I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Smolder
erotica, paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by Berkley on March 21, 2023 and has 381 pages.
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Twenty-ninth in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter erotica paranormal fantasy series set in St Louis. The focus is on most everyone’s issues.
My Take
Okay, okay, it starts great with poor Edward in a black leather tailcoat, lol. Talk about bridesmaid revenge! It’s a stretch to think of “Ted” as looking delicate. Peter claims the females at his martial arts class thinks he has the hottest dad *more laughter*. Yep, we know all about how Anita feels (about Ted’s best man get-up and everything else) as Hamilton uses first person protagonist point-of-view from her perspective.
That segue into Anita’s phone conversation with her dad . . . oh, man. It’s a conversation that makes her realize why she’d isolated herself for so long. And I hate to say it, but it was a good idea. I am REALLY curious if we’ll be meeting Grandma.
Asher is working on his issues, but it’s a slow-go, although Edward has an interesting point about Kane. Peter has issues about scars as well. As for Richard and his issues . . . there is not world enough or time to get into those! He’s has ticked off too many of Anita’s and Jean-Claude’s people. Retreated too often for any one to believe in him, and Richard is beginning to realize he may be too late. No one, especially Anita, is trusting that he’ll be able to maintain his new self.
The scary bit is that Jean-Claude and Anita need their third to cement themselves as a solid triumvirate. And, yep, Anita has a lot of her own issues and has created problems for them all because of them.
It cracked me up when Anita realizes she’s “getting married to someone who thought a wedding started at opulent and went up from there”. Then Deimos claims that Anita is “the greatest necromancer in over three thousand years . . .” Curiouser and curiouser.
Wow. Just. Wow. Dolph has sure changed his tune! He’s not very happy with the sneak “attack” McKinnon pulls on Anita. That’s not the worst of it either. Seems the US government is researching ways to harm its citizens. And that’s just the start of the psychic attacks!
Code words. It’s danged sad that Anita and her people need code words.
There are a few back history “lessons” about the old vampire council, about the evolution of vampirism, about Richard(!) and that reveal he makes on the truth about government safe houses to his bosses.
I do like that Anita is never the “maiden in distress”. She’ll save herself, and Richard still has a hard time grasping that concept.
More problems are the gossip rags who ramp up everything, and when you’re in a polyamory group, well, those rags go viral. The Harlequin are ticked at not being the elite and are pushing at the other shifters, partly because they want to know where they rank amongst the other guards.
Ohh, I love how far Nathaniel has come, how valued he is.
One of the minor issues is Ru and Rodina having to find lives of their own. These two have lived for thousands of years and they’re only now having this chance, and it’s scaring the hell out of them, feeling as though they’re losing each other, being disloyal to each other. Rodina scares the pants off me. She hates Anita. She hates her loss of power. She wants to hurt people again.
Interesting therapy point, that you have to accept yourself warts and all to be whole. Although, it’s also noted that therapy helps you work your issues but it doesn’t “fix” you.
Poor Graham! He’s been wanting in Anita’s pants for so long, and he finally has, something, of a chance — and he’s hesitating!
The story is actually a bit slow with all this concentration on everyone’s issues. Sure we get some action — those Sunshine Murders are nasty. As for the threats against Jean-Claude’s and Anita’s people, that’s rather every day. I think they have more to worry about inside their own group and the wedding planning.
It’s a terrifying thing, that being considerate of others could get you killed . . . And Deimos is very much a threat.
The Story
It’s the Sunshine Murders and those behind it who want Jean-Claude and Anita, heck, everyone involved with them, dead.
Only a miraculous return of a lost love can give them a chance.
The Characters
Anita Blake, a.k.a. the Executioner or War, is a US Marshal with the highest number of executions. She’s also a necromancer and Jean-Claude’s human servant who eats anger. (“Nikki” is the nickname Nathaniel gave her the first time she went onstage with him.) Within herself, she holds a number of animals, including Astro, a rat, a lioness, a hyena, a wolf, and a leopard. Nathaniel Graison is Anita’s leopard-to-call. Damian, a Danish vampire who is 500 years older than Jean-Claude, is Anita’s vampire servant and part of her own triumvirate with Nathaniel. Micah Callahan, a were-leopard, runs the Coalition for Better Understanding between the Human and Lycanthrope Communities and is the Nimir-Raj of the pard.
