Gabriel's Mate

Review provided by Black Lagoon Reviews:

Gabriel's Mate, the third installment in Tina Folsom's Scangaurd Vampires series, is a marvelously thrilling, fast paced read. Full of romance and suspense this story has a great underlying mystery making it a real page turner. With likable characters, great writing and a memorable and adequately steamy romance, this is the perfect read for any lover of paranormal romance.

The characterization of this novel instantly drew me in with a wonderfully emotional moment from Gabriel's past. Tortured doesn't even begin to describe this strong and tender character who is so far from the monstrous visage that he wraps himself in. Going through a life without love, his solitude and self loathing are beyond show more heart wrenching and you really root for him right from the start. In truth, I felt quite bad for him as he is so much more then his scarred face...and yet when we come to the true root of his predicament, I still couldn't bring myself to care. In truth, I was quite curious about the mystery surrounding his manhood. After finding out about why he's so hesitant to reveal himself to women, I couldn't help but feel even more for this poor man who truly deserved someone who could look past his deformity, if that would be considered the proper term. Enter Maya, an equally likable character, strong and independent with a good heart. After initially being scared by Gabriel's scarred face, she quickly comes to see the tender and passionate man beneath and is almost instantly drawn to him. Of course, this is all happening as she comes to find herself in her own predicament: a newly created vampire. Something sort of hard to accept with her scientific mind made even more complicated when everyone comes to realize she isn't exactly a true vampire. And while she's quite obviously scared at the situation she finds herself in, she also craves to be proactive, not allowing herself to become a simpering woman who needs a strong male to save her. But, I also feel it worth mentioning the peripheral characters as well. While none were in the spot light for more then a few minutes, each played a key role in adding depth and history as well as a sense of perspective in the relationship between the main characters. Of course some offered more in the way of support and gentle prodding, while others out of jealously added some nice fodder for conflict. In the end, they all came across as likable and intriguing characters and I looked forward to reading more about them in the previous and upcoming novels within this series.

The simmering relationship that forms between Gabriel and Maya is definitely what this novel is all about. At once it is both sweet and maddening as the two dance around their building chemistry. As Maya craves his blood, Gabriel craves her body, each uncertain whether the other feels more then that and each willing to accept the small pleasure that the other is willing to give, unable to voice their desire for more. As the story develops so does their bond, which is engrossing as they come to find how perfect they truly are for one another. Also, there is nice progression throughout as the two transgress from the typical role of the alpha male protecting the woman, to a place of true partnership, both in life and at heart.

The world Folsom created was also quite engaging and unique. I loved the mythology that she invoked within the novel as well as the structure of this vampiric world. The hierarchy was interesting, but didn't play a major role, thus not overshadowing the romance angle of the novel, something I greatly loved and appreciated. However, I did love the inclusion of the wonderfully mysterious stalker who tried and failed to turn Maya. This added a nice sense of suspense to the novel and created a great dynamic in which we could see the primal protective instinct of Gabriel and really revel in Maya's independence. The issue of control within the novel was nicely explored as Maya fights both Gabriel's need to protect by ordering her around and her stalker's need to control and possess her. The emotional appeal that this causes was really wonderful to read and yet another reason why I loved this novel so much.

Truly, Folsom did a wonderful job penning this novel. It was fast paced, emotion and had a great underlying tone of action and suspense. But, like with anything else, there is a little room for improvement. There were a few typos throughout that were a dissuading factor that threw the pace off in places. Also, there were places that felt drawn out with repetitive thoughts and dialogue. However, I didn't find either of these issues to be a major deterrent as I still thoroughly loved the novel, but enough of a inconvience to mention them.

Overall, this was a wonderful read showcasing great vulnerability within strong and independent characters. This aspect made the novel highly relatble and truly enjoyable. I highly recommend it, and to those unfamiliar with the series such as I was, have no fear. This novel is easily accessible as a stand alone and will leave you craving more! I know I for one will definitely be checking out the first two installments and think if you give this novel a try, you will too!! show less

