Court of the Vampire Queen; Katee Robert

This is my first truly “smut” book. Everything smut and spicy is so BIG on social media that I decided to see what the fuss was about with a book I’ve had for awhile but kept putting off. This is my first Katee Roberts book, too, so I’m sure that people who are familiar with her work are not surprised in the least that this was smut with a “plot” that revolves entirely around said smut. Do with that as you will. Loosely, this book is about vampires, with a half vampire trying to find a way to escape these predators and her abusive father. Along the way she learns there is more to her than meets the eye and apparently sex and orgasms and breeding is the way to unlock her powers and her freedom. I think the only thing I’m really glad about is that I read this version rather than the books individually, otherwise I think I would have been even more disappointed.

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Look, you’re reading this book for one thing and one thing only, and it won’t be the plot. Mina can be summed up, throughout the course of the book, as: I shouldn’t like this but my body needs it, I should do this but there are more important things to do, and I’ll worry about that later. That’s Mina in act 1, 2, and 3 basically. That is her arc, you’re welcome. The first two acts (originally the first two books) are nothing but orgasms or sex of some kind literally every single chapter, so you never get a chance to care about any of the characters or fall for any of the men because, well, when would you? They never really get to know each other so there is absolutely no romantic tension of any kind, and outside of very basic attributes, the men aren’t worth remembering. The third act (or book) you definitely get more of the plot, and the characters go a full 8 chapters without the sexy time, a record! But by then it’s a bit too late for a plot that, ultimately, didn’t matter because the big show down with Mina was over faster than it takes this girl to finish when one of her men bites her. Plus, there were so many continuity issues in the third act… And not just with the first two parts either, but within the third act itself! Look, I’m not anti-smut, I just need some kind of buildup with the characters in order to care, and there was just so much sex constantly that by the end I was desensitized to it, even if at the start I did find it hot.

The one thing I will say about this author is that she’s very good at giving information important for the “plot” very quickly without it feeling rushed. Which made the book very easy to read, and to read for long stretches of time. Did that make this “good”? Not really. This book became a guilty pleasure by the end, one I found overly ridiculous and not in a good way, either (one of the characters literally says "there's magic in our semen."). But it was a train wreck I couldn’t look away from; I had fun because it was so absurdly bad, which is its own kind of entertainment I suppose? I’m still glad I read this just to see what the fuss was about, but I think I need a bit more plot and character building, and just actual tension before the characters ravage each other in my romances. Plus, is it just me or does it seem like cheating to have vampires be able to give pleasure simply by biting people? Anyway, I think I liked this for the wrong reasons, and the “right” reasons lost their appeal to me very fast--hence the 2.5 stars. I’m still undecided on if I’ll read more of this authors work, but I do like that she seems to have a lot of fun writing her books and they aren’t poorly written by any means, so we’ll see, I guess?