Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro, a blend of horror, romance, and paranormal fiction, delves into the story of La Malinche from an empathic and feminine perspective. Castro explores the complexities of her character, presenting her as a tragic heroine grappling with trauma and conflicting emotions. Despite some writing flaws, the book offers an ambitious and important examination of a historical figure.

Special thanks to Del Rey and HearOurVoices Book Tours for providing me with an ARC. Full review now available on Geekyst.

Me while reading this book: OH MY GOD THIS PROSE IS SO BEAUTIFUL I LOVE THE GOTHIC VAMPy VIBES AND THE AMBIANCE IS STUNNING AND IMMERSIVE
Also me while reading this book: *dry heaves constantly* WHY IS THE IMAGERY DURING SMUT LIKE THIS?!?!? HELP.

From his cock being compared to an "electric eel bringing her to Bride of Frankenstein life" to her pussy feeling like its full of bees buzzing causing sticky honey to leak from the honeycomb", I ended up seriously DNFing at 40% after the comparison of her "anus pulsing like a sea anemone trying to catch prey" during some butt play.

This book more than likely would've been a 5 star without the strange imagery that very much triggered my aroace gag reflex cause the plot was lovely and the characters were so well done. oh well maybe a lot of other people would be fine with it but im particularly sensitive with weird imagery during spicy scenes.

Blood, revenge, and spice!! In this historical reimagining of La Malinche, V. Castro decides to tell the story of the Nahua woman, who many believe was responsible for the Spanish conquest of Mexico, and what happens to her after Cortés destroys her people. Malinalli, the name she goes by, is an immortal vampire looking for revenge and has made a career of acquiring and reclaiming her culture’s lost treasures and history from the colonizers. As the mother of Mestizos, she is set on telling her history her way and befriending and fighting some historical villains along the way.

I thought it was a super interesting read and even though there is the fantasy vampire aspect of it, the historical aspects really stood out to me. Also, for those who love a spicy story there is quite a lot of spicy scenes. 👀🧈

Whether you like historical stories, fantasy stories, or the smuttier variety, this vampire tale has something for everyone!

I was so looking forward to this book because the synopsis is incredible and the cover is pretty awesome but BOY, those Goodreads ratings really made me reevaluate those feelings. I don’t generally read reviews before picking up a book, but I did take a look at the rating and things weren’t looking good for this, so I adjusted my expectations a bit. What I wasn’t expecting was a stream of consciousness writing style, coupled with oddly graphic sex, and an aimless plot.

Immortal pleasures follows Malinalli, better known as La Malinche, who was viewed as a traitor by her people because she translated for Cortes when he invaded her homeland in Mexico. Rather than merely dying after contracting smallpox, she is turned into a vampire. When we first meet her, it is the present day and she’s flying to Ireland and the UK to purchase some artifacts that belonged to her people. Along the way, despite 500 years of being alone and only having brief flings, she’s smitten by a human man and neglects all her work she came so far for. What follows is numerous explicit scenes that are described in a manner that is both clinical and graphic with the strangest descriptive choices I have ever seen. I enjoy a good smutty romance, but this was really something else - I laughed out loud and actually stopped to read a few choice lines to my poor husband who is probably seriously questioning my reading taste. It was wildly different from the usual descriptors, which was fresh but really didn't work for me.

I enjoyed the concept of the story, but again was perplexed and amused by the idea of Hernan Cortes (Spanish invader of Mexico) and John Hawkins (English slave trader) becoming vampires and then… STARTING AN ANTI-AGING SKINCARE EMPIRE. I was yet again surprised when Judas Iscariot, betrayer of Jesus, shows up (also a vampire) going by the name of Alexander J (so edgy) and hunting down murderous vampires as sort of a penance. It’s also heavily implied that Christ himself may have actually been a vampire. I mean, I can’t make this shit up - it was hilarious. Oh, and by the way, Malinalli immediately falls for Alexander J and thinks to herself that she is most definitely in love despite having known him for approximately 10 minutes.

I did not particularly enjoy the stream of consciousness style of the narrative but I was so intrigued that despite this and some of the more avant-garde word choices, I kept reading. The portions following Malinalli in her human years were actually really interesting and I enjoyed those chapters, but the present day chapters felt so aimless, despite having a clear goal written out. I ended up skimming the last 15% or so because I really just wanted to see how things wrapped up, but wow. This was a memorable book, but not in a good way and I don’t recommend it. I am just perplexed by the whole experience. I would encourage you to go check out the Goodreads reviews, some of which consist mostly of the choicest direct quotes from the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: racism, murder, death, colonialism, sexual assault/rape, misogyny.


