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A Dark Inheritance
“I do not require your eternal love or devotion Ms Johnson, merely what is inside your veins.”
When Tina Johnson, single mother, forty, wakes up in an isolated castle in Central Europe she simply wants to return to her daughter as quickly as possible. She doesn’t expect to find that she has been kidnapped and brought into a world where power is the key to survival and sanity is an optional extra.
Tina discovers she has been watched for many years, she has a rare genetic structure that makes her attractive to vampires and has the possibility of living for well over a century, if she allows herself to become infected. Kalmár has stolen her and intends to keep her captive, hiding her from both her family and other vampires. She meets Wolfie, his bonded servant, unable to disobey the orders given by his master whether he wishes to or not. Normality becomes a frightening place as Tina struggles to escape those holding her and to fights to keep her daughter, her lover and her freedom.
When Tina Johnson, single mother, forty, wakes up in an isolated castle in Central Europe she simply wants to return to her daughter as quickly as possible. She doesn’t expect to find that she has been kidnapped and brought into a world where power is the key to survival and sanity is an optional extra.
Tina discovers she has been watched for many years, she has a rare genetic structure that makes her attractive to vampires and has the possibility of living for well over a century, if she allows herself to become infected. Kalmár has stolen her and intends to keep her captive, hiding her from both her family and other vampires. She meets Wolfie, his bonded servant, unable to disobey the orders given by his master whether he wishes to or not. Normality becomes a frightening place as Tina struggles to escape those holding her and to fights to keep her daughter, her lover and her freedom.
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Published May 24, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 22, 2017
I was pleasantly surprised at this vampire book. It offers so much more than the normal horror, blood-sucking narrative; which has been so overdone of late. I have to admit I am not that much of a fan of horror, but this book is so well written I was hooked from the start.
I also relished the time the author spent building her characters for her readers. She hasn’t stepped into the role of author lightly. Instead, her methodical approach pays off with the richness and depth this book delivers.
Having said that, the book is full of twists and surprises and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy.
I also relished the time the author spent building her characters for her readers. She hasn’t stepped into the role of author lightly. Instead, her methodical approach pays off with the richness and depth this book delivers.
Having said that, the book is full of twists and surprises and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy.
May 3, 2018
“A Dark Inheritance” is a modern vampire story, so you kind of already know what to expect. A woman with a rare blood type catches the attention of several vampires and is kidnapped once she reaches 40, ripped away from her life and her family, and told she can never return to them. Unlike most vampire stories, Tina did not want the attentions of Kalmar, or The Count. She didn’t even know vampires existed and now… well, now she can’t leave his castle and her daughter thinks she’s dead. No matter what Tina does, she can’t seem to escape Kalmar and even the few times she kind of manages it, she finds out that life is exceedingly more dangerous outside his castle walls than within. There were parts of this story that I absolutely loved, and parts that still leave me feeling uncertain, but all in all, I thought “A Dark Inheritance” was a nice twist on a creature type that has been done to death—ha.
First things first, Tina mentions how, as she starts to accept her situation and see Kalmar in a new light despite the kidnapping and assault, that this must be what Stockholm Syndrome is, and is like. And it is! It absolutely is! Vampires treat humans like pets—that’s not an exaggeration, that’s how they refer to the humans that take and keep. I hated Kalmar and hated that Tina was warming up to this guy… and then the story did the “Beauty and the Beast” thing where you—as in me—accepted it. I started liking Kalmar too, I started enjoying Tina and his relationship, I no longer wanted to throttle Wolfie for not helping her leave. And then I ended up spending a whole day just devouring this book. I must have read close to 40% of it in one afternoon, and I wanted to hate myself because nothing about Tina’s situation is ok, nor should it make her feel any kind of passion for the people responsible. But dammit if I didn’t really, really enjoy it, too! But this is a vampire story, so honestly, I guess if it were to have a real life twist, this would be it. This would be how it’s done in “the real world”. Lander does a wonderful job of building that out and explaining how vampires can coexist with humans and their customs to keep vampire populations from decimating humans. So I really do have to hand it to the author with how that was handled and the character arcs that her cast of humans and vampires take.
