On paper, this one looked to check all my boxes:
Vampires? Check.
Romance? Check.
Unique paranormal world-building? Check... Well, almost.
I ended up not finishing this one. I wanted to love it so bad. But it was just... So bad.
And maybe that's not fair. Because I didn't finish it. There's every possibility that it did get better.
But when I automatically just don't have any interest in the main characters, it's not in me to keep going.
Not for me... But, maybe it's for you.

I am a sucker for a good vampire story so I was really excited to get approved for this book. It has all the typical tropes - tall dark stranger claiming to be a king, the promise of power, a really uncomfortable immortal man vs younger woman with a 2000 year age gap (yikes!). At least the author did us a solid and made Angelina 35. It was nice to see that the love interest wasn't a child being sought after by the immortal love interest. Still...a 1, 965 year age gap is something.

There were some interesting aspects of this story that made me keep reading. The vampire lore and history was kind of cool, but the tropes felt kind of cliche where the romance was concerned.

I think overall the pacing was just too slow and the writing a bit to bland. So much of the vampire romance aspect has already been done. I just wanted something a little more original. Without the history and archaeological aspect I think this is just he same thing in slightly different trappings.

Wasn't a horrible book, but sometimes a so-so book feels like a waste too.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. I just couldnt get into this book. I really tried. the more I tried, the more I would just move on to another book and tell myself I would go back to it and I never did

There were a lot of things that I loved about A History of Vampires.. and a few that I did not. First, I am a sucker for a good vampire read- who isn't? And I did enjoy this novel, but not necessarily for the reasons you may think. This book made me feel nostalgic, and reminded me of my teenage vampire obsession where I was scouring the library for anything and everything Vampire that I could get my hands on. 16 year old me would have eaten this up, and put posters on my wall commemorating it. Almost 30 year old me? Still enjoyed this- but it was not what I was expecting. For a novel marketed as a Adult Vampire read... this did not feel like it belonged in the adult category. YA? Maybe. NA? Could probably pass.
So while I did enjoy A History of Vampires, for my own nostalgic reasons- It was not what I was expecting.

To start I thought this book was okay. It wasn't the worst book I have read but it wasn't the best. there is definitely room for improvement but other than that I thought it was pretty good. I thought the characters were written well and the world building was okay. I did get lost along the way sometimes with the plot.

I loved that the book explained the "real history" of vampires. it was a lot of fun to see the origins of vampires and how they became what they are. I liked that at some parts of the book it read like a text book.

overall i thought this was okay and definitely read it during the spooky season.

The pacing was terrible in this book. It felt overly drawn out with too much emphasis on describing the settings and situations. It bogged down the story so much it was difficult to keep reading. This book had potential but I think it was geared toward the wrong audience. This would work better as a YA fantasy and with a younger heroine.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What makes you wonder how creatures were created? This book explores the origin of vampires and introduces you to other creatures. The story of how these vampires were created and chosen leads into the story and how it will continue in the coming books. I am eagerly anticipating the next books!

This was not an adult vampire romance and the plot was difficult to follow. I love as unable to finish and it just didn't keep me interested enough.

Loved! really enjoyed this sweetly romantic take on vampires! Who knew vampires could be such good guys?!? I love all the historical characters weaved into this book - so brilliant! The main characters were easy to love and root for. The pacing was great - it kept me hooked. I'm hoping this will be a series!

If it’s vampires I’m there! I loved this book! Such a unique story. I could r stop reading and I highly recommend it.

I had high hopes going into this read and unfortunately, I was disappointed. It’s too slow for my pace.

Unfortunately I didnt really enjoy this read. Found it extremely hard to get into the story and the plot was hard to follow.

Thank you to Net Galley and publisher for the e-arc.

I'm sorry that I almost dnf it as i find it is hard to really get into this book, maybe it is not really my taste. The writing style and plot is acceptable for me and it is truly okay. It actually have True Blood / Vampire Diaries vibes in it? Or is it just me? Surprisingly I thought it is an adult vampire romance book but no spice in it? I am confused here. The plot and pace of the book is totallyyyyyyyy way too slow. The first few chapters there are basically nothing dramatic, it is totally clean. Jude and Angelina ae kind of awkward and lack of chemistry together (sadly).

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange of an honest review.

It was alright. A bit slow for me.

This book had a different take on vampires and I enjoyed it. Loved all the historical characters mentioned and the pace of this book. The romance between Jude and Angeline was cute! This is definitely a book that prepares you for more books to come alot of background and introductions done in this book. I look forward to book 2 to see how this story progresses.
If insta love is your favorite trope this books is for you!

I would say this bored me and disappointed me. I was totally expecting this to be good but turns it wasn't.

I think this was just messy and the whole plot or should I say the writing itself was not organize that I seemed can't follow what or how will this go. I think the whole thing that the author was trying to convery- if there is- wasn't properly executed or layed out one by one in sequence.

Overall, this was a mess.

2.5 stars

I am always on the hunt for new paranormal books. My main book love is definitely vampires, so picking up A History of Vampires was a no-brainer for me. Sadly, this was just a miss for me.

Angelina is an archaeologist that travels the world discovering secrets to the past. When she happens to see a familiar mystery man that she has seen throughout her travels, she can't help but introduce herself. She is quickly entrenched in a world she never knew existed and is soon involved in a centuries-old prophecy.

So, I can't even really pinpoint one major thing that was a miss for me. I feel like the author maybe wanted to do too many things with this one book. There's the "vampires exist" aspect, that was not executed in the best way. I mean, Angelina finds this dude that she's seen all over the world in the background of her daily life and she approaches him, thinking maybe he is in a similar field of work. And then he admits he's been stalking her. And she's like, well ok, let's go on a long walk together down a deserted street. Then she agrees to go to her stalker's house for dinner. Alone. Then he tells her vampires exist and I'm the king of them. And she's like ok, it's late, I'll sleep over in the guest room.

Or maybe the famous people throughout history are vampires, including Mozart and Edgar Allen Poe, oh and Marilyn Monroe and Anne Frank. I mean. Ok. Ok. Cool, It's your fever dream, we're just living in it.

But then there's the "we're a secret organization that killed Hitler" aspect. Because, well, ok, it's getting a lot weird. Then the society. And then the crying and the total acceptance of all the things without asking a crap-ton of questions (because a crap-ton is the unit of measure for all the questions I had!), and then the small gnome/fae people with the prophecy. Plus it's a fade to black. I mean, I was hoping some good smexy times would make up for the abundance of weird. But, no. There wasn't even any of that.

I enjoyed the overall idea behind the story and the potential for this new vampire series but sadly, I just couldn't connect.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I was rather disappointed with this. I had such high hopes. The story was rather boring and I barely got through it.

A History of Vampires is a very different tale on the vampire and how they lead their lives. After reading this book, I am still not sure what the plot was or what the point of the story was. I did not like the Hitler plot and how Anne Frank was involved in the story. I think a different person could have been chosen and the plot would have been the same. That storyline made me uncomfortable with the constant mention throughout the book. There were some chapters that were not necessary and many parts that I skipped over because I did not understand what they had to do with the story. There was no character development whatsoever. I still do not understand how Angelina fell in love with Jude, she seemed to only like him for his deeds which is not love. I can see how the author wanted to set up the end of the book for another, but I did not find that plot line interesting.

I don't know what this book was, but I was absolutely not at all into it. Couldn't finish it, and... I don't even know.