Malinalli is known the world over as La Malinche: a traitor, the Nahua woman who helped Hernán Cortés colonize and, ultimately, destroy her own people. But what they don't know is that after Cortés was done with her usefulness, Malinalli was turned into an immortal blood drinker -- a vampire. Searching for purpose, Malinalli has made a name for herself by reclaiming the stolen artifacts and treasures of her people, carelessly observed in museums around the world, hoping to heal the broken heart that has plagued her century after century. What she longs for most is someone to understand her, to embrace both her human side and her dark, vampiric nature. When she arrives in Dublin, eager to retrieve two Aztec skulls that are tied intimately with her past, she meets a mortal who manages to capture her interest. But this mortal is not the only one who snakes his way into her life, and as Malinalli learns to embrace her desires and recuperate from the traumas of her human life, she will be pushed to the limits of what she understands of vampirism and the human will to overcome.

Before I'd even finished reading Immortal Pleasures, I knew that this was going to be a difficult review to write. While this is certainly a unique experience, unlike anything I've read before, structurally and narratively speaking, it's simply not a very good book. It's hard to write that, as I try to be as fair as possible when writing these reviews -- as someone who writes myself, I know how painful the criticism can be. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy reading this, because I very much did, but man, is it corny and sometimes way, way too over the top.

Now, I don't mind some corniness in my vampire media, but this was to the point that it was taking all of my self-control not to cringe during certain passages. Sadly, the writing doesn't come off as very polished either, and although Malinalli is such a fascinating figure in history, rife with so much misunderstanding, I found that Castro never quite managed to make her feel believable, either as a human being or a creature of the night. Her character development is as equally cheesy as the rest of the story, and all of it somehow feels extremely juvenile, in spite of the very dark and sometimes disturbing content matter. Malinalli reads very much like a teenager, and although I could buy that this comes from her traumatic past starting at such a young age, it's been hundreds of years at this point, and I would expect at least some maturation in her character.

The rest of the characters suffer from similar problems, and I found both of her lovers, Colin and Alexander, to be a little laughable in their dialogue and characterization. In fact, all of the dialogue comes across as being wooden and stiff, as if they are in a Shakespearean play, reading off of a piece of paper. Much of it feels very much like telling us rather than showing us, and I was surprised by how little we actually get to experience of Malinalli's human life. I expected much more of it, since it's so rich for reimagining in a tale like this.

Onto the fun stuff, though: this is one hell of a ride, and I can't fault it for its constant breakneck pace, the way it relentlessly doles out blood and sex. I truly cannot describe to you how unintentionally hilarious the sex scenes are; there are many other reviews with quotes from the book, and I encourage you to read those if you're having a bad day. I'm not saying this to be cruel or mean, but man, some of those lines are truly hilarious zingers.

In the end, this simply wasn't the book for me. As I always say, I'm sure there will be plenty of people out there who enjoy Immortal Pleasures, but for me, this just didn't quite hit the mark.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an early release copy.
Publication date will be April 16th, so get ready for this dark fantasy sci-fi vampire tale!

Castro has become a recent favorite of mine with her amazing cocktail of horror, historical fiction and the MC as a strong developing woman. Everyone has different tastes and this happens to be one of mine. My love for The Haunting of Alejandra grew after meeting Violet and getting to know her on a more personal level.

Immortal Pleasures brings us into the life of an Aztec, Malinalli, who suffers time and time again in her human life. Cast aside by her mother, used over and over again by men, became a pawn in Cortes’ conquest through Mexico becoming a traitor in her people’s eyes. Later, traded to another man and eventually succumbs to smallpox, it not before she is given a gift of a second life.

