Once Bitten by Tilly Hart

3 Stars

The writing and editing was not very clean in the ARC version of this novel, with multiple missing words and wrong word choices per page. Hopefully most of the editing issues were fixed in the final version. The world building was not especially creative, having most of the standard elements of traditional vampire and werewolf lore. The characterization was competent, with both hero and heroine being sympathetic individuals. I liked the fact that the heroine did not want children. I have been seeing more paranormal and sci-fi romances recently where the heroine is not interested in motherhood, and it is great to see that choice get more positive representation. The development of the romantic relationship was very fast and not especially organic, in my opinion. The plot and pacing was exciting, though there were way too many convenient coincidences or dumb decisions by the heroine that benefited the plot. I felt that it was a little bit of lazy writing. There was medium angst and high stakes in this novel, which tends to be one of my preferred narrative structures for a romance novel. This novel used the Partner in Trouble trope and the Forced Proximity trope. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship rated four stars. The world building, plot, and pacing rated three stars. The multiple editing issues in the ARC version rated two stars. The combined score of this novel is therefore three stars. This novel ends on a Happy For Now ending. I did not consider it a true Happy Ever After ending because the heroine is mortal and the hero is immortal at the end of the novel. I recommend this novel to readers of paranormal romance who want to see more representation of heroines who do not want children. I do not plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel, primarily because of the multiple editing issues.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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