Plague: Book 1 by Imogen Keeper

4 Stars

This first installment of this serial was well written and edited, with few if any typos that I caught in the ARC version of this manuscript. The world building was top-notch and faintly terrifying, with the mid-pandemic world being richly and claustrophobically drawn. The characterization of the hero, heroine, and the heroine's husband was all excellent, and the authorial choice of showing the heroine during her relationship with her husband before he died from the disease and how much they loved each other made his death in this part especially wrenching and a bold choice for a romance novel that will have a different romantic hero. The heroine and hero of this romance have not met by the end of part one of this serial. The plot and pacing were excellent in this installment, with me the reader rapidly turning pages to find out what was going to happen next for these characters. The angst in this installment was very high, but the high angst was caused by or at the least contributed to by the sky-high stakes in this novel, so I was able to enjoy the angst. That is one of my preferred narrative structures for a romance novel. I was not able to identify any common romance novel tropes in this first part, because the hero and heroine have not met yet at the end of part one. The world building, plot, pacing, and characterization all rate five stars in this installment, with the cliffhanger ending detracting one star from the overall score. I recommend this story to readers who enjoy pandemic post-apocalyptic romances and who enjoy, or at least don't mind, cliffhanger endings. Hopefully when all the serial installments are out the author will publish the complete novel in one volume. If she does, I will want to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel.

I received an ARC copy of this serial installment and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Book Link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085XK7FW3/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i7