Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire

Starred review from November 3, 2014
Sparks (How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying)) brings the 16-book Love at Stake paranormal romance series to a deeply satisfying, delightfully swoon-inducing close. Russell Hankelburg’s last clear memories of his life before becoming a vampire were of the war in Vietnam. When he woke 39 years later with a slave mark on his wrist, it was to a new world devoid of everything he ever loved. His only mission became to kill Master Han, the vampire who created him. Then he runs afoul of a were-tiger with the exact same mission. Jia’s determined to kill the man who murdered her family, and she’ll stop at nothing to achieve her goal. As Russell and Jia team up, their relationship grows organically into a rich romance full of vulnerability and tenderness. The detailed story is filled with little callbacks to the earlier books, but first-time readers will have no trouble picking things up, while fans will want to go back and savor the entire series from the beginning. Agent: Michelle Grajkowski, 3 Seas Literary Agency.