Caressed by a Crimson Moon (Rulers of Darkness, #3)

by Amanda J Greene

Consumed by madness and tormented by dark memories of blood and death, Hadrian Lucretius, King of the Validus Clan, has returned after living in self-imposed exile for nearly three hundred and fifty years.

To maintain peace with the vampires, Eva Maldonado is offered as a sacrifice to the crazed vampire king by her father, the alpha of the Silveria Shifter Pack. Hadrian’s reputation is both legendary and lethal; he is ruthless, bloodthirsty, lusty, and soulless. When Eva arrives at the ancient fortress high in the Carpathian Mountains, she is shocked to find a ravaged man with dark burning eyes filled with loneliness and dangerous desire.

Would she be his lover…or his prey? His savior…or his victim? Would Hadrian lure her into madness or would their perilous passion be their redemption?

• ISBN10: 0615803679
• ISBN13: 9780615803678
• Publish Date: 27 January 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Amanda Greene
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 310
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

Caressed by A Crimson Moon is the third book in the Rulers of Darkness series. It tells the story of Eva a half-breed shifter and Hadrian Lucretius, the mad vampire king of the Validus Clan.

Eva is considered an abomination to her pack because of her half-breed nature. She lived in the world of humans until the death of her mom when her father took her to live with his pack. Eva’s treatment by the pack was unpleasant. Unable to take animal form or have children her pack treated her like a pariah. The pack had an agreement with the vampire clan, where the alpha would send one of his daughters to be a ward to the vampire king. Because of the madness that had consumed the king the alpha decided Eva would be the perfect candidate, believing the vampire king would have her destroyed.

Hadrian is known as the beast among vampires, the mad king. Haunted by a past riddled with torture, death and blood-lust he descended into a state of madness, which saw him renouncing his throne.
He has returned to claim it after 350 years of self-imposed exile, thus triggering the death curse. A curse which would eventually kill him should he not find his mate.

From the moment Eva and Hadrian met, sparks flew. Eva had difficulty keeping her distance despite humorous warnings from Falcon, Hadrian’s second in command. Hadrian tried resisting the attraction out of fear and he did not desire to disrespect her pack. She is his ward and therefore under his protection, but when information regarding Eva’s heritage became known the excuse of her being his ward went out the door.

I understood Hadrian’s hesitance to get close to Eva, but after sometime his push and pull, actions became annoying. Despite this, I enjoyed seeing them together. What I loved about their relationship was how they helped each other grow. They became each other’s saviour.

Eva saw herself as being unworthy and I understood why, given the abuse she had endured but the constant belittling of her worth became tiresome. Thankfully, she outgrew this phase and became the voice of reason for Hadrian.

I enjoyed learning about Eva’s true heritage, but I would have been nice to see her father’s reaction now that the truth came to light. In addition, it would have been good to know how he took the news that the daughter he saw as an abomination was the mate of a powerful vampire king. I am curious as to the reason Eva’s father took her live with the pack knowing they considered her an abomination. What did he hope to achieve?

This is an engaging and fun story with interesting characters and great world building. It was great reuniting with the characters from the previous installment.

Conclusion/Recommendation
Another great addition to the series. I would recommend this series to fans of paranormal romance. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Hixxup]

Caressed by a Crimson Moon

I was given this book in place of an honest review. This is the third book in the "Rulers of Darkness" series. This story takes place surrounding Hadrian the Vampire King who threw himself into exile, because he was going crazy; and Eva a halfbreed shifter. Eva was the bastard daughter of the Alpha of her shifter pack, taken nine years ago after the death of her mother. She was treated poorly because of her halfbreed lineage. Hadrian who has just recently came out of exile and is preparing for his descent back into his clans world, wants to honor a treaty made three hundred and fifty years ago with the shifters, has Falcon go and claim what is rightfully his. The alpha isn't to thrilled about this scenario and refuses to send one of his pure looks daughters to the mad king, so instead he sends Eva his halfbreed daughter, in hopes that the mad king will take care of his dirty work for him. Instead of Hadrian killing Eva like the Alpha was hoping for, he finds something else in Eva.....hope.

As the other two books I have read in this series this one didn't fail to suck me in. However, this one was just a little different than the others. Because one: There is something more to Eva that meets the eye; two: instead of some huge raging battle being prepared for throughout the book, the big battle is actually the battles that Hadrian has to face about himself, and the secrets that are unfolded with Eva. Now don't get me wrong there is a battle scene in this book, but it's pretty bleh compared to the others. However, this book adds a few more pieces that will be unfolded in further books, that of course will keep you hanging on the edge of your seat and keep you wanting more. It sure has me, and I cannot wait to read more of this series.