I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Unfortunately, I have been in the world's worst case of 'mood reading' and could not get into this.
The writing is spectacular; however, I don't believe I can rate this appropriately.
I will eventually try again!

How to Face Eternity is a good read, but the "I can't love you, we can't be a romantic relationship' can only last for so long in a book and it drug on here. I'm absolutely into the trope, but you can't say it 102 times and expect me to still want to root for you. If you don't want her, don't chase her.

I’m glad to have waited to read this book. Fall vibes all around. Vampires are such a fun character type to read about. I’m not a super huge slow burn reader, however, this was very fun. For the first time, I read a vampire romance that wasn't toxic. It was very calm and a healthy relationship overall. Both main characters were very well fleshed out and complex in their own ways.

Vampire fans rejoice! No sparkling here, solid vampire tale and world among humans and quite detail on a newbie vamp, who is totally worth rooting for. Haven't seen such fun since Lestat! Yes, much angst and tension, and blood - and ahem, a big cliff. Part two can't come fast enough ...

Thank you to NetGalley, the Author, and the Publisher for this ARC.

So the cover made me believe this was more dark than it actually is. (This is a ME problem)
Loved the cover by the way!!!

Surprisingly cozy considering it's about vampires and the mafia. So not what I expected. It's not very fast paced and it really took me a while to get into it. And even then it was more of a slow, get to know them; cuddly will they won't they kind of relationship.
I read "Bride" by Ali Hazelwood and this gave me the same vibes, it has a similar low stakes, high domestic vibe to it in a modern setting.

If you are looking for a cozy, relatively safe, low stakes book with just a little spice and vampires who feel like people, not monsters, then this is for you.
BUT
If you like high stakes, violent action and spicy spice, like chili pepper hot, with vampires who are sadistic or really dark and broody with that murderous strike and a fast paced plot. THIS is NOT for you. I'm sorry.

It made me curious enough to put the second book on my "keep an eye out for this book" list. But that's it.

First thing first, THE AUTHOR WARNING ABOUT THIS BEING PART 1 OF 2 IS REAL.

Even going into this with that knowledge, though, the ending hits HARD.

I was slightly nervous diving into my first seemingly more traditional vampire story as someone who's basically only familiar with Twilight and Vampire Diaries beforehand, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the story. I'd say the spice/darkness level is fairly on par with Vampire Diaries as the main plot is definitely quite centered on Riftan and Leanne's relationship as she learns about the Vampire world/lifestyle.

I'll definitely be watching for the next book eagerly!

I really enjoyed this book. Following the main character as she grows into her new powers and finds the confidence to live her true life. I fell in love next to her and felt her heartbreak as if it were my own. The writing was amazing and so easy to follow along. I look forward to reading more of Clasen soon.

The book is about a girl who gets tied up with mafia and has to eventually become a vampire and travel with the mmc.

I am sorry to say I haven't finished this book. The first problem was the fact that it states that it ends on a cliffhanger and I should want to read book two right after, which wasn't convincing me to read it in the first place very much.
I was also strongly disappointed in the fact that while this is fiction, the desription given about Prague was very inaccurate, and I was born and raised here.
My next problem was the wrongly givven trigger warnings about the assault.
Overall the story flow didn't feel interesting enough for me to keep reading.

1st POV, short chapters, TW bellow / DNF

🩸low fantasy
🩸vampires with a "glow up" after being turned
🩸ages: 23 (FMC), 780+ (MMC)
🩸slow burn (but she has a "carnal" crush early on)

What I liked: the cover, short chapters, quotes as names of chapters

The writing and story are giving Wattpad, which I was ready to ignore, but after MMC said that he "merely prefers a comfortable meal to be that of a female" because he sees it as something sexual - and drinking from men disgusts him – I was disgusted. I don't even wanna think of them being together, to be honest.

He only turned her because he was bored and wanted a pretty young girl to be dependent on him and addicted to touching him because it seemed to help with the transformation. I love morally gray vampires when they are charming and charismatic, but for an almost 800-year-old, he acted like he was a 19-year-old creep...What do you mean they took a private jet because he hypnotized a few people to give it to him and not because he's rich? 😅😫 Also, since when is English accent "exotic"?

