carolesrandomlife

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I loved this book! This is the third book in The Gardella Vampire Hunters series and my favorite installment so far. This is a series that does need to be read in order since so much of the story builds on events from previous books. I have had this book sitting on my Kindle for several years and I do have to say that I am a little mad at myself for neglecting for so long because it was excellent. I didn't want to put it down for a single moment and was kind of mad that I had to do responsible things, like go to work, instead of read once I started with the book. I had a fantastic time with this story.

This book picks up right after the events of the previous book. Victoria has had a lot to deal with since becoming a vampire hunter. She is now Summa Gardella which means she is now the leader of the group of vampire hunters. Rome is very busy with Carnivale not to mention vampires and demons. Dead bodies are piling up and Victoria and the other vampire hunters are doing their best to keep the city safe.

I have really had a great time watching the characters in this series grow over the course of the series. Victoria is so much stronger than she was at the start of the series. She has been through a lot that has changed her outlook on the world. She cares less about what society thinks of her and feels responsible for the safety of others. When her mother and her mother's friends show up in Rome, she does conform to society's standards but only to make them happy. Max is not in a good place at this point and there are some pretty pivotal changes for him in this installment. Sebastian plays a very important role in this book and some pretty surprising developments with his character that I did not expect.

This was a very exciting book. There were a lot of different things going on and plenty of action to keep things interesting. I was really nervous for the characters several times and I wasn't quite sure how things would work out. I thought that there was a perfect balance between action filled scenes and scenes more focused on the characters.

I would highly recommend this series to others. I love that the series is set in the Victorian period and believe that adds an interesting element to the story. Everything seemed to come together in this book and some really important developments were revealed. I had such a good time with this book that I bought the next book in the series right away because I couldn't wait to find out what would happen to Victoria and the other characters next!

I received a review copy of this book from Avid Press via Edelweiss.

Initial Thoughts
I loved this! Why I have neglected this series for so long? This is my favorite one in the series so far. I love how much Victoria, Max, and Sebastian have changed over the course of the series. The excitement level in this book was high. I can't wait to get started on the next book!