Review | Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire (Love at Stake #16) by Kerrelyn Sparks

Author: Kerrelyn Sparks
Published: December 30, 2014
Publisher: Avon
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 372
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Vampires
Rating: ★★★☆☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
Russell wakes from a coma to find he's become a vampire. Now he has a thirst for revenge. Determined to hunt down the master vampire who turned him, he's used to working alone . . . until he meets Jia. She is after the same vampire for murdering her parents and insists she can help Russell on this mission. Reluctantly, he agrees, and sets up some ground rules:

Rule #1: Their partnership is strictly business. If he holds her a little too close . . . if she looks at him with those exotic eyes . . . well, that has to stop.

Rule #2: He's in charge. Jia isn't used to taking orders and questions every move he makes. So he stops her the only way he knows how.

Rule #3: Don't fall in love. But the kiss that was supposed to quiet her awakens something else in him . . . something forbidden. Because Jia is engaged. To someone else.(from GoodReads)

Review
When I read the first book to Love at Stake, I fell in love. I quickly read every book that was out (at the time, there were only 6). I greatly anticipated the next book and couldn't wait to read it. There were a few books that when I finished I just couldn't figure out why they couldn't have been as good as the previous ones, but I loved the world she had built and the characters in it...until an angel fell from Heaven.

Once angels and demons were introduced to the series, it just fell apart for me. And then the Chinese saga came around and things just got worse. I feel like this series started off is a great direction and took a turn in the middle trying to captivate a wider audience and lost part of what originally made it special.

This conclusion to the Chinese saga though was a bit better than I expected, which isn't saying much since my expectations were extremely low. I loved the twist in finding out Master Han's identity, but that was really the only thing I really liked about the book. I was just happy to be done with China (which was also disappointing to me since I am a huge fan of Asian cultures) and be able to move on to something hopefully better. Then I read the acknowledgments at the end and discovered that at least for now, this is the end of the Love at Stake series. Perhaps this is for the best. If the series has fallen this low, I'd hate to see what further tinkering could do as much as I would love to read more.