The FMC acted like she was 16, and her behavior and opinions were inconsistent. She felt desperate and weak; even when she started feeling confident, it felt childish.

Trigger warnings: violence, drugging women in a bar, brief attempted rape on page, blood/gore, hypnotizing, mild sexual scenes –– (there might be more; the ones in author's notes are pretty vague)

I really wanted to finish this book and write a full review, but I simply can't. I hate writing bad reviews, but I want to give my honest opinion. Please take into consideration that I didn't finish it.

"We are bound by blood now. There's not anyone out there who's going to lay a finger on you—not over my dead body." Was cute, though. 🥰

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Appreciation to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for access to this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

OH jeez. Okay so where to start? If you're looking for long paragraphs about an emotionally immature mans beautiful body paired with zero plot development, this is your book. Silence my screams with your label of "slow burn".

I will be fair here and say that the author does do something with the last 5 chapters, but aside from that she misses about 20 instances where the plot could have been made exciting. The developments of the entire first couple of chapters consists of a random kidnapping, a random savior, a random bite, and noticeable lack of genuine reader anxiety. Then from there Clasen misses so many opportunities to create excitement. MMC wants to give the FMC a clearly rare and sought after necklace? Let's just hand it to her and make it a mildly romantic moment. FMC goes after dangerous human trafficker? Uses it as a moment to make the MMC mildly jealous then easily kill him with no additional situational complexity.

I threw Clasen 2 stars here since she does have me curious about what goes down in the next book and she gave the reader a somewhat novel perspective in what it means to be an immortal day to day.

Leanne starts off as the arm candy of a mobster, but things take a drastic turn when she gets a one-way ticket to becoming a vampire. Enter Riftan, her brooding, immortal mentor who’s not just about fangs and bloodlust—he’s got layers. Sure, he saves her from a gruesome fate, but curses her with eternal life in the process. Real romantic, huh?

The book dives deep into their twisted relationship—mentor, friend, maybe more? Leanne's grappling with her new vampiric existence while Riftan’s playing it cool, insisting they can’t be an item. Classic vampire drama, right? You can practically feel the tension in those late-night training sessions.

Clasen’s writing sucks you into Creswell, a city dripping with danger and supernatural secrets. The plot twists keep you guessing—Are they friends? Lovers? Frenemies with benefits? It’s all in there, wrapped up in a vampiric love story that's equal parts exhilarating and exasperating.

Just a heads-up, though: “How to Face Eternity” is just the first part of the saga. You gotta buckle up for the sequel, “In the Face of Eternity”, dropping next spring. You won’t want to miss how this eternal drama unfolds.

I'm fully back in my Vampire Era. I don't think I've ever completely been out of it, but details. Whenever I see a book about vampires, I just want to have it. I wanna see what kind of vampires the author will be writing about, I want to hear how old they are and during which time periods they were alive and I want to fall in love with them. So, when I saw this book on Netgalley I had to request a copy and luckily the author granted me a copy.

I think the main issue why this book eventually wasn't as amazing as I had hoped it would be, is that my expectations and the book didn't completely match. The story is much more focussed on the relationship between our heroine and her vampire than I had thought. It's way more romantic, it's actually at times really sweet and we actually watch two people fall in love with each other while also fighting those feelings.

So, if you're looking for something with vampires, that does talk about killing humans and the dangers of vampires, while it's also cute and sweet and at times light hearted, you really wanna check this book out. Especially because it's well written, the characters feel realistic and I especially loved their dialogues because they sounded so authentic. There are a couple of side characters I hope to see more of in the sequel, though.

I also hope that the sequel might be a little on the darker and more political side, which I was longing for. The finale of this book at least satiated my hunger slightly. I hadn't seen that coming and I enjoyed every second of it. Especially because I'm really excited about what's going to happen now. There's for sure gonna be a fallout. It's for sure not gonna be pretty and I think it might be really exciting to read about! And yes, I also hope there will be a happily ever after. I'm not a monster!

