I don't really know what to make of this book. For everything thing I loved, a few pages later something completely ridiculous would pop up. 
 The romance was very sweet. If the entire book had just been about the two of them, I probably would have enjoyed it more. I absolutely adored Rafe. I want one. He upped the book a whole star. Who doesn't love watching a grumpy scarred man who doesn't believe in love fall desperately in love? And Cassandra. She was kind, but for an intelligent woman, she had a serious case of the TSTL syndrome. It's like she wanted to kick the bucket. 
 The whole vampire overthrow part of the plot was boring. I ended up skimming most of it. Half of the things that happened revolved around rules of the vampire world that are never really explained. For example, the Mark that connects a vampire and another person can only be be detected within the bounds of the city it was made in? Or is there a certain radius? Is there an invisible line that a person has to cross? Throughout the books, when a vampire feeds on someone, they can see what is in their mind. So why are there constant misconceptions about how the non vampire feels about the vampire? Couldn't they see that when they fed from them? I was so confused. 
 From there my confusion continued. Nothing made sense! Why does giving a few vials of blood debilitate a vampire? They can heal a wound in minutes! I've had 12+ vials of blood drawn in one go and I was fine and dandy. Why on earth would a few vials of blood being drawn over a couple of days weaken a supernatural being? Perhaps there is a legitimate reason but it was never explained. 
 I'm not a fan of rape as a plot point (or in this case, subplot) in a romance novel, whether it be a main character or a secondary character. I know every book is different and sometimes it's necessary to the plot, but there is a certain way of writing about it that doesn't make you feel like you need to scrub your brain clean. In this case, it was only one sentence that tipped the scale into UGH NO territory. Maybe I'm too sensitive. Perhaps it's all on me, but it's my review after all, and this is something that bothered me. On the plus side (as much as their can be), from the way it was written, I believe it will will play a huge part of a plot in a future book. So while it was unpleasant, I do not believe it was unnecessary. 
 Overall, I enjoyed the book. It has a lot going for it. Romance, intrigue, mystery, even a little violence thrown in there (as in fighting). It just wasn't what I was looking for when I picked it up. It was much darker than I thought and perhaps if I was in a different mood I would have liked it more.