[ARC Review] Forever After by Ashley R. King
Librarian Autumn Reid needed to step out of her day-to-day life, and what better way to change things up than to try out for the latest dating reality TV series: Forever After. Vying for the chance to be the last girl standing, Autumn will compete against the likes of vampires and werewolves in order to get the top prize. If she wins, Autumn can choose to either marry 150-year-old vampire Oliver Gray and become a vampire herself, or... take a huge cash prize. Going into the competition, Autumn knows which one she'd choose, but then she meets Oliver and her world is turned upside down.
There was so many tropes packed into this one paranormal romance that it would be comical if it wasn't so well done. I ended up loving how so many elements worked together to create a overall fun read.
The major tropes that King hit upon in Forever After include:
Fated mates: I don't want to give too much away and spoil the romance part of the book, but we do get to see fated mates in this story. I thought King handled it really well. There was no immediately jumping into bed, or immediate, undeniable desire between the mates. They had to work up to it, and I thought that was a great take on the trope, providing for spice but allowing it to still have history.
Reality dating competition: Are there other books out there that feature a vampire as the main guy in a reality TV dating show? Have I just been missing them, or is this a whole new thing? I loved the idea behind all of this and found it really unique. I love a good reality show/falls in love on camera angle, and King successfully flipped the script and turned our bachelor into a vampire.
Murder mystery: As if the whole reality TV thing wasn't enough drama, King through in a murder mystery as well. I don't want to spoil anything, but I can safely say I did not see the big reveal coming. However, I will say that I wished there was more action and/or drama involved after the big reveal. Once we find out who the culprit is, it seemed like everything was wrapped up a page later. I definitely could have used some more drama or resolution here, but I know the plot was centered on the romance and that's where the attention to detail went.
He's a duke: So, as if being the first vampire bachelor wasn't enough, Oliver is also an English duke. When I first read that, I thought it was going to be too much. We have vampires, reality TV, murders - did we really need to add in another thing? Honestly, I could've taken or left the whole duke thing. It does play heavily into Oliver's reasons for even doing the reality show in the first place, but it seemed mostly like fodder for the others to poke and prod at him. The whole duke thing was alright, but since Autumn didn't care about his status, I found myself not caring much about his status either.
Overall, Forever After was a fun read. I honestly expected it to be too much with all the tropes King incorporated, but I didn't feel that way at all as I was reading it. It was fun, it incorporated a lot of interesting elements and tropes, and I can't wait to see where King goes with this series.
A huge thank you to City Owl Press for providing a review copy of Forever After.
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Release date: 11/18/21
Format: eARC
eARC provided by City Owl Press via Netgalley
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