Title: High Stakes and Soulmates
Author: Alice Winters
Series: Fanged Mistakes #3
Pages: 355
Ezio is determined to woo the man of his dreams, but even though he is over 200 years old, it doesn’t seem to be working. Cyrus is determined to keep Ezio at an arms length and doesn’t seem to really like him most of the time. But when a new case pulls them together, Cyrus realizes his feelings for Ezio, but it might be too late because a dangerous enemy is in town determined to ruin Ezio’s life.
“Physical wounds heal… it’s the wounds you can’t see that hurt the most.”
After seeing Ezio’s determination to woo Cyrus in the previous books, I was interested in seeing how they actually ended up together. What I didn’t expect was such an emotional roller coaster ride of a story or for Ezio’s backstory to be so heartbreaking. This story jumps between present day with Ezio wooing Cyrus and Ezio’s past with his heartbreaking relationship with his lover Arturo. I knew Ezio had lost his love, but learning the full story was surprisingly heartbreaking and traumatizing.
Cyrus has been a bit of a mystery in this series because he hasn’t given up much of his history. So I was excited to learn more about him and his fear of vampires. His history was very surprising and emotional. I wasn’t expecting everything that was revealed in this or for it to be so fucked up. While we don’t learn his full backstory until the end, I still really enjoyed everything leading up to it, especially him coming to the realization that he does care for Ezio. I ended up liking Cyrus more than I was expecting. Also I think he kind of balances out the group because he isn’t as outrageous as Julian, Casmir or Ezio.
Cyrus and Ezio’s relationship was emotional and hilarious. There are a lot of heavy topics discussed throughout this book and their relationship, but it was balanced out well with all the ridiculous conversations and scenarios the group puts themselves in. Like I said earlier, I was not expecting some of the revelations about these two in this story or for their story to be such an emotional one.
The enemy in this one was a surprisingly dangerous and ruthless one. He was also a bit crazy in his determination to continuously ruin Ezio’s life. The twists and turns to find out who is behind everything and why was really captivating and kept the story moving fast. I enjoyed it a lot, especially with the romance entwined with it. Also, I really loved how everyone came together to help Ezio and Cyrus. They are just a great group of friends and the perfect found family for these ridiculous vampires.
Overall, this was another emotional but ridiculously amusing story for this series. I am really looking forward to Yorick and Atticus’ book because those two have been just ridiculous fighting their attraction to each other.
TW: death and murder; death of a partner recounted; death of family mentioned; grief; animal attack;
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Previous books and reviews for the series:
Red-Haired Ash Reads 