Jordan Castillo Price was pretty much my first step into the m/m world and since then she's been an auto-buy author for me. Her books are guaranteed quality UF stories with great world building, witty dialogues and wonderful characters. Plus: this woman writes love scenes that make you wish you were a man!

Hemovore was another high standard story. Price managed to create a new, interesting take on vampires, in where vampirism is a disease caused by a highly contagious virus, and vampires - though graceful and sexy- are outsiders. Prejudice, fear, hate, vampire’s statuses ranging from idol to leper and within this setting a self deprecating hero with obsessive compulsive tendencies, Mark, and his boss/love interest Jonathan: a vampire who's afraid to pronounce the word 'blood'.

Safe to say I was expecting a slow, sweet romance about the every day lives of this unlikely couple and how their lives of bland domesticity would be brightened up by their blossoming romance.

So color me surprised when this turned into a suspense/mystery tale.
Although not the kind with high speed action and neck breaking stunts. In stead Price focused more on the chaos and feelings of desolation our couple go through when they find their lives turned upside down. All the while containing that sense of irony and humor Price prevails in, in order to prevent the story from getting overly emotional or sappy.

So why the mere 3 star (3,5 actually) rating?

Because I didn't really feel the connection between the two men. Companionship and trust? Sure. Love? Not really.
This might be partly due to the fact that for the whole story, we are in Mark's head; who has a pretty dry tone narrative and a tendency to understate emotions and actions. On top of that Mark was either drunk, delirious, or high on sedatives for a majority of the scenes which skewered his perception and made it hard for me to judge if what he saw was actually true or just wishful thinking. Next to that some really intimate revelations seemed to come from out of nowhere and lost their impact.

All in all: Hemovore was a good story, which might have gotten a 4 star rating out of me, if it weren't for the fact that this was a JCP story and I set my standards extra high for her.
3,5 stars