The Vampire, The War, and the Wedding Nobody Asked For | The Lesser gods by Heather Dubree

So. I read this book. And you know what? I wanted to love it. I tried to love it. I lit some candles. I dimmed the lights. I whispered "enemies to lovers" to myself like a prayer. But alas... what I got was more like "mild acquaintances to reluctantly kissing in the ruins of a bloodbath.”

Here’s the thing: this book had all the ingredients to make me absolutely lose my mind but I wanted ANGST. I wanted scenes where they scream at each other with blood on their faces, then make out against a war memorial or something. I wanted political intrigue, backstabbing at vampire galas, secret love notes passed in cryptic dead languages. Well...it contain these things but the intensity was way low....it was a moody goth marriage counseling session with occasional beheadings.

Now, is it a bad book? No! It’s fine! It’s like the literary equivalent of a Hot Topic candle: dark and broody, smells kinda nice, but doesn’t exactly set the house on fire. The vibes were vibing... just not violently enough.

Euclid (still can’t take that name seriously, sorry) is kind of hot in a tortured warlord way, but where’s the chaos? Where’s the feral sexual tension that makes you question your morals? Emmeline has main character potential, but she kind of floats through events like, “Oh no, I’m a hostage bride, guess I better look pensive by a stained glass window.”

That said, there are some decent steamy moments, a little vampire lore, and yes — you will get your blood and battlefield smooches. Just don’t expect this to be your next emotional support dark romance unless your emotional needs are very... low-maintenance.

Genre & Tropes

Enemies to lovers, dark romantasy which is not very dark

‎Rating

 3.5 reluctant wedding rings out of 5

What my Braincell Has Spoken!

Not a fave. But still a snack. Just more rice cake than red velvet.

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