Review: Forever Freed by Laura Kaye

A heart can break, even one that no longer beats.

I stalk my new neighbors, a single mother and her child, drawn by the irresistible scent of their joy and love. I crave their blood, starved for some healing respite from my ancient grief. Now to lure them into my grasp.

But they surprise me. Little Olivia accepts me without fear or reservation—talking, smiling, offering innocent affection that tugs at my long-lost humanity. Her mother, Samantha, seeks me out when she should stay away, offering sweet friendship, and calling to the forgotten man within me. They lure me instead.

Ah, Dio, Lucien, run and spare them while you can…

Jeannie’s Review of Laura Kaye’s Forever Freed

Who doesn't love a good paranormal adult romance? Well I do, of course! Lately SYTYCW has turned into quite the Laura Kaye worship center, having reviewed her FABULOUS novella, Hearts In Darkness just a few weeks ago and interviewing her and now reviewing her equally amazing first full-length novel, Forever Freed, we are just a gang of Laura Groupies! (yay!) Believe me, all this cheering is for a good reason, Laura is a gifted writer and we applaud her talent and her gift for storytelling. What better way to celebrate Laura’s success than to review her book on the day it’s published! Look for the links below the review to see where you can purchase Forever Freed.

So enough with that, lets meet Lucien Demarco...

It’s been over a hundred years since Lucien felt the bitter sting of loss in his life and he has mired in his misery for over a century now. Settling in the great metropolitan of Detroit sixty years ago Lucien has basically gone through the motions of this undead life as a vampire. Perpetually beautiful and frozen at age 28 with a sordid past in a life of organized vampire crime behind him, Lucien sets out in his continued despair to go through the motions of his existence. That is, until the day he meets Samantha Sutton and her five-year old daughter, Olivia (Ollie). What follows is a beautifully told tale of love, redemption and family.

“For the first time in more than a century, I allowed myself to have someone to love, something to hope for. I could swear, in the hollow of my chest, my heart started beating again.” 

Are you ready to have your heart swell to unknown lengths and then shattered again in a million shards only to pick the pieces up again? Seen from Lucien DeMarco’s point of view, Forever Freed is told in such a heartfelt way you sometimes forget that Lucien is a vampire and not just a heartbroken man. Having violently lost his family before he was changed a century before Lucien, for all intents and purposes, is a man who has merely existed and not really lived. I think it’s a delicate art to write a character like this who is full of despair that the reader genuinely feels for and not think of as whiny or weak. Laura has definitely accomplished that by writing Lucien. You really do feel his plight and you long for him to find happiness again because with any good man (and he is a good man) you desire for him to find himself in his happiness. And with Sam he not only finds himself in happiness but he completely loses himself in love.

There are moments while reading that you never want all the good times to end and believe me, there are plenty of good times in this book (including some of the carnal variety *waggles eyebrows*) but you ache while awaiting the other shoe to drop. The suspense of the next days and nights while Lucien grows comfortable in his place as a protector to Sam and Olivia stretches into weeks and then months and then suddenly in a blink it turns to tragedy. I LOVE how this happens, when you least expect it. You feel the thrill of being baited and then suddenly trapped in a story that you CAN’T PUT DOWN until the conclusion. And even then you continue clutching the book hoping there’s more behind the back cover. *sigh*

What Laura Kaye proves she excels at in Hearts in Darkness, she proves yet again in Forever Freed; that is, writing terrific well-defined characters that you feel deeply for. Even Samantha Sutton’s character who is seen through the eyes of Lucien is so well crafted you grasp immediately her happiness and her sorrow. And then there’s Ollie. I have a special place in my heart for Ollie because she reminds me so much of my own little girl. Even all her nuances and the way she talks is so spot-on. I love this attention to detail because many times a story falls apart when a five year old acts like a seven year old and it’s obvious the author didn’t do their research. Laura’s attention to detail is impeccable.

Overall, Forever Freed is a wonderfully told story, with a bit of everything for everyone, romance, suspense, redemption, revenge, strong characters and most of all, it is well evident that the author took great care in crafting this tale by the attention to detail the story displays. After reading Hearts in Darkness, I was really looking forward to a full-length novel from Laura and now we have it, I am lucky indeed to have been one of the first to read it.

There’s much to look forward to from Laura Kaye, as noted above, she recently published Hearts in Darkness and is a published non-fiction writer as well. She is an educator and a mom and spends a lot of time supervising the executions of stinkbugs that have invaded her home (don’t worry, her husband does most of the dirty work).

Look for more from Laura Kaye in the months to come, she has an erotic fiction book coming out and several paranormal romance books as well. She is a hard working talented lady and you can be sure I will devour everything she writes! Keep up with her on her website http://laurakayeauthor.blogspot.com/ or on Twitter where she loves to chat with you about stinkbug elimination tactics: @laurakayeauthor :)

Happy Reading,
@gojeannie

Review: Forever Freed by Laura Kaye