A History of Vampires: A New Queen

by Amanda Lewis

When a mysterious outsider shows her the impossible, can she unveil old secrets… and step into destiny?

Angelina Arbonne is obsessed with history. Driven by a passion for travel, the thirty-five-year-old archaeologist has no time for love. But she can’t resist knowing more when she’s stalked by a hopelessly gorgeous stranger who claims he’s a vampire king.

With her handsome suitor leading her through the hidden society of the long-lived, Angelina’s heart begins to beat to an intriguing new tune. But with an ancient magical war brewing, dating a two-thousand-year-old is giving her second thoughts about becoming an immortal queen…

Can they bridge their improbable age gap and enjoy an eternal happily ever after?

A New Queen is the compelling first book in the A History of Vampires paranormal romance series. If you like intelligent characters, original storylines, and historical themes, then you’ll adore Amanda Lewis’ enthralling tale.

Buy A New Queen to unearth a most unusual bloodline today!

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Vampires

420 pages, ebook

First published October 31, 2021

About the author

**The Weight of Birds - 2020 Silver Medal Winner - Contemporary Christian Romance, Reader's Favorite Awards**

**The Marine - 2023 Finalist - Christian Romance, Reader's Favorite Awards**


Amanda is the author of such series as The Levander Brothers, Goodwater Ranch, and A History of Vampires. She enjoys reading genres of all sorts, her favorites being romance and domestic thrillers.

For free e-mail updates, please follow her on BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/amand...

Join the Goodwater Ranch Historical Society Facebook group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/goodw...

IG, TruthSocial, Facebook & Pinterest @theamandalewis
TikTok @theamandalewis and @authoramandalewis

Reviews

[Dana K]

I just can’t with this one. I was really excited to try and conquer another vampire read for spooky season. But I’m not sure I can make it through this one. I am DNF-ing at 25%. I’m not sure whether I just picked up the wrong book for me… But I think the synopsis does not reflect the type of read that this is.

I do not like the writing style, concept or execution. Generally when I sign up to read a book before it’s released, I do everything I can to finish the book. This time I just can’t. I don’t like anything about this woman or her actions. There are too many amazing books in this world for me to waste time on some thing that I just can’t stand from the get-go.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy. All opinions are my own.

[Leighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A History of Vampires: A New Queen by Amanda Lewis is an adult vampire romance that will satisfy cravings for True Blood and the Vampires Diaries spin-off, The Originals. The story revolves around Angelina, a 35 year-old archaeologist who meets a vampire king one day. Jude is handsome and possibly way too old for her. At first, Angelina doesn't believe that he's a vampire, but after he proves it, she's drawn into the world of vampire society. She meets all kinds of celebrities who have become vampires. Is Angelina and Jude's romance one for the ages? Does she have what it takes to be a vampire queen? And what dangers are lurking in the shadows?

Here is a magical excerpt from the Prologue, when Angelina first speaks to Jude:

"A shadow shimmers in the corner. He’s starting to move. If she doesn’t approach him, she’ll have to wait for the next time, whenever that may be. She can’t wait that long again, for the uncertainty. Not anymore. She has to know why.
Angelina gets up, carrying her sugar-dusted coffee. She bobs and weaves through the crowd, making a beeline across the covered patio, to his table. He won’t get away from her this time. His eyes are on her, observing her the whole time, until she’s standing in front of him. A curious, yet unhurried, expression adorns his handsome face.
“May I sit?” Angelina asks. He motions with a long, pale hand, welcoming her to the chair across from him. She sees him clearly for the first time. Before, there were only glimpses, whispers of a man. He’s devilishly handsome. He’s leaned back in his chair, and dressed superbly. Obviously wealthy, but arrogance is not a word he’s familiar with."

