I was initially intrigued by the vampire-cowboy combination because that was something new, and I really wanted to like this book. However, it didn't exactly work for me. I understand that it's a debut novel and there were some elements that did interest me, but there were quite a few plot holes that I couldn't ignore.

Things kept progressing too quickly and not quickly enough simultaneously. The romance didn't work for me, especially given that

Sylas was Rowan's best friend's boyfriend. I get that Lydia was dead, but Sylas moved on far too quickly with Rowan and declared his undying love for her, willing to sacrifice himself for her, which seemed really weird to me given how long he was with Lydia compared to Rowan. Had he even been Lydia's brother, I would've still made peace with the romance even if it felt too rushed.

The plot revolving around the murder mystery and revenge had inconsistencies and was left with unanswered questions. The timeline of certain events was also not adding up, which left me confused. The plotline was sort of weak in my opinion because it didn't seem believable how Rowan and the Vampire Queen faced off. I also felt like random elements kept being added to build up to that moment of showdown between them. Rowan didn't even know her own capabilities and had to be told by the vampire queen herself for her to even realize she had certain abilities. It made no sense that the enemy would educate Rowan about her own powers so she can use said powers to fight her. She literally gave her the tools and the guidance to show her what needs to be done to fight her.

The mystery behind the queen's identity wasn't even a mystery, and she basically handed Rowan the book to figure everything out. Also, I truly didn't get why the vampire queen kept letting Rowan go again and again if her goal had been to find Rowan for years. Why did she just keep telling Rowan to run and that she couldn't escape because the queen knew exactly where Rowan was at all times... while Rowan was right in front of her????

Sylas's character was a bit more interesting even if we didn't really get much into his life exactly. The bond that was built between him and Rowan wasn't too believable for me because their initial impressions of each other kept changing as the book progressed to maybe make the readers think that there was always some pull between them. That wasn't how the characters described their impression of each other at first.

I didn't get an understanding of the town or its people. Travis randomly deciding that he wanted Rowan also wasn't explained. They were vampires, which was supposedly a myth, and yet no one in town they encountered was the least bit surprised.

Thank you to Grey's Promotions and Kira Bates for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.