Maggie Blackbird

Today, award-winning author Elli Morgan is guesting. She’s talking about her latest release The Shadowed Moon, a paranormal romance. Be sure to read my review. And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

****

It’s tough for me to compare my book The Shadowed Moon to other vampire hunter romances because I usually read vampire romances where hunters play a minor role. As of now, I can only think of two vampire series where the main characters can be considered hunters. In The Dark Days novels by Jocelynn Drake, the male love interest is a vampire hunter, but I wouldn’t put the book in the romance category. Cat from the Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost poses as bait to kill vampires and later joins a vampire hunter organization. Her future husband Bones also hunts vampires as a mercenary, but the focus differs from what I’d consider a typical vampire hunter romance.

In my definition, vampire hunter romances should focus on one or more humans who hunt vampires to protect humanity. The hunters would consider all vampires evil and thus capture or kill them on sight.

My male main character, Dave, starts out this way. After losing his family to a vampire attack as a teenager, he joins a group of vampire hunters and dedicates his life to protecting others from the same fate. Then he captures the young vampire Sarah, and she makes him question his way of life and his beliefs.

The biggest difference to any other vampire or vampire hunter romance book is Sarah’s attitude. She hates herself for what she is. This feeling itself is rather common in some vampire romances. Sarah’s reaction isn’t: She relinquishes her freedom by surrendering to a group of hunters. This way, she hopes to find allies in a quest for revenge against the monsters who kidnapped her as a child and later turned her.

To sum up, I find it hard to compare my book to other vampire hunter romances, as I have never read a book with the same focus. Yet I feel like Sarah’s decision to let herself get captured to help the hunters makes my book unique.

****

Title: The Shadowed Moon
Series: N/A
Author: Elli Morgan
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: 236 pages
Release Date: September 4, 2024
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Blurb: After they took everything from him, Dave Patton dedicated his life to hunting vampires. But he can’t bring himself to destroy their newest vampire prisoner Sarah—a young woman with a tragic past, who awakens forbidden desires in him.

Sarah McAllister spent her childhood in the hands of ruthless vampires aiming to turn her into a perfect soldier. To take revenge, she hides her true strength and surrenders to a group of hunters, hoping her knowledge will help them bring all monsters to justice.

When the hunters’ compound is attacked, Sarah has to reveal her powers to protect them from certain death. How will Dave react when he learns the truth? And how much will she have to sacrifice to defeat her tormentors?

Add to Goodreads

Available at:

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play | The Wild Rose Press

Based on the fragments of conversations beyond the door, it was day again, which meant no one had visited Sarah for over twenty-four hours. The beast in her screamed for blood, keeping her awake. She wrapped her trembling arms around her knees as her insides constricted in pain. The first hours of starvation were always excruciating. Would Dave remember to feed her soon? Her heart rate sped up at the thought of him. She could almost smell his fresh, spicy odor and imagine the taste of him on her tongue. Closing her eyes, she pictured licking the sensitive skin on his neck, searching for the perfect spot to bite. Would his blood be as tantalizing as his scent?

The door opened, and daylight illuminated the corridor, pulling her from her forbidden fantasies. She sat up as Dave staggered down the stairs, followed by Dr. Crowley. Beads of sweat coated Dave’s forehead, and a foul stench penetrated her nose as he leaned against her cell door, panting.

“Are you okay?” she asked, forgetting her all-consuming hunger.

“As if you care about me, bloodsucker.”

She winced. Why was he acting so hostile?

With shaking hands, he opened the cell door and approached her. He drew his gun and held it to her temple. “If you don’t want to die right now, you’ll tell me everything you know about vampire viruses.”

Too close. Her heart drummed and the beast in her howled. Blood. Her eyes wandered to his neck. Blood. The liquid she craved was almost within her grasp. She only needed to lean forward to consume it. Blood. Her stomach lurched, and her thoughts twirled.

Blood. Blood. Blood. Nothing else mattered. But she was here for a different reason, wasn’t she?

She hissed at him and dug her nails into her skin to regain her focus. “Get. Away. From. Me.”

He stared at her blankly.

“Dave, I think she’s ravenous,” Dr. Crowley said. “You might not get much from her in this state.”

****

I enjoyed a good vampire romance, so when the novel came up for review, I said count me in.  The author is new to me, and I must say I enjoyed what she came up with.

Dave is a vampire hunter, determined to put all blood-drinkers to death after they took too much from him.  Sarah is one of those blood drinkers, but she loathes what she’s become, having been turned against her will.  She wants Dave to save her from a life of killing innocent people.

I must say, I loved how both characters started out at the beginning.  The author made this very believable.  Right from the start, she sticks us in the plot.  We find Sarah seeking out hunters to capture her, put her away, or maybe even put her out of her misery.  Dave is more than happy to oblige.

The way these two come together is also very realistic.  Dave can’t stand Sarah at first, although she is determined to win Dave’s trust and become a helper to the vampire hunters at putting an end to her own kind.  There is a mystery of what happened to Sarah that the author slowly reveals, and many more mysteries as the author takes us along for the ride.

The world-building is wonderfully painted.  The author created a true world where vampires hide in the shadows with only a few knowing of their presence.  There is also a war going on between the European and American vampires.  Unfortunately, Dave and Sarah get caught tin the middle of this.  This novel could have stood on its own without the war, but the added plot twist I found really helped Sarah and Dave complete their character arcs, and what arcs they are!

The romance is a slow build, something I liked as each gets to know one another.  The secondary characters are also very interesting who provide additional assistance with Dave and Sarah’s arcs.

I enjoyed the writing, especially the action scenes.  The author really excels here.  This is a great novel with romance, suspense, and mystery.  Do yourself a favour and get a copy.

****

Elli Morgan was born in 1991 in a small town in Germany. Although she only started learning English in sixth grade, she quickly fell in love with the language. To improve her skills, she spent a year working and traveling in Canada and the US.

As a teenager, she devoured countless fan fiction and vampire novels. During that time, she also developed the idea for her first two books.

Her debut, The Waxing Moon, won the Reader Views bronze award in the romance category.

Apart from being a writer, she’s also a trained mathematician, working as Business Intelligence Developer at an IT company. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling, and all kinds of games.

Follow Elli: Website | Facebook | Facebook Group | X | Instagram | Tik-Tok | BookBub | Goodreads | Newsletter | Amazon

****

Enter for a chance to win a $15.00 Amazon or B&N Gift Card.
a Rafflecopter giveaway