Nicely written in the first person from both Lia and Julian's POV. This is an insta-love/lust steamy erotic vampire romance between a centuries old sexy male vampire and a pretty college student who is (unknowingly), from a family of slayers. There are college friends as side characters, information dumping and no valid explanation re the H/h's attraction for each other. There are old weapons etc in Lia's basement that point to her family vampire hunting (no big deal) and she goes to the library to look vampires up - a bit like Bella did in Twilight. I wasn't really invested in either the H/h, but it was an interesting, steamy read, if very contrived. There's a blend of lots of popular vampire themes/influences in this story. My thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Entertaining! Love the premise for this one; the forbidden aspect is great! I enjoy a good enemies to lovers scenario. Vampire Julian meets Aurelia, who comes from hunter blood; the connection between these two goes above the feud between vamp and hunter. There's just a small problem; Julian has vowed to kill anyone with Cormac hunter blood, so there's some problems for these two. Unfortunately, there's a lot of differences in the way to happiness. I would've liked for Lia to be a bit more kick butt, but I liked her. Julian is cool too; he's having to think at things from a different perspective, which is difficult when he's used to following along with his coven. They are really sweet together; there's a bit of the instalove aspect, which I don't mind. I'm all for reading about a soul mate kind of love. Overall, I enjoyed how the story unfolded, and the vibe to the story.

I didn't end up completing this, as ultimately it just was not for me. I enjoyed the writing and some parts of the story, but could not get connected with the plot or characters and ended up putting this down about 45% of the way through. I appreciate the opportunity to review this early and would be interested in reading different stories from the same author. Rating is based on the portion I was able complete.

How can you be in love with the one person who is supposed to be your enemy? How can you make it work? Those are the questions our “hero” in this story has to ask himself. And, yes, I put hero in quotes because…..is he or isn’t he?
This is a good story about enemies to lovers, and the conflict of trying to decide what is best for yourself and your situation. What also makes this a good story is that our “hero” is a vampire and the heroine is human. So, add all that together (enemies-to-lovers and paranormal and romance) and you have a great read.

I loved this book!!! I would definitely recommend this book.

This was a first time read for by this author and I was pleased to have given it a go. ‘The Sacred Vow’ by Will Thorne was a tale of forbidden love, sacred vows and soulmates. This was a four star read for me.


Julian Devereux is a vampire that has vowed to rid the world of the Cormac family. They are a line of vampire hunters and they had nearly destroyed his family and Julian had thought he had managed to rid the world of the Cormacs and all its descendants. The Cormacs all bare the mark of a sun shaped birth mark and when Julian is drawn to a beautiful woman he is shocked to discover that has the exact birth mark that he thought he had rid the world of over fifty years ago.


Aurelia Galligan feels the pull towards Julian and she doesn't know why. Never one to be give in to impulse she cant help but be caught up in the inexplicable need to be with Julian and to have him. Lia knows nothing of vampires, historic bloodlines, hunters or family feuds that are to the death. However Lia wants Julian and knows that he will have to make a choice.


This was a great story of true soulmates that are caught up in a forbidden love. the tale of vampire and mortal falling in love was well written with the twist of the family feud and the vow giving the story the depth to keep you interested and invested in how it all plays out. This was an enjoyable read that was well written and had great characters.

Since the form or style that was downloaded to my Kindle was Unreadable I cannot read therefore I cannot review. Sorry I felt it would be good book and why I requested but it just wasn't worth the time and effort to try and figure out the sentences being so broken apart and all over the place it truly was unreadable material! I do not know if you had these issues with other kindles or not. Again sorry I didn't give any stars and I fell obligated to tell you why I never left a review!

Sincerely,
Susie Price

Julian had made a vow to his maker that he would would kill alll vampire hunters from the Cormac's bloodline who had tried to destroy his coven. Julian has hated the Cormac bloodline for centuries. Julian is handsome,successful, and charming. Julian is very proud of his promise and thought he had fulfilled said promise. Then he met Aurelia/ Lia and found the telltale birthmark she was of the family which tried to wipe out his coven. Still Julian is drawn to Lia: for her strength, beauty, and her zest for life. Lia is naive but also strong, loyal, beautiful but she does still have some insecurities. Lia brings out feelings in Julian that he hasn’t felt in over two hundred years. Lia gives Julian hope he can have what he lost so long ago- true love. Lia knows nothing of vows, vampires, and feuds.Lia also didn’t know she was a descendant of the Cormac bloodline. All she knows is what she feels when she is with Julian. But Lia does know Julian has to pick between love and loyalty. Julian is very protective of Lia but still fights his urges toward Lia at the same time. He knows he should kill Lia for the sake of his coven. Julian weakens as Lia astounds him.Lia and Julian had an instant connection when they met. Julian’s love for Lia questions all he is and has stood for.
I adored this story. The minute you start reading this story it seems to engulf you and doesn’t let you go until the end. I loved that you got to read about Julian’s life before he was a vampire also. I some spots this is absolutely heartbreaking. This story has a lot of suspense, action and of course drama. I felt bad that Julian was so torn between his love for Lia and his loyalty to his coven and promise to his maker. I loved the plot the whole story actual and a bit of a different spin on a vampire story. This is a great read. I loved the characters and the ups and downs of this story and I highly recommend.

2.5 stars!

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped to!

