I am a big fan of V Castro’s work and was excited when I learned about Immortal Pleasures. Obviously from the title alone I was aware this might be a bit more spicy than I am used to but I have to say that personally I found Castro’s writing perfectly matched to the genre – particularly that of a horror or paranormal romance.

Malinalli is the perfect vampire in my opinion. She is equal parts alluring and deadly and the thing I adored most is she knows it. On top of this she has a second mission to retrieve artifacts of her people that have been stolen from their homelands. I loved the juxtaposition of her own journey of discovery involving pleasure and lust and her journey to return the artifacts of people.

Obviously this will not be everyone due to the spice, which is very high, but I did enjoy it overall.

"So many adults masking as children bringing more children into the world. Most of the time people have children without any thought. You won’t catch me taking care of anyone."

As someone who has a developing knowledge of Mexico's history, I found this to be a gentle introduction to some key figures of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. I'm learning a lot about the history of Mexico through books written by authors of Mexican descent, and Immortal Pleasures gave me some of that history with a fantasy twist.

I found Castro's depiction of La Malinche's story very interesting to read. I liked Malinalli's modern day storyline but her POV detailing past events was my favourite, particularly the flashback of Malinalli's transformation into a vampire. The first romantic interest (Colin) brought out a very animalistic side of Malinalli (<spoiler>the butter scene</spoiler>), compared to her second romantic interest (Alex), who seemed to bring out her softer side. I felt like Malinalli flitted quite quickly from wanting a 'no strings' relationship to wanting a 'forever' relationship, which is explained away by the vampiric 'senses' she has. However, Alex and Malinalli probably should've been given more page time than Colin and Malinalli, to make this feel a bit more realistic, but both relationships were essential to show both of these sides of Malinalli. That said, the smut was my least favourite part of the book partly due to Castro's descriptions but mostly due to the fact that I'm not a romance reader.

Immortal Pleasures combines vampires, historical fiction, and a little spice. I also want to read up on the history of La Malinche, as well. I'm definitely missing bits from this review but I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to get to Queen of the Cicadas.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. I have already pre-ordered a copy.

This was not what I expected out of this book. I loved the concept but tit did not deliver. I didn't realize how much smut there was going to be. It was more graphic than I thought it would be.

It was less horror/ paranormal and more romance. Interesting concept none the less.

I have adored V Castro's writing in the past, The Haunting of Alejandra was one of my favourite books from 2023 so I was so excited to read Immortal Pleasures by V Castro as well. The concept of an ancient Aztec woman turned vampire avenging in the modern day, sounded incredible there was so much potential for this to be a five star book from this plot alone but somehow this missed the mark for me.

There is so much smut in this that I probably think it's more romance than a horror book. The writing of the sex scenes were so detailed and frankly disturbing I cringed throughout these scenes. It was a struggle to continue to read at points. The jumps between time without distinction markers made this difficult to follow or connect with the story.

The atmosphere wasn't there and therefore it wasn't the best story from V Castro.

Immortal Pleasures follows an immortal vampire called Malinche who travels the world to give stolen artifacts back to their homelands. Malinche also wants love as she experiences human feelings of pleasure and lust. She arrives in Dublin to search for a pair of Aztec skulls but ends up meeting a horror novelist who is attracted to her darkness. However, there is an immortal who carries the same darkness as Malinche and it is time for her to experience pleasure.

This was enjoyable and I’m giving it 3 stars. I’d recommend this book for fans of this author but also for fans of Aztec culture. It was definitely erotic but I was expecting that. There was some great themes discussed in this such as colonialism and the way identify is taken by colonisers. Personally, I struggled with the writing, it was very I did this… kind of thing with a lot of telling over showing.