my heart with Gavin.
December 28, 2020
Got to love a vampire that doesn't sparkle.
I wonder, will the others in this series be stand alones or all following this story line?
I wonder, will the others in this series be stand alones or all following this story line?
January 13, 2021
James, darling. I would give you all my arteries every day of the week, you bastard.
Also, this book is so underrated.
Also, this book is so underrated.
January 21, 2023
Loved this book must read for dark romance lovers
March 18, 2022
3.5 stars
I didn't particularly like either of the MCs in this one. James was horrible for obvious reasons and Bethany was so miserable, but there was something about them together. They had this captivating relationship, and it was interesting to see how they were both depressed and found some hope in each other. It was a bit slow and dark in a mopey way. I don't think I'd re-read it, but it was fine while it lasted.
I didn't particularly like either of the MCs in this one. James was horrible for obvious reasons and Bethany was so miserable, but there was something about them together. They had this captivating relationship, and it was interesting to see how they were both depressed and found some hope in each other. It was a bit slow and dark in a mopey way. I don't think I'd re-read it, but it was fine while it lasted.
October 11, 2021
loved it. loved it so fucking much. i need the next book NOW nenia.
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