Gabriel’s Mate by Tina Folsom

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Title: Gabriel's Mate
Author: Tina Folsom
Series: Scanguards Vampires #3
Published by: Indie
Release Date: December 2, 2010
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 273
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Erotica
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

After Maya is turned into a vampire against her will, vampire and Scanguards bodyguard Gabriel is charged with protecting her and finding her attacker.

Gabriel has never guarded a body as perfect as Maya's. Moreover, Maya's enticing blend of vulnerability and strength is difficult to resist. Yet resist he must. Even as the sexual tension between them rises and the rogue vampire closes in on them, Gabriel refuses to give into his desire. Despite the intimacies they share, Gabriel fears that if he ever reveals himself fully to her, Maya will react like other women have, running from him, and calling him a monster, a freak, a creature not worth her love.

Will Maya prove to be the one female who cherishes all that Gabriel is?

My Review:

3.5 stars — Another reread, and another one I originally rated 4 stars but didn’t leave a review for.  And it’s not that on reread I’m not enjoying these books, but definitely not to the same degree I did some 7 years ago.  There are these subtleties in the writing that keep tweaking me, and I can’t always put my finger on it, but I can’t shake it either.  In this one I started to feel…almost sexual shaming.  There’s something distinctly old school about the way these characters think about sex and relationships and fidelity.  Now, part of that could be that these are characters who have been alive for centuries, and so are still holding some old school beliefs, but they’ve lived long enough in the modern world that that should have worn off.  These are not super overt things, and I’ve definitely seen them in other romances, don’t get me wrong.  They just seemed a bit more out there in this one.  Things like if I don’t keep my partner sexually satisfied, they will go somewhere else to get it.  There was more in that vein, but I’ve apparently forgotten them.

In a slightly different vein, the supposed darker desires (anal sex) of our characters was conveyed in a very shamed manner.  And I get that many characters would genuinely think that, but it didn’t feel resolved at the end…I didn’t feel like the characters saw the act as less shameful, just that it was okay because of what they were.  I wasn’t impressed with that.  While I may not personally be interested in various sexual acts/kinks, I don’t feel like someone who is should be ashamed of that.  *sigh*

I was also not impressed with the way Gabriel’s scar and deformity were handled.  I find it seriously hard to believe that every woman would scream in terror from him.  Was he just convinced because of a few bad encounters, and then perhaps was projecting?  Maybe.  But seriously.  Something about that whole thing just irked me.

So why still 3.5 stars?  Again, I’m enjoying the world, the large cast of characters, the action/plot.  And despite the things mentioned above, I did enjoy Gabriel and Maya and feel for both of them.  The twist that surrounds who they are was interesting and unique.  And the bad guy was HORRIBLE.  And I’m still intrigued by what’s going to happen in the future!  Again, the steamy scenes started off good but got a bit long for my tastes.  I don’t know.  I’m still interested.  I’m still entertained.  *shrugs*