RELEASE DAY REVIEW: Red Queen – Harper A. Brooks

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The Red Queen will rise again…

Vampire queen Eleanna Cordon didn’t go gently into the good night when her enemies attacked her castle and stole her throne. Instead, she escaped with only her undead life and a heart that, when it did beat, thrummed for raging, violent revenge.

Reclaiming her rightful place requires more than sheer will. It demands a risky alliance with the one man she vowed never to turn to—her ex-lover and the leader of a rival vampire kingdom, Alexandru Amanar. Despite their sordid past, he’s the only one who’s ever been able to give her what she needs. In more ways than one.

But can she trust him?

Their shared history is painted with bloodshed, betrayal, and unrestrained passion, but what the queen wants, she always gets… whether that means staking her enemies or having one of them in her bed.

Vampire Queen Eleanna Cordon is about to take the throne when she proclaims that they will go back to the old ways, bloodletting and humans no more than cattle. It was that thought that kept General Alexandru Anzanar from marrying her. They were betrothed but he couldn’t accept the fact that she would follow in her father’s footsteps, a father who was a tyrant.

While she is addressing everyone an old enemy, Catarina came barging in wanting the throne and Eleanna dead. Bodies and blood littered the floor and with the help of her maidservant Nadia she was able to put on servant’s clothes and escape. She knew that the only hope for her to reclaim her castle and throne was with the help of Alexandru, so she headed to his fortress.

When Alexandru saw her, knowing that she needed his help, he insisted on two things, one she would share his bed and that when they succeeded in the war against Catarina, he would rule with her. With no other choice she agreed while planning on breaking the rules.

The one rule she couldn’t break was sharing his bed.

Alexandru was using submission and compromise in pushing Eleanna into changing her mind about the bloodletting. This reminded me of the movie “Taming of the Shrew”, but would he be successful. He pushes all her buttons, and she goes along because she needs him, or she has no chance of reclaiming her throne.

Catarina is a tyrant and has a huge army behind her. She also has a talisman, a heart bound by black magic making her unable to be killed and giving her enormous power. The first order of business was finding a way to destroy the talisman which would take a visit to a witch. Apparently, the spell would require ingredients that are nearly impossible to find but find them they must.

When Catarina’s soldier’s attack they appear to be unlimited, the more they kill the more there are. Eleanna wants to just attack but Alexandru knows that planning is the only sure way of coming out alive.

It was interesting reading how Alexandru worked at trying to change Eleanna, it was done with a lot of sex in which he demanded obedience, and she gave in willingly. The sex was hot, and the preparations for the war against Catarina were suspenseful.

This was a wonderful story that kept me hooked from start to finish. I highly recommend it.