Fangs & Lullabies by Kallysten

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I know, that was a low blow, having a small baby on the cover trying to attract unaware women with the strong power of their maternal instinct… problem is that, I’m not really a motherly type, and in any case I fell for the trick. But the cover, the blurb, a mix of both pushed me not only to buy the book but also to read it as soon as I downloaded the file.

Fangs & Lullabies is everything cover and blurb promised, a story about two unlikely fathers, not only since there is now woman around to play the role of the mother, but also since they are vampires. Andrew is the older and wiser and he is also the one who chase away Nicholas when he started to feed and kill humans. That was almost 100 years ago and in the meantime Andrew built another life, and other relationships, the last of which with a woman, Cara, the mother of his son Jacob. Jacob is a little miracle himself, vampires cannot father children, but Cara was a specialist in the fertility field and she found a way; problem is that, after 19 years of relationship, she was probably not so young anymore and the pregnancy was also her death sentence. She died in childbirth and Andrew was left alone with a little baby to rise. When Nicholas comes back, he doesn’t know about Jacob; he is not coming back to help Andrew, he is coming back since he cannot live no more without Andrew. Andrew is Nicholas’s sire, and Nicholas feels the pull every childe has towards his sire.

It’s strange but all the paranormal side of the story, Nicholas and Andrew being vampires, how one is a sire and the other a childe, how their life was before, the fact that they are centuries years old, everything seems to disappear when Jacob enters their life: from that moment on, they are only two fathers, rising a baby alone, not being ready to do so, and probably, if they have to be true to themselves, not planning to do that. After the prologue, where the author plans out all the details for the story, and give the readers the necessary “paranormal” elements, the novel takes a very precise pace, that of Jacob’s life; every chapter is a year in Jacob’s life, from 1 to 17 years old. Sometime the story is even told from Jacob’s point of view, who, like any other baby in the world, looks at his father, Andrew, like an hero, and so it’s not strange for him that he is out, fighting the bad guys. But again, Andrew’s job as demon hunter, everything happening outside their home, remains exactly there, outside.

I think the author did a good job in making the story believable (and yes, even with Andrew and Nicholas being vampires) without making nor Andrew or Nicholas the “wife”: Nicholas is indeed the one who is more at home, taking care of Jacob and effectively being the one raising him, but always waiting for Andrew to come back home and taking the important decisions… of course also planning everything to be sure that decisions matched the one Nicholas already took.

http://www.alinarpublishing.com/books.php?title=Fangs and Lullabies

Amazon Kindle: Fangs and Lullabies (The Demons Age)
Publisher: Alinar Publishing (February 17, 2011)

Reading List:



http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hello
This is Kallysten
Would it be okay if I quoted and linked to your review from my site?
I'm glad you enjoyed the story!
Take care

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course Kallysten, you are welcome to do that.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks :)