REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY: Alasdair by Ella Frank

Blurb

A DANGEROUS ALLURE

Bestowed with eternal life by the Ancient Vasilios, Alasdair Kyriakous is one of the most feared and ruthless vampires in existence. His name carries weight across all of the seven continents.

But he is a mystery to his kind, an anomaly among the self-indulgent. While he enjoys the pleasures of the flesh, he is exceptionally particular in his choice of partners and prides himself on his ironclad self-control.

Yet with one look his control will become a thing of the past, and Alasdair will discover that eternal life doesn’t always last forever…

A DEADLY ATTRACTION

Thrust into a world he could never have imagined, Leo Chapel awakens in his worst nightmare. Taken hostage by the dangerously mesmerizing vampire, Alasdair, Leo must rely on his intelligence to escape before he reveals a secret he isn’t even aware he’s hiding.

A FORBIDDEN DESIRE

Unaware that they’ve been brought together by an outside force and are little more than pawns to a higher power, Alasdair and Leo spend time trying to uncover the other’s secrets, the attraction between them growing stronger all the while.

But enemies are watching and preparing to act against them. When decisions that will alter lives and destinies have to be made—can a dead, grey heart learn to beat again?

Review

Ella Frank continues to enthrall me with her stories and characters, and this time, Frank takes readers into the paranormal realm where vampires reign supreme and Alasdair commands those around him. But when a man that Alasdair knows little about becomes his obsession, Alasdair will have to acquire the reasons why by any means necessary because not only does his immortal life depend on it, but so do the lives who are connected to him through his creation and common bond.

Frank does a tremendous job of creating and illustrating her vampire world and all the players and hierarchy involved in their domain. The main and supporting characters are well developed and their thirst for blood and sex and how they go about obtaining both of those items is what makes them dynamic to read.

Alasdair is a very sexual creature who commands and obeys depending on who provokes those responses – he is a leader, but he was also sired by the most powerful vampire in their domain, which means Alasdair has to walk a very fine line, and he finds it harder to do so as his thoughts and desires become consumed by a man who shouldn’t have that much power over Alasdair but he does.

Leo, the human Alasdair is obsessed with, is introduced to a world he knows nothing about and learns of a mission that he has been created and destined for, but right now, that is of no consequence because what’s driving Leo is his attraction to the alluring immortal, and while Leo knows he should fear for his life, he’s consumed with the need to be owned by Alasdair, but what that would mean to Leo’s future as well as that of the Ancients and their first sired vampires is still unclear, and readers will be left to speculate how Leo, Alasdair, and Vasillos proceed with their newly acquired information and the complicated and dangerous situation they all find themselves in at the end of the text.

Ella Frank is a gifted writer because she has the ability to switch genres with ease; she creates such well rounded characters that it’s easy to understand what motivates them and why they makes the choices they do. I wouldn’t call Alasdair a typical paranormal romance because Frank creates a tangled web of unique relationships that don’t seem to mesh well given the circumstances. As the series progresses, it will be interesting to see how and if the vampires and humans can co exist with everything that is at stake for both kinds.

Teaser

With no more than a flash of thought, he was inside the man’s room and standing at the foot of a large bed.

He cocked his head to the side and examined the book splayed open on the man’s naked chest. It looked as though it had fallen there when he’d drifted off to sleep, his fingers still resting against the glossy cover.

A sinister smile morphed Alasdair’s lips, and he touched the tip of his tongue to the fangs elongating from his upper gums. The familiar surge of adrenaline caused his skin to come alive with awareness as his body prepared itself to do what it had been created for.

Raising his hand, he flicked his wrist and the covers whisked back. The man beneath was no more aware of the action than a slight shift in the air as a low sigh escaped him and he stretched his body, turning his head on the pillow.

The sight that greeted Alasdair made the hours he’d spent tracking well worth the time. When the human took a breath, the knotted drawstring tie of his linen lounge pants caught his attention. Fuck, that made him want to indulge his carnal side first.

Maybe this was the root of his current obsession. In fact, that thought was followed by one truer to his perverse nature. How long would it take to have him clutching those covers from lust if I wanted it? And as Alasdair continued to observe the human, he realized just how much he wanted it.

The chest where the book was lying was covered in a light dusting of blond hair. It trailed a path along the center of the man’s sternum to his stomach, which looked as hard as his own. However, unlike his own abdomen, this man’s skin would be warm to the touch.

Perhaps he could take a moment or two and… No, he didn’t have the time, and that really was a shame. A meeting had been called this evening, and he was due at the Assembly Hall soon. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off the Ancients by being late.

So, with the speed and the stealth only his kind possessed, he was on the bed and stretched out above the man, and his mouth hovered over the ear closest to him.

He threw the book, which landed with a loud thump on the floor, and couldn’t stop himself from slipping one of his hands beneath those thin pants to curl his fingers around the flaccid cock he found inside. When a soft groan left the human, Alasdair used his other hand to capture his captive’s wrists like iron shackles and pin them above his head. Before the man had a chance to wake, he delved inside his head and projected an image of where this hunt would finally end.

About Ella Frank

Ella Frank is the author of the #1 Bestselling Temptation series, including Try, Take, and Trust and is the co-author of the fan-favorite erotic serial, A Desperate Man. Her Exquisite series has been praised as “scorching hot!” and “enticingly sexy!”

A life-long fan of the romance genre, Ella writes contemporary and erotic fiction and lives with her husband in Portland, OR. You can reach her on the web at http://www.ellafrank.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ella.frank.author

Some of her favorite authors include Tiffany Reisz, Kresley Cole, Riley Hart, J.R. Ward, Erika Wilde, Gena Showalter, and Carly Philips.

Fairest Of All Book Reviews