Title: Florida Heat (Canadian American #1)
Author: D.J. Manly
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: Paranormal M/M
Length: Extended Novella (38k words)
Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5
A Guest Review by Andrea
Review Summary: I loved the romance but the paranormal element was a bit weak.
Blurb:
Alexis Kane, half-French, half-Irish, is a brilliant profiler who works for Interpol, and is called to investigate a series of murders in a Florida trailer park where retired Quebec citizens spend the winter months. Alexis is a man of science, he believes in facts, so he’s surprised to learn that Allen Petrie, a forensic scientist, is entertaining bizarre notions about the crimes.
But Allen had evaluated a similar case in L.A. where he suspected the victims had fallen prey to a vampire. After being ridiculed out of his job, Allen had moved to Florida, only to find himself dismayed at the similar murders taking place.
Alexis suspects Allen might be a flake. He is aware of the man’s history in L.A. and first considers him a possible suspect. But when Alexis is convinced Allen is quite sane, he asks the other man to join his team, making it clear he is interested in facts, not fiction.
Allen, on the other hand, is not sure he likes the standoffish cop from Canada, but he also admits he’s not immune to the man’s dark, brooding good looks. And despite their sparring and disagreements, he can’t deny there’s something electric between them. Now if he can only convince Alexis of the possibility that there really is a vampire living in the trailer park…
Review:
Outside the M/M romance genre I’m a big fan of paranormal, but for some reason I’ve yet to find a paranormal MM romance which works for me. I was hoping that would change with Florida Heat.
I was annoyed very early on in this book. There were lines of French used throughout the book, but I found it especially annoying in the first chapter. I’m not sure if the author decided the lines weren’t important enough to translate or thought they were simple enough that most readers wouldn’t need a translation. 😕 Either way, I can’t read or speak anything beyond the courtesy words in French so there were a few lines in the first chapter alone which left me clueless and irritated. Later on, when I was into the story, I was fine with it and no longer found it annoying.
I was pleasantly surprised when I got to know the characters. Alexis seemed cold and kept everyone at a distance but he grew on me as I got to know him. Allen was a little boring, a little depressing, but I liked him too. What I loved about them was that they didn’t meet and fall in love instantly, it was much more realistic than that. They had a job to do and had to work together in order to get it done. They liked each other well enough, and obviously were attracted to the other, but it didn’t become the sole focus or their lives. Once the sexual relationship between Alexis and Allen kicked off, I liked it. It was believable and worked for me.
The paranormal part was pretty good too. I liked that vampires weren’t glamorized or the good guy, they were murders who needed to be stopped. I appreciated that part of it, but I was disappointed with the police investigation and the mystery of the killer. It was just as important to the story as the romance and I thought that it should have been stronger and more compelling. The flow of the investigation felt choppy and forced to me.
I hate to drop spoilers but I have to do a minor one and talk about the ending. Some people might get angry because there is no HEA. If you need a HEA, prepare yourself to be disappointed. I loved the lack of HEA here. In fact, the ending is what ultimately won me over. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the depiction of their romance! Neither of these guys was going to uproot their lives or make a dramatic turnaround based on a two week romance, no matter how good it was. It wouldn’t have been realistic or true to character.
This was a good book. It would have been better if the mystery/investigation had been stronger, but I still liked it well enough to read the next book of the series. I have to see what is going to happen with Allen and Alexis!
