Review: Obsessed with the Vampire by Kellie McAllen

Posted October 2, 2018 by Lola in Coyer, Fantasy, Review, Romance / 8 Comments

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Obsessed with the VampireObsessed with the Vampire(Vampire Enforcement Agency #2)
by Kellie McAllen

Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Blurb:
Never trust vampires. Why can’t Caroline remember that?

Now that her bloodlust is under control and her relationship with Roric is developing into something more than a mentorship, Caroline is finally starting to accept her new life as a vampire.

With the rogue population exploding around them, Caroline wants to do her part to help the newly-turned and prove that vampires aren’t monsters. But when Roric refuses to let her put herself in that kind of danger, Caroline isn’t sure if he’s motivated by love or his obsessive need for control.

When a terrible situation forces her to make an impossible decision, Caroline must choose between breaking the law and saving an innocent victim. But can her relationship with Roric survive the choice she makes?

If you like sexy, thrilling paranormal romance/urban fantasy stories by authors like JR Ward, Bella Forrest, and IT Lucas, you’ll love Obsessed with the Vampire.

This PNR/UF series is appropriate for ages 18+.

My Review

I really enjoyed book 1 and this series and was looking forward to this world of vampires that Kellie has created. Obsessed with the Vampire is a great sequel. It continues plot lines, advances them and develops the characters and romances a bit more. I really enjoyed reading it.

This series is told from multiple point of views, with Caroline being the main character and other point of views including one of her friends, another newly turned vampire, her love interest and the brother of the love interest. I liked how this way of telling the story gave us different point of views when it comes to the vampires as everyone has a different opinion about them. Each point of view is fun to read, so I don’t mind the multiple point of views and think it works here.

One of the plot lines in this series is about vampires, vampire society and an uprising of rogue vampires. This book continues all those. It touches upon topics like how vampires are treated in this society and how humans see them and what the vampires want. It gives us a better insight in why the rogues are made and what they want and fear. And while I don’t agree with their tactics, I did understand their motivations and actions a lot better.

It was fun seeing more of the world and seeing the plot lines develop in this book. Each character has it’s own problems and issues to deal with, but they are also connected and interact with each other. I also liked how Caroline lands in a difficult situation early in this book and it was interesting to see how she handled things. The ending is a bit in the middle of a scene, for almost all of the characters actually. And it makes me curious what will happen in book 3. I like the writing style of this author. The story flows really well and the way it’s written makes me want to continue reading.

I did have one major issue with this book sadly and that’s the romance between Caroline and Roric and Roric’s personality. While I liked their romance in book 1, this book throws some obstacles in their path, some from outside, but mostly from inside. Roric turns into a controlling boyfriend with a bit of a temper, although luckily he never gets physically violent with Caroline.

His behavior made me uncomfortable as he was basically telling Caroline what she could and couldn’t do and not in a nice way either. He got really angry and upset with her and I didn’t like that. And while he almost demanded things of her, he didn’t even have the decency to send her a text when he was late. It was obvious his behavior came from his love for Caroline, but that doesn’t make it right. I hope his behavior gets addressed in book 3 and I am not sure how to feel about what happened to the end of the book. I do think that this will be his major struggle of this series and how to deal with his temper and his love for Caroline and protecting her without smothering her.

And while Caroline is mostly the wronged party here, she also does some things I wasn’t happy about. Just because her boyfriend acts that way is no excuse to lie or avoid conversation. And in other situations I was happy how she stood up for herself and didn’t let Roric control her life. And in other times I just wish these two would talk, instead of argue or hide things from each other. I think with a little bit more conversation and sharing what they really thought and felt the romance would be so much better. And while I mostly agreed with Caroline’s stance on things, I also thought that if she talked about with others, she could’ve handled it even better and safer.

I think I actually preferred Ivy and Taven’s romance in this book. While they had a bit of a rough start too and some hurdles too in this book, I feel like they are working in the right direction and I liked seeing how Taven was afraid to let someone get that close to him and at the same time desperately wanting that with Ivy. Even tough it felt their relationship was mostly build on lust at first, I felt like we got to see some of their deeper feelings here, which was great. They tell the other personal things and get to know each other better and I liked how Taven really made an effort to show Ivy he cared about her.

