Vampire Forgotten/Betrayed by Rachel Carrington – a Review

Vampires Destined by Rachel Carrington is a three book novella series. 

Three vampires. Separate destinies. All desiring a woman to love them for who they are not what they are. 

Below are the reviews of the second and third books of the series.

Vampire Forgotten Review:

Rhad Valentine opened his door one night and found a gift that took his breath away.  Oh wait..he is a vampire..so no breath.  He finds a beautiful girl lying on his doorstep clothed only in a slip, and unconscious.  Rhad is forced to live within his castle in Romania, as a price to pay for his unwillingness to fully adapt to life as a vampire.  Rhad refuses to take the blood of humans to help him survive, and because he enlisted the aid of a Shaman, he survives alone in his castle. 
Mischa Bonovich, is in Romania looking for her missing sister.  She wakes in a strange house, with a strange but attractive man sitting on the bed next to her.  Mischa though attracted to Rhad, tries to leave to continue her search for her sister, Rianna, but Rhad feels the pull of Mischa, and refuses to allow her to leave.  While this is going on, we meet the villain of this story, who will do anything to find the Shaman, whom he needs to help save his own life, and he will stop at nothing, even killing to find the Shaman.

Rhad, who has the psychic gift, knows Mischa is in danger, and he will help her on the journey to find her sister. The sexual tension between Rhad and Mischa is intense, and Rhad desperation to keep Mischa shows.  He has been lonely for so long, and now he has found someone to give him these feelings again, and he will stop at nothing to protect and keep her. Mischa’s desperation will get her answers, but she knows she needs Rhad’s help.

This novella is short and sweet.  There is a lot of action the last 1/3 of the book, as Mischa finds what she is looking for, as does the villain.  There is another aspect that would ruin the story, and it is shown in another pov. This was a good story, light and a fast read.

Vampire Betrayed Review:

When we start Vampire Betrayed, we find a couple in bed having sex.  Interesting way to start the story.  The two main protagonists are Joaquin, who is a vampire, and Ariana, a human.  The key to the beginning of this story is that Ariana has no idea that Joaquin is a vampire.  She knows he has some strange habits, but their lovemaking was great, and he was wonderful with her.  But then Ariana begins to get strange emails from someone unknown with comments about the man she is sleeping with….the man you are with isn’t who you think he is…..

Ariana pressures Joaquin to tell her more about himself, and he becomes suspicious and finds out about the emails.   He finally tells her that he is a vampire, and she laughs.  There is no such thing as vampires.  So she thinks….. Joaquin has feelings for Ariana, more then he has ever had for a human woman, and he asks her if she trusts him.  She leaves to take a walk, and that will be the last time either see each other for 6 onths. 

What happens thereafter is very exciting.  Charon is a powerful vampires, who wants to rule the world. She also has magical powers, given to her by a Shaman, making her even more powerful.  Charon wants Joaquin dead, as he is the only person standing in her way of taking control. She befriends Ariana, under the guise of protecting her against Joaquin, and then uses her powers to make Ariana think she has been beaten, and Charon  saved her.  Charon tells Ariana that she is a vampire hunter, and wants her help to save the world.  Using her illusions on Ariana to hide the fact that Charon converted her to a vampire, and trains Ariana to be a vampire hunter. 

Joaquin of course is still looking for the missing Ariana, with help from his friend Devlin.  Over the next few months, it becomes apparent that with the rise of vampire slayings, Charon has converted Ariana.  Of course, Joaquin can’t understand why Charon is having her kill vampires, but over time he will see it is a plot to kill him.

This was an excellent story, a different type of theme with Ariana not knowing what she was due to the illusions, and becoming an excellent fighter.  The story was very exciting, especially the last half of the book.  Charon was a good villain, and Ariana turned into a great heroine.  I really liked Joaquin, who really loved Ariana and would do anything to save her.   Great story, the best of this series so far, with excellent characters and a super ending.

Reviewed by Barb

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