Valentine (Val) Shapiro has lost her slayer powers. She’s extremely desperate to keep that secret from the rogue vampires who would love nothing better than to take her down permanently. Val has been a thorn in the vampire’s sides for years and she’s still only 18 years old!
Val is part Succubus which she tends to call Lola. Lola is the only thing standing in the way of Val being killed outright. Lola is able to take control of any vampire; unless that vampire happens to be female then she’s in deep trouble.
Val remains under contract to the New Blood Movement and Alejandro until they come out into the open and announce that they exist. Since she’s under contract, this means that she has to travel to Austin, Texas along with Alejandro and his crew. This crew includes Austin, who has been trying to teach Val how to fight off vampires.
Val is also the current Keeper of the Encyclopedia Magicka. The only problem is that Jack, the former keeper of the books, is so busy catching up on TV shows, and eating his heart’s content in food, that Val hasn’t been properly trained. What Val does know from Jack, is that she needs to be careful using the books or she could permanently lose her Succubus powers as well.
While in Austin, Val and crew discover that someone is creating rogue demon vampires. The villain, and her reasons for creating these chupacabra’s, shall not be spoiled by me in this review. Let’s just say that things don’t exactly end up the way Val thought they would when she agreed to work with the vampires.
Val’s already complicated life really delves into the darkness when her best friend and roommate Gwen, along with Micah the leader of the Demon Underground, end up being kidnapped by a demon named Asmodeus who wants the books Val now holds. He even brings back a former nemesis of Val’s, Lily Armstrong, in order to prod Val into giving up the books.
Naturally, there’s a huge twist regarding Gwen that I’m not sure needed to be done nor shall I spoil. Val’s life is already problematic, and now thanks to her contract with the New Blood Movement, her former bosses at the Special Crimes Unit have terminated her with prejudice.
She is also betrayed by her so called best friend Fang who wants things to change in San Antonio’s Demon Underground and needs Val’s help in order to bring about the changes that will make the Underground better and safer for Demons.
On the romance side of things, Shade, who Val lost her V to, becomes cold and bitter after he follows Val and crew to Austin because he’s jealous of the vampire Austin and Val’s closeness. After another Succubus takes control of him and uses him for her own desires, Shade lays all blame at Val’s feet and the relationship suffers a major collapse. I guess we should have seen that coming since Val’s relationships don’t last all that long.
Overall, while I still enjoy Val, she came across like a teenager with major angst in her life. Yes, she does have serious problems, but it’s time to stand up and make a choice about what she wants to do with her life now that she doesn’t have her slayer powers, and the books are causing all sorts of fun for her.
This series has been, mostly, about Val and Fang’s relationship and how they work together to fight the villains. This time out, not only does Fang do Val wrong, but he’s not all that funny. Maybe it’s because he’s about read to have a litter of puppies, that his thoughts are otherwise preoccupied.
With the surprise ending to this book, one can only hope that there will be a book # 5 in this series to tie up several of the storylines once and for-all.
Thank you to Netgalley.com and Bell Bridge Books for providing me a copy of this ARC.
Author: Parker Blue
Title: Make Me
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Released: April 30, 2012
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