Author J.L. Archeron's Night Blessed is a suspensful ride of paranormal romance and secrecy!
You can find more on author J.L Archeron down below my book tease!
Book Rating: 5 silver-tipped stakes!
Who wouldn't want to read about a tough half-vampire heroine taking on the King of the Damned?
Night Blessed by J.L. Archeron introduces you to a world where humans and vampires co-exist in a world where power struggles of the city of New Haven teeter on a razor-blade
Emily is our main character, works for the Supernatural Secret Society tracking down murderous vampires. And since this is a far from normal job, our main character is far from normal as well, she is half-vampire, half-human.
She exemplifies a lot of qualities that we look up to in others, such as determination and resiliency.
Yet, she is shown with flaws of her own, like her distrust of others weakening her leadership skills, and allowing her adopted father's toxic opinions rent space in her head for far too long.
Her merits and shortcomings are shown to us within the first chapter.
"Another day, another dead human."
Archeron Chapter 1: Awakening
Emily has become somewhat detatched from others, as she sees yet another victim of a vampire attack dead on the ground. Yet, this is one of the great points about Archeron's worldbuilding and character development.
You can see the shift in the main character's demeanor from her feeling in charge of the crime scene, to something throwing her off completely. She sensed something that she never had felt before.
I looked up and down the alley, still seeing nothing that could make me feel like I had a ten-volt battery attached to my spine.
Archeron Chapter 1: Awakening
The way that J.L. Archeron describes seeing the mysterious blue eyes that watch her put you on edge because I think most of us have been there. We've been watched before, we know how that feeling can be both exhilerating and terrifying at the same time.
With this, we understand that our main character knows that this feeling isn't right, and whoever this vampire is that is watching her is somehow special.
It wasn’t a vampire who had just gotten done killing a man, that much I knew for sure.
Archeron Chapter 2: Differences
What I love about this romance story, however, is that Emily isn't immediately introduced to our love interest yet. Instead, we get a peek into her personal life.
It's come to be revealed that her human mother and her vampire father were murdered when she was little. She was raised by her adopted father Bobby who runs the Supernatural Secret Society only because she's half-vampire and has a heightened ability to help track down murderous vampires.
And she isn't the only one her father took in, she took in her foster brother Duncan, a quarter-vampire boy, as well.
J.L. Archeron shows us the overly-competitive dynamic that Emily shares with Duncan, by revealing Emily's own insecurities about being captain of the secret services just because she was born half-vampire as opposed to Duncan's bloodline of only a quarter vampire.
He had always been the smarter choice for captain: smart, steady, and capable. It was just bad luck that my bloodline trumped his.
Archeron Chapter 1: Awakening
The main character's personal life, while tragic, isn't milked for everything it's worth and she doesn't sit and weep about it, she takes charge of her life.
...it got so damn old having to listen to [Bobby] throw me out if I didn't kowtow to whatever it was he wanted that week
Archeron Chapter 3: Brotherly love
Yet, you see time and time again where Emily is smart, steady, and capable. Unfortunately this 'imposter syndrome' is totally relatable, and really helps ground the main character as someone who we can all see ourselves being.
Now, onto more of the juicy stuff, like meeting the vampire behind the unexpected encounter at the first crime scene.
Those blue eyes she first caught near the crime scene of course belong to a devilishly handsome vampire.
His cheekbones were high and his chin masculine.....but what was most noticable were his eyes.
Archeron Chapter 5: Introductions
Our dark haired, blue eyed vampire named Ezra shows up at the apartment of a suspect they had for the first murder, just waiting for our main character to find him and finally engage with him.
Ezra is everything our main character is told to avoid, but something magnetizes her to him anyway.
Emily's internal conflict of being entranced by this alluring vampire, and her adopted father's programming clash unexpectedly. She lets him get close to her, and from what we've seen so far, she doesn't just let anyone get close to her.
He may be the most handsome vampire I had ever seen in my life, but that didn’t make him any less dangerous.
Archeron Chapter 6: Interview
She doesn't just completely fall for his charms, she knows that just because someone is handsome and doesn't hurt you, doesn't mean you can trust them.
J.L. Archeron then further proves the point of how capable our heroine is by following up on a clue to how the first crime, and the second crime are all connected, she goes to pay the King of the Damned, Damien, a visit.
“I don’t miss,” I said, sliding another stake into my hand. “I gave you a warning. Don’t Talk. About. My. Mother.”
Archeron Chapter 8: Bloodrose Court
YES. QUEEN.
I paused in my scrolling to cheer out loud when she said this line, and without giving away too many spoilers, let's just say she manages to kick some vampire ass.
No one talks bad about Emily's mother and gets away with it, especially not some two-bit vampire lackeys who more than likely have something to do with the string of murders in the city
Yet, just as she tries to relax from such an exhausting ordeal, another curve is thrown at her.
When our main character arrives home, and she can only think about the frozen pizza (Most days, all I can think of is the frozen pizza in my freezer too), and a good bottle of wine, I thought that we were going to have a slow night, but no.
Our main heart-throb Ezra is waiting for her her apartment, her self-declared safe space and doesn't kick him out.
This was a terrible, terrible idea….and yet there was something about him that I couldn’t resist.
Archeron Chapter 9: Intruder
J.L. Archeron shows that Emily is caving to the taboo, to the man who she was told she isn't supposed to let into her life. She's allowing someone to get close to her, to be in her own safe-space and even touch her.
"Emily," he said suddenly, brushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "I have a favor to ask."
Archeron Chapter 10: Favors
This scene, which was so delightfully domestic in heating up a frozen pizza, with someone who is concerned about you, kept making me want to scroll further.
And my eyes remained glued to my phone to find out these answers too:
How can Emily possibly trust Ezra when she's been raised to hate vampires?
Will Emily and Duncan get over their sibling rivalry to work together to solve these murders?
Just who is this gorgeous, puzzling vampire Ezra, and what is his relationship with the King of the Damned?
Can Emily come to terms with her own past, and allow a vampire like Ezra into her life while hunting down murderous vampires?
If you want a beautifully written novel about a woman standing up to people putting her down, while letting her defenses down to a man who deserves it, go read Night Blessed' RIGHT NOW on either Webnovel, Dreame, or iReader.
Now, onto what you've really been waiting for: My exclusive author interview with J.L. Archeron!
1) Which part of your book was the most fun to write?
I’m a sucker for romance and snarky dialogue so any scene with Emily and Ezra was a ton of fun to write!
2) What do you find is the most difficult part of being an indie author?
The hardest part of being an indie author is getting your name out there and building up your fan base. However the author and reader communities on social media are amazing and are filled with people willing to help.
3) What piece of advice do you have for indie authors looking to either self-publish or to try to strike out on their own?
My advice to any indie authors would be remember why you started. Publishing a book and everything that comes with it is not an overnight journey. It’s a tough business and it’s so easy to be discouraged. When the self-doubt settles in, just remember why you started and keep going.
About the Author:
You can follow more about J.L. Archeron on her instagram: @jlarcheron
Thank you for reading, and as always, Embrace the Paper Hurricane!
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