Overall, A History of Vampires: A New Queen is an original vampire romance with some great new ideas. One highlight of this book is the female protagonist, Angelina. I love the idea of a heroine who is intelligent and educated, and 35 year-old archaeologist is definitely a character I've never seen before. I wish more vampire romances featured sensible heroines who know a thing or two. I took off 1 star because of a scene where a vampire Anne Frank tortures Adolf Hitler, which I thought was kind of unnecessary. I took off another star, because I struggled to follow the plot of this book. If you're intrigued by the excerpt, or if you're a fan of vampire books in general, you can check out this book when it comes out in October!

[following fantasies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in return for my unbiased review.

When 35 year old archeologist Angelina meets a handsome vampire King named Jude, she is drawn into the world of vampire society. Will their romance stand the test of time? Does Angelina have what it will take to face the dangers in this new world if she becomes his Queen?

This book is pitched as an adult vampire romance. I couldn't disagree more with that branding. There is absolutely no spice in this at all. I understand that adult romances don't need to have spice, but aside from kissing there is absolutely no other romance to be found in this book. The romance to me was very PG, I think this may have been better characterized as YA. The plot was very hard for me to follow as it just kind of takes you around as Jude shows Angelina his world. The pacing was way too slow for my liking and the plot was basically non-existent for me. It started to get ok towards the very end but it was brutal trying to get there. I loved that the heroine was an educated and intelligent woman but this also confused me because when she first meets Jude, all her common sense basically goes out the window. Jude basically admits to stalking her and she just doesn't even bat an eye. Definitely not a good message to be putting out there, but I understand that often when it comes to vampire romances this is the case. I guess I was also expecting a more dark vampire story than I got in this book. There is no blood drinking, sex or other typical vampire behaviors in this book. I would say this is a very purist take on vampires, so if that sounds like something you'd enjoy, I'd say definitely give it a shot as it is a very unique take on vampire lore. This book also had the insta love trope which I am not a fan of at all. To top it off, I just didn't enjoy the romance aspect at all. All of their interactions felt awkward and forced instead of full of emotion and tension. I did really enjoy seeing some of history's famous historical figures reimagined as vampires!

Overall, this one just wasn't for me and I feel it should have been placed in a different category. I think this would be good for younger readers who are interested in vampires, but whose parents don't want them reading about all the violence that usually comes along with those types of books.

2💫

[Michelle Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for Readers Favorite

Forget everything you have ever read or thought you knew about Vampires, because it was all misleading non-truths told to keep the secret of the vampire existence. For that matter, forget everything you thought you knew about history and what occurred when and to whom, nothing is what you thought it was, that is the truth that is dropped on Angelina on night when she finally confronts the mysterious man that had been following her. Angelina is an archeologist, she deals in truths and facts, but one gorgeous man is about to up-end her world. A History of Vampires by author Amanda Lewis is the story of Angelina and Jude, a classic love story, but yet one that transcends time. Jude is a vampire, although he doesn't use that term for himself, he doesn't drink blood, except for the first transformation, he can walk in the sunlight, and just about every other myth about vampires is untrue and well. All just part of a carefully crafter story to keep the existence of vampires hidden from the world. Jude's purpose is to make the world a better place, and he surrounds himself with people that have done enough good in their human life that they are worthy of becoming vampires to continue that work.

While A History of Vampires is the story of how they came to be, what their purpose is and how they exist in the world and what they try to accomplish, as you continue on in the story, you find that it is much more. Author Amanda Lewis starts what looks to be a series with this first book that lays the ground work for everything to come, it builds the backstory of how the characters came to be and what things they might have done in their lives to warrant the future events yet to come. You don't have to like vampires to enjoy this story, in fact, other than the noteworthy identity of some of the characters in the book, you can almost completely forget about them being vampire's, because they are nothing like you have ever read about before. This is the start of an epic tale of love, life and good vs evil, with a sprinkling of history re-written throw in. This book will appeal to all readers of all ages and genres.

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you need a good romance with a large helping of mystery, archeology, and of course vampires, this is the perfect book! It was honestly like reading The Mummy/ Indiana Jones but with vampires.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC which I received in return for an honest review.