Because of the character building, this is going to be a slower paced book. There are sections that you’ll want to just binge read, but others that felt unnecessarily slow and not vital to the story as a whole. Like when Tina meets with a group of accountants. I understand it’s all part of building out how Kalmar has been able to exist for so long but still, it slowed down the otherwise lovely pacing. Additionally, there is some pretty mature content in the book. There is some language and violence—which should go without saying—and also some pretty overt sexual acts which all kind of start when you get introduced to Ivan. It’s nothing so graphic I’d label this as erotica by any stretch, but there is also no hiding EXACTLY what certain characters are doing with both their male and female partners, but this is a romance story as well, so that is a bit par for the course. But if you have a low tolerance for that kind of thing, be forewarned. This is not a Twilight-esque novel in the least, the main character is very much a woman, and therefore I think this book is best suited for adult readers as the content is rather mature and will be appreciated most by a mature reader.
It does take a minute to get into the story, especially given how Tina is forced to be with Kalmar against her will. But once you get into it, you really get into it! I enjoyed the twist and turns this story took and how Tina and Kalmar were challenged so often with other vampires trying to steal her away. The ending was gearing up for something big, or it felt that way, and then when we get there it just kind of… ends. There were some pretty big loose ends left in regards to Vicenti (I’ll say no more to avoid spoilers) and what Tina will do when she has to stand the way Wolfie did in order to join their society. And I’m not entirely happy with where things ended between Tina and Kalmar, either. There is enough left where I think this story could easily be a duology but I’m not sure if the author has any intention of doing that, which is fine, I’m just personally not all that enthused with where things ended.
All in all, I really loved about 60% of this book. The character building was well done, the time spent on the world was good, and the pacing was great. But the other 40% feels a bit slow, and can be hard to reconcile with the Stockholm syndrome, plus then there was how things ended… I think the author writes wonderfully and she has a great knack for telling compelling stories, so I’d definitely be interested to read more by her, but this book is a pretty solid 3.5 stars for me. And thanks to the author for providing me with a copy for review!
First things first, Tina mentions how, as she starts to accept her situation and see Kalmar in a new light despite the kidnapping and assault, that this must be what Stockholm Syndrome is, and is like. And it is! It absolutely is! Vampires treat humans like pets—that’s not an exaggeration, that’s how they refer to the humans that take and keep. I hated Kalmar and hated that Tina was warming up to this guy… and then the story did the “Beauty and the Beast” thing where you—as in me—accepted it. I started liking Kalmar too, I started enjoying Tina and his relationship, I no longer wanted to throttle Wolfie for not helping her leave. And then I ended up spending a whole day just devouring this book. I must have read close to 40% of it in one afternoon, and I wanted to hate myself because nothing about Tina’s situation is ok, nor should it make her feel any kind of passion for the people responsible. But dammit if I didn’t really, really enjoy it, too! But this is a vampire story, so honestly, I guess if it were to have a real life twist, this would be it. This would be how it’s done in “the real world”. Lander does a wonderful job of building that out and explaining how vampires can coexist with humans and their customs to keep vampire populations from decimating humans. So I really do have to hand it to the author with how that was handled and the character arcs that her cast of humans and vampires take.
Because of the character building, this is going to be a slower paced book. There are sections that you’ll want to just binge read, but others that felt unnecessarily slow and not vital to the story as a whole. Like when Tina meets with a group of accountants. I understand it’s all part of building out how Kalmar has been able to exist for so long but still, it slowed down the otherwise lovely pacing. Additionally, there is some pretty mature content in the book. There is some language and violence—which should go without saying—and also some pretty overt sexual acts which all kind of start when you get introduced to Ivan. It’s nothing so graphic I’d label this as erotica by any stretch, but there is also no hiding EXACTLY what certain characters are doing with both their male and female partners, but this is a romance story as well, so that is a bit par for the course. But if you have a low tolerance for that kind of thing, be forewarned. This is not a Twilight-esque novel in the least, the main character is very much a woman, and therefore I think this book is best suited for adult readers as the content is rather mature and will be appreciated most by a mature reader.
It does take a minute to get into the story, especially given how Tina is forced to be with Kalmar against her will. But once you get into it, you really get into it! I enjoyed the twist and turns this story took and how Tina and Kalmar were challenged so often with other vampires trying to steal her away. The ending was gearing up for something big, or it felt that way, and then when we get there it just kind of… ends. There were some pretty big loose ends left in regards to Vicenti (I’ll say no more to avoid spoilers) and what Tina will do when she has to stand the way Wolfie did in order to join their society. And I’m not entirely happy with where things ended between Tina and Kalmar, either. There is enough left where I think this story could easily be a duology but I’m not sure if the author has any intention of doing that, which is fine, I’m just personally not all that enthused with where things ended.
