The writing, basically, is good enough not to need some snarky or quirky personality at its core, or any crazy twists and turns or new takes on the supernatural. But he's a fairly honest narrator, and he's interesting enough for us to want to follow along on his adventure. Matthew's voice isn't something new and sparkly, either. We don't know what's going to happen next-death? destruction? sex? punishment? maybe, love? There's nothing new and sparkly about what we learn, but somehow, through Matthew's eyes, it's still compelling. There is a lot of dark, nasty areas here, and then we start seeing some lighter grey areas. Just like Matthew isn't all bad because he has to kill humans for blood. but we gradually see that they aren't all bad. of course, it's rather grim, as he's a captive and the Incubi hate vampires. We get to know the ways of the Incubi through Matthew's eyes. (Not to mention the violence, but hey, that's apparently OK for younger ages in the US.) It doesn't go all Dom/sub, but there's lots of sex, m/m, m/f, and some non-consensual. There's a hierarchy, of course, and Matthew must address Tarrick as Master. Matthew is able to survive, but mostly because he's a vampire and can manage to heal up from say, getting every bone smashed in his body. The subtitle of Beautiful Monsters is right too, and not just in a poetic way.

but Tarrick, the Incubus Lord, is curious about Matthew and takes him captive. The two sides absolutely hate each other and kill on sight. It turns out that there's a war that's been going on between Vamps and Incubi. But it's a trap laid by a powerful Incubus Lord and he's well and truly captured, since he pretty much knows nothing about vampires and wasn't aware of other paranormals. The action starts right away as he's lured into a trap and tries to fight his way out. So, Matthew lives in a world where the paranormal is hidden, and like so many fictional characters before him, he's jumped one night and turned into a vampire and, abandoned by his Sire, has an insatiable blood-thirst and needs to stay away from his wife and child and just learn to survive. (and hey, captured, Captive! see what I did there? OK. Wow- What a surprise! Just when you think vampires and other critters, like incubi are so ho-hum you'd just roll your eyes and walk on by, there comes along an adventure that doesn't bother twisting vamps into something sparkly or incubi into something sweet, but just through telling a good story, your interest is captured, just like it was with the first cool paranormal book you fell in love with.

Beautiful monsters jex lane