Malinalli makes choices setting her apart from her maker, also setting her on a quest of the unknown. During this journey she watches the world around her change, along with more wars. She eventually comes across others like herself, one she becomes friends with, but still learn much of herself on her own. Love is something she is a stranger with aside from frequent flings. On her mission to fulfilling the find of 2 prized artifacts, she allows her heart to open. Something is not right during her travels in Ireland. She finds out she is being hunted yet again.
Some of the most fascinating exchanges happen at this point. Vampires can sense each other and exchange intentions by touch. There’s a wonderfully written exchange with a vampire in a museum that is noteworthy. Eventually threats come to light, as well as her intentions with Colin falling short. She meets Alex and everything changes. Life begins to have a better meaning and Malinalli finally, at long last, feels whole. Cortes, in all his true evil, had become a vampire and became blinded by revenge after discovering Malinalli’s continued existence. He is slain in the land he tried to conquer so long ago and the new couple can happily move on.

The element of science was a neat touch, developing serums to create super vamps, and the reversal of a frenzied feed.
The element of unspoken communication between vampires was wonderfully fascinating.
The sex/smut is definitely taken places I had yet read.

This being an unedited copy, I reminded myself to look past the grammatical errors and punctuations. There are several areas of repeated information, some at a distracting level. The tone and execution in first person seemed different than Castro’s previous publications. This also may be my misunderstanding of unedited works appearing more raw, less tidy and less characterized. The pacing was fine and the novel, overall, was easy to read. I already see that the smut appears to be of acquired taste, but I stand by Violet’s tone to be unapologetic. I absolutely loved the historical fiction scenes and how powerful they were portrayed. It’s such a strong element in her writing.
My favorites:
-I love myself too much for anything less.
-Empire is a roaming, hungry beast, always on the edge of starvation, and always on the prowl.
-Surrendering to the conchertoof time and circumstances is both infuriating and humbling - and all of the lessons time teaches, letting go is the hardest.
- Funny how indigenous culture is romanticized and idealized when it is non-threatening to the dominant culture. When it can be controlled..
- If I could endure, then anyone could; however, telling my true story is impossible for now, because the world is not ready for vampires.

While this was really all over the place, I love the project and intent behind this. Hernan Cortes, John Hawkins, Judas, and La Malinche from history are all vampires in the present day. La Malinche is now Malinali and she’s out for revenge- and love?

This wasn’t consistent in plot or tone - the first half is our main character deciding she is ready for love and seducing the first man she sees. We watch their relationship play out until the 2nd half when the revenge plot line kicks in. I didn’t mind the sex scenes (although they were pretty cringy) as they didn’t feel like they were supposed to be erotic, but more a reflection of our main character’s headspace.

This kind of goes off the rails at times and then will try to dial it back in, but it never felt seamless. I didn’t love this but it wasn’t a terrible time either. This really has been the year of the vampire for me though- think I need a break.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up

This is a really cool take on a vampire story. Immortal Pleasures follows an ancient Aztec woman turned vampire. It's a mix of modern day and flashbacks to when she was enslaved and impregnated by Cortès and how she became a vampire. In the modern timeline, she buys and sells antiquities and is looking for love while also being hunted. I really like the world-building, the way this puts a different spin on the genre, and the complexities of the main character. And there is a lot of commentary on cultural artifacts and their relationship to colonization which is done pretty well.

That said, there are a couple of things to be aware of. First, chapter 1 is extremely info-dumpy and lot of the content could have been more smoothly woven into the story. But I can forgive a first chapter being like that. The other thing is that this has quite a lot of explicit sex, but it's not generally written in a sexy way, if that makes sense. I THINK this might be intentional given the story, but there were descriptions that had me kind of cringing. I sometimes read erotic romance so I don't have a problem with the content (though some readers might), but the way it's written doesn't read like a romance novel. So heads up. Overall, I did like this, though it wasn't entirely what I expected. I think if you go in with the right expectations, it might work out better. And I would read more in this world if she decided to continue the story. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher and read this as part of a blog tour. All opinions are my own.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro is an erotic dual-POV contemporary fantasy novel following Malinalli, known to history as La Malinche, as she plans to retrieve the skulls of the two people who turned her into a vampire. Malinalli has spent years returning cultural objects to the people that they originally belong to, taking advantage of her linguistic skills. When she stops in Ireland, she meets Colin and begins to wonder if she has found love after centuries of waiting.

The novel is mostly in Malinalli’s POV, but we spend a few chapters in Hernan Cortes’, as he has also been turned into a vampire (along with John Hawkins), and he becomes obsessed with Malinalli when he sees her again for the first time in centuries. Cortes’ POV chapters reflect his feelings of superiority and his views of Malinalli as ‘less than’ because of her race and culture.

