TITLE: ⟫ Red On His Lips
AUTHOR: ⟫ J. Tomala
SERIES: ⟫ Blood on his Lips #1
RATING: ⟫ 3/5
BLURB: ⟫ “So, are you a witch?”
“It depends,” Lars said, leaning just that little bit closer.
Valerian had thought the boy was timid, afraid even, but that wasn’t the case at all. Or maybe Valerian had lost his edge over the last fifty years and didn’t look scary anymore.
“On what?”
“Do you need a witch?” Lars asked pointedly, stressing the you.
The last things Valerian expected to see on the random inspection of his brothel was a wild, pretty thing with blood on his lips. And for some reason, he can’t look away from the boy or leave him there.
The solution to this is to take him home, give him a job, and call him into his parlor every night, pretending he’s only there to elevate Valerian’s boredom. They say the boy is a witch, and when Valerian looks at him in the candlelight, he believes it. How else could he explain his impulsive behavior? His growing attachment to Lars, the feelings blooming in his chest?
Lars should hate Valerian Wilk, after all he’s ended up in the vampire’s brothel, because his stepfather owed him money. But as soon as Valerian Wilk walks into the room, something inside him awakes, tells him to get closer to the man. Mouthing off to the owner of the brothel pays off for him. He’s bundled up and taken to Wilk’s townhouse to be his gardener, but that’s not all he does. Every evening, he sits with Lord Wilk in the parlor and talks to him. Soon he starts looking forward to these hours when they can be alone, and his feelings for the handsome vampire grow and deepen.
But Lars is a mortal witch and Lord Wilk a powerful immortal vampire. Would he even want someone like Lars at his side and in his bed?
This is the first book in the ‘Blood on his lips’ series, but can be read as a standalone title.
REVIEW: ⟫ There was a lot to enjoy about this book – the vampire lore was very interesting and well done. However, as my first read from this author, it just didn’t grab me. There were time jumps – to allow for one of the male reads to age up appropriately – but apart from maybe a character making mention of months or years passing, there was little indication that any time had passed. The relationship between Valerian and Lars was very insta-love but not in a passionate way. It’s difficult to describe and maybe that’s my problem – there seemed to be no reason why they fell for each other. We never find out if part of Valerian’s attraction to Lars is because of his witch blood; the fight against bad vampires was short, didn’t feel particularly clear and was anticlimatic. I wanted to enjoy this more than I did which is a shame because I can’t see myself reaching for book two. Obviously YMMV but this one didn’t work for me at all.
Book-Endz 