Immortal Sleepers: Blood Awakening
by Miranda Nichols
My rating: 
For 99.99% of the human race, vampires and shapeshifters are the stuff of nightmares and stories and great (as well as not so great) TV shows. For Tyrian, these monsters are his sworn duty. Charged with protecting the human race from the things that go bump in the night, Tyrian is in the midst of the single-most important battle he’s ever faced. So the last thing he expects to find in some random bookstore in the middle of Boston is his soulmate.
Kaelyn has no idea that her chance encounter with the mysterious, handsome man at the bookstore is actually destiny and a long-ago foretold prophecy laying out before her. An instant attraction grips her heart and refuses to let go, sucking her into a war between species she didn’t even know existed. Kaelyn must choose between the comfortable life she’s known and the man who threw it off its axis. And her time is quickly running out.
When someone close to Tyrian is put in danger by a power never seen before, the hunter is forced to do the unthinkable: fight alongside those he’s–up until now–considered his enemies. But in order to save his friend, he needs the help of the woman he literally just met and for Kaelyn to accept her role in her destiny, knowing that once she does there will be no turning back for either of them.
Problems:
1) It was a bit of a slow start for me. We get to read both perspectives, which I like. But it flipped back and forth so often sometimes that it slowed down the pacing.
2) I don’t like love at first sight…even if it is the side effect of some prophesied paranormal connection. I like slow-burns that allow you to fall in love with the characters right along with them. With insta-love, you don’t get that. Instead, I spend the whole book wondering why I should like this person as much as the main character. Not that Tyrian isn’t likeable, but I didn’t get to slowly discover it and decide for myself.
3) I don’t feel like I got to know Tyrian all that well. Or Kaelyn for that matter. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m writing this review MONTHS after reading the book (my bad), but I feel like I have this general knowledge that she’s a quiet, introverted orphan who loves books and he’s a strong, centuries-old hunter. Oh, and I think I remember that they both possibly like tea?
Praises:
1) All that being said, I’m a sucker for fantasy worlds. Sure, the vampire-werewolf-supernatural thing is all over the place. But the ones that stand out to me are stories that take an original spin on it. Like twelve realms of species constantly crossing over into each other and managed by a select group of hunters and a super powerful druid. Can’t say I’ve seen that before. And I feel like she did a great job of setting up this world and how it all works.
2) I loved reading about Caleb. He was probably the most complex character, in my opinion, and I hope we get to know more about him as the books go on.
3) If the preview into book 2 is any indication, I’m hoping that this series will follow each of the hunters finding their mediums as well as the progression of the story and not just following Tyrian and Kaelyn. I liked them well enough, but I don’t necessarily feel like I need more of their story. I want to get to know all the hunters and see how they handle the pros and cons of finding their soulmate. (I am, first and foremost, a romance reader after all.) If I’m right, this could potentially be a very long series. Which I personally don’t think is a bad thing so long as each story is fresh and the author is able to draw out the war and keep it interesting in the process.
Overall:
Got to say, I am very much looking forward to book 2. I’m very curious to see how the author plans to expand on the story and which route she’s decided to take. So far I haven’t seen any potential release dates for the sequel, but considering this book just came out in January, it could be a while.
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Shannon Stults 