I still love a good vampire story. I know some (many?) are sick of blood suckers, but I like the cold, noble creatures of the night when they are done right. Their inherent danger factor can really increase the tension of forbidden love. Their elegant, everlasting youth makes them very desirable. Their endless association with the dark increases their sensuality. They can be the ultimate bad boys waiting for the perfect mate to set them free from their demons. Or they can be like the vamps in this series and carry their whiny, bickering natures into eternity.

Eleisha Clevon is slowly seeing her dream of a vampire sanctuary come to life. For years her maker Julian kept her from the company of her own kind, denying her the vital psychic link that vamps require in order to not kill their prey. Now, with the help of psychic mortal Wade, she has made a home for herself, Rose, and Philip. Their sense of community has allowed them to stabilize their powers and lead semi-normal lives for the first time in centuries. Eleisha is determined to see the community grow in spite of recent violent set backs, and to that end she continues to search for others of her kind.

A series of crimes in London definitely look like the work of a vampire to Wade. He sends ghostly helper Sebastian on the hunt for the new vamp and the resulting info has the household packing for a trip to merry old England. But they are not alone in their quest. Julian also has a ghost he uses as a hunter. And he is determined to beat Eleisha to this prize.

Very possibly the only interesting thing about this novel is new vamp Maxim. We learn of his existence early in the novel but we don't really learn about him till page 141, a little less than halfway through the book. This is unfortunate because the novel is dull and tedious whenever it turns the focus away from him. All I feel comfortable saying is that his portions of the novel are what pulled it from D to C status. The plus is for Wade and for the original universe created in the Vampire Memories books.

Working against the novel are the power struggles between Eleisha and Philip and the sheer boringness of their relationship. Eleisha continues to be completely wrapped up in her mission. I understand this; she is trying to restore vampires to their former glory and she is either the only one capable of doing so or the only one brave enough to do so. That is a great deal of responsibility for her to handle so it is good to see Wade and Rose on board, anxious to help how they can. However, Eleisha continues to love Philip. Philip, in short, is an immature brat. He sort of sits around, expecting the others to do the work and waiting for the others to entertain him. I get that your hobbies might turn hollow after a few hundred years, but I do feel that Philip should take a bit more responsibility for his own amusement. To add to the tedium, the author took away physical sexuality and has intercourse occurring on the mental plane. We are to believe that this is for vampires what actual sex is for humans; in fact, it's supposed to be deeper and more meaningful. But wow, it bored me. It didn't even really fit with the characters. While they are all definitely communicating on the psychic plane, Philip and Eleisha are very action oriented. They "do" rather than "say." And both are incredibly attractive. Removing their relationship from the physical plane took away from what should have been, especially since we have been waiting for them to get together for several books.

The secondary characters in this novel are deeply under utilized. There is an issue between Wade and Eleisha which might have made for some interesting conflict but was poofed away by Eleisha's psychic abilities. Sebastian and Rose are both interesting, but we barely spend time with them. Julian's helpers Mary and Jasper had something intriguing going on between them, but of course we didn't follow up on that. In short, we stayed so focused on our boring primaries that we received only glimpses of what might have been from the others.

If you are a die hard fan of the series, I won't steer you against this volume. It is as good as the last two have been, even if it doesn't live up to the promise of the first. If you are not a fan of the series, don't bother. While Maxim is fascinating and the book a (slightly) above average read, you would need to read the previous novels to truly understand what is happening. That's a lot of commitment for a series that looks destined to disappoint.