3.5 for me, really enjoyed it but it felt a bit rushed with character introductions for me. Will be picking up book 2 for sure 😊

(ARC copy provided by BooksGoSocial & Netgalley)

Reese Matthews, a human, could care less about vampires she works at a blood bank but has never interacted with one, unlike her friend Rena who lives for their gossip in magazines and seems to know quite alot about vampires and their mates.

Beaumont Boucher, a broody vampire, has waited over a century to find his mate again. But when he walks into a blood bank and gets confronted with Reese, shes nothing like he imagined. Nothing like the woman he lost.

Vein&Vow is a dual pov, fast paced, steamy vampire romance, with fated mates, forced proximity, found family, tension and banter.

Reeses simple life takes a dramatic turn after Beau walks into her workplace and the mating bond sends her body into overdrive. Beau however cant help but tell himself how wrong she is. The woman he lost was soft and nice while Reese is loud and obnoxious.
The tension is set and the bond ensures the stay in close proximity while they have to work through their differences, Reese gets pulled into the Bouchers investigation of their brother Zekes death. Someone is targeting vampires even though its almost impossible to kill them. There are a lot of unanswered questions but the most pressing is, who is next. Will Reese and her found family be able to stay safe? And will Reese and Beau get over their differences?

I love the Black Dagger Brothers, and now I love the Boucher Brothers.

A Mix of feisty, stubborn FMCs, and broody, grump vampire MMCs.

Reese Matthews, a girl that never had anything truly hers; Beau Boucher, a man with a second chance at love.
But this love is something neither of them hoped it would be; sharp edged and dangerous.

An Interesting twist on Fated Mates, spicy straight from the first page turn, good character development, witty banter and heart warming moments.
Not entirely Enemies to Lovers, definitely more disliked to Lovers.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖 - I ended up being annoyed with this book numerous times and wanted to put it down
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋 - so there were some angsty moments that tugged on my heart a bit!
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (they were fine….but I think I wanted more emotional pull?? They felt kind of mechanical to me but maybe it was the hate to bedroom to I still hate you vibe of the book)
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑 - most are on the shorter side
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (might be more I got sloppy with note taking in the latter half)
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: This is first person point of view from both hero and heroine (alternating chapters)
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? fast
When mains are first on page together: pretty soon in
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after for the mains
Epilogue: Not really

Should I read in order?
This is Jacquelin’s first of The Boucher’s series.

Basic plot:
Reese loves her job at the vampire blood bank – she gets to listen to music and not deal with people...until her mate walks in and changes her life...

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary paranormal romance
- vampire hero
- human heroine
- mates
- size difference – he’s taller
- enemies to lovers – they hate each other at first but they are mates
- higher steam – at least 4ish full scenes

Ages:
- heroine is 27, hero turned undead at 31 but is 155 years old now (or so)

My thoughts:
I struggled with this one. I felt really thrown into this book and not in a good way. Did I miss a prequel series? I still didn’t quite get the world building I wanted. I wanted to understand this world more and how vampires were just ‘accepted’ as a part of life? And the writing felt really chaotic. I felt like it was all over the place.

I also have struggled with enemies to lovers lately. It’s usually not my favorite trope anyway unless it’s more light hearted, but I have read sooo many couples that fought the whole book and hated each other so the poor book might not have stood a chance being like the 5th one in a row I read…

I did like parts of this story though – there were emotional scenes and some angsty moments that I appreciated. I like when the mains hurt my heart and that happened a bit here!

Overall though I think I had a touch of disconnect with the writing. I don’t think I’d continue this series but I would try another series by this author!

This was a miss for me, unfortunately. I love vampire stories and I love the idea of finding one's mate, but this was poorly executed, in my opinion. There are several typos and missing words. My least favorite character was the FMC and it made the reading experience quite difficult. She's a "not like other girls" girl. This was a pretty short book but I think if it had more detail and been a bit longer, it could've held my interest more. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed Vein & Vow! This is a spicy paranormal (vampire) romance with elements of suspense.

Despite it being a rather quick read, it covered a lot of ground by Introducing the reader to the world-building, secondary characters, and a mystery that will continue to be integral to the series. My feedback is around pacing—while the first chapter was strong, the middle of the book felt a bit repetitive. I also think the world-building could have been introduced proactively, instead of reactively.

Overall, I really liked the premise of this book and how it sets up the rest of the series. I’m looking forward to the next installment!

Thank you to Netgalley and Nicole Jacquelyn for the opportunity to read this book… So simple things out the way first… tropes: enemies to lovers, fated mates, forced proximity, found family. A spicy fast paced dual pov (which I love) you will have to keep up as the pace stays through the book.

The connections between characters/families felt genuine and Beau’s development through the book was really good. I did not enjoy the miscommunication especially with regard to the whole mate process and how serious it is etc. I loved the fated mate trope (because goosebumps) but I love that Reese still called him out on his crap behaviour. I think the ending felt rushed but with it being the first in a series of interconnecting books I do want to try the next book. I would recommend this to vampire girlies

A new view on vampires and their fated mates. It's not always love at first sight as Reese and Beau find out. Both have painful backgrounds which makes their romance tricky to say the least.
Beau has just lost his brother and is angry at everyone at the moment. Reese is a strong minded woman not thinking of romance at this time. The mating bond is a thing of myth and pain on both sides.
As the romance progresses, they find there is an enemy trying to get the vampires biggest secret from them.
Love strong women. Reese is strong but with a soft inside which is rarely seen, it shakes Beau when the hard shell finally cracks and he realizes how he has misjudged her.