[Tara Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

I’m very excited for the next book. I love how you have the vampire story and it is intermingled with history and it’s characters. Thank you for a wonderful way to lose a few hours.

[tania dagg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable and different

This story had a bit of a different spin on a vampire story. I enjoyed the alternate narrative. Fun story and the dialogue wasn’t annoying!!

[Mickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this sweetly romantic take on vampires! Who knew vampires could be such good guys?!? I love all the historical characters weaved into this book - so brilliant! The main characters were easy to love and root for. The pacing was great - it kept me hooked. I'm hoping this will be a series!

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A History of Vampires: A New Queen - Amanda Lewis ⁣
@theamandalewis⁣
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@netgalley⁣
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At 3% the author has just painted a mental visual of a very sexy man! ⁣
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Our MC is Angelina, archaeologist. I love her enthusiasm and love for people.⁣
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Jude - coming across as a sexy pussy boy right now - he cries A LOT in a new relationship, does he have a majorly tortured soul!? ⁣
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The historical figures make me laugh so much! I love the way they have been given a new life and are now in the present.. very good in my humble opinion. ⁣
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I have to admit I keep waiting for a Keith Richards reference and how he is the ‘vampire’ who has been turned, eaten loads of crap that’s not good for him and hasn’t faked his death yet!⁣
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This was a good read, not spicy but engaging nonetheless.⁣
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It was immediate between our two MCs and I wasn’t sure I was going to like it, turns out I really did.⁣
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An enjoyable read.⁣
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4 stars ⭐

[Nas S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to start this review by saying that this book has been judged quite harshly party of which is that it’s not thoroughly described/ categorized. While it is a romance, it most certainly isn’t adult. It is very PG with next to no spice. Also it’s a very clean read so don’t go into this thinking vampires= sex, drugs and rock n roll (these vampires don’t drink blood they eat fried food). If you’re looking for any of those things you’d best head off in Jay Kristoff’s direction. The author is known for her Christian Romances, while I haven’t read any of her other book I can say this one is very pure and clean. There’s nothing graphic and aside from kissing there is zero spice.

Now that you’ve been warned and hopefully adjusted your expectation I can go onto what I thought about the book itself.

The story itself is interesting and different, I like inclusion of famous historical figures (Beethoven, Edgar Allen Poe, Anne Frank, Marie Antoinette to name a few). I also enjoyed the globetrotting and historical aspects. The main lesson is that basically it’s very easy to write history in a certain light and the history that was recorded isn’t necessarily how things actually happened.
The downside to the story line is that for the first 24 chapters nothing really happens. As in there isn’t really any plot. Aside from Angelina and Jude’s insta love and the historical retelling of a few of the character’s backstories (they didn’t really die since they’re somewhat alive and living as vampires) there’s really nothing else that happens.

Because of this, the book would have worked better condensed into a novella and labelled as a prequel for whatever the author has planned for the next book. Which we get a taste for in the last half dozen chapters.

Now for the main characters. Angelina is our MFC. She’s smart, educated and an archaeologist which is something I absolutely love and can 100% get behind. However, this all goes out the window when she meets Jude or should I say sees his pretty face. In their first encounter he tells her he’s been stalking her and describes in detail her entire routine and every little detail about her and still she doesn’t question any of that but instead agrees to go to his house for dinner. Honestly it doesn’t get much better from there.

Jude our beautiful 2400 year old vampire MMC is kind, polite and soft spoken. While I enjoy a man who is in tune with his feelings, Jude really need to be a bit more assertive and confident. I mean he’s had 2400 years to learn to not be so self-conscious. He’s also a bit of an oddball, like there’s one scene where Angelina finds him collecting works from the courtyard and putting them in the garden so they don’t get stomped on (while whispering sweet nothings to them). And again it doesn’t get much better form there.

Overall Angelina and Jude lacked chemistry and their interactions were just odd and awkward. I couldn’t get behind the insta love aspect, it was just too much and over the top but that’s just me. I’m sure there are plenty of people that are into that sort of thing.

