Shadow Bound Darkfell Vampire Clan Book#2
Vampire Romance, Fantasy Horror,Drgons and Mythical Creatures
Fools Journey Press
Nov 30, 2021
Kindle
358
Amazon
Review By S.C. Principale
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
L.A. McGinnis entraps and entertains in this Shadow Bound, the second book of the Darkfell Vampire Clan series. Pages fairly boil with steamy scenes, Seraphina is a strong, complex heroine who dances on a taut wire between destruction and power, and there are still moments where I laughed out loud. For example, “Everybody knew mortal enemies didn’t speak to each other. Especially when one of them was buried in a book.”
This is the second book in the series and full warning, it doesn’t read well as a standalone. I was fortunate enough to read in order, so I was already enraptured with the story of Serpahina, a med-student turned Vampire Queen, and her two handsome protector-constorts, Luthor and Cyrus. Late in book one, Deston, a cousin of Cyrus’ is introduced as a peripheral character who will prove useful in fighting Viktor, only to immediately have his loyalty called into question when he betrays Seraphina to Viktor, the current Vampire King.
Seraphina needs every trick in the book to master the power her bloodline confers and that her mates have shared. She has to become strong enough to battle and slay Viktor, a Vampire King of Carpathian lineage. He’s evil and he’s slaughtered endless members of Seraphina’s family. Reluctantly believing Deston’s story and motive for his betrayal, she adds Deston to her entourage, as he’s now an insider in Viktor’s court.
Deston leads a life of a double-agent, advising and training Seraphina and spying on Viktro. There’s a continuous hatred, snark, and sexual tension roiling between these two, which might be unappealing to someone who isn’t a fan of RH, especially since Seraphina added a second lover in the last book. I immediately started wondering if Deston would be added as a third in this one. It turns out, Deston also has a mating instinct and is head over heels in love with Seraphina, but he hides it under an armor of disdain and arrogance.
Problem? Indeed. Sera, Luthor, and Cyrus formed a very solid, loving pact. Deston makes it clear during his sections in the book that he’ll never share his mate, once he gets her. If he gets her.
Sera is mystified when Deston touches her and she feels a deep connection to him, something she’s never felt before. So, in addition to all of the other drama and intrigue in this very busy story, we add the “fated mates” trope.
The middle of the book becomes intense as we uncover dark secrets that Deston and Sera share, revolving around the ancient past and Viktor’s power. Viktor did NOT kill the last Queen, Lyra. He has her in vampiric stasis, using her husk of a body (still alive in vampire terms) to feed his power. As Sera tries to figure out if she can save her lost relative and Deston argues she must be killed and “set free”, other players emerge. Vampires from new clans are introduced in a new stream of characters, each adding a little bit to vampiric history and introducing us to terms like soul bond and mating bond.
Will Sera mate with Deston, whom she’s come to care for (and whom she wants to control)? Or will she lose him to Queen Katarina of Romania, one of the original vampires who walked the earth, who has a soul bond with Deston?
After a very tangled and meandering middle, all hell breaks loose when Katarina and Seraphina do battle for Deston’s free will and ultimately Seraphina’s life. Will Deston sacrifice himself to save the woman he loves and the kingdom he believes in, righting the wrongs of his past?
And if that’s the choice he makes… will Seraphina be able to save him in the conclusion of the trilogy, while still keeping her previous bonds alive?
Overall, a thrilling, steamy tale, riddled with side plots and deftly woven layers. If you’ve got a nimble mind and a fierce libido, you’ll love this tale! But be warned, it does not end neatly here. You’ll HAVE to have the third book ready or you’ll regret it!
