Title: Secrets and Trust
Series: The Vampire Relationship Guide Book 2 
Author(s): Evelyn LaFont
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Humor
Publisher/Year: /2011
-Webpage/blog: Evelyn LaFont Webpage   
-Related Review: Book 1: Meeting and Mating 

Synopsis:  Josie’s come a long way from being an average human chick who just wants to sex-up a vampire. She’s dated, mated, and killed one of the world’s richest vamps and is currently seeing a mysterious, blood-slurping hottie named Walker.

Now, Josie must adjust to the realities of a steady relationship with a vampire, which isn’t all exciting parties, hot sex and moonlit walks. And with a vamp who’s anxious to push their relationship to the next phase as mortality bears down on his human’s fragile body, the pressure for Josie to commit is on.

Can their night-day romance survive leaving Josie’s character and individuality intact, or will the secrets of the supernatural community crush her spirit and her chance at a permanent vampire mate?

Rating:

Review:  While I wouldn't say a whole lot of nothing happened in the book, a fair chunk is dedicated to Josie going out and about, Walker being possessive and them doing couple stuff before sex. LaFont focused more on the relationship and emotional entanglements this time around, seemed more inclined to have Josie worry about her future with Walker and the fact they couldn't just do what they were doing for however long she lived. I appreciated the fact Josie was more practical in this book, started thinking about something other than sex and seemed to genuinely want to make the relationship work.

Like Josie though I was frustrated with Walker keeping everything to himself. Its pretty obvious that he is thinking long term for the relationship, but the casual way he just...assumes things for Josie got vexing. Especially at the end, when stuff started to happen and he basically patted her on the head and said 'Go home now'.  I applaud Josie for not taking his shenanighan's and deciding to do something for herself (though the impulsive decision making was a step backwards).

An improvement over the first book was that LaFont found a way to give the information to the reader without Josie playing Exposition Girl.  The world was more accessible and though still could use some more fleshing out (at least where the vampires are concerned) the general idea of things was much easier to follow.  I'm not sure I completely dig the reasoning behind why vampires make other vampires--let's just say it takes Elitism to a brand new level, its really selective--but it makes sense as far as the world LaFont has created goes.  Especially considering how the other vampires acted.

Going forward (book 3 isn't due out until next year according to LaFont's website boo hiss boo) I sincerely hope we learn more.  One of the drawbacks of first person POV is that if the character isn't interested or the author doesn't think the character needs to be interested as part of their personality, the reader has to glean information about things outside of the MC's purview from the interactions the MC has.  Sadly Josie wanted to spend more time discussing, at some length, how sexy Walker was and didn't begin to show interest about the larger world until very close to the end.

This was a solid read, fast-paced and definitely humorous and I do like Walker quite a bit.  Hopefully now that he understands a bit more about Josie, and some communication has been had, they can find footing to move towards a more productive future.



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