Gwen’s review of The Vampire’s Bride (Atlantis, Book 4) by Gena Showalter
Paranormal fantasy romance released by HQN 1 Mar 09

This is a varied and interesting series.  Its premise is that several paranormal species were created by the gods in their quest to create man.  The ones who were considered failures were sequestered in Atlantis and sunk to the bottom of the sea.  This means nymphs, vampires (really?), centaurs, dragons, etc., are all living, loving, and fighting together in their own little world.  It’s an interesting premise with some “out there” concepts”. 

I have enjoyed these books, but have found them to be consistently “slow starters.” It takes me about 50 or more pages to really get into their groove.  Once I’m there, I really enjoy the story.  But I almost have to be dragged to the altar, so to speak.

This entry is “Survivor-meets-paranormal-romance-story”.  In classic Greek mythos fashion, the gods and goddesses get bored and decide to fu… err… screw around with the denizens of Atlantis by testing them to see which species is the best.  The god/goddess who backs the winner gets Atlantis all to themselves to play with.  A tried and true godlike device (Heracles, Jason, Odysseus, etc.) and always makes for an interesting read.

This book has two or three storylines converging at the end.  Well, two at least, and one for another book, no doubt. There’s our hero and heroine, Layel (king of the vampires) and Delilah (an amazon warrior), plus a large cadre of secondary characters – some add to the plot, some are there simply for color.

I love how utterly ruthless Layel is thru most of the book.  Until he falls in lurve, of course, when he turns into this big puddle of mush.  The same happens to Delilah – merciless until she has to show how she feels, upon which time she turns into a babbling idiot.  This was the only bone I had to pick with the book – the way the lead characters change their stripes completely simply because they fall in lurve with each other (can’t name it “love” when it’s this purple).  I wanted them to love each other, but remain the ruthless, merciless people they were only to other people.  Instead, they soften to everything.

This change in characterizations very nearly ruined the book for me.  It was a very fun read until that point, afterwards becoming a lesson in patience broken up with a few very fun moments that did keep me flipping pages until the end.  Well, an end that was a bit too convenient and easy (literally a deus ex machina ending).  But I read it all.  I wanted to see how Layel and Delilah were going to make it all work in their two worlds but we’re not given that continuing view.

This was a good book, but not great.  I can recommend it to anyone following the series or who is a fan of the author’s writing.

By the by – HQN is re-releasing the first two books in the series in Jan and Feb 2009 with not-so-attractive bottom-lit images of some hunky men (see below). I hope they don’t do that to The Nymph King – I think it has the best cover of ANY book in 2007.

Grade:C+

Summary:

He is Layel, king of the vampires, a master seducer no woman can deny. But since a rogue horde of dragons killed his beloved over two centuries ago, Layel has existed only for vengeance…until he meets Delilah.

Wary of love, the beautiful Amazon wants nothing to do with the tormented vampire. Yet there’s no denying their consuming desire every time he nears her.

Neither trusts the other-nor can they survive alone. For in an impossible game of the gods’ devising, they’ve been trapped on an island, about to face the ultimate challenge: surrender to the passion that will bind them forever…or be doomed to an eternity apart.

Excerpt not available at the time this review was written.

Other books in this series.