Okay, I loved this book. It was an excellently built world of vampires, vampire hunters and humans, in a dark academia setting, with a sapphic enemies to lovers romance – what’s not to love?!
The Book of Blood and Roses by Annie Summerlee is now available to buy.
Rebecca is a vampire hunter, and she’s very good at what she does. She’s sent undercover by Callisto, the group she works for, into a vampire university to find the Book of Blood and Roses – a lost book hidden somewhere in the libraries. This is the first time the university has officially taken human students, and Rebecca, disguised as Cassie, finds herself sharing a room with Aliz, the heir of a powerful vampire family. Despite initially hating each other, the two accidentally form a kind of unbreakable bond one night after Cassie is attacked by a vampire, and the two of them have to work together to destroy this – all the while, wanting to be closer than ever.
I devoured (lol) this book in two sittings. It had a strong storyline that pushed forward constantly, never lingering in one place for too long, and characters that brought it to life. While I loved the relationship between Cassie and Aliz (there was definite chemistry there!), the side characters added the extra depth that this novel needed. Cassie is clearly an outsider at the school, a human among vampires, but she quickly finds comrades – a human and (shock, horror!) vampires who accept her into the group. We all love a found family, don’t we!
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This book was full of yearning as the two try to fight their feelings, whether they’re real or not entirely. It’s a romantasy, but the underlying plot with the wider world around them adds depth.
The setting of the university in the Scottish Highlands really added to the atmosphere. I liked the way that the campus names were often in Gaelic, and little pieces of dialect were thrown in every now and then to remind you that it wasn’t just a generic or a fantasy setting. Also there were underground tunnel mazes with hidden libraries. What else do I need to say?!
This is a twisting tale where you’re never quite sure who the monsters are. It flips itself on its head a couple of times, and while I somewhat saw some of this coming, other parts I didn’t see so much. I love that.
As I said, I really enjoyed the worldbuilding too, where the traits of the vampires were almost a parody – with features from vampire lore such as sleeping in coffins, garlic allergy and shying away from religious icons. I liked the touch that each vampire was different depending on the mythology of their heritage – that was fun and interesting.
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There will be a sequel to this book, however it doesn’t leave you on a huge cliffhanger – it feels like it could standalone. Nevertheless, I’m still super excited for the next one (this is the worst part about reading ARCs – this one isn’t even published yet and I’m waiting for the next!)
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.