I keep going back and forth about what to think of Piper. I can say she’s an interesting character who knows what she wants on some aspects and not at all on others and sometimes she feels a bit young with how she thinks vampires are cool and all, but hardly seem aware of the downsides of it. I do think her point of view is an interesting contrast with the others and she’s human and wants to become a vampire, while the other point of views are all vampires. There’s also a bit of a tricky situation with how she gets close to two men, which I didn’t like, but it did work to create some tension and get some feelings to the surface.

To summarize: I am really enjoyed this series and this was a great sequel. There is more about the vampires and how they fit in society and also the problems with the rogue vampires. I liked how the plot lines advance. I like the multiple point of views as each point of view is interesting and it’s a fun way to see different perspectives and get to learn more about multiple characters. I did have a major issue with Caroline and Roric’s relationship in this book. It really bothered me how Roric acted towards Caroline and how controlling he was and tried telling her what she couldn’t do. I am glad Caroline stood her ground, but their relationship felt very unhealthy in this book. There’s a lot of not communicating and some lies/ withholding things from the other too. I wish they would talk a bit more. I was happily surprised by how Taven and Ivy’s relationship got some real depth here, as it seemed to be mostly about the lust at first. Piper is an interesting character, but I am not sure if I like her. I do like how her perspective from the others is different as she’s still human, but she wants to be turned. All in all this book kept my attention and I am really curious to see how book 3 will wrap things up.

4 Stars

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

What’s the last vampire book you read?

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8 responses to “Review: Obsessed with the Vampire by Kellie McAllen

    • There’s no academy aspect in this one tough. But it is a great cover indeed. I hadn’t read a vampire book in a long time either, so it was fun to read this series.

  1. Multiple POV works really well for books like this, when there’s something in the world or some situation that characters have all diff opinions about, and you get the chance to see things from all sides. That’s cool there’s also a human POV included. Yikes, that controlling boyfriend situation does sound frustrating. That would be good if it’s addressed in the next book. At least you enjoyed the other relationship 🙂

    I am in a total vampire zone and didn’t even realize it until you asked that question. I just finished rereading one of my fave series, which has vampires. I also just finished an audiobook about vampires. And my current read is about a vampire lol.
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Book Review: Time’s Children (The Islevale Cycle Book 1) by D. B. JacksonMy Profile

    • The multiple point of view really works here with how you get to see different perspectives. And it’s nice there’s a human point of view too as she views things differently form the vampires.

      The controlling boyfriend was addressed in the next book and looking back his behavior felt a bit extreme in this book for the sake of conflict.

      Sounds like you’re in the middle of a lot of vampire reads. That’s great you got to re-read one of your favorite series. i think this is one of the few series I read this year which focused on vampires.

  2. I sometimes feel I should brace myself when I get to book two and the main couple already got their HEA or at least Happy for Now because I just know things are going to blow up in the relationship. Looks like they still have some work to do to get their relationship back on track and I don’t blame you for being concerned about both their issues. Glad you got a separate romance that was steady and ongoing wonderful things from the overall world that this author created. Sounds like there are some solid things even the main pair to keep the series interesting.

    • I agree it really felt like that was the case her,e they got their happy for now at the end of book 1 and book 2 shakes it all up and adds conflict. It actually got fairly easily resolved in book 3, which makes me feel like book 2 was a bit extreme in terms of their behavior. The separate romance was pretty good in this one and the world was well done too. There’s definitively enough to keep this series interesting.

  3. I’m happy that you found this to be a satisfying sequel, Lola, even if you didn’t enjoy the romance between Roric and Caroline as much in this installment. Roric turning into a controlling boyfriend would bother me as well. I wonder if the author plans to take the plot thread somewhere? Great review, my friend.

    • Book 3 nicely resolved it again and brought his behavior back to normal, so I think his behavior in book 2 was just meant to bring some conflict in their relationship.

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