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4.5
(RabidReads.Com)4.5/5 stars.I am slowly making my way through this series. Not slowly because I don’t like them, but just that everyday life and other books get in the way. This is a series that I intend to finish, and that’s because each installment gets better and better as you go.The previous book, Rajmund, took us away from the core main characters of Cyn and Raphael, using them only as peripheral characters. With this book, even though it’s named Sophia, Cyn and Raphael are pretty much front and center again, although the synopsis doesn’t mention them. Sophia has a place in this book, but it’s Cyn and Raphael that stood out, as usual for me. The viewpoints jump back and forth, but show more of the core couple, than of Sophia.Raphael is probably one of the most powerful vampires in the world. He controls most of the western and northwestern part of the United States. Cyn is his mate, but she is also a private investigator in her own right, and a strong, competent woman. Sophia is new to the series. She is called back to her sire, Lucien’s, home in Canada. It’s a mystery, and Lucien is nowhere to be found, but he has left her a letter. Lucien has unwittingly started a chain of events that spills over into Raphael’s territory, one that kills vampires that belong to Raphael, as well as ones that belong to Lucien. To that end, Sophia travels into Raphael’s territory near Seattle. Raphael is there because of the murders of his people, and he is ready to take down whoever caused this tragedy. Former Navy Seal, Colin, is introduced into the story due to his proximity to the murders and his knowledge of the area where they happened. When Sophia sees Colin at Raphael’s compound, she is stunned to see her former lover from ten years ago. On Colin’s part, he is also stunned because he had thought Sophia dead all these years and had mourned her for a long time. Cyn and Colin, along with Cyn’s bodyguard, Robbie, start investigating the murders, while the vampires sleep during the day.Sophia is the strongest of Lucien’s “children” and she has spent many years living in Central and South America doing pretty much of nothing other than pursuing her own pleasures. I loved that she is not stick thin, but more curvy. Such a change for a female vampire! She’s very sensual, and is also filled with trepidation of being called upon to lead Canada’s vampires, if Lucien were to die. Colin as a former Seal is human, smart, strong, extremely brave, and pretty much has never gotten over Sophia. Nor did he know she was a vampire.There’s so much more to the story than what I have touched on. It has easily one of the most exciting action scenes, that I have ever read, and that’s saying a lot. There’s more of that wonderful world building, as usual. The lives and politics of Reynolds’s vampires are extremely well imagined and shown. In her world, vampires are known about and just barely tolerated in most instances by humans. Human’s can’t comprehend the extent of the power Raphael wields. And especially not about a female like Sophia. She might not be as strong as Raphael, but she is still very powerful.Action, sensual romance, well realized characters, and an intricate premise and story made this a wonderful, at times edge of my seat, read. I can pretty much guarantee that when you get to around the fifty percent range of this book, you will not be able to put this book down. I sat up and read it all night and enjoyed every minute.Great adult read and highly recommended.
