Unwrapping: Review of A FOREVER LOVE by Pamela Palmer, book two in the anthology, VAMPIRES GONE WILD

Monday, I gave you lots of reasons to put the anthology, VAMPIRES GONE WILD, releasing February 12th from Avon Impulse, on your to-be-read list with my review of Kerrelyn Sparks, V IS FOR VAMPWOMAN but now I'm going to give you some more with my review of the second novella. The second book in this fabulous anthology is A FOREVER LOVE by Pamela Palmer and this one is going to be an intricate part of her new Vamp City series.

***eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for book two in VAMPIRES GONE WILD -
A FOREVER LOVE by Pamela Palmer:

Trapped in Vamp City, Lukas has been unable to return to the beauty who stole his heart. But now that she's stumbled into his world, it will take every ounce of cunning he possesses to keep her alive.

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The Vamp City series is one of the most amazing, dark, gritty, dare I say - terrifying new series to come along in a long time. Pamela Palmer has conjured an alternate world that overlays Washington, D.C. called Washington, V.C. - the V.C. is for Vamp City - a dark, dilapidated mirror image of our beautiful, life-filled Nation's Capital. Parts of which remain in a state that time has forgotten where some travel remains by horse and carriage and yet others use vehicles brought through the magic. This is a place where screams of terror rent the night, sadistic creatures feed on fear and sex, and humans are toys as well as food. Created by a sorcerer's magic that's beginning to crack and crumble from the inside out, only one woman may hold the secret to preventing the invisible walls from falling permanently, destroying everything inside and putting the human race in jeopardy.

Elizabeth Bryant is a teacher and a human. She lives her life in Washington, D.C as a normal person always hopeful that the man she loves will some day come back into her life but, after two years, she's beginning to lose hope. Lukas Olsson is the man who claimed her heart and the eight months they spent together was the happiest time of her life but he disappeared suddenly without even a farewell. She feared it had all been one-sided - her side - and that he was lost to her forever until one morning, when everything she knew and believed was turned upside down as she walked to school with her best friend.

Lukas Olsson is caught inside Vamp City. Before the magic began to fail, he was able to move freely between the two cities which was how he met and fell in love with Elizabeth. The night the magic first failed he'd been inside Vamp City and now he cannot leave until the magic is restored. No matter how great his desire to return to Elizabeth, he's caught with no way to tell her the truth about his whereabouts, or himself. Suddenly, luck, or perhaps misfortune, has delivered Elizabeth through a sunbeam and into his arms.

Lukas and Elizabeth are reunited in a world of constant danger. Elizabeth learns the truth about Lukas, that he's a vampire, and the truth about herself. Those eight months of passion and love may, or may not, have been what she believed for now she has learned that she had been, in truth, a slave to Lukas. He fed on her, both blood and pleasure, and she's not thrilled about it. Now trapped in Vamp City with no choice but to put her trust, and her life, in Lukas' hands, Elizabeth soon discovers that her love is too great to ignore and hopes that it's true for Lukas, too.

Pamela Palmer never ceases to amaze me with her Vamp City world. Perhaps it's because I grew up around the area where this story takes place. I know the streets, the atmosphere, and am able to place myself in the environment but her Vamp City stories affect me so greatly that I end up dreaming about them once I've read them. At least this one allowed me to sleep. *wink* Yet, I still ended up pulled into it so intensely that my dreams consisted of Vamp City, only this time without too much of the horrors.

A FOREVER LOVE, a Vamp City novella by Pamela Palmer is gritty and dark, yet reinforces the belief that love transcends even the toughest barriers. Lukas and Elizabeth have a love that survives their differences in being, in time, and in space. Lukas, who has live a thousand years loves Elizabeth more than she can believe. Lukas tells her: "With you, it's different. It's as if I've always known you. It's as if you were made just for me." "Without you, my heart stops singing. My soul goes silent." I rarely quote the books I review but when I do, it's because the words themselves touched me as greatly as the story.

I highly recommend A FOREVER LOVE, book two in the anthology VAMPIRES GONE WILD, to anyone who has read A BLOOD SEDUCTION, a Vamp City novel, or anyone who hasn't been brave enough to read it but wants to know what it's all about. A FOREVER LOVE by Pamela Palmer is an intricate installment in the Vamp City series for it gives us glimpses into the camaraderie amidst those of Vamp City trying so desperately to save the city and their lives. It gives us an additional insight into Arturo who is beginning to prove himself to be less and less a bad guy and one who surely has a heart beating beneath that tough exterior.  This series is one for the true lovers of paranormal romance!

Friday, join me for a double review of the last two stories in this anthology - FIRST DATES ARE HELL by Amanda Arista and BLOOD AND WATER by Kim Falconer.

Happy Reading Everyone!

VAMPIRES GONE WILD, an anthology featuring stories by Kerrelyn Sparks, Pamela Palmer, Amanda Arista, and Kim Falconer, Avon Impulse, release date - February 12, 2013, ebook formats.

                                                         Vampires Gone Wild (Supernatural Underground)