I think this book had a lot of potential but was let down by the execution. The next book in the series does promise to be a lot better (if the last few chapters are anything to go by).

I was lucky enough to receive and ARC from the author through NetGalley

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Angelina thought she had her life figured out: teach her college archeology classes, visit her aunt, and go home alone. But then she met Jude. After following her for years, Jude finally reveals himself to be the king vampire, and he would like Angelina to be his queen. After getting to know Jude, as well as some of his historically-famous brethren, Angelina knows her life is about to change forever and everything she thought she knew about history is no more.

I loved the potential A History of Vampires had. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else that I truly enjoyed about this book. I did make myself finish the book in case the ending changed any opinions, but reading was slow going and I honestly struggled to pick it back up. I usually devour paranormal romances, but I acknowledge that just because this one wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean others will have the same reaction. Here are some of the issues that I personally had while reading:

The connection between the two main characters. Jude and Angelina are supposed to be courting, but I struggled to find any chemistry between the two of them. Angelina went on and on about how attractive she found Jude to be, but there was just very little chemistry when they were actually together. It felt like Angelina spent more time around Jude’s family/friends than around him, so that might have contributed to the on-page chemistry.

The vampire lore. There was a lot of potential to really create a new and unique vampire lore, but it felt like Lewis hit just the tip of the iceberg on the background and history of vampires and then gave up trying to flesh it out. The first book in a series really needs to lay the foundation of any new world if readers are going to be swept away into the story, but there was just too much that was briefly mentioned and then never touched on again. When creating a new vision, especially one so different than normal vampire lore, fleshing out the details is important.

The writing style. I was very conflicted over the writing style versus the intended audience of this book. The writing style itself came off as very YA, but Angelina, at 35, was too old to be the main character of a YA novel. The writing style seemed very disconnected to the actual characters. I wasn’t sure if this was meant for adults and came off as younger writing, or if this was meant for younger audiences and just featured older characters; either way, the combination put me off the story a bit. There were also phrases that Lewis kept repeating, and even using synonyms instead of the same phrases over and over would have freshened up parts of the writing.

Character perspectives. Lewis included a few, random chapters told from secondary character perspectives. I appreciated that these chapters were meant to provide an alternative look at Jude’s history, rather than him telling Angelina himself. However, I wish Lewis would have either committed to the alternative perspectives more or left them out altogether. By only including a few throughout the whole book, they felt out of place and interrupted the natural flow of Angelina’s narrative.

Famous historical figures. I really liked that Lewis included these famous historical figures in the story. Discovering that all these famous people she had studied in history books were really vampires was probably the part I found most interesting about Angelina’s story. However, Lewis made it a point that these characters aren’t the same people we’ve read about and studied; in fact, they were very different from everything ever written about them. I appreciated this approach to historical figures - it definitely added a new layer to both them and the story. But, some of the new character traits were hard to really believe, and those disjointed traits often pulled me out of the story. It was interesting, but I’m not sure these secondary characters were more helpful or harmful to Angelina’s narrative.

I enjoyed the overall idea behind the story, and the potential for this new vampire lore. But, there were a lot of areas that just hit wrong or just skimmed the surface of what the story could have been. I wish Lewis would have provided more detail, grounding the characters in this new world and fleshing them out. The first 80% of the book was just Angelina and Jude committing to being in a relationship, and no real conflict was introduced until the epilogue. A History of Vampires included a lot of fluff, and I would have loved this story if there was more chemistry between characters and more actual action in the plot. Sadly, this story just didn’t do it for me, but readers who enjoy lighter paranormal romance might enjoy Amanda Lewis’s new series.

I received an advanced review copy of A History of Vampires from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Esme Carmichael · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF'd at 49%

I stumbled across this book on Amazon and was sucked in by the blurb: a paranormal romance, involving a handsome, brooding (yet surprisingly gentle) Vampire King and a successful archeologist, as we learn more about a hidden immortal society who have quite literally rewritten history...

