Vampire and private investigator Evan Fournier isn’t supposed to be taking on paranormal cases, but when the murderer hits close to home, he agrees to look into it. The last thing he expects is to become a target himself—and then to become irrevocably bonded to the man who just tried to kill him.
With his memory gone and his soul bonded to a stranger, former firefighter Colin Zhang wants to be anywhere else. He doesn’t have a damn clue why he just tried to kill Evan, and he didn’t even know about magic until just now. The sooner he can get back to his real life, the better.
But every time either of them tries to leave, pure agony stops them short. Forced to work with Evan or suffer the consequences, Colin must excavate the secrets buried in his missing memories while battling two rising threats: the conspiracy behind the murder, and his mutual attraction to the bond mate he never wanted.
Comment: I'm back to read stories by author Jenn Burke. In 2023 I've read one of her trilogies, titled "Not Dead Yet" and liked it enough to feel interested in getting the sequel trilogy "Ashes and Dust", which has a main character one of the secondary ones from the original trilogy. This is the first book in that trilogy,which I'll be reading in the following months.
Evan Fournier is now a PI with a verified licence and he tries his best to do something he came to love and because it is a way to pay back his sire Hudson. While at first he couldn't deal with his new vampire status, he quickly realized Hudson and Wes and their newfound family are more then enough to give him all the support he needs to carry on with his new life. He isn't cured from the depression that led him to the circumstances of how he became a vampire, but he is coping. That is why he can't refuse his therapist's call for help over a weird situation at a retreat some of her patients have attended, even though Hudson and Wes aren't around to help. But, surely, Evan can take care of things before they return? The problem is that something more than weird is going on at the retreat...
I had perfect recollection that I had enjoyed the original trilogy and that it had been highly entertaining. However, I also confess I only recalled the basics. Thankfully, as I went along, more things came to mind and after a while I was more aware of the events the characters mentioned. I mean, not all books are meant to be pearls of literary wisdom that one memorizes eternally but I do feel bad sometimes,that I forget things of books I loved at a time. It is a complex thought: I liked many, many books, but I don't remember every single detail... does that diminish their appeal? Or their impact on me? Or on my personal dedication to a story? Ehh.... food for thought.
Anyway, the more I read of this book, the more I remembered and that means some things stuck, even after three years. Since this book - and trilogy - is focused on a secondary character, obviously that some things won't have the same importance as they did in the other books, so there is that. I liked Evan, he seemed to be a sweet character, someone who has been though complicated situations but who still retains his good humor and heart for the most part.
I liked Evan as a character, and that is good since the book is told exclusively from his POV, because he ponders some of the things he does, even the ones we know are bad ideas. His heart is in the right place and with his POV alone,certain decisions kind of make sense in how he thinks of them. I also liked the personality traits he has, and his devotion of a kind to those he considers his family. This is particularly heartwarming because he didn't have a good reaction to his coming out while he was human and his biological family turned their backs on him. This, along with other things, contributed for his depression and how everything led to the events of his presence in the original trilogy.
Now that Even is more experienced in PI business and knowing he has people who care for him, he feels more in control of his moods but he is still seeing a therapist, someone who is helping. I can totally understand his decision to help her and the idea of going undercover to a health retreat, despite his depression diagnosis, felt logical in that moment. The main plot develops from that but let it be said that Evan needs to deal with more than he imagined while being there. As expected, someone is doing bad deeds at the retreat and that is also how he meets Red, someone trapped in a nightmare and who is "rescued" when things go out of control.
Red becomes the romantic interest and his presence at the retreat brings a lot of considerations. I kind of liked how he was part of the story and what happened when Evan tried to help him at the same time he was defending himself. Red, or Colin as they learn later. doesn't become a vampire but he isn't a fully innocent human either and I'm curious to see where things go in relation to them, both when it comes to the romance and the other elements about who they are.
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