Tall, Dark & Dead

Author: Tate Hallaway

(Re-posted from my old blogger)

The Order of Eustice is the Vatican's anti-witch hit squad. Yes, they take "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." very literally. Garnet Lacey was part of a coven until the one day she showed up late. She walks in expecting to get ribbed for being late and instead finds her entire coven dead and the Vatican's Order performing Last Rites. In a moment of rage she calls Lilith to her and becomes the goddesses avatar. She slaughters the Order's hit squad and, with the help of her vampire ex-boyfriend, hides the bodies. She leaves town and settles in . She's running an occult store and masquerading as a goth. Then one day Sebastian Von Traum walks into her life and it's trouble all over again.

Sebastian is dead, has been for years. He was an alchemist and became a vampire by drinking a potion. He's not your average vampire either. He can walk in the daylight, but he's got one major problem. After all these years the potion is failing and unless he can work the kinks out in his potion, he may end up dead for good. To top it off, the Order is after Sebastian. Seems they think that little potion of his might come in handy and though they don't usually hunt vampires, they're willing to make an exception, since he's also an alchemist. Garnet's ex-boyfriend vamp comes into town, confusing things between Garnet and Sebastian. Then there is Matyas, Sebastian's post-death damphyr son who's working with the order to bring down his father. Let us not forget Lilith, who's still inside Garnet and looking to take control over Garnet's body permanently. Can she and Sebastian work together to stay alive or will the forces aligned against them be too much for a failing vampire and a solitary witch?

I liked it, I really did, but Garnet got on my nerves with her feeding issues. I mean, come on, if you're going to date a vampire you will either have to provide sustenance or not be uptight about them getting it elsewhere. Either deal with that or stop dating guys that need to feed off other people! Sebastian was interesting, but I didn't feel like we got to know him much. I know we got a lot of info on him, but it was like reading a list of facts about someone. You know? No personal connection. I kind of liked Matyas. I know he was sort of supposed to be one of the bad guys and he tended to be a jerk, but he had good reasons for feeling the way he did and doing the things he did. He was wrong, yeah, but I couldn't dislike him for it. I felt bad for Phillip too. He comes to Garnet because he's hit hard times, and because he still has feelings for her, only to find her hooked up with a day walking vampire who fed off her when she wouldn't let him. As if that weren't enough, the poor guy is having to basically prostitute himself, he's in such dire straights. The ending left a lot of things open, so I'm thinking we're being set up for a series, a trilogy at least. I don't know how I feel about that. I love series books but I hate it when the individual books in the series are left too open ended. Leaves me unsatisfied and not too sure if I want more. Give me some kind of resolution on something!

(I never have read the rest of this series and have no real interest in doing so. I may pick it up at a future date, but I doubt it.)