Claire C. Riley

Mia’s life is going well. She has a job she enjoys, she’s madly in love with her fiancé, Oliver; he’s just found a new job that promises to pay well and be both intriguing and challenging. She has her family, she has her friends, everything is looking bright


Until Robert Breckt, Oliver’s new employer comes to tow. Rich, powerful – and a vampire. A vampire who quickly becomes utterly obsessed with Mia in a way that defies all reason or restraint. Breckts obsession consumes him in show more his pursuit of Mia, just as his powers slowly batter at her life, drying to draw her to him.

Mia has to fight to hold on to what she wants – what she truly wants – and walk a difficult maze between love and obsession.


This is a review that is going to be a difficult one for me. Because it’s exactly what it says on the tin, we know exactly what it is and it does that extremely well. But what it does isn’t something I’m a big fan of. While at the same time I am very impressed with the cleverness of what it does do.

The book is called “Limerence.” For those unfamiliar with the term, Limerence is a sexual obsession – it’s being romantically attracted to someone and having a complete and utter obsessive need to have that romance reciprocated beyond all reason.

And that is exactly what is portrayed. Actually, it’s a little disturbing that what this book very accurately labelled as “Limerence” in so many paranormal romances is portrayed as “true love”. It makes me wonder if the author is trying to make a commentary on the truly horrendous behaviour that is excused in the name of romance in the genre in general. Even if they haven’t, it does an excellent job.

When Breckt arrives in town he sees Mia and becomes utterly and completely obsessed with her. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be part of the woo-woo of being a vampire or whether it’s his own personal obsession – and I like that it isn’t made clear either way what it is. Because whether it was woo-woo or just him, this outright obsession is still as debilitating regardless of its cause. And it is debilitating to him. It’s not romantic and sweet and “awww look how in love he is”. It’s distracting. He becomes distracted from his tasks, he becomes ineffective at his mission, his obsession intrudes on his thoughts all the time, leaving him unable to focus on anything else, unable to achieve anything. He even stops looking after himself properly.

Obsession isn’t romantic and shiny – it’s toxic and consuming

And so it goes to Mia, the target of his “affections.” At no point does she consider it romantic – and his using his powers on her causer the same level of obsession in her and to the same effect. And so often we see protagonists in this genre isolated – and in Paranormal Romance they leave the few ties they have behind to be with their true love; well Mia has a family. She has parents, she has friends, she has colleagues, she has a fiancé, Olvier. Being taken from these people isn’t a sign of her entering into a new life, nor is their loss inconsequential: the obsession and his use of his powers cause her to be isolated, to lose her life and everything she values.

At every point Mia fights desperately against the magical attraction even as it draws her in. No matter how much the book spends describing just how much she wants Breckt, that description never overwhelms the fact the attraction is entirely non-consensual and her actions are being coerced. There’s even a terrifying sexual assault scene which, even with vampire woo-woo making her want him and need him etc etc she still thinks of AS terrifying and an assault.

Even her friend Rachael has her mind altered and – well, rather becomes a stereotype of so many hostile female characters in the genre. She becomes aggressive, she grows to hate and resent Mia; she attacks Mia for no reason and feels unreasoning and excessive jealousy beyond any common sense. But it is manipulated from her and, when snapped out of it in a glorious rejection of domestic violence, she is there and supportive of Mia.

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I would put this book more in the horror category than the first. Mia has fully embraced being a vampire. She doesn't have those pesky human morals holding her back now. At the end of book one, I was a little heartbroken and totally rooting for Mia and wanting her to just be all big and bad.

This book begins with her just kind of lost. A vampire named Evan is trying to bring her around slowly. He's trying to help her out while still serving the Queen. It's a precarious situation. Mia isn't show more completely cruel, but she's just kind of there.

I said goodbye to the Mia I had once been, left her soul in Delamere forest, cold and forever wandering, never to be seen again, and after her passing came the new me. She was stronger and colder, harder and less emotional than the old me.

Basically she becomes a drone just going through the motions. The only spark in her life for the most part is when she is with Evan. And it's a dangerous spark. The feelings between Mia and Evan change everything.

I'm not supposed to feel love if I'm a vampire. Surely I'm a soulless, godless creature that cannot feel such emotions? Yet here they are, killing me not softly, but painfully—as if ripping my dead, black heart out from my body.

There are several surprises along the way, some deaths, returns, transformations and reversals. Some of it made me mad. I can't wait to read the next book while willing things to go the way that I want. ;) And I just have to mention the human soda fountains—creepy times two.

If you're looking for a horror read with hints of love, this is probably the book for you.

4-4.5 stars





***Copy given in exchange for an honest review***





toni





FangirlMoments and My Two Cents








FULL REVIEW CAN BE FOUND AT http://fangirlmomentsandmytwocents.blogspot.com/2015/02/limerence-ii-by-claire-c... show less

Gripping story

Really enjoyed this book went in a totally different direction story wise than I thought, liesel and Evelyn were such totally different characters with such different strengths they just complimented each other. With the help of Jami and Alex they escape there present circumstances with tragic Consequence's don't want to say to much in regard to spoilers but will say keep the tissues at the ready as you will need them, am looking forward to reading book 2 and wondering how E show more can ever redeem himself gripping read kept my attention all the way through. show less

FGMAMTC Blog #TopReads2015 Author & Interview  Excerpt from There Will Be Blood

FGMAMTC Blog Review  Interview
There are so many things I like about this series. The reader never knows what to expect. The storylines follow no patterns, and the books thus far are very different. Even though it's fiction, it's real. The decay and stench of life at it lowest are in vivid technicolor and jumping off the page at the reader's senses. At the same time, sparks of humanity that can't be snuffed show more out always shine through.

In the first book, E was not the hero, and he still isn't. He's the antihero. He's been through hell (the reader learns of this in flashbacks) and came out the other side. Life has no meaning for him anymore. Full of hate, he's only a shell surviving out of habit.

We don't really know anything about Autumn going into Beneath Blood and Bone. She pretty much appears to be cuckoo for cocoa puffs. Full of fear, she's regressed to a snarling animal surviving on instinct.

Most of the plot in this book takes place in the camp called Purgatory (so many things can be read into that name). It's a place without joy. Day to day survival is how it breaks down. The bold lord over the meek. Liv is the queen bitch. She wants to control everything with E being at the top of the list. It doesn't go over well when he takes an interest in Autumn.

I didn't hate E in the first book. He wasn't a good guy at all, but I still couldn't raise up feelings to hate level for him. Although E compares his likeness to Liv's more than once in this book, I was prepared to slit her throat myself.

Overall, it's a story about the human condition. When is enough, enough? What is the point of living? How far gone can someone come back from? I loved it, muy mucho, and I'm looking forward to more from these authors.

P.S. E did win me over. I don't excuse him for the bad things, but I still can't help loving him either. And that's the way love goes.






***Copy given in exchange for an honest review***





toni





FangirlMoments and My Two Cents








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