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Review: That Killer Smile by Juliet Lyons (Bite Nights #3)

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That Killer Smile by Juliet Lyons // VBC ReviewThat Killer Smile (Bite Nights #3)
Juliet Lyons
Published: Feb. 6, 2018 (Sourcebooks Casablanca)
Purchase: Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Dating the Undead.

Cat Adair is the founder of V-Date.com, a London-based dating service that connects humans with vampire dates. Business is far from booming after a vampire serial killer used the site to find his victims in the previous book. It gets even worse when the local vampire club starts hosting speed-dating nights.

Ronin McDermott is the owner of that club and London’s “vampire overlord,” the ancient in charge of keeping the undead in line. He’s been a mysterious and menacing character in the first two books of the series. I was hoping to find out more about him and the mythology surrounding the ancients, the only ones who can turn new vampires. We do, in fact, learn about where the ancients come from as well as meet Esme, the ancient in charge of New York in this book. (I suspect she might also be the lead character if there’s a book four.) But I was a little bit disappointed at how much of the menace Ronin’s lost.

However, I’m a sucker for an enemies-to-lovers story. I was so excited at the end of the first chapter when I realized how much Cat hated Ronin. And it’s not just because of the speed dating. Their banter and their chemistry did not disappoint! Just like in the previous books in the series, there’s also a murder mystery. This time since the victims are vampires, Ronin’s in charge of solving of it.

That Killer Smile is set at least a year after the previous book in the series. It would work well as a standalone since the characters from the other books are mentioned, but don’t play a major role in the story. However, it does summarize what happened to them at the end of their books, so there would be some spoilers. I’m about to tell you what happened here too, so skip the last paragraph if you don’t want to know.

Often in vampire romances, the human partner has to become a vampire to get their HEA. This series has switched it up by turning the vampire characters human. Even though I appreciate that it defies expectations, the idea that their previous lives weren’t good enough made me a little uncomfortable. I was hoping that since Ronin is an ancient, his story would be different. And it is to some extent, since Ronin was never human so couldn’t change back. But there’s still a sense that Cat and Ronin have to change to earn their HEAs that I could have done without.

Sexual content: graphic sex, references to domestic violence, child abuse

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