Twice Bitten To Paradise by Lynne St. James

Brianna McKenzie worked hard to hide her past, but when she comes face-to-face with the gypsy at the opening of Eternity, her world turns upside down. Rafael Verratti and Lucian Carpino felt the connection as soon as they met Bree. But they know that convincing her isn’t going to be easy.

Luc and Rafe aren’t the only ones who want Bree. The gypsy tries to steal her, and then a friend from her past calls to say that her father is missing. Bree decides that in order to protect the ones she cares about she’ll have to confront her past and deal with her monsters.

Rafe and Luc follow Bree to protect her but are furious and leave when she shares her dark secret. It’s then that she realizes her true feelings for them. Will Luc, Rafe, and Bree be able to accept the secrets and save themselves from curses, witches, and gypsy magic to spend Eternity together?

Once again I am blown away not only by the story in this series but the fact I am reading a book about vampires and not only understanding it but loving it. The author picked up in this second book of the series where they left off from the first.  With a brief description of the eventful night that ended for Gwen in Twice Bitten Not Shy, we see what Bree, Gwen’s assistant, endured at that crazy party in the Eternity Club. 

Bree was instantly drawn to the two sexy vampires Rafael Verratti and Lucian Carpino that night with promises for more.  When the fight between the gypsy and the head vampire broke out, Bree’s night was cut short.  Strange things started happening at her house and she called Rafe and Luc to come see if they could figure it out.  With these two men suffering from the same curse as Gwen’s partners, Sebastian and Christian, Bree could be the one they were meant to mate with and not die a horrible death.

The author slowly unravels Bree’s family past for us and we learn that she has more of a connection with the vampires than she thought.  Unfortunately that connection could be deadly for them.  As she tries to decide what she is going to do, even stranger things begin to happen to her and she knows she has to make a choice quickly, that is when she gets the phone call she must return home for the first time in years. 

Ten years ago she ran away from her abusive mother.  We learn what happen that night that frightens Bree so badly she would rather live on the streets at the age of 15 than stay at home. Selena her best friend from high school finally found out where she was and called her with some horrible news. Bree is going to have to come face to face with her mother and try to learn the family secret and power she possesses. While she is doing that she finally tells Rafe and Luc the whole truth and they leave her at her friends Selena’s house.  Bree thinks she has lost them, but has she?  When the whole Eternity Club members along with the head vampire come up with a plan to kill the gypsy, they know they will have to use Bree as the bait. 

Once again I was captured right away in this story and turning pages like a mad woman to find out all of the answers to my questions.  What was going on with Bree’s dad, what happen to her mother and what is up with her cat Patches.  I am hoping we find those answers in the next book along with the next part of the club story.  So far with each book more history and truth has been revealed, building my anticipation for the next piece of the puzzle. 

While I believe you could read this book as a standalone, I think you would be cheating yourself.  As I mentioned each book gives a piece to the overall big picture and you will miss some extra things that make this story come alive for you.  The author also gave us three people who had more than a sexual spark between them.  There were raw emotions of love and protectiveness that made this story intense and suspenseful.  You could feel not only the sexual tension on the pages but the strong desire to risk your own life in order to keep those they loved safe.  It is also becoming clear that the club as a whole is a family and a community that you should feel honored to be a part of.  There were clearly more BDSM scenes in this book and they were done with just the right balance of pain and pleasure, nothing over the top and even a new technique that I had not read about before.

I strongly recommend this series and if you aren’t a vampire fan, like I am, but want to give it a try, this would be one of the series I would pick up.  The author gives you more human emotion and angst than fantasy world story which draws me in as a new vampire fan.   I am in love with this series so keep an eye out for my next review for the third book Twice Bitten and Bewitched, Selena’s story. 

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