Thank You, NetGalley, for my early copy of Immortal Pleasure by V. Castro. I am excited to read this book. I like vampire stories, and this book is right up my alley. I enjoy V. Castro's other books, so I know I will enjoy this one.

I love this the vampire vibe were great. It felt raw and exciting. It was thrilling and sexy! The characters were easy to follow and had depth. There was the right amount of fantasy without going into a full fantasy more true horror and I loved the fun vibes

The writing style was dry and wordy. The story felt like it moved slowly. It's hard to know if I didn't enoy this book because of the writing style, or if the story was just not as engaging as I had hoped. It was an interesting premise and the writing was good, it just wasn't a style I enjoy,

Ughhhhh I wanted to love this so much. It had everything but sadly it did not work for me. I enjoyed the first bit and then it just fizzled out. It seemed like the story was all over the place. I will be checking out the authors other works to see if they work better for me.

A lustful book that pulls you into the life of relic collector Malinalli, treking across the globe returning artifacts that historically were taken by colonizing nations and individuals… did I mention she is also a vampire?

If you are looking for a spicy book, this is it. In fact, that’s all it is for the first 1/3 of the book. Maybe a little too much as for the first relationship. As a creature that has been alive for around 500 years, I would hope by then she would be smart enough to read through a man’s games

The author is a stunning writer, writing to senses. And there is at least a little bit of a plot and an informative dual timeline, that engages the reader in how it all began for the main character in the time of Cortes. Though the story falls off the rails quite a bit and focuses a little too much for me on the lustiness and the ending is a little lackluster, V Castro’s writing is inspiring to check out some of their other pieces of work.

This book had me at first, Malilani is a badass, sexy, interesting character with incredible lines that had me highlighting entire pages. Her resilience was as palpable as her loneliness, but there was a detachment to the narrating style that had me realizing I was 35% in and feeling like everything and nothing was happening. I felt like I had read so much more and became weary about how much I had left. I also felt a little jarring when Hernan Cortes himself was introduced as a character. I understand the purpose of it, but something about it gave me enough pause that maybe that was why I lost my momentum and stopped reading.

I love vampires and historical fiction, but this story jumped all over the place. I ended up DNF at 45%. I loved this authors other book The Haunting of Alejandra and will continue to read works by this author but this just did not do it for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an copy of this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Horror and Erotic writing both tread similar ground in dealing with unrestrained emotion and feeling, each seeking to elicit primal and visceral reactions from the minds of the reader. Mixing Erotica and Horror seems a natural conclusion, which is precisely the goal of V. Castro’s “Immortal Pleasures.”

Castro has always written with nothing less than deserved pride in her heritage and with a love for free and powerful women who also own their sexuality. Malinalli, the heroine, is the historical La Malinche, an immortal Nahua vampire who survived the colonization of her home by the Conquistadors, specifically the brutal Hernan Cortes. Malinalli now travels the night as an avenger of the conquered and indigenous while battling her own loneliness and desire for companionship. Unfortunately, Malinalli’s past refuses to leave her and old enemies still stalk her through the night with grudges that are centuries old.

Castro’s writing has evolved and the themes she touches on are important as ever. Colonization, conquest and freedom not only on an individual level, but freedom and preservation of culture in the face of oppression and annihilation. The best parts of the novel focus on Malinalli’s history and inner struggle, coupled with her old struggle with her now-immortal oppressor.

Castro is absolutely having a lot of fun with the erotica, though the descriptors don’t always land. The book is sexually charged, particularly Malinalli’s scenes with her mortal lover Colin, but some of the writing during the sex scenes don’t particularly hit the notes that Castro aims for. Castro makes up for this with the interpersonal drama, and her skill is absolutely evident here.

Some of the plot and history is the subject of exposition, though the history is intriguing enough to keep the reader invested. Ultimately, this is Malinalli’s story, and Castro’s rich and lush telling of it is more than enough to keep the story fresh and invigorating. Pleasure may be immortal, but Castro ensures that finding eternal love can be the most exciting thing of all.

I am very sorry, but I can’t give this book more than 1* I would have dnf before 20% if I hadn’t have to write this review.
Light spoilers:

This book has absolutely no atmosphere, structure or form, it meanders through so many topics (Gods, vampires, colonialism (Spanish in South America), Mexican-American war, 60/70ies music scene (woodstock+NYC),sci-fi biotech, treasure/antiques hunt, lot of explicit scenes spicy book, biblical stories, multiple romances…) that non of them gets any depth and the whole thing feels shallow and underdeveloped.
They say “show, not tell”, but this was only tell, the characters felt very one dimensional and I especially couldn’t understand the behavior of the FMC. The story itself didn’t make sense a lot of times. Also I never saw such an over excessive use of animal metaphors in spicy scenes: bats, bees, squid, eel, spiders… you name it, it is in there and I don’t know if I should laugh or feel cringe about them. My “favorite” three:

“Being this close to him makes my p* feel like it’s full of bees, their buzzing causing sticky sweet honey to leak from the honeycomb.”

“His c* is an electric eel bringing me to Bride of Frankenstein life.”

“The butter leaves little resistance as I move my hips so that my a* is like a monstrous squid pulling its prey deeper into its mouth.”

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the earc!

Diving into "Immortal Pleasures" by V. Castro, I was captivated by its blend of horror and hedonism, giving it a spirited 3.5 stars. The concept is a thrilling dive into a world where terror and desire intertwine in an intricate dance. Yet, despite the allure, I found myself longing for a deeper connection with the characters, who remained as elusive as shadows in the night.

While the narrative's steamy encounters initially sizzled with excitement, they soon felt like one too many, dimming the novel's initial spark. In essence, "Immortal Pleasures" is a daring escapade into the unknown, a book that tantalizes and teases but left me craving a touch more substance beneath its seductive surface. A bewitching read, it's perfect for those who seek a journey where the lines between pleasure and fear blur into an intoxicating blend.

OOOOOO I liked this. I was initially drawn in because of the historical fiction aspect of it and stayed for the fantasy/vampire of it all. It was so spicy and I liked her getting her autonomy back, especially since the author directly compared it to her past. I thought it was rushed/not explained/not developed to her loving Alex. I wish she stayed with Colin personally but I completely understand and agree with that not working out. I also wish we could tie up what happened with her kids.

This book has really sparked interest in stories and history, but also had vampires. Both I can enjoy and love to read about
Following her story from beginning to end would’ve read perfect for me but I can understand the lead up and keeping the mystery of the story going

Can’t wait to pick this up for the physical shelf

I love vampires, I love history, I love the spice. This book unfortunately didn't really hit on any of those areas for me though? I felt like I sometimes enjoyed the pacing of the book, but other times it detracted from the story and characters. The smut scenes had me laughing more often than not, which like, isn't particularly what I want from those scenes. The fact that THE Judas was in the book was a huge eye roll for me.

I just feel like the book could have been so much better and I'm disappointed that it wasn't.

Thoughts

I want to preface this with I love V. Castro. I have read everything she has written and try to get everyone else to read it as well. Furthermore, I will continue to do so.

However, this one unfortunately didn't work for me. I love women characters who can be naive and vulnerable, I loved that in The Haunting of Alexandra because it fit so well. And I believe all women stories should be shared.

In this book it just felt like it was there to make the book longer, to buy time. And that's what I didn’t like. I need it to make sense to the story. It didn't seem to fit the character she was describing. It makes sense that she would want all the things she talks about but she wouldn't be naive about it. If that makes sense?

I think there will be people who enjoy this book, especially the dark romance lovers. And I loved the historical aspects of it. I think if it is on your radar you should give it a shot.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for this arc in exchange for an honest review. Immortal Pleasures by V Castro is the story of vampire Malinalli, an antiquarian who focuses on returning artifacts to their country of origin.

I love V Castro’s writing style and previous works, so I was really expecting to love this and was sadly disappointed. For a centuries old vampire, Malinalli seemed incredibly naive and immature. Her first love interest was fine, if a little boring. The second love interest was much more interesting, but unfortunately the pacing and the plot didn’t allow for any sort of relationship development outside of their initial “meet cute.” I also felt like the sex scenes were a little out of place, I’m not opposed to some good smut, but they were definitely a bit cringy. I was able to suspend my disbelief until butter was used as lube.

I loved the back and forth between the present and the past and the explanation of Malinalli’s desire for revenge, however her desire for ruthlessness didn’t seem to align with her actions, which paled in comparison to Cortes’ actions. I also would’ve loved more explanation of the vampirism and how widespread it was. My mixed experience with this book definitely won’t stop me from picking up more from V Castro.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has Central American indigenous roots, erotica, VAMPIRES, adventure and violence. With all these themes, I was so excited to go into this book however, it was a disappointment for me. I think this book could have been great, but the writing style felt very choppy and at times forced. Some of the dialogue between characters felt like video game, info dumping talk vs natural conversation. I want to read more by the author as she has rave reviews for other novels but this one was a miss for me.

I have read a few other books by V. Castro, and I enjoyed them, so I was expecting to enjoy this one, too. Unfortunately, I just really did not enjoy this one. This story felt very surface level to me--I almost think that the pacing was just so fast that we didn't get enough time with the characters and the story. Because of this, the characters felt one dimensional, and their relationships just fell flat. I didn't really enjoy the tone shift between the past and present-day scenes, it was just jarring and the quality difference was rough. I have loved some of V. Castro's work previously, I think that this story just wasn't for me as I just needed a lot more depth from it.

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

Let me preface this with I loved The Haunting of Alejandra and really enjoyed Goddess of Filth but Immortal Pleasures was not it. I was really looking forward to this one but sad to say that I just didn’t like it.

The writing was way too fast paced and I felt that there was no development of many of the characters and the relationships between them. They all felt pretty one dimensional to me. This made it so when certain things happened there wasn’t really an emotional impact. The redeeming piece for me is that the scenes that took place in the past but everything that took place in modern day felt like a completely different person wrote it. The sex scenes felt cringey and it just wasn’t for me.

Again I love V. Castro and hope to read more of her work and if you are looking to read her books I would recommend one of her other books over this one because she does have some great ones. Just not this one, for me at least.

Centuries old vampire recounts the past, and battles the bad vamps while coming to terms with her own self-discovery. Yes, her!!! A female vampire's perspective through a human life of captivity, no rights, and slavery, to becoming prosperous and independent, to wondering about what is actually important. Title is rather misleading ...

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and the author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first thing that attracted me to the book was the cover art. It is absolutely gorgeous. The second thing that attracted me was the premise. Whose interest wouldn't be piqued by an ancient Aztec vampire who becomes the avenger for conquered peoples while looking for love? So you can imagine my disappointment when the story did not live up to the premise.

The story is a bit all over the place. There are some characters that are introduced no little to no purpose and don't progress the story or aid in character development. Speaking of character development, there is none. The FMC is centuries old yet she doesn't act or think like someone who has seen centuries of years of history pass them by. But you know what there is a lot of? Sex. Plenty of sex. Including a scene where the main characters use butter as lube. I'm not a doctor but I think that's a yeast infection waiting to happen.

In terms of the conflicts in the story, they take a backseat to the sex so I found myself going "oh yeah I forgot she was looking for that artifact. I was too distracted by her questionable use of lube."

3/5 stars; 4/5 chilis because of the butter scene