Unfortunately, this book just didn't do it for me, although I did genuinely try to give it its best shot.

To its credit, the take on vampires is incredibly original. Not the carnal bloodsuckers, as the myth would suggest, but a group of fundamentally good men and woman who are just trying to make the world a better place. The annual Convention, and the compulsory "Turn Requests" before you turn someone into a vampire, were unique and amusing additions. There's no smut, which is fine, but in general the romance is not very physical, and definitely leans towards insta-love (which I'm not a massive fan of, but will stick with if I connect with the characters). I'd also say there were a few snippets that felt a bit sex negative, which distanced me from the MC--but this is a personal preference.

However, a few specific things I took issue with.

Firstly, Jude (the vampire King) has literally been stalking Angelina for 3 whole years; watching, following, and discovering as much as he can about her. Yet, when Angelina confronts Jude, he confirms that yes, he HAS been stalking her, but then asks her to his house for dinner... And she ACCEPTS? She goes without any sense of fear (only "date nerves"), despite that she knows this guy is a bit odd, and has been stalking her, and yet she seems totally okay with going for dinner AT HIS HOUSE?! O_0

My second issue was that she seems totally okay with the fact that he's a vampire, and he wants her to be his vampire Queen. She's so totally infatuated with his sweet nature and good looks that she accepts everything thrown at her, without any sort of deliberation. She calls herself smart, but she comes across as naive and totally lovesick, insofar that she literally drops everything--her family and the job she claims to love--for a man she has just met. A few inconsistencies in her narrative also made Angelina feel a very unreliable narrator.

The third and final red flag was the introduction of Anne Frank, as a vampire, and the dialogue that followed. I get that the author is trying to immortalise major historical figures, but this just felt insensitive and incredibly disrespectful. At this point, I decided to finally DNF (though I would have still given a low star rating if I had continued to the end).

It's a shame because I do think this book had a lot of potential. The descriptions are great and I do really love the idea of this secret vampire/immortal society, but the lack of character depth, questionable character decisions, and plot points that I personally found to be very insensitive, just weren't for me.

[Diana Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A History of Vampires: A New Queen Kindle Edition

by Amanda Lewis  (Author) 

Thank you to Amanda Lewis, Edgar Press and NetGalley for the complimentary reviewer's copy. I am choosing to leave a fair and honest review.
With the hallucinary quality of an absinthe-fueled dream, Ms. Lewis paints a sensual and sensuous wold with reader-snaring prose poetry. Be it Jude's red lips or the pants of the driver. For all the beauty of the writing itself, Ms. Lewis has a very bad habit of info dumps when a character is introduced. Rather than meeting the character and discovering them as the story goes, we get nearly a full history of some of the characters before they even speak
Unfortunately, Angelina, our heroine, is equally frothy. And not in a good way. In an info dump, we find out she is an archaeologist and a professor. That would make the reader expect her to be slightly down to earth. Instead of that kind of strong character, we get a 39 year old woman with the emotional maturity of a 17 year old during prom season. Jude has been following her, for a very long time. He apparently has been doing so because he wants to marry her. The stalkyness of this would drive most 39 year olds running for the hills. Angelina, on the other hand, decides this is a good idea... within a couple of weeks time.
Jude's character is little better. Weeping at the top of a hat has he tells her about his mysterious life. The only thing we know for sure? He has very red lips.
The plot seems to rather lacking of any kind of tension. Other than getting Angelina together with Jude and the display of cleverly chosen famous/infamous folk in the vampire realm, the plot is thin. Speaking of the plot device of the famous/infamous, it starts out clever but starts being extremely offensive.
For a premise that held a lot of promise, this book was deeply disappointing. Beautiful, florid writing does not over come the lack of plot, the lack of character depth and the complete lack of taste for a good section of the book. It feels like the first draft of a dream book by a history nerd who wanted to see if people could guess the mystery vampires – who, by the way, are not vampires.
2 stars out of 5 – just because Edgar Allan Poe

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book early in exchange of a honest review*

If you're expecting to read a story about vampires, come again. This book couldn't be farther from it.

