Karla Nikole

I enjoyed this one even more than the previous two. Jae and Junichi are much more realistic characters with a more organic relationship. While I do like Haru and Nino a lot, Haru's weird hang-ups got a bit repetitive. I think this is down to the fact that Jun is not the leader of anything so there was only a little bit of the weird hierarchy that this series has established in Japanese Vampires. The biology in this book is interesting but not something you can really think too much about. Jae's "repressed aura" or whatever doesn't make a lick of sense especially how he's also purebred - but with a repressed vampire maternal lineage and a very distance paternal lineage. It's just not something you can really explain, we'll just have to take Nikole's word for it. It's her world, anyway.

I also found it was interesting that Nikole completely skipped over Cellina and Giovani's story besides what was in the last (2nd) book. At the end of that book, I was sure they were going to be the main couple in the next book. I'm glad because I thought it would have been missing the mark to shift to a MF couple after two books of MM.

Overall, a nice enjoyable read with two very likeable characters. Nikole has a refreshing take on MM relationships where these characters actually try to communicate openly, not be super repressed like you see in too many other MMs (especially historical), without it coming across as sappy or ridiculous.… (mere)

I didn't quite enjoy this one as much as the first. Without the world and relationship building, I just didn't care quite so much about these characters.
The incorporation of a MF relationship and sex, as well as a lot of talk between Nino and Haru about having children, uninterested me. The villain and his island could have also been explored a lot more in the text instead of spending so much time building Cellina and Giovanni's relationship. That should have been done in their own book, targeted towards people who are more interested in MF. Granted this book is marked as "queer" rather than MM but the first book was only MM so I think the carryover of those readers to here is going to be your target audience.
I enjoy the world that Nikole has written but I do have some issues with her writing - the pacing is very off but also there are a lot of issues in the dialogue. You have these 100 year old vampires that speak multiple languages but it seems their grasp on English is tenuous; they speak very formally like a textbook (like saying "the male" to refer to someone when they're just talking amongst themselves) so a lot of the dialogue is a bit odd and didn't flow in a realistic way. No friends speak to each other like that in any language. It's just all very stiff and uncomfortable - it takes you out of the book.
Overall, I do really enjoy Haru and Nino's story and world but I don't have high hopes for the next installment.… (mere)

This book was a surprise. I stumbled upon it on Amazon looking for new releases - I've always been a fan of vampires and there's so few good m/m paranormal romances that I was willing to give it a chance blind, and I'm so glad I did!
As the description says, this is a pretty slow burn but doesn't feel stagnant or boring at all. Nikole has built a very vivid alternate world that includes different cultures and settings in under 300 pages which is very impressive. I've read entire multi-book series that didn't seem as well thought out and organized. Haruka's characterisation can feel a bit odd, but if you take into account his age and personality it doesn't feel unrealistic or overly awkward.
It'll be interesting to see more background information in the second book, The Vanishing.… (mere)