Malinalli’s chapters spend a decent amount of time detailing her life, including before she met Cortes, painting her as a sympathetic character. La Malinche is a very controversial history in the present day, but V. Castro brings attention to Malinalli’s history and the lack of control she had in a lot of ways. Like most people, La Malinche was complicated and there is nuance to be found in her story.

The trope of vampires being sexual and the people they feed on finding pleasure in drinking blood is used throughout the novel. Malinalli is very attracted to Colin immediately and she wants to feed on him when they’re being more intimate.

I would recommend this to readers looking for a very steamy exploration of La Malinche, fans of vampire stories starring historical figures being turned into vampires, and those who like stories that explore the past of characters in detail.

Thank you Net Galley for this arc

We follow Malinalli a very old vampire an Aztec vampire in her human life she was a translator for Hernan Cortes a conquistador something happened and she was turned into a vampire. Currently she is in the antiquity business finding and collecting artifacts that belonged to her people and South America. She finds herself in Scotland looking for some important crystals and along the way she becomes attracted to Colin and author and bookshop owner. What Malinalli doesn’t know is that someone from her past is hunting her down with the intention of unaliving her.

This book was dark, spicy and had a lot of history it switched from the past to the present so the reader knows the whole story. At times it was a bit slow for me but it picked up towards the last 40% percent! I think this book would be such a good movie if it was adapted to the big screen. If you love vampires and historical fantasy this will definitely be the book for you!

Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray Books for the opportunity to read this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Immortalized Pleasures is a vampire revenge story following an Aztec woman named Malinalli, who was sold to Spanish conquerors during the 1500s. Once she is turned into a vampire, Malinalli spends years honing her specialized skills and tracking down ancient relics stolen by colonizers and returning them to their native peoples. In modern day England, Malinalli discovers her first husband - the Spanish Conqueror Hernán Cortés has become an immortal himself and wants to hunt her down for his own uses.

No spoilers here - but I have to say this book is a wild ride. The premise was amazing but ultimately its execution and Castro’s writing style weren’t for me. A large portion of the story is spent in flashbacks to Malinalli’s experiences in the 1500s which were very well done. The frequent jumps between past and present resulted in large tonal shifts, and very different writing styles - almost as if the different time periods were written by different authors. The story also had a hard time finding its feet due to numerous explicit sex scenes in the first third of the book.

This is definitely a unique take historical fiction mixed with vampires, and if that’s something that interests you, I recommend this book. Immortal pleasures will be published April 16th 2024.

An Aztec vampire seeking vengeance for the horrors she experienced when she and her people were conquered. That sounds like it should be an amazing book and the cover art is gorgeous. Unfortunately that wasn’t quite what we got. For me, this book was kind of a mess. It didn’t seem like it knew what it wanted to be. For a book blurbed as “seeking vengeance” there wasn’t a significant plot driving anything forward. Also, the drastically different chapter lengths contributed to the pacing feeling off. The past and present timelines felt disjointed. The past is a devastating, historical fiction. However, in the present we have insta love and ridiculous smut. For someone who is supposed to have the trauma of being sold and used during the conquering of a nation that makes absolutely no sense. Also, for someone being described as seeking vengeance and reclaiming stolen artifacts, we don’t get to see much of that. For me this book gets two stars because of its ambition and conversations started. I wanted this to work for me. I was excited for the blending of horror, fantasy, historical fiction, and romance. I was excited for the conversations about colonization, trauma, treatment of women, etc. This book just wasn’t able to quite hit the mark on those things for me.

This is a one star book but was fun, funny, and kind of interesting to read, so it's a complicated mixture of feelings I'm going through at this moment. I know V. Castro writes well, I loved two of her other books. This just wasn't for me in the slightest. It felt different to me.

This book was one of my most anticipated releases for 2024, but unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. I really like this author but I just couldn't get into this book. The general plot was interesting, but some parts took me out of the story. Specifically the sex scenes. I don't read a lot of books that include erotica so I was caught off guard with some of the scenes in this book, which might be my fault for not looking into this closely enough before requesting the ARC. I ended up DNFing this around 50%.

I loved the concept and the themes of this one, but I bounced right off the prose. There was so much info dumping of backstory that I couldn't get immersed in the book.

