If you're going to write a book that so obviously uses many different elements the Vampire Chronicles, you should probably not include the fact that you have a dog named Akasha in your about the author section. Okay, that might be mildly unfair because this book isn't REALLY a direct rip-off of any VC book, but there is a definite sense of deja vu. We've got queer vampires in Paris at the end of the 1700's that only kill 'evildoers' and also there's tons of existential stuff about God. Sound familiar? I mean at least this book features socially progressive characters and leaves behind Anne Rice's particular brands of racism and misogyny, but throughout there are still several points where you're like 'I've been here before, I recognize that tree'.

Unfortunately the writing style and story itself was not enough to make me forget about all these VC similarities and lose myself in the story instead. The writing and dialogue felt awkward at times, and there were definitely several points where I thought that dialogue or descriptions sounded way too modern. The plot felt like it was dragging on but at the same time also like there was too much going on. I'm not sure what point the plot about Catherine and Marcel even served? There was no suspense because we knew he was drugging her the whole time and there were no surprise reveals at the end. It's like the author just didn't know what to do with her but wanted to include a female main character so he just did something random. I appreciate the effort, I really do, but it just didn't fit in with the Thomas/Xavier romance at all in my opinion.

Basically if you want to read about queer vampires in Paris just read the Vampire Chronicles, but for the love of God please stop after the first three books. You don't want to go down that road. If you want to read a historical fiction story about a brother and sister pair and their friend that features and M/M pairing and also touches on overlapping aspects of historical racism, sexism, and homophobia then read The Gentlemen's Guide to Vice and Virtue. Unfortunately when this book tried to combine those two things it just turned into a mess that I can't really recommend. The beginning showed potential though so maybe with a lot of edited it could turn into something decent.

this had a lot of potential for me, especially as it combined three of my favourite things: vampires, priests, and the french revolution. unfortunately, however, it failed to deliver.

it began promisingly, with the beginnings of romance and the darkness of thomas' vampirism, but as we reached around a third of the book it started to drag, and by halfway it was far too slow. i like a slow burn as much as the next person, but this was too slow, especially as there wasn't much else going on in the periphery.

there weren't any plot twists or big reveals, which also let the story down a lot. if everything with marcel had been revealed later then that would have been quite effective, but we learn about him a few pages after he is introduced which takes out A LOT of the suspense.

overall, like i said, it had a lot of potential but the execution (no pun intended) was poor.

The Vampire's Angel is a paranormal romance novel about Thomas, a vampire, and Xavier, a priest, who fall in love during the French Revolution. Most of the book focuses on the lovers and their struggles with being in a complicated relationship. Xavier is very stubborn about his beliefs and therefore, they frame how he lives his life, regardless of the passion he feels for Thomas. Thomas, in turn, won't give up on Xavier and at times almost forces him to give in to his feelings for Thomas. The entire relationship was a bit disturbing for me. The French Revolution provides a nice backdrop for the story, so readers get a taste of historical fiction between the scenes with the lovers incessantly whining about how they can't be together. There is another storyline going on with Xavier's sister, Catherine, which pulls in aspects of dark magic. Catherine was a bit surprising - she's portrayed as an independent woman trying to run her family's estate while being unknowingly drugged by her fiance through dark magic. For someone who was supposed to be in her position, I was surprised that she could allow herself to continue to be manipulated in the way she was. I feel like there was a good story in this book somewhere, but had a hard time finding it with the annoyances of the lovers whining and the naive female being drugged.

Set in the French Revolution, I personally thought what a great concept for the storyline, especially when the main character is a Catholic priest.

But sadly the story feel very short and seemed to drag on and on. If the story had been cut down by 100 - 150 pages I think the story would have kept you more interested, story was very repetitive which was a real shame.

I really wanted to enjoy this book as I'm rather fond of vampire tales and the premise seemed interesting, being set during the French Revolution and all. The plot and characters were indeed enjoyable enough to hold my attention long enough to finish the novel....but I was disappointed by the quality of the writing. It's just not well written, very amateurish, language which doesn't suit the era particularly well, lacking in detail, contradictory in places. - I would probably say it reads more like a first draft than a finished work. This story deserved much better and could have been really good. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to others and definitely won't be drawn to reading others in the series or anything else by the same author.

Great start to a new series! I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, characters and historical backdrop. Look forward to the next book in the series!