In the third book in the Scanguard Vampires series, Gabriel is a powerful, wealthy vampire, but he struggles with personal demons because of a physical deformity he’s had since he was human. It’s affected his ability to meet women, have sex, and fall in love for years. He also has a rather nasty scar on his cheek that gives him a dangerous edge.
Maya is a human doctor turned into a vampire against her will, but two Scanguard bodyguards rescue her before the transformation is complete. Gabriel feels an instant connection with her and takes her under his wing.
The H/h are great characters. Gabriel, especially, is very easy to understand and relate to. Unfortunately, they didn’t communicate with each other well, so problems arose from show more their misunderstandings.
I really enjoyed the sex scenes even though they were long. I’ve never read a story with a part-Satyr hero before, so the weird, kinky sex was right up my alley.
Gabriel’s friends return from the previous books, and one of them turns out to be the villain and another one is murdered in this story. I found that frustrating because I really liked both of those characters and was expecting them to get a HEA in a future book.
Carl’s age was confusing. In the first two books, I got the feeling he was in his early 20s (his human age at death), but he turned out to be in his 50s in this book. That doesn’t really matter plot-wise, but it’s just something that surprised me.
As usual with this series, the story needs an edit. For instance, sometimes the author wrote “she” (meant “he”), wrote “talking” (meant “taking”), and wrote “heroin” (meant “heroine”). Other than that, the writing is strong and fluid. The descriptions are detailed and the characters’ dialogue is witty and fun.
Overall, I liked the plot, the hot sex, and most of the characters.
3 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion. show less

Gabriel's Mate
4 Stars

The best story in the series so far.

The explanation of Gabriel's problem is not unexpected but everything he goes through makes him a very endearing hero and Maya's complete acceptance of him is simply wonderful.

The stalker subplot provides good background and insight into some of the secondary characters.

Gabriel's Mate is the third book by Tina Folsom that I've read. I liked Amaury's Hellion a little more than this read, but it was still an enjoyable story. Gabriel is tortured due to a 'deformity'. I'll be honest, I felt more for him than I did for the heroine, but I still enjoyed the story. There were a few secondary characters that I'd like to check out. Hopefully the books are already written. :)

The third book of the Scanguards Vampires series follows Gabriel, physically scarred from an incident when he was still human and emotionally scarred from a physical affliction that severely affects his love life. We first get a very brief and distant introduction to him in the first book of this series. He then shows up as a more prominent secondary character in the second book. His character never really appealed to me much, so I was curious how I would feel about his story. I did end up liking him more by the end, but he still isn't one of my preferred characters.

At times the story was predictable. I guessed Gabriel's "issue" before it was revealed and it actually reminds me of another paranormal series that uses this same, show more um...attribute. I also guessed the bad guy very early in the story. If you are looking for a story that has tons of intrigue and suspense that keeps you guessing until the very end then you might be disappointed, but if you prefer an emphasis on the paranormal and romance elements with a little suspense to keep you interested then this book is more up your alley. I'm in the latter category so even though I quickly guessed who the culprit was, I still found the story enjoyable overall.

I did have a couple of "huh?" moments -- small details of the story that didn't make sense to me. One was where a vamp gets staked (and no, I'm not telling who it is!) the vamp turns to dust and all the inanimate things like cell phone and pocket change fall to the floor amongst the dust...except the clothes. Where did the clothes go? If there is a reason for the clothes to disappear that was explained in the previous books then I don't recall it.

I can't say that I felt the romantic connection between the main characters as much as I did in the previous two books and I'm not sure why that is. The focus on building the connection between Gabriel and Maya was evident, but there was also a lot of internal angsting that I felt went on too long at times so maybe that cut into my sense of connection.

Samson and Amaury don't play a big role in this story. The reader gets a little of Samson at the beginning and a little of Amaury towards the end. The bulk of the story’s secondary characters mostly focus on Yvette, Zane, and Thomas, which makes sense since their stories will be coming up. Yvette's book is next and you do see some of her story being set up. There is one particular aspect that I'm quite curious about and eager to see how it plays out – it involves dogs but that’s all I’m saying ;)

If you are already a fan of this series and invested in this universe, then you will likely enjoy Gabriel's Mate. If you are new to this series, I suggest starting with the first book, Samson's Lovely Mortal as the characters do carry through in varying degrees and you will get a better feel for Gabriel and the Scanguards world by reading the earlier books first. I do enjoy this world and the characters so even though I had a few squabbles with some aspects of the story, I did enjoy it overall and it kept me turning the pages. Tina spins a good story and I always look forward to what is coming next.

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Heat Level: Smokin’ Hot -- This is an erotic romance and contains explicit and graphic scenes. Frequency of sex scenes is low but some scenes include rear-door activity and the nature of Gabriel’s condition may also be objectionable to more sensitive readers.

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Story includes virgin beta vampire hero, physical deformity, and lots of sex. I enjoyed the sexual tension between Gabriel and Maya in the beginning. It was steamy and I felt that they wanted to be together. This is a love/lust at first sight story and I had trouble believing Maya would trust Gabriel so early in the story. Maya was turned into a vampire and dumped into a new world, and instantly trusted the first new vampire she met. Everything was going well until midway through, then I just lost interest once Gabriel's deformity was explained. Too weird for me.

Wow.. this book totally took me by surprise.. i did not see the twist comming in this vampire story..nice to see some authors think outside the box