Title: Threshold
Author: Vivien Dean
Genre: Paranormal /Vampires
ISBN: 978-1-61124-519-6
Length: Extended Novella (115 pages)
Publisher: Amber Allure (November 17th, 2013)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥3 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Sutter is a vampire on the run. After barely escaping the hunter his sire sent after him, he makes it all the way to the middle of nowhere, Oregon, before the approaching sunrise forces him to stop. He intends only to rest, and then hit the road again as soon as night falls, but that plan falls apart when the motel’s maintenance man discovers him passed out on the bathroom floor.
Ex-Marine Max Rowell hasn’t had a purpose in life ever since coming home from the Gulf. Though he works at his father’s motel, drifting through days that bleed endlessly into each other, it takes discovering an unconscious guy who looks like an angel but has clearly been through hell to give him new purpose.
Max isn’t letting Sutter go anywhere until he’s healed, but Sutter needs more than a warm bedside manner to get stronger. Though they strike a deal, the clock keeps ticking, and sooner or later Sutter will need to run again, or risk putting Max’s life on the line when Sutter’s past catches up to him…
Product Link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Threshold.html
Review: So this story started very interesting giving me a speedy little heartbeat with its intensity and anticipation. A vampire on the threshold of death gets saved by a living breathing man. Sutter has never been valued before, never once anyone cast his eyes twice on him. Even his sire didn’t really care much, beside the fact that Sutter’s actions deflected on him. Most importantly though, no one, no one ever has done something nice for Sutter just because… So, when Max comes along and saves his life because it wouldn’t be right not to, Sutter suffers a cultural shock shall we say it? A shock definitely it is because no human has ever seen Sutter and wanted to give him blood, on the contrary screams were usually the norm.
So this right here is where I start having my issues with the read. No matter how much of a good-doer Max is, his behavior when he learns that Sutter is a vampire is completely reckless at least and makes no sense. He understands that Sutter is a vampire, but he doesn’t want Sutter to kill people when hunting… He understands Sutter can’t ever have a “normal” job, but he doesn’t want him illegal either… Max as a character is a huge pile of controversies and the biggest one of them was the I want you to screw my brains out but not until you’re healed (Sutter has this huge hole in his body) but wait, once Sutter is healed oops, something happens and Max doesn’t want to have sex anymore…
Really, I understand he was supposed to be this good guy falling in love with the vamp and changing the vamp’s twenty undead years and making him “good” again… but for it didn’t work. It has been said and done before and this work simply didn’t distinguish itself for the rest of the rack.
The intimate scenes and romance were a bit weird. See the entire read was one big anticipation, for Sutter to heal and have he and Max finally got down to fireworks because yeah, the chemistry was exquisite between them two, only to have waited for nothing in the end. I really felt cheated there, I would so much rather not have that threesome that was not threesome and that was a bit of a pain to read, than not have the final sex scene between Max and Sutter. That was so the wrong call the way I see it. A huge disappointment if there ever was any.
As for the badies and the end itself… yep, the WTF ever did cross my mind once or twice. I don’t want to spoil it for those who are going to read it, but let’s just say the end brought up more questions and no closure so…
Overall, though I must admit that for half a read or more, I had a nice time reading this book and a silly grin on my face, and while it could be much, much better, it definitely wasn’t bad and fans of the genre might want to give it a go.