Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an eARC of “The Darkest Vampire” in exchange for an honest review!

The Darkest Vampire is a new adult, urban paranormal fantasy with witches, vampires, demons, and various other supernatural creatures. I was immediately drawn in by the title and cover; it just felt dark and sexy—and I’m on a vampire kick right now.

The synopsis suggests a book filled with murder mystery, hidden magic, and slow burn dark romance. Supernatural creatures are being killed. And the deaths are tied to MC, Lavinia, a half-witch who lost her parents to a similar string of murders. But the intrigue stops here. The author continuously references the MC’s past as a driving force for the plot; Lavinia wants to avenge her family, no matter the cost. In her search for answers, Lavinia needs to remove a blood promise stifling her magic. But somehow, she’s also responsible for a string of supernatural kidnappings? And a search for magical boxes?

There are various covens and a complex magic system. There is also considerable in-fighting between the vampire and demon clans. But to what end? The characters feel one dimensional. Lavinia is not the strong, sassy protagonist I expected her to be. And coming from other books—such as The Plated Prisoner series, ACOSF, or FBAA—which expertly address trauma, this fell flat. Her love interest, the titular “darkest vampire,” also lacks depth. Maybe it’s because I’ve been mainlining vampire books this week, but I wanted more.

All in all, The Darkest Vampire is a short book that is easily digestible. But if you want a bold, spicy, urban paranormal romance, you won’t find it here.

Review also available via Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4277827618

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this eArc.

On paper, this sounded like everything I love reading about, fantasy, paranormal, romance. In practice yes, it's there, but so watered down. It was an attempt at a paranormal romance that doesn't quite work for me.
MC has the maturity and complexity of an egotistical 12-year-old. The story goes slow and seems not thought out at all, events and characters pop in and out at convenience. And romance let's just say too little, too late...

Not having read the books of the author before this book, I discovered the universe of the Rite World and first positive point, even without having read the previous books of the same universe I did not feel lost.
I liked the style of writing of Juliana Haygert, it is fluid, it is not heavy, we are not thrown in the figure a too complex universe, allowing us to slowly discover the different supernatural beings existing, their peculiarities etc.
I liked the character of Lavinia because we have an MC with a strong character, but she has flaws and especially her past rather heavy has left traces, making that we have here an MC who is not perfect but who fights to survive, to beat her fears and who seeks to avenge the murder of her parents.
I would have loved to have a few chapters from Killian's POV, the vampire love interest because his protective side grumbles towards Lavinia, who is a half-witch, while we are told from the beginning that he hates witches, makes me want to know exactly how he feels about her.
The story is fast, we do not get bored and discoveries lead to new questions, leaving still areas of shadows. So I look forward to seeing more of the evolution of history, to learning more about why Lavinia’s powers were restricted with her parents, and to seeing the evolution of Killian and Lavinia

I did really enjoy this ARC and I think the series has a LOT of promise, I am definitely interested in the next book.

The story follows Lavinia, she has been alone since her parents where killed when she was a child, and has found a sort of home with a witch named Delia, who has taken her under her wing. You see, Lavinia is a half witch, and she is trying to find out who killed her parents to exact her revenge. Along comes Killian, a brooding god like vampire who "hates witches" as his family where killed in a similar fashion.

Now there are more murders, following the exact pattern that Lavinia and Killian's family suffered, so they join together to investigate.

I was definitely surprised by this book, there were a few grammatical errors and a continuity error, but I am hoping these are picked up in proof/editing.

A really great book! I am looking forward to what comes next. I have a feeling there will be some spice going forward but this book is mostly YA.

This was a good witch/vampire read, it was quick and had a good pace. I liked the will they/wont they story line and could sense the tension developing but over all it felt a little simplistic and that it is more of a YA read that a new adult read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a brand new author to me, so I had no idea what to expect when going into this. The description sounded right up my alley, and I love the cover, so I was excited to give this a shot. Unfortunately, this was just an ok start to the series.

I really wish there was "more" from the plot, characters, and romance. It was a fun & quick read, but I thought there could have been more development on all fronts. Lavinia and Killian's relationship wasn't done as well as I was hoping, and it felt sort of insta-love to me. Aside from the romance, I wanted more drama and plot development. This book was too long for how little actually happened. I guessed some of the bigger plot points too, so when they actually happened I wasn't as excited as I should have been.

Overall, this wasn't my cup of tea & I'm disappointed I didn't like this more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the opportunity to read this ARC. This honest review was based off my experience reading an ARC, which in no way biased me.

This vampire book has witches, demons and other supernatural species? 🤔 I love when there is more than one species in one book, it’s always interesting to see how they interact.

TW: for a brief mention of past SA of a side character, infant death, and miscarriage (Chapter 7 & 8)

The info dump was a lot to drop in one chapter and difficult to follow, but luckily as the book goes on it’s easier to keep track.

A vampire who hates witches. Is this an enemies to lovers situation? Oh man. I wish this would have been dual POV.

