Karla Nikole

Queer and gay vampire romance series set in modern-day society (England, Italy and Japan). Slow burn, multi-cultural friends-to-lovers romance where love is love, no questions asked. Mature content.

Queer Vampire Romance Series Book One

Lore and Lust

Lore & Lust #1

Lore & Lust

Filipa Carvalho

Lore & Lust, sadly, was not the vampire book for me. I didn’t hate it, but I couldn’t love it either.
Karla Nikole created a new (to me) version of vampires, with a soulmate twist that in theory sounds like my perfect combination in a book.
Unfortunately, the world felt incredibly convoluted. It seemed so complex and with so many layers. But in a book like this, where the focus is clearly the relationship between the main characters. Most times, the world building felt forced and, to me, unnecessarily complicated.
I guess I either needed a 500 page fantasy book, with Haruka and Nino’s relationship as the background, so I could grasp on to the world around them. Or for it to be just a romance book, with the details of the world building that are relevant to make their relationship interesting (or different from just a contemporary romance book), and the rest of the world building vague enough to be believable.
The pacing often felt off as well. Like we were always skipping forward on their story. The slow burn, only shows on the chapter headings telling us it’s been a couple of weeks, or a month.
But I think the writing is what bothered me the most. I’ve said it many times about other books, and I’ll say it about this one again. It reads like fanfiction. And I’ve been reading fanfiction my whole life, and I know it can be an incredible piece of work. But this is not it. Writing is not usually something I care about. I’m not a literature major and I don’t read to be. Or for the incredible craft of writing. I just want to be entertained when I read. But unfortunately Karla Nikole’s writing was not for me. It was fast paced for sure. Easy to read. But it always kept me out of the story.
One last note, it made me uncomfortable the way the Brazilian characters in this book are described. There is one attempt to push back on this commentary, but I think actions speak louder than words. Especially when the words ‘we can’t define a society based on the actions of one person’ happened once to the multiple occasions this character is shown to be and described as a savage. I think there was no need to write a character from a background different than your own only to make them a villain of the story, based on outdated and dangerous stereotypes.

Sabrina Skou 

I- I love vampires *blushes*

My heart wants to give this more than 3 stars, but the choice of the narration... It wasn't my favorite, unfortunately.

Natalie Sypeck 

3.5 stars

This book wasn't mind blowing in any category if I'm being honest. The writing was nothing special or beautiful and the characters weren't fleshed out enough for my taste. I though the plot was simple, but it is the first book, so I'm hoping that it will continue to expand as the series goes on. There was still something about this book that made me excited to pick it up, so I'll definitely be continuing with the series.

Aria Starstream

This book warmed me up so deeply inside, it might not be action packed or so eventful you sit on the tip of your chair from apprehension. Its full of sweet, loving falling. Learning to love and trust and fill up dark parts with light. It’s so full of haunted pasts and brighter futures. Hakura and Nino captured me in ever way, and I can’t wait to learn about the rest of their story. I want nothing more then their happy ending

flower

i don’t even know how to put my love for this book into words.

i fell so deeply in love with it even though i did not expect to. the pure joy and overflowing emotions i felt while reading it was crazy - i haven’t enjoyed myself while reading this much in a long time. i would personally like to thank the author for providing me with this experience. the writing is simply gorgeous and it made me want to highlight random sentences purely because of how beautifully they were put together.

about the smut - i don’t think i ever read anything that was this insanely hot yet so eloquently written, is it even possible to write smut this beautiful?

amazing, amazing book, i can’t wait to start the second one. if you’re looking for something to make you genuinely forget about yourself while reading, to feel happiness, love and comfort, definitely choose this one.

Lumé

This had no business being so wholesome! 

A quick, intriguing read with interesting  world building. The writing style is easy and detailed.

I found it to be VERY character driven and, at times,  the plot felt lost due to its focus on the MCs. 

So, very sweet. 




Lea de Sousa

2.5 ⭐ (rounded up to 3)

I recently signed up for Kindle Unlimited and this beautiful cover caught my eye (plus vampires, of course). It's far out of my usual reading comfort zone and I thought I'd give it a try. 

It was an enjoyable read and I don't feel like I wasted time reading it. However, it felt very flat as if the characters and their romance were created first and the plot was an afterthought quickly slipped in. My other gripe is that it felt too good to be true. Reading about a healthy relationship blooming between two likeable individuals is beautiful. But nice, likeable people in healthy and happy relationships don't make for compelling stories. It was a fun read but I'm not invested enough to continue the series.

Lore and Lust Queer Vampire Romance Series Book One

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