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If you missed my last KU article on Sacrificed, you can find it here. If you missed my previous Shadow City article, you can find it here.
Hi everyone. I am back with another Kindle Unlimited trilogy for you. Like the Shadow City Silver Wolf Trilogy, these books were very much one story, three books long. If you read them, you will see what I mean. Also, the author has said each trilogy is a stand-alone trilogy, but I find that you definitely should read them in order as they (the characters) reference the trilogy before it often. This is one of my spicy novels. The three books that are in the Royal Vampire trilogy are Cursed Mate, Shadow Bitten, and Demon Blood.
In the Royal Vampire Trilogy, we get to see Sterlyn (silver wolf), Griffin (alpha of Shadow City wolves), Killian (alpha of Shadow Ridge wolves), Sierra (wolf), and Rosemary (angel) again. This one follows Veronica, or Ronnie, to her friends, who goes to Shadow Terrace in search of her sister Annie to wrest her from her abusive boyfriend and bring her home. Along with the above-mentioned recurring characters, we also see more of the Council in Shadow City. It occurs to me that in my last Shadow City article, I was remiss in explaining both the Council and the history of the city and towns connected to the stories. I will correct my mistake.
Shadow City was built for the purpose of the supernaturals would have a safe haven to go to, free of humans, and they could be themselves. Shadow City housed shifters of all kinds (there are wolves, bears, birds, and more in these books), vampires, witches, and angels. It was open to the fae and their kind, but they stay mainly in the Fae Realm, and there are none in Shadow City. The angels saw what Shadow City was turning into and took over. They only let the most powerful of each race in. One day Ophaniel mated with a wolf shifter, and the resulting children were what are called silver wolves. Silver wolves are part wolf, part angel, and part human. They became the protectors of the city.
A council was formed with three representatives from each group as council members. Three angels, vampires, witches, and shifters, so twelve in all. As I said earlier, there are a number of shifter flavors, so trying to have three of each shifter group would make the Council huge, and since the silver wolves have everyone’s best interest in mind, they were elected the shifter representatives. This was only to give appearances that they had a voice.
I previously said the angels took over Shadow City. The silver wolves helped everyone band together and defeat the angels and make the city equal again. Azbogah, at this time, decided that the silver wolves were an abomination and needed to die. Azbogah had Ophaniel killed, and the silver wolves left to save themselves. After they left, the city was closed and stayed that way for centuries. In the Silver Wolves Trilogy, the council only let a select few people out of the city. At the beginning of Royal Vampire Trilogy, the Council was made up of Griffin, Sterlyn, and Ezra as the shifter representatives, Azbogah (yes, the same one that had Ophaniel killed), Yelahiah (Ophaniel’s sister), and her husband Pahaliah for the angels, Breena, Diana, and Erin for the witches, and Matthew (king of the vampires), his brother the spare, Alex, and their sister Gwen. Ok. I think I got you up to speed on this.
When the city closed, there was no protection for it, so one side was built, and the wolves protected it. This side is called Shadow Ridge. They allow supernaturals of all kinds in their town. On the other is Shadow Terrace, and the vampires protect that side. They don’t allow anyone but vampires and humans in the town. They have the added job of funneling blood into Shadow City, I promise I will explain that more later. There was a university built on the Shadow Ridge side for supernaturals and only supernaturals. They let humans apply but never let them in. It was built in Shadow Ridge because they let everyone in. I am not sure which came first, Shadow City kind of opening or Shadow Ridge University being built.
On to the actual books. Ronnie goes after her sister Annie in Shadow Terrace. Ronnie thinks the “boyfriend” Annie is gaga over is abusive but human. She finds the bar Annie should be at and is accosted outside but is saved by Alex. When she goes in, she finds Annie, but Annie won’t leave with her and barely acknowledges her. Ultimately Ronnie leaves and checks into a hotel room (in Shadow Terrace), where she is again attacked and saved by Alex. Alex takes her to Griffin and Sterlyn in Shadow Ridge for safekeeping. Sterlyn promises to help Ronnie find her sister, which ropes Griffin and Killian into helping, which brings Sierra and Rosemary into the mix.
I should take a minute and explain Annie and Ronnie. They are not sisters by blood. Ronnie and Annie are foster kids to Eliza, and that makes them foster sisters. Annie went into Eliza’s care as an infant, Ronnie, when she was fourteen. Because of her time as a kid in the foster system, she has a hard time connecting with people. She tends to keep them at arm’s length, even Eliza and Annie, even though she loves them to pieces. For some reason, Ronnie is drawn to Sterlyn and Rosemary in a family way which for her is weird. She is drawn to Alex for a completely different reason.
Remember I told you that part of the job of Shadow Terrace is to funnel blood into Shadow City? They allow tourists into Shadow Terrance so they can draw blood from humans for vampire consumption so they don’t “drink from the tap.” In this world, vampires can walk in the sun if their humanity is intact. The less humanity they have, the less they feel emotionally and the less they can stand the light. No, they are not sparkly like Twilight vampires. What takes their humanity is drinking from humans unless it is your soulmate and deliberately causing harm to humans. Maybe others too, but I am not sure. They don’t drink supernatural, though. Come to find out, the vamps of Shadow Terrace decided humans were a good, hot meal. Well, some, but not all. Annie was one such snack.
Ronnie was in for a fight. She needed to find Annie, wrest her away from a mind-controlling vampire, get her own weird attraction to Alex under control, cut off what feels like family with Sterlyn and Rosemary, and get home to Eliza. We all know what needs to happen, rarely goes how we want it to. That rule applies here.
I really need to say this. This author loves the word waft. I am not against reusing words but damn! She uses it exclusively. There are words like floated, whispered, and drifted that can be used for variety. There are more, so it seems a little lazy. Another lazy thing I see is they all have the same voice. Everyone speaks the same way. Think about the way you and your friends chat when you are all together. Men and women speak differently (there are only men and women represented in these books), and women sound different from each other. Shy or traumatized people talk differently than extroverts. A three-hundred-year-old vampire would certainly speak differently than a modern woman, especially one that has been holed up in a city that has been closed for centuries. I doubt he would call his mate baby.
The story itself keeps me reading. So much so that I already started on the next one, the Demon Wolf Trilogy. This one isn’t as action-oriented as the last. There is still some action but not to the same level as the Silver Wolf Trilogy. This one is a bit more political and has more hidden agendas. There is a good amount of spice, though. Ronnie and Alex are so sweet. According to Alex, only he is allowed to call Ronnie Veronica, and he gets upset when other people do. He even snapped at his brother, who is his king, when Matthew called Ronnie Veronica. It was cute.
I recommend the series if you can get beyond the points I have made. I like the story, but think the writer needs a little more experience. What are your thoughts? Would you support a writer who writes a good story but needs a little more polish? Let me know your thoughts below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