Not only do they not have proper fangs, they hardly drink blood and they spend their time contributing to a secret society that aims to better the world.

Now, my problem isn't with that even though I was disappointed that it wasn't what you would expect from a book on vampires.

My problem is with Angelia, Jude and their whole affair.

She is a doctor in archeology, she's supposed to be smart and have common sense. So when she knows that a man has been stalking her and then he admits of doing so, she shouldn't have gone on a date with him.

Angelina, girl, however sexy he might be, you know better than that c'mon.

Also, a girl who has spent her whole life studying and investing in her degree and her future just does not throw away everything just because a handsome man asks you to marry you.

A man who you've known for less than a month who has been stalking you for three years.

It's complete nonsense and it was maddening to read.

The two stars are wholly for Edgar and Ludwig.
Now that was cool. I cannot deny that meeting your favorite authors and historical figures have its appeal and I'd love that.

But everything else? Utter nonsense.

It's safe to say that I won't continue the series.

[Laurie Tell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love vampire books - and a vampire romance - well sign me up.

Wow - this book was NOT what I expected. The first few chapters were actually really interesting. However, the insta-love was just weird. This man stalks her then tells her he is a vampire and she doesnt believe him, but she decides she can't stay away from him? Huh?

Then they "bring back" these characters from history. They say their deaths weren't real - so you have Beethoven, and Keats, and all these "dead" people running around. The method of storytelling was told from a distance - I felt no real connection to anyone. It was as if someone were narrating a story. Then add in a lame romance, and it was all too much for me. I started skimming, and then just jumped to the end, which of course made no sense to me since I had skimmed and skipped too much.

So why not just 1 star? because if you love history and would love seeing all of these famous people in time come "back to life" this might really interest you.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review. I just wish I could have given a more positive review.

[Mikaela Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

“It finally dawned on Angelina in that moment. Everyone who was now immortal had had some sort of mysterious death or suicide, some conspiracy theory or scandal associated with their name to cover up their turning.”

1.5/5

The first chapter started strong. The writing in it is astonishing, and the author paints an impressive picture in each scene. This may be able to carry you through the book as you are hoping for more of this writing.

Then everything gets bogged down as soon as the two main characters move immediately too fast. If there were 3-4 chapters in there for some leeway it may be at least believable. Or if it was explained that Jude had some superpowers or something because how is she so enchanted and not entirely creeped out - very Bella from twilight & this is supposed to be an intelligent woman! I also don’t like the way he decides she is “good enough”

He also just straight up says “I’m a vampire” but then the idea of a vampire is derogatory.

I do like the idea that vampires are regulated with a bureaucracy - with a funny “turn request”. If this was more of a comedy I think it could be something.

The other thing that stands out is “all history a lie.” Like.. why is Anna Frank there? Doesn’t this somehow feel disrespectful?

Not for me, and I am not sure who the audience is for this but there are parts there that do shine through.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

[Christina Gizzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

A History of Vampires is a very different tale on the vampire and how they lead their lives. After reading this book, I am still not sure what the plot was or what the point of the story was. I did not like the Hitler plot and how Anne Frank was involved in the story. I think a different person could have been chosen and the plot would have been the same. That storyline made me uncomfortable with the constant mention throughout the book. There were some chapters that were not necessary and many parts that I skipped over because I did not understand what they had to do with the story. There was no character development whatsoever. I still do not understand how Angelina fell in love with Jude, she seemed to only like him for his deeds which is not love. I can see how the author wanted to set up the end of the book for another, but I did not find that plot line interesting.

[Lin_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is just my opinion.

The book description had me very intrigued in the beginning but it did not deliver in the end.

I liked that the female mc was 35 which resonated with me. I liked the twists on history with famous characters.

