Ashley Stoyanoff's Review: Ascension by Caris Roane

★ASHLEY STOYANOFF'S REVIEW★

Ascension

by Caris Roane

Title: Ascension (Guardians of Ascension, #1)

Author: Caris Roane

Number of Pages: 480

Publication Info: St. Martin’s Paperbacks (Dec 2010)

Genre: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Shelf: Books I Won

Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads: Here

Purchase: Here

Authors Website: Here

Summary from Goodreads

Vampire. Warrior. Legend. Lover.

Discover a secret, sensual world of winged vampire warriors and the women they crave—in an epic battle between unearthly longing and immortal love...

On The Wings Of Desire

Alison Wells is no ordinary woman. Born with supernatural powers, she can never make love to a man without putting him in grave danger. But when her special vision reveals a glorious muscled man soaring overhead on mighty wings, she feels an overwhelming attraction she cannot resist—even as he tells her: "I have come for you. Your blood belongs to me." 

In The Heat Of Passion

Kerrick is a vampire and a warrior who has fought his hunger for a woman's love for the past two hundred years. As a Guardian of Ascension, he is sworn to protect Alison from the death vamp armies who crave her blood and her power. But Kerrick has cravings of his own—a forbidden longing to open his heart and veins to Alison. To share his blood...satisfy his thirst...and seal their fates forever.

My Review

There are hot vampire warriors!!! Do I need to say more?

Ascension struck me by surprise, much like the infamous Breh-hedden struck Kerrick and Alison. For the first 30-ish pages I just couldn’t get into it. I’d read a page, put it down, a couple days later I’d read another. But then ... I was struck down and completely enthralled. I actually forget to eat for a full two days. All I could think about was this book. I read every second I had, before work, on my lunch, as soon as I got home. This booked had me gripped and refused to let me go.

Alison was born with powers. She knows deep down that there’s something more for her and she longs for it desperately. When she meets Kerrick the attraction between them is electric and she realizes exactly what she’s been longing for. She makes her way to the borderland and starts her rite of ascension, a three day process for her to become a vampire and ascend to Second Earth. But for someone with as much power as Alison, three days is a long wait, especially when Second Earth is in the middle of a war and the bad guys want her dead.

Right from the start I liked Kerrick. He’s a Warrior of the Blood and sworn to protect the world from the Death Vampires. His leader assigned him as Alison’s Guardian, his job,to keep her alive. Will he be able to do it? Well, you’ll just have to read the book to find out.

The characters were amazing. All of them. Endelle was my favorite for sure. She’s the leader of Second Earth. She’s a kick-ass, 9000 year old vampire. Her attitude was awesome and had me laughing out loud more than once.

I loved the idea of the Breh-hedden. The intense drive that came with it for this couple was breathtaking. The constant sexual tension was amazing. Roane did an awesome job with the destined to by mated theme. Although the hero and heroine fought the connection to some extent, they also acted on their cravings. 

I didn't have to wait until the end of the book to see these two together. It was perfect. Just perfect.

Now the reason for the four stars. I loved this book, I really did. I can look past the hard start, because when I first started it, I was crazy busy, so I figure it was probably just me. 

But the thing was, the last 60 pages dragged. A lot of the ending felt like filler. And then there were the confessions of love that seemed so formal, especially for Kerrick. It kind of ruined his image for me.

My final thoughts ... This was a great read, even if I didn't love the ending. I will definitely by buying the next one in this series. Right now I’m totally crushing on Marcus and his story is up next. If you like hot warriors, want some steamy romance, and you love vampires, then you need to check this book out.