Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (I can’t say I super loved this one but it had a lot of elements I DO love. And there wasn’t anything that really put me off...maybe just my mood?)
Readability: 📖📖📖 (This one just felt long and bit too...meandering to me. Maybe I wanted the mains together more and I struggled with wanting to keep reading it)
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡ (I didn’t really feel a lot of tension, there’s a bit of instalust going on here, and it’s relatively low angst between the mains and lessened the tension for me too)
Romance: 💞💞💞💞 (I did think there was a lot of romantic and sweet things and thoughts in this one!)
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (I maybe could give 4...the intimate scenes were fine...maybe it was just my disconnect with the book in general that made me not connect as well with these scenes)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥 (I didn’t take great notes here – but there should be at least 3 scenes if not more….take this as a minimum)
Humor: A bit
Perspective: first person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? plot
How did the speed of the story feel? slow to medium
When mains are first on page together: Sorry I didn’t note this...it takes a bit – there’s the introduction to the heroine and her life and she travels to the land of the hero and has some encounters before they meet...it’s maybe a chapter or two, not too long.
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes
Format: listened to the audiobook from my library (Hoopla)
Why I chose this book: I need to start noting this in some other way because I actually have no recollection how I came across this book or thought to add it to my spooky TBR for October lol. But here it is!

Should I read in order?
This is the first in Carven’s Empire of Forbidden Magic series (but I also only see a book 1, so no sure if there will be more?)

Basic plot:
Finley is devastated when she’s betrothed against her will to the fallen former heir to the Rahaven Empire.

Give this a try if you want:
- fantasy romance
- vampire hero
- magic and a bit of mystery
- lower relationship angst and a bit of instalust
- very protective hero
- opposites attract
- medium steam – I didn’t note the specific scenes, but there’s at least 3 or 4

Ages:
- didn’t catch them

First line: (Taken from audio, might be butchered)
Something must be afoot, because I’ve been summoned

My thoughts:
I’m not sure what happened to me with this one that I didn’t LOVE it! I loved the idea of it. I did like both characters a lot! There wasn’t anything in the plot that I despised...maybe I’m just a bit grumpy though because I ended up wanting to just finish this one and move onto something else.

It has a lot to love about it! But it’s a bit long (to me) and I was ready for it to be over a few times before it was actually over. The mains spend quite a bit of time apart and there’s a lot of reflecting in their heads individually. When they are together, they burn for each other immediately it made for a lower tension read with no a lot of relationship angst. And it was focused a lot on the plot and not as much on the relationship. I just like those simple romances hahaha. So none of this is to say the book was bad in any way. I liked a lot about it and I think in a different reading mood I would have liked it more. But it was just okay to me, and I was a bit more bored in parts and happy to move onto something else at the end.

I did love how protective the hero is and I loved the heroine coming into her own after her abuse in her family. That was really satisfying seeing the heroine grow into her own powers.

Some random hero notes

Hero has white hair and glowing red eyes. His hair can regrow quickly. Hero is a vampire and feeds on others. He can fly. Sunlight doesn't bother him after drinking the heroine's blood. 

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 1
Average rating: 4 stars
Favorite book: This is my first by this author

Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- toxic and abusive parenting
- violence and death
- vampire hero includes biting
- imprisonment/slavery
- parental death
- some domestic violence on page – the heroine is hit by her father on page
Author content warnings? Didn’t hear any on audio

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

 
Safe sex: 

  I don’t believe so 

 
Hows the consent? 

  It’s good for the sex – though the vampire hero bites the heroine without consent the first time, after that the consent is good. 

 
Pregnancy/children in story? (Please note this is the best to my memory/note taking. If you see something I missed please feel free to message!) 

  I can’t recall anything mentioned but I could have missed something! There might be mention of wanting future heirs or something...not sure. But no children or pregnancy on page 

 
43% - kisses, oral for her, missionary (I think ?)
sorry didn’t note anymore! But there’s at least 2 more, maybe even more than that.