Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE:  Night’s Templar

SERIES: Vampire Queen #13

AUTHOR: Joey W. Hill

PUBLISHER: Story Witch Press

LENGTH: 453 pages

BLURB:

Lord Uthe, a member of the Vampire Council, was a Templar Knight centuries ago. Even up to the present day, he has attempted to honor the spirit of the Rule, despite the volatile and highly sexual nature of the vampire world. Yet now he’s caught the attention of the Fae Lord Keldwyn, liaison between the Council and Fae Court. Keldwyn challenges Uthe’s emotional isolation and dominant nature. When a quest from Uthe’s past requires Keldwyn’s help to protect both their worlds, Uthe will have to decide whether the Fae male is a gift from God to be cherished and trusted, or a curse that will make Uthe fail the Order he promised to serve all his life.

REVIEW:

Wow. I am so happy Joey W. Hill wrote this book! She’s not new to m/m relationships, one of her Nature of Desire books has a gay couple, and there has been gay/bi relationships and sex in this Vampire Queen series, but she really needed to write a true romance between two men in this world. Now these two both have had relationships and/or sex with females, but I think at heart, both find more pleasure and love with their own sex. This book made me very happy.

So. This book is part of a massive series, starting with The Vampire Queen’s Servant, way back in 2007. I read it in 2009, starting it on November 8th, actually! Yes, I did look it up on my Amazon account… This was just after I had started reading m/m and discovered BDSM. I was coming out of a deep paranormal romance phase, so this series was just what I needed, vampires, and hard-core BDSM. I was a bit shocked, honestly, these vampires are pretty naughty. But I loved it. Lots of kinky sex, but great plots. I’ve followed the series ever since, although I admit to not reading the last couple of books. A few months ago Joey posted the info for Night’s Templar and I got a lady boner.

There is way too much happening in this series, and in this book to really give you much idea about the plot. Basically the series has developed in to this big epic thing, internal politics, fighting amongst the vampires, the introduction of Fae characters, but at heart each book is a romance, following couples or threesomes as they work through the chaotic lives they lead, and fall in love. And have kinky sex, with lots of bondage and pain. This book is a bit different. Most, if not all of the previous books have been about the love between vampires and their human servants. Sometimes multiple vampires, sometimes the humans become vampires, but there has been a human in all of the relationships, I’m pretty sure anyway. Now we have Uthe, a Templar Knight, and born vampire, falling in love with Keldwyn, a Fae Lord. But they have some serious work to do, to get their happy ending.

Uthe is a Templar Knight, sworn to a task, fifteen hundred years ago. The time has now come for him to complete his task. He’s kept himself to a very firm set of rules, as he learned to do as a knight, and he’s never let anyone very far in to his heart. Maybe a human servant now and then has gotten close, especially the one he has as the story starts, and he does have sex with her as his nature demands, but it is pretty…. clinical maybe is the word. He does what he needs to do, but isn’t emotionally satisfied. So yes, there are some girl bits in this book but briefly. He has been a member of the Vampire Counsel, and through this group meets Keldwyn, the Fae representative to the vampire queen. (big story there….) Keldwyn has been fascinated with Uthe and his isolated strength for some time, but Uthe is pretty firm in his desire to remain nothing more than friends. As the signs become clear to Uthe that his task is coming due, and he is discovering some health issues, he is forced to accept help from Keldwyn.

Off they go on a wonderful epic quest. Fighting, action, swords, switching between the human realm and the Fae realm, some good fucking, magic, drama, angst and chaos. This book contains it all. Yes, I’m being vague, but this is seriously a complex plot. As this whole big thing is happening, Uthe is becoming more involved, more drawn to Keldwyn. We get flashbacks to Uthe’s life, we see why he has issues. We hear Keldwyn tell stories of his life and loves, and we see why HE has issues. But they work through it all.

What I liked about this was the big epic battle comes at maybe 80%, and we still get more story. So often the big thing happens and BAM! The book ends. Joey gave us a bunch more story! Time to wrap it all up, and time for one last really hot scene between Uthe and Keldwyn. I think my only complaint was the length of the book. At 453 pages it was a little long for me. There were a few moments when it dragged a bit, maybe a scene or two that I don’t think moved the plot along and could have been cut out. But I have gotten used to reading 250 page books, so that could just be me.

Uthe and Keldwyn are amazing together. Uthe is just almost falling apart, and Keldwyn will not let him. The longer they are together the more they bond, and the firmer Keldwyn gets with Uthe, telling him just how this will be. There was a moment of fear for me, after the big thing happens, but I trusted it would work out. Then I LOVED the ending. Sweet is the word I want to use, but I’m not sure that works when it’s about what happens between a vampire and a Fae Lord. Oh, I also loved that they called each other “my lord” through the whole book! So cute.

Anyway, long review to tell you this book is amazing. It’s a great addition to this series, totally got me back in to it after I had been slacking on the last few books. It is obviously part of a big series, but I think you could read this book on its own. The story of Uthe and Keldwyn’s quest is contained within the book, and doesn’t relate to things that have happened in other books in the series. There are lots of characters from the other books popping up here and there, but I do think you’d be ok not knowing their whole story. If you have read any or all of the other books, you have soooooo got to read this one. If you haven’t, I’d give this one a try. It’s really m/m, with a tiny bit of m/f sex at the very beginning. I can say that the other books are mostly m/f, with the occasional threesome thrown in for fun. But if you like paranormal romance with some serious BDSM, this is the series for you.

Loved it!

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

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