Review: Love Immortal by Brita Addams

Brita Addams
Love Immortal (Mysterious Moonlight, #1)
Silver Publishing, 2010
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Backblurb:
Born in 1620, Laurent Kinsdale, an orphan at ten and a vampire at twenty five, goes against all his sire has taught him, when, on an impulse, he turns his lover, Graham Symonds. Graham does not take the turning well, his anger towards the man he's loved for four years knows no bounds. After he commits unconscionable acts directed at destroying Laurent, he disappears for a century and a half.
In 1820, Laurent meets Sebastian FitzHugh. The two men have common sexual interests, each other, despite the fact that Sebastian doesn't know about Laurent's vampirism. Their lives are disrupted by the re-emergence of Graham, who insinuates himself in the middle of their idyll and forces Laurent to make a gut-wrenching decision that could tear his and Sebastian's world apart. Does he care for Sebastian enough to let him go or will he repeat the mistakes of his past?

Genre & Keywords:
M/M, Historical Romance, Vampire, BDSM, Violence, Suspense

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2.5 out of 3 flames
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Why I read it:
I received a review copy from the author

Love Immortal is a historical gay vampire romance. The story takes place in the 19th century and although I'm not a particularly good judge of that (being Dutch and not a native English speaker) the dialogue has an authentic, ancient feel to it. The scene where our heroes, Laurent and Sebastian, meet takes place at one of those social, high-society get-togethers typical of that period in history. But other than this occasional setting and the use of some archaic phrases, the story could've taken place in any other period of history. So, if you're not really a historical romance fan this shouldn't be an obstacle with this book.

You do have to like paranormal romances though, because the vampire aspect plays a bigger role. Laurent is a vampire for two decades when he meets Sebastian, a human. Their attraction is immediate and palpable and they leave together for a hot night of sex, which was supposed to stay just that - one night - to avoid Laurent's secret to get exposed. But the passion continues. And so do their meetings. The vampire aspect is not being romanticized in this story, being a vampire is not desirable at all in Laurent's eyes. And he'll do anything to prevent that others will have to face the same destiny, even when they beg him to turn them. He has lost a lover recently due to his unwillingness to turn him. His reluctance has everything to do with a previous mistake with an old lover, Graham, who turned rogue and is out to get his idea of revenge.

Graham adds some suspense to the story but also a lot of cruelty and violence. And his actions bring a difficult decision upon Laurent, regarding Sebastian. All the action in this book was quite fascinating and thrilling but rather grim. It’s definitely not a cutesy and sweet love story. Which is not only Graham’s fault, although he does have a big influence on Laurent’s view on life and love. Laurent has a dark streak in himself as well, which is especially noticeable in his sexual preferences. He does get off on inflicting pain on his lovers. And although the sex scenes between him and Sebastian were really steamy, they also made me flinch on occasion. And I honestly wasn’t completely sure of Sebastian’s feelings about it all, including the painful BDSM scenes. This probably had something to do with the ‘vampire spell’ he was under once Laurent had bitten him:

Laurent licked him and murmured deep in his throat. "You will have no recollection of this, Sebastian, but you will feel compelled to be in my presence." Sebastian's body trembled, cold fear gripped him. He tugged against Laurent's strong hold. It was futile.

I wasn’t sure which of Sebastian’s feelings and behavior were genuine and which were caused by the bite. Only when the events take a turn, changing his faith, I started to believe his emotions were his own.

When I finished this book I felt as if I had read a lot between the lines instead of getting it all spelled out in details. There were a few jumps in time and sometimes information wasn’t provided where I’d expected some. This does have a certain appeal, because it gives room to the reader’s own imagination. On the other hand, it kept me wondering about the heroes’ relationship and the depth of their feelings for each other. I wondered if it hadn’t been merely the circumstances that made them a couple, rather than their emotional bond. Therefore, for me, the action arc is more memorable than the characters themselves.
Be that as it may, Love Immortal is an exciting, entertaining and hot read, which is well-written and satisfying enough to make me curious for the next book in this series!