ARC Review: Violent Desire by Ariana Nash

Violent Desire by Ariana Nash
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I liked most of the Ariana Nash stuff I've read, and I even really liked some of her books. I was super excited for this one. I've been dying for a darker vampire romance with some fun action plot. Sadly, this wasn't it, and I'm still unsure if it's a me thing, considering the expectations I had for this book.

Firstly, holy shit, the instalove. I'm already not a fan of this trope, but this particular brand of insta-love lacks so much finesse and... romance, honestly. I couldn't feel the connection between them at all. They barely spend any time together before being ready to die for each other. It's a lot of telling and not showing, because most of the book is spent world-building. Speaking of, the premise is interesting, I will give it that, but even the vampire plot is weighed down by a lot of info-dumping and a weak villain. I could see the action parts getting more interesting in future books since the basics of this world are already laid down, but sadly I don't think I'll be continuing the series.

I feel like the writing style was weak and superficial. Ariana Nash's writing style is never the strongest part of her books in my eyes, but she usually manages to create great atmosphere and angst that work for me. But in this one, I couldn't figure out the overall tone the book was trying to take. It was sometimes silly and sometimes very Dramatique. The blurb warned me that those vampires "don't sparkle", that they do shit for "bad reasons", that they "don't care" and are "psychopaths with fangs". Well, honestly, I didn't feel any of that danger. At the same time, Eric's trauma was very serious, but the writing felt a little superficial for the subject matter IMO, despite being mentioned over and over again.

Revelations that should be high-stakes feel forced. For example, (view spoiler)[ the way it was slowly revealed that Eric was abused for two years by the villain felt so frustrating to me. So much of Eric's inner thoughts in the beginning of the book revolved around those events while hiding the details from the reader. I understand how unreliable narrator work, but it was too heavy-handed and repetitive to be subtle. Every time I read "the suave man" I wanted to die, it just felt like an unnatural thing to refer to again and again in one's own mind. (hide spoiler)] I feel like Ariana Nash is usually great at creating tension, at least in The Final Masquerade and in The Prince's Assassin, the plot had me on the edge of my seat, and I was honestly scared for the characters. I felt nothing but frustrated reading this book.

I received a free copy of this book and am providing my honest review voluntarily.


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