Veronica "Vero" is a grad student who grew up with her con artist parents. She mostly did not follow in her parents' footsteps, but when she needed money, she began forging some old books and manuscripts for her boss. This brought her to the attention of Dr. Viktor Ashworth, a professor at her school. He kidnaps her and then offers her a million dollars to help him out with his own forgery. Vero agrees.
For months, Vero is driven to Viktor's museum/palace-like residence to work on the manuscript. After a couple of unusual incidents, she figures out that Viktor and his friends aren't quite human. It turns out that Viktor is hundreds of years old and is a Revenant (vampire). He can handle the sun with sunglasses, but that's because he's old and powerful. As the two work together, they begin to like each other more and more.
Viktor wanted Vero to fake a very old document that Viktor had written himself and contained the instructions for turning people into Revenants. He wanted her to change some of the instructions because there was a rogue Revenant killing people left and right, and he did not want him to have the knowledge to turn people.
One day, Vero is attacked as she is leaving Viktor's residence. Viktor saves her, and the two become a real couple. The finale takes place in Boston when the document is finished, and the Revenants lay a trap to find the bad guy. It doesn't quite work out the way they hoped, and Vero runs over there to try to help a friend that gets caught up in the mess. Vero is badly injured. When she wakes up, Viktor has turned her into a Revenant, and the book is over.
This is my least favorite Hazelwood book so far. I'm not that into paranormal stories anyway, but this did nothing for me. The romance was incredibly slow, the love interest's voice was very stodgy. In addition, the whole purpose of the forgery and the bad guy was undeveloped, with everything wrapping up very quickly in the end.
I also couldn't help but compare it to complaints I've heard about Twilight. Viktor is centuries old and a professor, but interested in a young, graduate student. Before she is aware, he sneaks into her apartment and drinks her blood, so he can read her thoughts and keep track of her better. She told him in conversations that she did not want to be immortal, but he thought he felt something different from her in her thoughts. He also didn't want to lose her, so he turns her without any discussion. She is happy about this, so it's not a problem in the book, but I found it all more creepy than sexy.
Not for me. Unbound might be better, but it also might be the first Hazelwood book that I skip.
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