"But even after this bout of deep grief, the end of the day found me still standing once more to watch the sun rise and fall. I knew that even after all my pain, it was something no one could take away from me."

'Immoral Pleasures' was such a great book with an interesting storyline that kept me wanting more. Malinalli was such a bad ass woman, her back story was heart breaking but how she continues on was inspiring. I loved that she was unapologetically herself and if she wanted something, she didn't have a problem going after it! Once she meets Alexander and the twist we get on him came in from left field that I didn't expect and I actually really enjoyed that and little back story we get on him. I loved that we got vampires, romance, historical fiction and horror all rolled into one book. I will say, the ending was a tad bit rushed but wasn't poorly done.

Thank You to NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF at 20%

The writing in this was just not jiving for me. While I was liking the general plot and the FMC I just couldn't force myself to wade through the remainder of the book,

I had pretty high hopes for this book, as I love V. Castro and.I was really excited to see what she was going to do with a vampire story. There were some really good things about this book that worked well for me. I absolutely love the idea of taking the figure of La Malinche and turning her into an immortal vampire who is atoning for her complicity in the Spanish conquest/genocide of many Latin American cultures (doing a reverse Indiana Jones and taking artifacts back from museums and taking them back to their countries and cultures of origin is great). And I loved seeing how frank and honest she was about the conquest and the genocide, and those parts of the book I found very compelling. But the modern day stuff didn't work as well for me, as I feel like it gets a little sidetracked by her romantic relationships and many, many explicit sex scenes. I'm definitely all about Malinalli taking back her agency and her sexuality, but the pacing was thrown during these bits. I also felt that a lot of the story suffered from a lack of showing and a LOT of telling. It felt like Castro was going for an Anne Rice homage with Malinalli's voice, but it didn't quite work. But then, lots of points for an absolutely bonkers reveal about one of Malinalli's lovers and his true identity, I actually screamed when that reveal happened because it was insane but I was LIVING for it.

IMMORTAL PLEASURES was a bit of a let down, but it did have some really solid beats and themes. And I like the audacity Castro had to take the story in that direction.

I really wanted to like this book. . . I did, but there were so many issues with it that I don’t know if I finished it out of spite or genuinely hoping it’d get better by the end. It didn’t. 🥲

First, I’ll talk about the positives of the book. For one, I really loved the idea of a woman wronged by history reclaiming her story through her immortal life as a vampire. La Malinche is vilified often due to her role as a translator for the conquistador, Córtes. I liked the idea that she was as unwilling of a participant as the indigenous population, but only doing her duty out of self-preservation. This could have been a wonderful tale of a woman taking back her story, her body, and her name but it not only feel rather flat, but the writing, the romance, and the erotic elements were what really hindered it in my opinion. 😕

The writing itself was just not a good fit for this incredible woman in my opinion. Not only did were the metaphors incredibly odd (her belly moaning like sirens waiting sailors to feast on? Ehhhh), but also the way Malinalli narrated the book just felt like she was a 19-year-old trying to act like a tough and wise 50-year-old. It just didn’t sit right with me. This and the fact that she claims to be unwilling to open herself to love but falls immediately for two men within hours of seeing them. I honestly could have done without one of the two love interests (*coughs* the human) and instead have had a wonderful exploration of opening up to love after centuries of being closed off emotionally. ❤️‍🩹

This leads me to my other problem which was the erotic element. . . Why do I feel like such a prude with these incredibly descriptive sex scenes?! I don’t mind them if they’re done tastefully, but this was just too much for me. And the use of butter in one of them? . . . I had to walk away from my kindle for a good while before I tried to get back into the story. 😳

In the end, a rather promising book that just really didn’t hit any of the things I was hoping to get out of it. I’d recommend it for those interested in the historical exploration of the conquest of Mexico and the celebration of indigenous and brown women but only if you can get past the erotica. That or I’d recommend it for those who enjoy very graphic sex scenes/don’t mind it being the majority of the romance plot. 😵‍💫

Thank you to Del Rey Book and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest review. ❤️

Publication date: April 16!

Overall: rounding up to 2/5 ⭐️

When I received this ARC I will admit that it took me a few tries to get past the first 20%. However, I'm glad that I stuck with it because once I passed that mark I was glued to this book and finished it within a few hours. I came to love the main character but the plot was all over the place. This book is really about the vibes, really.