All in all, I really loved about 60% of this book. The character building was well done, the time spent on the world was good, and the pacing was great. But the other 40% feels a bit slow, and can be hard to reconcile with the Stockholm syndrome, plus then there was how things ended… I think the author writes wonderfully and she has a great knack for telling compelling stories, so I’d definitely be interested to read more by her, but this book is a pretty solid 3.5 stars for me. And thanks to the author for providing me with a copy for review!
September 14, 2017
A Dark Inheritance is a very well written book by Erme Lander. The author brings a new twist to your typical vampire story, which is great. Let's face it, we all like a great vampire story, but after a while they tend to all seem to be the same, so it's nice when someone can bring a new twist to it, and I am happy to say this author did. The plot is interesting, however I felt it was a tad drawn out for me. There are some parts that could have easily been left out that didn't really add to the story, like the part when she redecorated her own rooms. The pace was definitely slow which to me was a draw back.
There is a lot of character development in this book and the author goes into great depth showing us how Tina develops and changes in her new life. We all know vampires are not real, but if they were, her development actually makes sense making it feel very real. I think this character development is part of the reason why the pace of the book is on the slow side, so it is a fine balance on where to give and take I guess, so in this case you win by character development, but loose by getting a slow pace.
All in all I would say this in an interesting book. It is a longer read and has a slower pace in my eyes but there are some nice little twists and a few well placed "action parts' hidden within, which kept me reading on.
I have received this book from the author for an honest review. (LoP, Lovers of Paranormal)
There is a lot of character development in this book and the author goes into great depth showing us how Tina develops and changes in her new life. We all know vampires are not real, but if they were, her development actually makes sense making it feel very real. I think this character development is part of the reason why the pace of the book is on the slow side, so it is a fine balance on where to give and take I guess, so in this case you win by character development, but loose by getting a slow pace.
All in all I would say this in an interesting book. It is a longer read and has a slower pace in my eyes but there are some nice little twists and a few well placed "action parts' hidden within, which kept me reading on.
I have received this book from the author for an honest review. (LoP, Lovers of Paranormal)
January 3, 2018
A dark inheritance is a paranormal romance novel about Tina Johnson. She is a single mother in her forties. She wakes up realizing that she has been kidnapped and brought into a world she has never know existed. The only way to survive is to have power, and all she wants to do is to go back home to her daughter.
Reality hits in when Tina understands that she has a rare genetic disorder and for that Kalmar, has held her captive to protect her from the vampires. The price of immortality is just an infection away, yet Tina’s love for her family, freedom is all she cares about and now comes with a hefty price.
What I found very appealing was the depth this tale took into making sure the characters and the world setting was developed in a rich form. I also enjoyed the novel approach the storyline took to keep the reader eager wanting to know more.
The writing and literature had an original voice, and I connected to the purity of the words, for that, I recommended this book to people that enjoy paranormal – fantasy stories.
Reality hits in when Tina understands that she has a rare genetic disorder and for that Kalmar, has held her captive to protect her from the vampires. The price of immortality is just an infection away, yet Tina’s love for her family, freedom is all she cares about and now comes with a hefty price.
What I found very appealing was the depth this tale took into making sure the characters and the world setting was developed in a rich form. I also enjoyed the novel approach the storyline took to keep the reader eager wanting to know more.
The writing and literature had an original voice, and I connected to the purity of the words, for that, I recommended this book to people that enjoy paranormal – fantasy stories.
September 5, 2017
I picked up this book after reading the authors short story Sasha. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, lots of half defined characters and gratuitous sex that had little to do with the plot as I have found with many other books of this genre?
Not so! Even the minor characters had substance and where it was relevant to the plot the sex scenes left enough to your imagination so that you could add as much or as little as you wish. If you are looking for porn, this book is not for you :)
It is well written, fresh and the whole thing is nicely concluded with no loose ends. It is not a short book, but I read it in a day, I found it difficult to put it down. I originally put this as 4 * , but upped it to 5* as it kept my attention so thoroughly.
Nice one Erme
Not so! Even the minor characters had substance and where it was relevant to the plot the sex scenes left enough to your imagination so that you could add as much or as little as you wish. If you are looking for porn, this book is not for you :)
It is well written, fresh and the whole thing is nicely concluded with no loose ends. It is not a short book, but I read it in a day, I found it difficult to put it down. I originally put this as 4 * , but upped it to 5* as it kept my attention so thoroughly.
Nice one Erme
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews