I'm not really sure what I think about this book. There are quite a few things that I enjoyed thoroughly, but there are also quite a few things that definitely didn't do it for me.What worked for me:
* I really liked that Jasmine was a fighter, and refused to just "lay down and die" so to speak. The injustice of having to be destroyed simply because she "shouldn't have been created" was a grievous one and I for one applaud her for keeping her head and rolling with the punches as needed to keep her alive.
* I liked the pacing. Things never really slowed down for these two, but at the same time, things weren't so intense that I as a reader felt exhausted after reading, which often happens with stories where the main characters are on the run.
* Our hero was an assassin. I need say no more ;)
* I also really liked the idea that Jasmine was quite possibly a new breed of vampire. It seemed fitting, for lack of a better word, that she would be something special so to speak.
What didn't work for me:
* I didn't like the fact that Corin has another mate, especially given the circumstances of his having taken that particular mate. It's almost, to me, like having a commitment ceremony with the new love of your life rather than marrying them, because you can't or don't want to go through the mess of an actual divorce. In the grand scheme of things, he's still bonded to his previous mate, and that bond theoretically could be called upon in the future, and frankly I don't like that type of loose end. I didn't really count off on this on my rating, however, because that's more one of my personal foibles when reading romance or erotica.
* On the same note, there are somewhat graphic depictions of m/m rape in this story. While I certainly appreciate the fact that this helps the reader truly understand the horror of Corin's past, it still made me very uncomfortable and I think I would've added an entire other star to my rating had Dee Carney simply glossed over these encounters and experiences rather than making us relive them with the hero. Granted, they aren't explicit, but they are most definitely enough to make sensitive readers very uncomfortable.
* I was also squicked by the "testing" done on Jasmine. It was very reminiscent of something you might read in some of Christine Feehan's later Ghostwalkers series, which is honestly the main reason I stopped reading that series. The testing was only a minor point in the story though, and could fairly easily be skimmed over by the reader.
Believe it or not though, I did enjoy the story quite a bit. I'm going to say 3.5/5 for my final rating, though I think for readers who are prepared for Corin's flashbacks, the rating will likely be higher.
 - Dee Carney)