That was, mostly, because I expected a Forbidden, Strugling Love growing between a vampire and a vampire hunter... a story where enemies for decades, for generations, suddently, find themselves falling hard in love for each other - a kind of Romeo and Juliet with vampires to the mix - this was what I expected, but it was not at all what I got, in this book.

My main dislike in the book was: Lia's character.

I wanted a fierce, strong willed, corageous girl who is a vampire hunter. Instead what I got was a inocent, harmless, little 22 year-old human.who falls in love with a guy, she later finds out is a vampire.

And there were things in this book that made NO sense to me... like Lia's reaction upon finding out Julian is, actually, a vampire?!

I expected her to be shocked and be, at least, a bit afraid... but she didn't...At all!

The only thing I really liked in the book, that held me through the book and made me not actually Drop it was: Julian <3

Julian is a real vampire! No sparkling, goody-to-shoes, vegetarian vampires here! :D

Julian is the real deal and I enjoyed reading his POV's (the book is written in Double POV) and seeing him struggle with his Vow and the feelings he had for Lia.

Still, Julian alone was not enough for me to really like the book...

it could have been better constructed, it lacked momentum, emotion, climax... it lacked suspense... it would have been way better if it took more time for Julian to find out that Lia was of Cormac's lineage! It would have builded the feelings more, and there would have been more of a real struggle.

Also, although it was a bit explained as to why, there was too much of a insta-lust between the MC's. It did grow to love, but I didn't feel the love as much as I wanted to. Maybe it should have been developted in a slower way, I guess.

In conclusion, I didn't enjoy this book much, because I expected a different take on the vampire-human relationship and what I got was an average, predictable story. Also, as there was talk of a female hunter, I expected a badass, strong female character and that was not how Lia was.

Still, this is an okay, normal story and it isn't badly written, even if it is a bit predictable.

SO, if vampire love stories are your thing you might enjoy this book... I know you're gonna Love Julian for sure! So you might wanna give this book a try :)

Full review can be found in: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1844212613

A Sacred Vow by Willa Thorn is a fast paced read. This is my first time reading this author at all, and I really enjoyed the style and pace of this book a lot. I also like the strength of the characters in this book. They are likable and fun to watch unfold.
Lia has a birth mark on her shoulder. She is really self conscious about it. I. She never knew her mom. Her father left when she was two. She only has her brother. Lia is really a loving person. She knows nothing of her family's past. So she has no idea what that birth mark really means. But she soon will.
Julian thought he had killed the last of the Cormac Hunters. That is till he finds the beautiful and sweet Lia. She has the family's tell tale birth mark. The more he gets to know Lia the more he wants her for himself. But will his need for vengeance over come his desire to love?
Over all this is a great read. I loved the story itself. I want more. I would love if this were a series. I would be wanting the next book. There is a lot of story inside this book so not necessarily a quick read, but not a heavy read either. I devoured this one and want more!
Five Shooting Stars

Unable to review at this time- Device incompatibility.

Forbidden love, intense chemistry, and the paranormal. What more is needed? This is my first time reading Willa Thorne and I am looking forward to sinking my teeth into her other stories

Post goes live 20 Jan:

The first few chapters of this book seemed out of place with what came afterwards. They also colored my opinion of Lia that included much eye rolling and “are you kidding” coming from me. The prologue set the stage for bloody vicious vampires and then delivered none of the same afterwards. There was a curious lack of violence even when it was obvious that for Lia to be free of immediate danger there would need to be at least one death.


Lia, on the other hand, didn't come off too bright in the first couple of chapters. She moves into her grandmother's house with two college friends. Her grandmother passes several years ago and she hadn't heard from or seen her brother since then. Every once in a while she'd call her brother's phone but voicemail was always full. Upon moving into the house, she found a small room with old weapons. Machetes, crossbows, and whole tub filled with wooden stakes. Lia is upset and unsettled. Conveniently, her absentee brother calls her to tell her to get rid of all that stuff especially the stiff on the wall behind the door where he'd been tracking mysterious murders. He's acting upset and worried and tells her not to tell anybody and burn it all right now and then dramatically hangs up. Lia doesn't act as if she hadn't spoken to her brother in years nor does she take his worry serious. He told her not to tell and the first thing she does is show one of her roommates. He told her to get rid of it, burn it. When she and her friend are in the room looking at the crazy stuff on the wall, they suddenly switch subjects forgetting all about the cray-cray in the basement and time jumps forward several weeks… So yes, I didn't have a very high opinion of Lia. I almost put it down when at an art show her friend tells her that Julian is uber rich, Lia get all short of breath at the news. Seriously?


Then after Lia meets Julian, she starts acting more like a decent person. I was disappointed that the Julian in the prologue was not anywhere to be seen afterwards. He seemed to be a different person and I chalked that up to him changing over the years. There was some back and forth with the past where we are shown how Julian came to be a vampire and what lead to the blood bath. Julian's best friend who kept pushing him to kill Lia, I wasn't sure what to make of him. Even though Nolan was persistent, again the lethal vampires weren't in evidence at all. Much of the relationship building between Julian and Lia took place off page, but once Lia found out Julian was a vampire and that was the reason he wasn't sharing details about himself, they fell into bed right quick. From that point, they committed to each other as Julian tried to find a way to keep Lia safe from his kind.


The plot was easy to guess and at times the story slowed down. Lia used the word perfect a lot when thinking about Julian. There were also some weird word choices that would occasional throw me out of the story. In the end, this was a decent read in the end with a HFN ending.