Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Their Dark Reflections
AUTHOR: Amanda Meuwissen
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: November 3, 2020
LENGTH: 214 pages
BLURB:
Personal assistant Sam Coleman can do it all: housekeeping, groundskeeping, bookkeeping. The catch? It’s a con.
Ed Simon, his newest millionaire boss, doesn’t know Sam Goldman is a Robin Hood for hire who targets rich jerks. Sure, Sam keeps the money for himself, his crew, and his real employers, but at least they only steal from bad people.
Until sweet, fumbling Ed, who doesn’t seem to have a single vice. Too bad the people who hired Sam won’t let him back out. They want Ed’s money, and they’ll hurt Sam and his friends to get it.
For years Ed has kept people at arm’s length, but Sam’s charms wear down his defenses—just as he learns their budding relationship was an act. Sam isn’t who Ed thought he was, but Ed has a dark secret too: he’s a vampire. And someone is framing him for a series of bloody murders.
When the real villains force their hand, Sam and Ed must choose: work together, trust each other, and give in to the feelings growing between them… or let what might have been bleed out like the victims piling at their feet.
REVIEW:
Sam believes himself and his little group to be modern-day Robin Hood’s. They steal from the rich and nasty people of society and take a cut of the proceedings. He accepts a contract from people who assure him of the mark’s ugliness. When Sam enters Ed’s house, he expected it to be a short-term gig and to walk away with a mighty haul – after all, he is the conman. He didn’t figure on falling for the owner or finding himself dragged into an adventure of theft, murder, mystery, double and triple-crossing.
As the blurb says, Ed is a vampire. He has lived for many years knowing how to cover his tracks. Part of that survival includes being a loner. All his people are solitary beings who like to stay below the radar. Sam walking into his life, turns it upside down, and Ed finds excuses to keep Sam around longer than his two-week contract. Then all hell breaks loose. Bodies appear with links to Ed. Secrets are revealed. Ed finds that he needs all his vampire skills to keep those he cares about safe and he must trust Sam in order to get to the bottom of who is targeting him.
Their Dark Reflections is told in the third person from the viewpoints of Sam and Ed and is technically sound. The scene-setting is excellent, and I loved the descriptions of the characters, especially Gerry, one of Sam’s team – Quote – a cream puff in the body of a bouncer.
The years of Ed’s existence suggests that he has a lot of life experience, yet he manages to exude an air of innocence. Sam, on the other hand, displays every ounce of his conman background. The two together make for a dynamic team and a story that I enjoyed. The extended cast also shows a range of personalities that made for some excellent variety and gave the story depth.
As with many tales, they go through phases, blind ignorance, danger, high’s, low’s, mistakes, reveal, consequences etc. and this is no different. The concept of the story was simple, the execution – delightful – one that kept me turning the page.
RATING: 
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