Audiobook Review: Queen takes Knights by Joely Sue Burkhart

Series: Their Vampire Queen #1 Pub. Date: May 8, 2018 Publisher: Tantor Audio Narrators: Tristan James Cassandra Myles Length: 5 hrs 31 min Source: Publisher

So my friend Deanna has been raving about a lot of reverse harem lately, a new trend/trope in the romance community, particularly with indie authors. It seems that most of these stories are written in the young adult and new adult age groups, but I wanted to give it a shot and see what all the hoopla is about. The Their Vampire Queen seemed liked a good and steamy place to start, with each book being a quick read of about novella length.

Shara Isador grew up not knowing what she was or anything about her heritage. All Shara knew was that she was in constant danger, and both of her parents died protecting her. But when two handsome strangers come to Shara's rescue one night in the middle of Arkansas, it begins an enlightening and awakening for Shara where she will learn her true nature, potential, and power.

So - I had a few feelings about the story. I really liked the premise and the potential set up for the series going forward. I liked our first two heroes, Rik and Dare. I liked the rock troll and the warcat. I liked the potential vampire politics that we may have going into future installments of the series.  I liked the smutty sexytimes and the strong protective males willing to defer to their queen. 

There were also some things that I did not like. This is a short story and everything happened really fast... like really fast. The story literally took place over 2-3 days. So that doesn't leave much time for world building or plot development or falling in love (instalove on steroids). I felt like many of the details which would have interested me were glossed over, particularly with world building and the Egyptian mythology. Also - the blood. It seems like this story was written for people with a certain kink, namely blood play. Because nothing with blood is off limits. It got to be a little much for me. Finally, I felt like sometimes the writing was a bit immature and crass (i.e. "do you want fangs or dick?"). Erm... that doesn't work for me.

Now, I know that our heroine is only 22 years old. But the female narrator of this tale sounds like a teeny bopper most of the time. Hearing her narrate a sexytime scene was awkward at best. The male narrator did a good job, even with the female parts. So I would like to see him narrate more in the future.

I will continue on with the series, because people rave about this one and it has a high rating average. I am also interested in the premise, so I hope this one improves as we progress further.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this audiobook that I received from the publisher, Tantor Audio.

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