Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: Shades of Sepia

SERIES: The Sleepless City

AUTHOR: Ann Barwell

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 210 pages

BLURB:

A serial killer stalks the streets of Flint, Ohio. The victims are always found in pairs, one human and one vampire.

Simon Hawthorne has been a vampire for nearly a hundred years, and he has never seen anything like it. Neither have the other supernaturals he works with to keep the streets safe for both their kind and the humans.

One meeting with Simon finds Ben Leyton falling for a man he knows is keeping secrets, but he can’t ignore the growing attraction between them. A recent arrival in Flint, Ben finds it very different from his native New Zealand, but something about Simon makes Ben feel as though he’s found a new home.

After a close friend falls victim to the killer, Simon is torn between revealing his true nature to Ben, and walking away to avoid the reaction he fears. But with the body count rising and the murders becoming more frequent, either, or both of them, could be the killer’s next target.

REVIEW:

 This story had me just racing through the pages to see what would happen now.  I couldn’t believe just how caught up I got.  I wanted to see what happened and couldn’t put the book down until I did. 

So, we start with Ben Leyton. Ben is a recent transplant to Flint from New Zealand.  He’s working at a coffee shop and he’s in the park that his grandfather gave him a picture of.  There in the park, he sees this man who he’s seen a couple of times watching him.  He is attracted to this guy, but doesn’t seem to be able to get his nerve up to talk to him. I like how Ben is just this really nice guy.  He’s honest and fun and living his life.  He’s exploring the world around him and just taking in the world around him.

Simon on the other hand is a Vampire.  He’s 117 yrs old and lives with another Vampire, Forge.  A Werewolf, Lucas and a Ghost named, Mr Boggs.  Simon has had some bad luck in his long existence. His maker, John was this sadistic vampire who believed that Simon was his soul mate.  Even with all of that, Simon is still a really good guy. He’s had some horrible luck when it comes to relationships and he’s not been looking for anyone in a long time.  Until he sees Ben. 

There is such an instant attraction with these two.  Simon knows that it’s because Ben is his Soulmate, but Ben has no idea that there are really supernatural beings.  Let alone that Simon, the guy that he is falling for is a Vampire.  When Simon finally breaks down and tells Ben the truth, things truly start to make sense to them.  Knowing that they are Soulmates, it makes it easier to allow the feelings that have been happening at such a fast pace for them, to just take it natural course.

Simon, Forge and Lucas all have normal, everyday jobs in addition to the job of protecting the citizens of Flint from Supernaturals who would hurt them.  They have been working together for years and that’s another reason that they live together.  They make such a great team.

The secondary characters are really amazing!!  I loved Forge, Lucas and even Mr Boggs.  They are the kind of guys that you want on your side. They have your back and will always be honest and help you through whatever issue you might possibly be going through.  I can’t wait to see their stories unfold.  I bet that they are gonna rock!!

There was a mystery going on during this story and I liked how you didn’t know how it was being done.  That you were as much in the dark as the characters.  It took me a moment or two to figure out who was doing the bad stuff, but the author gave you clues.  I just didn’t really pick them up, which is a first for me. 

Overall, this book was a pretty great read.  I like that this is the beginning of a series and I hope that the books only get better.  This was a great start.  I loved the characters.  All of the characters that came across the page.  I can’t wait for the next installment.  I’m hoping for Forge next.  I want to give Lucas some more time to amuse me with his incessant flirting first.

RATING:

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