[Review] Queen of Vampire Hearts by Jeanette Rose

Publisher's synopsis: A Woman Fleeing Persecution...

Phoebe Atreus is a witch on the run, her carefully crafted rules have kept her alive for the last decade, each one a product of a hard learned lesson. Rule Number One? Trust No One. She's been betrayed one time too many to put her faith in anyone else's hands. Even if the legendary vampire king might be the one person who could protect her from the enemies always one step behind.

A Man Whose Abandonment Issues Span Thousands of Years...

Lucien Silvano has been king of the vampires for the last ten thousand years, he's fought in wars that have been reduced to legend, rescued damsels in distress, seduced said damsels, and moved on. Immortal life has become a never-ending battle against boredom. Nothing has truly stirred his interest in years, except her. She's the exception to every rule, his Queen, his mate, the one-person Fate declared to be his. The problem? She wants nothing to do with him.

What could possibly go wrong?

Phoebe refuses to share her past with Lucien, pushing him away at every opportunity, yet unable to resist the chemistry that explodes whenever they are together. Forced back to his castle in Romania to live as his Queen, she starts to forget the rules that have kept her safe, until the secrets Lucien has been hiding remind her why she created the rules in the first place.

My thoughts: This is my second time reading Jeanette Rose, and I'm so glad I stumbled upon her writing. Rose does a lot of things well, including spice and taking bits from mythology and incorporating it in her own way into her stories. I read a lot of paranormal romance, and Queen of Vampire Hearts is definitely up there on my list of favorite vampire stories. 

I loved Lucien and Phoebe's dynamic from the very first meeting. She wanted nothing to do with him - and fought any growing feelings for quite a while - and he couldn't deny nor entice his fated mate. 

More intriguing than the unrequited, will they/won't they going on for much of the story was both Phoebe and Lucien's reasons for acting the way they did. I loved that Rose didn't just give them a fated mates trope and leave it at that. I love that Lucien the big, bad vampire had to overcome his past abandonment issues. I love that Phoebe had to truly wrestle with her past betrayals before she could let herself love anyone. Their issues definitely go a lot deeper than just being a vampire and a witch, and I loved their journey. 

Even as Phoebe continued to fight her feelings for Lucien, Rose managed to include a decent amount of spice in this story. I loved how things progressed as Lucien and Phoebe consciously and subconsciously became more comfortable with each other. 

Overall, I truly enjoyed Queen of Vampire Hearts. I loved the premise of the story, and thought Rose did a great job at fully fleshing out both her two main characters as well as the diverse cast of supporting characters. There was a very intriguing set up at the end for the next book, and I will for sure be adding that to my must-read list. 

A huge thank you to the author and Rose & Star Publishing for providing a review copy of this title! 

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Release date: 1/11/22
Format: eARC
eARC provided via: BookSirens