Jean-Claude is the king of all American vampires. Asher, a 700-year-old vampire, has so many emotional issues; he’s also the ringmaster at the Circus of the Damned. The obnoxious Kane, a werehyena and Asher’s moitié bête, has his own set of issues and takes ‘em out on everyone — and he’s wearing thin on everyone. Claudia, a wererat and becoming Anita’s best female friend, is the head of Jean-Claude’s security.
Richard Zeeman, Anita’s ex, the Ulfric of the Thronnos Rokke clan of werewolves, and the third in Anita’s and Jean-Claude’s triumvirate, now has a doctorate on trolls and he’s still in the closet. It seems that Richard too has a stage name: Jet. Jason, a werewolf, is a professional ballet dancer in New York with J.J. The obstreperous Demolition Man, a.k.a. “Demo”, is a new ex-military werewolf. Rafael is the Rat King. Dr Lillian is a wererat who treats the shapeshifters in town. Narcissus is the Oba, the leader of the hyenas. Geoff is one of his.
“Ted Forrester”, Edward, Anita’s best friend and a very professional assassin and a preternatural US Marshal, will be Anita’s best man. Peter is Edward’s stepson (who tested positive for lycanthropy), following in his footsteps and pursuing a double major in college. Peter is now an instructor in his martial arts class. Donna is Peter’s mother and Edward’s wife.
Jake was the first Harlequin to come to Jean-Claude and Anita’s side; now he’s one of their main instructors. The sexy Angel is a social worker by day and a golden tiger like her brother, Mephistopheles, a.k.a. Devil or Dev. Dev has been trained to work energy since he was small.
Anita’s bodyguards include Nicky Murdock, a lionshifter who is one of her Brides; Milligan; Craven; Custer, who is Milligan’s usual partner and a werehyena; Ethan Flynn, who holds a rainbow of tigers inside himself; Ru Erwin, who is another of Anita’s Brides (he’s one of three, triplets, who include Rodina, a wereleopard spy and assassin as a former Harlequin who loves to torment Anita, and their deceased brother, Rodrigo; both of their parents had also been Harlequins).
The Regional Preternatural Investigation Team is . . .
. . . led by Captain Rudolph Storr. Lucille is Dolph’s wife. Darren is their son married to the twenty years dead Erica. Zerbrowski. Officer Kay Beecher.
Pete McKinnon, a college classmate of Dolph’s, is a firefighter and arson investigator specialist who got promoted to the Oversight Committee on Supernatural Affairs and had to move to Washington DC. Gerald Mallory is a vampire executioner taking the easy way out. He doesn’t like Anita at all.
The Riverfront had . . .
. . . originally been called Blood Square. Liberté and Voyeur are two new restaurants Jean-Claude owns. Other clubs include Guilty Pleasures (GP), a strip club where Buzz, a vampire, is on the door. Graham is a werewolf who usually works the door (his parents were the only ones who had ever come to GP). The Wicked Truth are working security at GP. Hart is a new vampire, who is good with make-up. Danse Macabre is a supernatural dance club.
Anita’s dad is married to Judith. Josh is their son, Anita’s half-brother. Andria, Anita’s stepsister, has been living with Kevin. Anita’s grandmother, Grandma Blake, was an abusive woman.
Bill owns the martial arts school. Marianne is a witch in Tennessee who has been teaching Anita. Mona Castel is a maid at the hotel who put out the burning vampire. Until Death and Beyond Bridal is the bridal shop which is owned by a couple, one of whom is a vampire, Felix. Barnabas. The Church of Eternal Life is where Jean-Claude and Anita will get married.
Deimos is dread and fear, a snake. It seems that Ares was real, and that Jake met his other son, Drakon, the twin of the Ismenian dragon slain by Cadmus. Tisiphone, one of the Greek Furies, was Deimos’ mother.
Humans First and Humans Against Vampires (HAV) are hate groups.
The Vampire High Council used to be led by the Mother of All Darkness, a.k.a. Mommie Darkest who was said to be the first vampire, along with certain master vampires, including Dragon; the Master of Beasts, who was the first vampire to have more than one animal to call; Amoureux de la Mort, who created the rotting vampires; Belle Morte, who is beautiful death and the creator of Jean-Claude’s bloodline; the Earthmover who could cause earthquakes; and, the Father of the Day. A mora is a night hag.
The Cover and Title
The cover is black, gray, and oranges with a focus on the smoldering orange roses, flames rising around them in an irregular swag. Most of the background is black with gradated spots of a paler gray. All the text is white except for the title, which is orange. At the very top is an info blurb with the author’s name below it. Below that on the left is a testimonial. Below the roses is the title and below that is the series info.
The title is the state of so many characters, for they Smolder with sex, resentment, and anger.
