3.75 stars 
 A romance story that felt like a cross between Frankenstein and Beauty and The Beast, The Story of Son is one of JR Ward's earlier nouvella works republished. The story kept me reading, was original and enjoyable enough, but it lacked polish that could have made it brilliant. 
 For example the hints and foretelling in the beginning chapter when heroine meet up with her old client were just a little too obvious, lacking in finesse and subtlety. The final chapter and the hero's final confrontation scene with the bad guy lacked build up and suspense. It was over in 2 or 3 lines. It felt like a non scene. 
 There's also a little insta-lust here for our little driven corporate lawyer heroine Claire to accept being vampire food and get over it enough to want to make friends with Michael. Again this comes back to the polish. 
 My heart did go out for Michael, our hero who hasn't had the best life despite - well because of really - his being a vampire (an interesting take). He is sweet and shy and (view spoiler)[carried his v-card until our heroine comes into his lair (hide spoiler)]. He made a bigger impression on me than Claire, despite the story being in Claire's POV. 
 If you have been put off the author's brotherhood series because of all the world building background this story is much simpler (probably because it is a standalone). 
 At A Glance 
 Cheating (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] 
 Descriptive sex with Om/Ow (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] 
 Love triangle (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] 
 HEA (view spoiler)[Yes. With epilogue. (hide spoiler)]