J.F. Lewis - Crossed

The third book in the Void City series, published January 25, 2011.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: Awesome.



COMMITTED. CONFLICTED. AND UTTERLY CHAOTIC.
In spite of his continuing hot-blooded affair with his soon-to-be sister-in-law Rachel, Eric's plan is simple: Give his vampire girlfriend Tabitha the fancy wedding she's always wanted, then head off to Paris for their honeymoon in the hopes of tracking down his sire, the Empress vampire Lisette. The City of Love proves anything but romantic when the True Immortal rulers of Europe try to block Eric from entering the Continent - and subject Tabitha to a series of challenges to prove her vampire worth. Back home in Void City, Eric's volatile daughter Greta is getting lonely and bored - and that's not good news for anyone. And when, like a bat out of hell, Lisette descends upon Void City to wipe Eric and his brood off the face of the earth - forever - this much is clear: the honeymoon is over.


Eric and Tabitha are getting married, in church, in daylight. Eric has found a real priest willing to marry them, and having the ceremony in daylight, he was hoping the vampires he had to invite would decline. But no such luck, they have devised ways to be able to attend. And now his wedding is crashed by a bunch of religious alpha werewolves, who think it is an abomination for vampires to marry. Marriage should be “till death do us part” and not “at death do we start”. None of the vampires are helping Eric fight them, except Lord Philip, who makes it rain on the doused with holy water vamps. Which is fun, until they bless the rain, and it burns Eric, even in his uber-vamp form. Lucky for them all, it is the priest who puts an end to the fight, as all parties seem to respect him greatly.
Rachel is still scheming against her sister though, making her do things against her will, as she wants Eric for herself. And she almost succeeds at that too, when Eric grows too suspicious to let it go. He has married Tabitha, and he does take his vows seriously. No way would she have added Rachel to their brand new marriage bed.

And so Eric, Tabitha and his thrall Beatrice fly to Paris for their honeymoon in Lord Philips private plane. And to kill his sire, the Lady Lisette.
Only to get a nasty surprise upon landing: they are not allowed to enter Europe! Europe is under much stricter rules than America, and Eric will have to abide by them, or kicked out immediately. Tabitha comes to the rescue by telling them that she is her own person. She will have to prove that to the council though, and the testing will take three nights of their precious honeymoon. They don’t have a choice in this, and while Tabitha is being tested, Eric explores the city with one of the guards, searching out sights to share with Tabitha when she has finished. Or course things don’t go as planned, as Rachel can’t stop scheming to safe her own hide. With the help of one of Eric’s former girlfriends, she kidnaps him and changes his memory.

When Tabitha finds out that Eric has gone missing, she is furious and determined to track him. She can now see the ghost of his ancestor and he helps her find Eric by tracking one of the bullets from his sacred gun.

In the meantime, back in Void City. Eric has left Greta in charge of the theater and bowling alley, with Talbot and Magbidion to look after her. But keeping Greta in check is not an easy thing, and when she finds out that Lisette has come to Void City looking for her Daddy, she is determined to kill her Grandmother for him. Lord Phillip has other plans with Lisette though, and prevents that from happening.

And when Eric finally finds out what is happening around him in France and in America with his beloved daughter, he goes berserk. He will do whatever he has to do to save her, even follow her into Hell if necessary…


It is not often I devour a series back to back, but this series has grabbed me and doesn’t want to let go. Eric is certainly not a typical vampire hero as I found and enjoy so often in my books. He screws around, kills when the mood strikes him, and is sometimes just too powerful. He gets hurt a lot, gets killed a lot, and always rises again. I do love the parts with Greta and her interaction with Fang, the vampiric Mustang car. The series is kind of over the top, but also very engaging and with plain language. There is little to none romance involved, a lot of sex, a lot of violence, and I don’t care about that. Give me more.
Eric is changing, the magic that has protected or hidden him for 40 years is fading, and he is facing the truth about himself. He is still mourning his Marilyn though, and none of his current lovers can hold a candle to her memory. So why did he marry Tabitha?

New kinds of immortals are introduced, but with little to no explanation about what they are at all. Just like there was a passing mention of the Fae in the second book, at a party Tabitha attended with Talbot, and that was all.

I will read book 4 tomorrow, I just can’t stop myself, I need to know what happens next. The books do end with a tiny cliffhanger, not an evil one, but just to make you want to know what will happen next. And I do wonder if Rachel will be in that book, or not.

9 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian