Red-Haired Ash Reads

The VRC, Vampire Related Crimes, unite has never had a human on it but Finn finds that joining is the easy part, dealing with his grumpy ancient vampire of a partner who keeps threatening to eat him is much harder. Marcus is determined to get Finn out of the VRC but before he can a group arises that threatens the peace between humans and vampires.

This is my third Alice Winters book and I can already tell I am loving her writing and humor. Finn was a funny, determined, and a bit traumatized, officer who just wants to make a difference and not be put in a glass house because he is a double amputee. He has gone through so much but he also doesn’t know how to deal with asking for help. I really liked seeing him open up to Marcus and let go of his insecurities around his body and ask for help when it came to being stalked and scared. 

Marcus was a grumpy, ancient vampire who has been in law enforcement for over 100 years. He initially is a bit standoffish and very grumpy about Finn being a part of the team. But he quickly warms up to Finn once he realizes that while he can be annoying, he does know what he is doing and can be helpful for the team, especially against the new threat. Also, I love when he introduces Finn to Artemis and his dog who hates everyone loves Finn because it just makes his grumpy heart melt. 

One of the things I have quickly come to realize about Winters books is that I live for the banter between the characters. Like the previous two books I read of theirs, I absolutely loved the banter between these two and found myself laughing and smiling so many times and the ridiculousness of conversations. The fact that they made sense in the context of the story was just perfect and I can’t wait to see how the rest of this series goes with craziness. 

The case in this was very interesting because we had a group trying to disrupt the peace between humans and vampires by using a drug that caused vampires to lose control and attack mindlessly. It was a very interesting case and I enjoyed the pacing of it. It mixed nicely with the romance. This world is a very interesting one with humans and vampires getting along and having a peaceful existence but turning is no longer allowed and you can no longer feed on humans. I am very curious to learn more about the world as this series continues. 

My one complaint about this book is that Finn is being stalked by an ancient vampire and has been for years. He is causing problems for Finn again, which is why he wanted to be on the VRC, but this is not resolved in this book so I assume this gets resolved later in the series, or at least I hope it does. 

TW: stalking; gun violence; death; body self-confidence issues; PTSD and nightmares; characters with drug addiction; mentioned of mentally ill and abusive parent; death of a parent in a car accident;

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