Books Make Me Happy

Declan is a lord, forced by tragedy into leadership. Alexia is a princess about to ascend to her throne. They become "Romeo and Juliet" in a centuries old war. Only this Romeo has scaled wings, and his Juliet has fangs. With both their races clashing in a deadly battle to posess a crystal foretold to grant the owner power to rule all, Declan and Alexia have more than just their undeniable passion for each other to contend with.This book starts off with a bang and the action just doesn't let up the whole way through! Dragons take the place of werewolves in the traditional archenemy role for vampires in this story, and let me just tell you, it works fantastically! (Who needs fur when you can have WINGS?)I love that both of these main characters are in a transition in their respective societies. Both put in a position they are resigned to, but neither is really ready for. Throughout the story we get to see them both become the leaders they're intended to be. The descriptions of both the vampire horde and the dragon flock were so important to understanding the evolution of the characters. Not only what they lived with every day, but what they strived to create. I really liked that we learned more than just the names of many secondary characters. Too often characters that aren't the "main focus" of the story get shortchanged in the depth department. Including many points of view can sometimes be confusing, but it was done very well and brought some much needed clarity to parts of the story. I loved being able to get into the head of Catija and and Tallon especially. (Would have LOVED to get into Griffin's head a little, so I'm hoping that'll be a point of view for another book, oh... and Yuri, too... yummmeeeee.)Declan and Alexia together were just incredible. They started out hot and just got hotter as the story went on. I loved that they didn't do the "does he really like me" "does she really like me" think that some couples do. The felt the attraction and were honest about it from the beginning. (A little early in the overall story, but I'll chat about that in a minute.) They knew they wanted each other, and fought through, literally, the heavens and the earth to be together.Now, for my only two criticisms. I do understand that Declan and Alexia were attracted to each other from the start, that they felt a connection, or rightness with each other. That's fine, but it was a little hard for me to understand how they let down their guard for, at the time, an enemy, so soon in the story. I'm also not a big fan of extended bad-things-happening-to-good-people in a story. There were a few too many passages full of silver gunshot wounds and references to horrible acts perpetrated by Lotharus (or Lotharass, as I started calling him) for my taste. I know, things like that create drama and ways for a character to "overcome" in the story. I've been told that by authors time and time again. But I still don't like too much of it.Overall, I really, really liked this book. I liked the action (most of it, lol) and loved the relationships, both the romantic ones, and the familial bonds. I honestly can't wait for the next book to come out. Luckily for all of us, there are a few plotlines screaming "please write about me" at the end of Shadow Of The Vampire. And I just realized that there will be a semi-prequel story available in July as well, Dragon Warrior, so we won't have long to wait!