Tempt Me by Julie Cooper

Tempt Me’s prologue starts off with a powerful scene that takes place a few years prior to the Pride & Prejudice events, but on the first chapter, it moves forward to the Meryton Assembly where Mr. Darcy meets a very different Elizabeth Bennet.

In this book, Mr. Darcy is a vampyre who has the ability to feel other people’s feelings. This characteristic may seem interesting, but he considers it a burden, and it is very difficult for him to be around too many people because that experience tends to be overwhelming. However, something changes at the Meryton Assembly, where he is immediately drown and curious about Miss Elizabeth Bennet, a lady whose feelings he cannot sense. I, on the other hand, felt immediately drown to her because her low self-esteem was so different from what we usually see, that it had to be a promising trait in her character.

During the initials chapters of the book, Elizabeth Bennet is indeed very different, and I confess I enjoyed her vulnerability at first. However, after her marriage to Mr. Darcy, which takes place earlier in the book, I started to feel a bit annoyed with her instability and meekness concerning Darcy’s vampiric nature. Fortunately, as the story progresses, Elizabeth becomes stronger and completely devoted to her husband, so it was easier to forget my initial quibble.

In Tempt Me, we will find some of the usual vampyre characteristics, but also some novelties that kept me wondering most of the time. Julie Cooper created her own set of rules, and those rules appear as the story progresses, so the reader never really knows what may happen next. This suspense and creativity was something I really enjoyed in the book and it kept me reading just to discover exactly why certain things were happening, even if some questions regarding the vampyre world are left unanswered, the discovery journey the reader is allowed to take is very satisfying.

One of my favourite aspects of this book was Colonel Fitzwilliam’s character. I loved him from his first appearance until the last and I felt like he was my partner in crime in this story. His character and the blunt way he always dealt with Mr. Darcy, Anne and especially Elizabeth were simply perfect. Every time I felt something needed to be done, or said, the Colonel was there to make it happen J

The story is full of action as the villains, and there are many of them, keep coming up with different ideas to destroy Darcy, and even if I liked the excitement it all brought, at a certain point I thought that we already had our fair share of abductions. I believe the narrative would gain from a more simple conflict with less schemes from the villains. Nevertheless, readers can be assured of many heroic scenes where Mr. Darcy comes to the rescue and even situations when it is Elizabeth who saves her husband. There is no lack of heroic situations in Tempt Me!

Summing up, Tempt Me is a very exciting and entertaining novel where readers can find a new vampyric world full of challenges and happy endings (for the heroes of course… the villains not so much). I recommend it to readers who like exciting stories that are action packed but also examine the characters growing faith in one another.

 

You can find Tempt Me at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Kindle Unlimited and on Audible