But the rest was just very hard to battle through. The romance was not it for me, and I was expecting a bit of good vampire spice, but meh. I need more of a story that takes you places in you head and puts you in “another world”.

I still think there are a lot of people that would enjoy this book so if you love vampires and history go for it!.

[isara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could love this book but it was quite a disappointment. I LOVE vampire themed books and I have to admit that I also judge a book by its cover sometimes so I thought this book was definitely for me but the vampires didn‘t even really act like vampires lmao. Also I couldn’t concentrate on the last few chapters because I didn’t care about the story anymore.

I think this book is not for everyone but it‘s worth a shot, maybe you‘d love it.

[Beca ☾ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to conquer a vampire read for spooky season, but I struggled with this one. Not even sure if you could consider this a story of vampires. I found the writing to be a bit annoying and I did not connect with the MC. However, I did think it was cleaver how historical figures were weaved through the story - so that was a fun addition.

[wonderfullyweird88 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pacing was terrible in this book. It felt overly drawn out with too much emphasis on describing the settings and situations. It bogged down the story so much it was difficult to keep reading. This book had potential but I think it was geared toward the wrong audience. This would work better as a YA fantasy and with a younger heroine.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

On paper, this one looked to check all my boxes:
Vampires? Check.
Romance? Check.
Unique paranormal world-building? Check... Well, almost.
I ended up not finishing this one. I wanted to love it so bad. But it was just... So bad.
And maybe that's not fair. Because I didn't finish it. There's every possibility that it did get better.
But when I automatically just don't have any interest in the main characters, it's not in me to keep going.
Not for me... But, maybe it's for you.

[Gemma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a big fan of the book and probably won't be continuing it when the next one comes out, I wasn't really a fan of the characters and I don't really think there was any plot (though I can see that the author was setting up the plot for the next book, but I just lacked interest in what was happening). It felt kind of immature in writing.

[Dirty Dayna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought i was a huge fan of anything and everything vampire and paranormal but this.. didnt work.
Vampire are the good guys? they dont drink blood? the main female is a 35 year old.. which i freaking doubt.

[Hijinx Abound · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was a lot og potential that unfortunately was not fulfilled.

[Rebecca Whaley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was rather disappointed with this. I had such high hopes. The story was rather boring and I barely got through it.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I am always on the hunt for new paranormal books. My main book love is definitely vampires, so picking up A History of Vampires was a no-brainer for me. Sadly, this was just a miss for me.

Angelina is an archaeologist that travels the world discovering secrets to the past. When she happens to see a familiar mystery man that she has seen throughout her travels, she can't help but introduce herself. She is quickly entrenched in a world she never knew existed and is soon involved in a centuries-old prophecy.

So, I can't even really pinpoint one major thing that was a miss for me. I feel like the author maybe wanted to do too many things with this one book. There's the "vampires exist" aspect, that was not executed in the best way. I mean, Angelina finds this dude that she's seen all over the world in the background of her daily life and she approaches him, thinking maybe he is in a similar field of work. And then he admits he's been stalking her. And she's like, well ok, let's go on a long walk together down a deserted street. Then she agrees to go to her stalker's house for dinner. Alone. Then he tells her vampires exist and I'm the king of them. And she's like ok, it's late, I'll sleep over in the guest room.

Or maybe the famous people throughout history are vampires, including Mozart and Edgar Allen Poe, oh and Marilyn Monroe and Anne Frank. I mean. Ok. Ok. Cool, It's your fever dream, we're just living in it.

But then there's the "we're a secret organization that killed Hitler" aspect. Because, well, ok, it's getting a lot weird. Then the society. And then the crying and the total acceptance of all the things without asking a crap-ton of questions (because a crap-ton is the unit of measure for all the questions I had!), and then the small gnome/fae people with the prophecy. Plus it's a fade to black. I mean, I was hoping some good smexy times would make up for the abundance of weird. But, no. There wasn't even any of that.

I enjoyed the overall idea behind the story and the potential for this new vampire series but sadly, I just couldn't connect.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*