Juliana Philippa's Reviews > Forever Freed

I had heard (or rather, read) really great things about this book, but after starting it I was disappointed and expected this to just be an okay read. I'm very, very happy to say that I was wrong! The book starts slowly and it took a little time for me to get into it, but it ended up being an absolutely lovely romance with a hero who gained a permanent spot on my Best Romance Heroes Ever list.

{ Characters }
Main Characters: Lucien (27.5), Samantha or Sam (26), Olivia or Ollie (5)

It was slightly disconcerting that the entire story is told from Lucien's (the hero) first person POV, so that took getting used to. One of the greatest - if not the greatest - strengths of this book is Lucien though, so in that sense it actually ends up being a real treat that we're told the story in his voice. He's a very compelling character and is an utter sweetheart with Samantha and Ollie - after he's rethought his decision to kill and drink from Sam, of course ;-). His love for both of them is so strong and so unbelievably heartfelt.

Lucien is not a cookie-cutter hero, which I adored: he's not the possessive alpha who sometimes treats the heroine like crap and is too authoritarian; he's not the sweet beta hero with the "nice guys don't finish last" theme. He's a wonderful mix of both and seems all the more real for it. He's guilt-ridden - and has been for 100+ years - over the death of his family. He's tortured and sees himself as undeserving. He's gentle and caring with Ollie. He's tender and slightly obsessive with Sam. He's ashamed of what he is, angry about having been made into it, regretful about the "dark" years where he was a bit of a shady character. He's a talented violinist and carpenter. He's just straight-up lovely and lovable!

I know some people don't like children in romances, but if an author does it right I absolutely love them. Chalk it up to my gender and the wannabe-mother in me, but I always love reading about the hero's' interactions with the child(ren); warms my heart every time. Ollie provides a lot of great humor and watching her interactions with Lucien will make your heart melt into a big, fat puddle. She's also a well-defined character and seems a person on her own, which is one of the biggest stumbling blocks I find that author's sometimes run into. Olivia is her own entity and very well-written.

Samantha took me awhile to ... get into, I guess would be the term? Not to like or to root for - she's very likable and I loved watching her relationship with Lucien develop. The biggest flaw with her character was that she felt much more inaccessible to me. This was one of the turn-offs at the beginning that had me questioning whether I was going to enjoy the book or not; I felt like I didn't know her, had no sense about who or how she was, and at the beginning we're only seeing her through Lucien's eyes - so yes, she's a happy and bright and sweet person, but she's also nourishment. His stance on that changes, of course, and as he gets to know her better we do as well.

In the end though, I still didn't feel like I knew her as well as Lucien, and frankly how could I when the entire thing is in his first person POV? That is one of the downsides of doing that with romances. I will say that it was a nice change that here it was done with the hero, and not the heroine. Also, to be perfectly honest, Lucien was such a great character that I do feel something would have been lost had we not been given such insight into his thoughts and emotions.

The secondary characters were well-done - most especially Lucien's "family," who are all wonderful. I loved them; the strong ties they all share are very clear and make reading their interactions a delight.

{ Love Story }
This is mostly a relationship-focused / character-driven book. There is some excitement thrown in towards the end, which felt a little jarring and random, but brings things to a head so I guess is understandable. Overall though, it really centers around the relationships between Lucien and Sam, and Lucien and Ollie. They're great together, I loved watching their romance develop, and there is definitely sizzling chemistry.

The relationship seems very authentic, because not only does the book take place over a longer amount of time than we're used to (~6+ months), but while the tension between them is very well-done and love scenes alive with chemistry, you know that first and foremost it's emotion driving these two together. They don't even sleep together for several months, which IMO fit - she has a young daughter to consider, he doesn't feel right about sleeping with her without her knowing he's a vampire.

I thought Kaye did such a terrific job of showing Lucien's struggle at the beginning between wanting to drink from Sam and wanting to leave her alone because she's Ollie's mom, then wanting to leave her alone because he's falling in love with her. When they have sex, he has to be sure to control himself because his natural instinct is to bite her at the end; I liked that he continues to have to battle this and exert control over himself (though much, much less as time goes on), and it didn't conveniently all of a sudden subside.

{ This Vampire World }
The vampire world in this book is different than in others I have read - though I'm beginning to realize that is almost always true and that each author adjusts and incorporates what they want to, making for a nice variety. Some of the basics are:
* There are vampire covens, but they can also live by themselves and not everyone belongs to a coven
* They do not consume food or drink
* Drinking blood from a person can't be done, stopped, and person goes on alive and fine (from what I understood - this was a little murky); can live off of blood from blood banks (not taken directly from the source, shall we say); only vampire mates drink from one another; can live off of animal blood, but is not great sustenance and person blood is much better
* Most all humans are intrinsically scared of them and have an immediate and natural fear reaction
* Different vampires have different extra abilities: hearing others' thoughts, sensing their emotions, healing, etc.
* Can't be in the sunlight for long or they start to burn
* All the usual stuff: better speed, hearing, smell, sight, self-healing, charming (i.e. glamouring) etc.

Whenever vampires do eat human food, it weakens them and their body has to work extra hard to absorb it or they have to throw it up. It made the Christmas holidays when Samantha and Ollie go with Lucien to visit his "family" absolutely hysterical!

{ Criticism }
I really did love the book, but as with most there were certain things I had issues with.
*One of them I already mentioned: feeling that I never really "got" Samantha as much as I would have liked.
* Some things felt very piecemeal. Ex: I was never very clear on what precipitated Lucien leaving New York and going to Detroit. Lucien was turned against his will and we're told throughout he's wanted revenge on his unknown Maker, but that thread ends up just dangling.
* Not everything flowed very smoothly. One example is that we're told Lucien had a very difficult relationship with William, one of his "brothers," but then everything seems to be fine after a brief talk. All happens quite abruptly.
* I loved Lucien's "family," but they were all - aside from William - almost a little too perfect.
* Still don't completely understand how the vampire society is structured - or whether it's like people and there's no one way of doing things and every place / vampire is different.
* We skip over the first few weeks of Lucien and Sam's relationship once they've gotten together. Understandable for the sake of page space, but could have been done more smoothly.
* Sam's father, Joe, was really not developed. He's just kind of ... there.
* Ending felt a little rushed.
* (view spoiler)[Would have liked for them to make love at some point after she finds out he's a vampire, so that we see him no longer having to hide his face, control his fangs and eyes, and bite himself. (hide spoiler)]
* Aside from the Sam-disconnect, my biggest issue is probably that we're not told how their HEA is going to work. (I'm not putting a spoiler alert on this, because is it really coming as a shock to anyone that they end up together?! Please.) Lucien is a vampire, so he can live forever and during that living will always be 27.5 years old ... Sam and Ollie are regular, aging humans. So how is that going to work between Lucien and Sam? They'll be together, then she'll be viewed as a Cougar, and then he'll be seen as a twisted guy who has a thing for elderly women in nursing homes?

{ Quote }
There are great quotes throughout about Lucien's feelings for Sam and Ollie, but that basically makes up half the book, so instead I'm sharing a funny one I liked:

Yeah. It's happening. "It" being the fact that I was in love. With a human. Who I had been planning to kill.

{ Bottom Line }
Definitely read it. Starts off slowly, but begins to pay off very quickly. Overall, the story could have been a little tighter, but it is an absolutely lovely one and supremely enjoyable. I know I'll reread in the future.