Night's Illusion

Night's Illusion by Amanda Ashley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've read another book in this series, which has obviously been very well established at this point. That being said, I think these can be read as standalone or as part of the series - it does a good job catching us late joiners up on the general world.

Giovanni was a priest, but everyone still refers to him as father or a priest in their general interactions. You gotta get over that real quick, because this priest is looking for his lady love. Mara, the queen of the vampires, is very eager to help hook her favorite priest up with women, but fate has other plans. Not only does Giovanni end up with his long lost vampire sire as a big bad in this book, but he also randomly stumbles upon his mate. They don't call it out that clearly at the start, but Cassie and Giovanni have an instant bond.

Cassie is not in the best place when they meet. She's working at a dive, lives in a dump, and is generally unhappy and (when they meet) on the run from terrible men. Since Giovanni has no experience to speak of, Cassie and he begin courting in a very slow fashion. Sadly, the most we get in this book is fade to black scenes, but at least you don't need to worry about reconciling a priest in bed with someone.

As I mentioned, this world is well established, which means oodles of characters to touch base with, catch up with, invite places, and generally establish ourselves in this universe. It was weird and fun to see the varied faces come and go. Overall, we get a nice resolution (with some surprising sadness), and even get to conquer evil in the end (multiple ways). I would have probably appreciated the love and loss a little more having gone through the previous books, but still enjoyed this one.

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