I won't lie I almost DNF'd this book in the beginning but I kept going to give it a fair chance. I'm glad I did because I did end up liking it. However, I feel the book left so much to be desired when reading. The book follows Leanne and Riftan's vampire platonic relationship over the course of a few years. It was a very slow and long character and world building up until Riftan made her leave to be on her own. And then it got a little different, as if it was trying to go back to the beginning but it left out so many details and was just almost rushed. I will say I did not expect the ending the way it was especially not the cliffhanger.

Cover 11/10
Story 3.5/5
Themes - Vampire, forced proximity, mafia, slow burn

Thank you to NetGalley and Best Day Ever Publishing for the early ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

**What to Expect**
-a fledgling vampire & mentor
-character focused
-slow burn
-mafia
-forced proximity

**My Thoughts**
This was overall a very cozy book with pretty low drama overall and revolved a lot around the day to day life of a vampire. The pacing was a little slow for me personally, but I can see the appeal this would have for some people. It may just be a matter of right book, wrong time unfortunately.

Riftan was so gentle and understanding, Leaanne was genuinely relatable and they both had wonderful chemistry. There was a constant push and pull between them that was engaging and so very frustrating.

I will definitely be checking out book 2 because I have to see what happens next!

Thank you to the Author, Publisher & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. **💕**

I enjoyed this book so much more than I expected. It's a slow-burn, low stakes, cozy vampire book.

I really liked the whole situationship and I feel like they were really cute together, but I have to warn you, it's a real slooooow burn type. The domestic part of this book was perfect for me, but if you are looking for high stakes or more smut, this is not that.

The book is focused on Leanna's first years as a vampire, where the person that transformed her will also teach her everything. The book is set most;y in Prague, but apart from telling us that they went to Europe and traveled a lot, I don't feel it made such a huge difference.

I partially expected the ending, but I wasn't sure how or to whom it will happen. The ending was also a bit sudden, compared to the rest of the book.

This was a great, easy read. I got sucked in so quickly and couldn't put it down! Vampires, sexual tension, possessive MMC...what more could you want??

I loved the journey from human to vampire. The fact that the author weaved in known/unknown facts about vampires proves she was researching and not just making it up on the spot. AND THE FMC IS A BOOK GIRLIE 💪💪💪

It kinda had a weird ending, though and it felt a little unfinished and just ended. I can understand that a cliffhanger was the goal, but to me, it just didn't hit right. In saying that, it keeps the reader perfectly unhappy with having to wait for the 2nd book 😅 and we all know this is the kind of torture we live for!!

I can't wait for the next book!! It's an awesome novel for a debut author 👏

I just finished this fantastic book! It's a supernatural mafia romance with a slow-burn twist, and the supernatural aspect shines through. The story revolves around Leanne, who opts for immortal life as a vampire to evade death, guided by her mentor, Riftan. As their relationship deepens, chaos erupts, and now I can't wait for the sequel to come out! Although the story started slow, I found myself getting more and more excited as I got halfway through the book. I also loved how the title of each chapter was incorporated into it. Huge thanks to NetGalley, Best Day Ever Publishing, and SH Clasen for the opportunity to read this incredible book.

This digital ARC was obtainable via NetGalley for an honest review.

"How to Face Eternity" is a vampire mafia tale. I thoroughly enjoyed the slow burn between Leanne & Riftan. However, I think it was a huge let down when Leanne let herself get wrapped up with her past. I wanted her to go out and explore the world while healing from her heartbreak, not get wrapped up in human affairs.

This book was a lot more cozy than I expected, less gore than the warnings had me believing there might be, but I loved every second of it. And the ending?? I can’t wait for the next part of this book.

It held my interest from the beginning and didn’t let go - ESPECIALLY in those last few pages.

This is definitely a slow burn romance with fantasy elements (I mean, they ARE vampires), forced proximity, and a ton of mixed signals.