Shadow Duet – a Review

In the fourth book of the Second Species series, love is in the air. This book focuses on Vlad and Andreas, the younger brothers of Marek Strigoi. Each one of them falls in love and want to marry. There is only one little problem; the females are human. Vampire law forbids marriage between mortals and vampires.

Ravagiu stays mostly out of sight, but he is still plotting revenge and murder. Even he has found love. And his significant other helps him plot revenge on the Strigoi family by suggesting he approach it in a different way. Marek and his family could really be in trouble now.

His brothers finding the women they want to spend their lives with causes Marek to start having thoughts of Maggie, wondering if they could do the same. Should he risk pursuing her and maybe have his heart broken yet again?

Andreas has a sneaky side to him, one that doesn’t much care what his brother tells him to do. He wants to go back to Carpathia and visit his old home, so he decides to try transporting himself there. Unlike on Star Trek, this doesn’t require a transporter machine.

Vlad meets his own love after being attacked with garlic and left for dead. Of course, you should know by now who was behind this attack. If not, you need to go back to the first book in the series.

If he hadn’t been found by this young woman, then Vlad would have died. It’s love at first sight. Was this because she saved him? Only time will tell.

Did I like this book? Yes, I did. Since this book focused mainly on love and marriage, there wasn’t a lot of fighting between the Strigoi family and Ravagiu. Or have the Strigoi family have become civilized vampires? I have a feeling that if the need arose, they would become uncivilized very quickly.

In the back of the book is a glossary of the aventurieri vocabulary words that you will appreciate as you read the book.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you would like your own copy, I’ve provided an Amazon link below.

Amazon Link: Shadow Duet

Recommended Articles:
Shadow Lord – a Review
Shadow Players – a Review
Shadow Passion – a Review
The Night Man Cometh – a Review
Why Vampires? – Guest Post by Tony-Paul de Vissage

 

Favorite Sentences:
Mircea scowled as he realized he was contemplating Nature . . . and enjoying it.

Obedience to his brother and filial respect to the heir had been drilled into both twins at an early age and wasn’t so easily forgotten, even after all these centuries.

Clutching a small overnight case, she survived the trip with barely a tremor, not noticing how nervous Andreas was that he might somehow displace her atoms in transit, like a Star Trek transporter malfunctioning.

Blaming his less than perfect singing voice on his dual heritage, just as he did his inability to learn languages, he’d struggled to force his voice into the proper pitch.

New Words Learned:
catharsis – a purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions

guff – empty or foolish talk; nonsense

maudlin – tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental

About the Author:
A writer of French Huguenot extraction, Tony-Paul de Vissage’s first movie memory is of being six years old, viewing the old Universal horror flick, Dracula’s Daughter on television, and being scared sleepless–and that may explain a lifelong interest in vampires.

This was further inspired when the author was kidnapped by a band of transplanted Romanian vampires sightseeing in the South.  Having never seen a human who wasn’t frightened of them, they offered to pay the youngster’s way through college if he would become an author and write about vampires in a positive manner.  He agreed, was returned to his parents (who were also grateful for the tuition offer since it let them off the hook) and continued to keep in touch with his supernatural mentors.

Though the author didn’t begin writing horror–or any other genre–until after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from a well-known Southern University (and a second in Graphic Art), that one particular interest—and the promise made to his mentors—survived a liberal arts’ education and the scorn of friends and family.  Marriage, parenthood, divorce, and a variety of occupations ranging from stage work to doctor’s assistant took precedent over writing for several years, as did moving from one United States coast to another.

Eventually that first story—a short story about the hapless vampire Clan Andriescu—was published.  A voracious reader whose personal library has been shipped more than 3,000 miles, Tony-Paul has read hundreds of vampire tales and viewed more than as many movies.

TP currently has twenty-five novels published, twenty-three under the Class Act Books imprint.