OOOOO SUPERNATURAL MURDER MYSTERY? A witch and vampire (who happens to hate witches) get to play Nancy Drew. I will say the way this is resolved seems TOO EASY, like “ha I’m the villain and I caught you and I’m going to explain everything in my weird monologue”. Don’t take it too seriously and you’ll enjoy the ride.

Overall, it was a short book that kept my interest. I love grumpy love interests so of course I’m very invested in Killian and Lavinia’s ship.

This seemed to lay a lot of the groundwork for future books and I’m interested to see where it goes.

This was a disappointment on many levels, starting with the title, series title and the cover, none of which match the contents. We do have a vampire, but he’s far from the darkest. He’s fairly nice, actually, and the best part of the book. There’s no vampire war, there’s a group of serial killers killing supernaturals. And we don’t have a badass, sassy leading lady depicted on the cover. We have a whiny little girl. There isn’t much of a romance, which is merciful, really; a two hundred year old vampire with a child would be repulsive. Nothing sizzles. The story is too long for the plot (took me days to slog through) and it doesn’t advance organically. Lavinia is doing her thing, trying to break a spell, which doesn’t happen, and then the bad guys sweep in and are defeated. The end. Except … not. I’m not entirely sure what the last chapter was about, but I’m not eager to find out.

As Portland’s supernaturals are being murdered just as half-witch Lavinia begins to ask questions to fellow witches to find answers regarding a blood promise she made with her mother not long before her parents were brutally murdered before her. Making a promise with a demon to steal a stone box, her touch opens it which revealed a trapped vampire. Working with her friend Delia and Killian in finding the killers of the local murders and if they are connected with the murdered parents.
The Darkest Vampire is an ideal book for anyone who loves to read romance novels, Sci Fi and Fantasy novels along with the Supernatural genre. Great book for the fans of Linsey Hall, Leia Stone, Jen L Grey, Jenna Wolfhart and Veronica Douglas.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harvest House Publishing via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own thoughts, feelings and viewpoints of the book.
#TheDarkestVampire #NetGalley

Review run date 11 October 2021for Netgalley, Facebook blog and WordPress blog. On 28 October 2021 my review will be post on, Amazon.com.au, goodreads, kobo, googlebooks and iBooks.

My WordPress blog is http://bluefalkon95adorationofallgenres.wordpress.com My Facebook reader blog page link, is https://www.facebook.com/BlueFalkon95-Readers-blog-104660277776984

Not withstanding the violence, this was a clean read that would border on YA. I liked the story, it was nicely original with the boxes, and all the characters were interesting. An incredibly slow burn romance was a little grating with Killian's wishy washy attitude. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC from Netgalley.

Thank you kindly for the eARC!

I found this book to be more directed at young teens more than adults but that’s just my opinion :)
I didn’t love it but also didn’t hate it I think it may have been the writing style, it just wasn’t for me. Parts of it I found it to seem like it was a bit too easy of a read which made me think it was more for a younger audience.

I still enjoyed the read and haven’t read anything from this author before so it’s always good to try something new :)

This book was sent to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank You Juliana Haygert and NetGalley for this eARC!

The Darkest Vampire was an enjoyable read!
I knew this was going to be phenomenal and it was!
So excited this is going to be series and I'm here for it!

Because there was one thing I didn't love about this story!
The characters all come alive and you actually feel like you are a bystander watching things unfold. I am really anxious to start reading the next part of this saga.
This book is well written with depth of description to the characters and surroundings. It makes it enjoyable to read and is well paced!
Wonderful book and I can't wait for book two!

Thank you so much for this eARC!

Overall, The Darkest Vampire was an enjoyable read that I finished over two nights. The plot was interesting and held my attention throughout, and Lavinia was an engaging character it was easy to get behind. The prose was easy reading, and the ending left me intrigued to see what would happen next. The only thing that didn't quite work for me was the romance, which felt a little forced; however, I think some of that was because we saw everything from Lavinia's POV, so we didn't connect deeply with or really get to know Killian in the same way we did her. Perhaps that will change as we move into the next book in the series. I am giving this 3.5 stars. I didn't fall head over heels in love with this tale, but I enjoyed it and, on the strength of this book, I would read on in this series and consider picking up some of the author's other works. Therefore I will round up to 4 stars rather than down to 3 in this instance.

This story is very interesting, though sometimes (especially in the beggining) it moves too fast.
I loved Lavinia's relatioship with Delia, who's the mother she never had! I think that Lavinia's romance with Killian has potential, but I think he needs more development in the next books, personality-wise.
One thing I noticed is that the mating bond mentioned seems heavily inspired by the one present in Sarah J Maas's books.
One things that I did not enjoy about this book was the way that LGBT rep was handled. The only two queer characters in this book are killed shortly after the revelation of their past relationship is made, following the "bury your gays" trope.
The ending of the book was verry appealing and I think that this trilogy has a lot of potential, but it does need improvement.

Trigger warnings:
-Murder and death
-Violence and psychological torture
-Claustrophobia