Title:The Beginning
Author:Mychael Black
Genre: paranormal, vampires, witches
Length: Novel (163 pages)
Publisher: Torquere Press, Inc. (January 21st 2014)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts
Reviewer: Cat
Blurb: Witchcraft and homosexuality are punishable by death, but it doesn’t stop Lucca Moretti from embracing both. Lucca fears no man, but he has one weakness: his twin brother, Gabriele. When tragedy strikes, Lucca and Gabriele have few options, but they do have allies. They flee from the wreckage of their family’s home and take refuge in the home of Lorik, the unofficial leader of the vampires in the city of Rome. Lorik offers them safety, but not without a price.
Gabriele has spent years fighting an unholy desire for his twin, but even his fear is no match for the lure of Lucca’s kiss. In this new world they’ve stumbled into, however, there is much more to the people around them than meets the eye.
The vampires are at war, and Lorik’s court mage sees something in Lucca that could turn the tide in their favor. Secrets come to light which can either aid the twins in saving the new family they’ve found, or destroy them all.
Purchase Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=97&products_id=4111
Review: Warning! This book contains Twincest, mild domination and a ménage. So if any of these things turn you off, this book isn’t for you.
Now having warned you I did know the book contained Twincest and I will be honest, I still don’t know how I feel about Twincest. This is a very hard book to review so I took my time and thought it over carefully. I don’t like giving half stars so that’s why we have a four. I gave it a moderate on the heat level since there is a lot of sex scenes throughout the book, however I found them tasteful and sensual not outright explicit to me. Explicit is a graphic description of the act and body parts and coarse descriptive words. So, I loved the story and in my opinion, the sex is moderate. I thought it was very sexy, and sensual.
I will say this, the domination part was so mild I could have done without it and it would not have taken away from the book. I can’t say much on the ménage since it will be a spoiler, but I was ok with-it found it sensual and I do give Kudos on how that relationship went and can’t wait for the next book to since I have a feeling it may be Dorian’s story. At least I hope so.
Now for my actual review. The storyline was action packed and very intriguing. I love Mychael Black’s take on vampires. They are gritty, violent and different from the norm. Nope you won’t find sparkly here, though Gabriele is close … I liked the mage, vamp combination. For some reason I really liked Lucca, though I think he needed to be a tad bit tougher, but perhaps that will come as he grows into his powers since he is just becoming a vampire here. I liked the combination also of passion, fear, sensuality, and sadness. (Yes, you will need a tissue near the end.)
To sum things up… I recommend this if you like vampires, mages, shadows, spirits, sensual sex, devoted love and Twincest.