A high-angst, fast-paced vampire romance. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic was satisfying, though I wish there was a bit more world depth. Still, very bingeable!

Thanks netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. Okay so I love vampires and I was hooked by the first page. Talking about the characters Reese is amazing like, I love her so much and I love how brave she is. Beau is just trying like he is trying and he has potential.
Okay, so low-key I felt like this book was similar to twilight, yeah I'm a bit crazy.
So if you're looking for a vampire book with a good plot I recommend this book

A perfect blend of crackling heat, suspense, action, danger and murder mystery interwoven in a gripping paranormal vampire romance from an author new to me that kept me hooked from the start. The plot is very well written, fast-paced and has enemies to lovers, fated mates, opposites attract and forced proximity tropes. The protagonists are very likable and I enjoyed the tension, sizzling chemistry, banter and bickering between them. The book ends with a cliffhanger and I am already looking forward to the next installment.

A long time ago, humans and vampires made an agreement to live together peacefully. But out of the blue, the youngest son of the Boucher family is brutally murdered and his brothers set out to find the murderer.
Almost a century ago, one of them, vampire Beau Boucher let his destined mate go, as she was already happily married to another man, and didn't think he would get another chance until he meets Reese Matthews, who works at a blood bank he frequents. But Reese is different from what he hoped and expected.
Unlike her best friend, Reese is down to earth and doesn't believe in supernatural attraction until she meets Beau and he turns her life upside down from the moment she meets him. He doesn't seem to like her and she finds his reserve and arrogance appalling.
But neither of them can escape the sizzling attraction between them and it is impossible to stay away from each other without suffering pain. They are irrevocably bound to each other and must face the impending danger together as they learn to master their intertwined fate…

I recommend the book to anyone who enjoys captivating vampire romance novels with endearing protagonists and supporting characters, plenty of steam and suspense!

I received a free ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and left voluntarily.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I'd probably give it 4.5 stars overall. I liked the way the characters began to develop together, and the plot was intriguing. I've never seen vampires with lore like this, and I always find it interesting how authors can create their own version of supernatural beings that have been around so long, like vampires. I did think that Reese and Beau's relationship started out a bit toxic, and certainly moved quickly, which can be somewhat expected with a trope like fated mates, but I think the toxicity of their relationship at points kept me from making this a 5-star, despite how much I enjoyed it. I will still check out the next book, and can't wait to see how the story continues.

Thanks to NetGalley and Booksgosocial for the eARC.

Oh this book was just fun for me. Random plot twists were thrown in unexpectedly and made no sense, the love story went 0-100. I loved it all the same. And so much smut (LOL) I can't wait for the other brothers books (I assume this is where Nicole Jacquelyn will take the series).

Firstly I want to thank the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc of this book. Unfortunately this was a DNF at 50% , I was trying to push through after seeing so much good reviews but I wasn’t enjoying it.
This book follows Beau , a vampire ,and Reese , a human , after figuring out they have a mating bond. Beau needs this mating bond and it’s also his second chance at finding his true love . While Reese just wants a simple life with her job , her friends and no drama .

When reading the synopsis , I was intrigued cos I love an enemies to lovers , I love vampires , but it felt so insta love and they already were sleeping together within the first 3 chapters .

Overall it just wasn’t for me , thank you again to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc .

Vein and Vow is a vampire romance that leans heavily into angst, smut, and enemies-to-lovers dynamics—but doesn’t offer much else. The yearning and drama might satisfy readers looking for something steamy and low-stakes, but there’s not much in the way of plot.

That said, it’s a quick enough read that I didn’t mind seeing it through, even if the ending didn’t land for me. If you're in the mood for a vampire romance that prioritizes steam and tension over story and substance, this might scratch that itch.

Excuse me! I need book two now. The emotional roller coaster I have gone through with this book. I was in reading slump due to moving and Nicole pulled me out with this one. The MMC really made my head spin.
The twist on the fated mates genre I ate it up not to mention the spice was amazing. I received this ARC from Netgalley.


Fated Mates

paranormal-romance

romance

I had a great time reading this book. I loved the brooding MMC, the slow burn mixed with enemies to lovers and forced proximity. I also liked that it was dual POV, that worked really well.

The book was heavily focused on the mating bond between Reese and Beau however I really wanted more of the political and vampire threat storylines.

I will probably read the next book when it’s out - I read this in one day so I definitely enjoyed!

This book was fantastic! You have Beau as your grumpy vampire who ends up mated to Reese our sarcastic female human. To say they were both shocked would be an understatement. I loved the banter between the two characters. You really fall in love with all of the characters in this book and I can't wait to see what happens in the next one.

Oh she’s spicy. This is a reverse on the usual fated mates trope, which is why disclosing it isn’t a spoiler! It took me a while to get used to how fast things happened at first but it makes sense. I can COMPLETELY imagine a novella set before this book giving some real deep insight into Beau’s family, and potentially even Reese’s (kinda if you know you know)

If you like spice, you’ll love it. SO easy to read and some great reflective inner monologues. Enjoyed!

Loved it!
Twilight vibes ✅
Fast paced ✅
Spicy 👌🏽
And a really good plot. Can’t wait for the next book!