Immortal Things

By: Rick R. Reed

Narrated by: Sandra Detweiler

By day, Elise draws and paints, spilling out the horrific visions of her tortured mind. By night, she walks the streets, selling her body to the highest bidder.

And then they come into her life: a trio of impossibly beautiful vampires: Terence, Maria, and Edward. When they encounter Elise, they set an explosive triangle in motion.

Terence wants to drain her blood. Maria wants Elise . . . as lover and partner through eternity. And Edward, the most recently converted, wants to prevent her from making the same mistake he made as a young abstract expressionist artist in 1950s Greenwich Village: sacrificing his artistic vision for immortal life. He is the only one of them still human enough to realize what an unholy trade this is.

Immortal Things will grip you in a vise of suspense that won't let go until the very last moment, when a shocking turn of events changes everything and demonstrates truly what love and sacrifice are all about.

©2021 Rick R. Reed (P)2024 Rick R. Reed

So very different!!

This is a very interesting take on vampires and has some very different aspects from many vampire stories. This book is about Terrence, Edward, Maria and Elise. At times I felt sorrow for some of the characters. Other times I struggled to like a character. It's an entertaining read throughout.

a

This story is what I hoped Interview With the Vampire was going to be when I read it many years ago and was disappointed with it. No disappointment here. I found the world Elise and the vampire trio inhabit dreamy and unsettling. The time changes were expertly handled and added to my unease as I tried to connect the dots and predict where things were going to go. Fortunately, the author had twists and turns that did not let me see too far ahead. I was particularly happy to get to see the multiple perspectives on vampirism. When I read vampire books I always think about the pros and cons of being a vampire and this book does a great job of embodying those calculations in his characters. Sandra Detweiler is a new narrator for me and I really enjoyed this performance. It was matter of fact enough to make the paranormal believable while also never losing sight of the strange things going on.

great vampires

2.75⭐️
Audio: 2.75⭐️

Elise is an artist whose life morphed her from a bright, hopeful art student, to an artist living in the shadows. By day she paints images of death with a clinical edge, by night she performs clinical sex work. She sees herself as separate and above the dregs she’s surrounded with, bestowing a gift to her pathetic clients. She lives in darkness and a sense of otherness not much different than Maria, Terrance and Edward.

The three are their own little family and are worshipers of art. They devour the humanity it provides, the closest they will ever come to it again. When Terrence procures Elise as prey and sees her art, he is entranced. He can see the darkness of her soul, a knowledge and intimacy with the dark that speaks of a kindred spirit.

When Elise meets Maria *she* is entranced, the connection between them instant and fierce. Used to being the admired and desired when it comes to his prey, Terrence is bitter that the woman he acquired chose Maria. Once a gifted artist, Edward is still close enough to his humanity and the pain of losing his ability to create that he knows the trade for immortality is skewed and soul-crushing. However, Elise’s life is already soul-crushing. Her bond with Maria and the whispered promises of forever, make the potential to lose her gift seem worth it.

Immortal Things is entertaining, but not as engaging as I would have wished. I love the vampires and their visceral predatoriness. Humans rarely blip their radar as anything other than blood and meat. I also liked how the story cycles back and forth between Edward and Elise’s seduction. Edward’s chapters show the slippery appearance of choice and what will be stripped away if she succumbs, as well how the seduction differs when love is present. Given the blurb, it seemed that everyone in the trio would have an active role in the relationship with Elise, but basically it’s only Maria, with Terrence and Edward’s characters developed behind the scenes so to speak.

Additionally, the promised suspense never materialized for me; almost every aspect of the story is swallowed up in Elise and Maria’s instantaneous but leisurely fall into each other. It would’ve been fine if there was more balance between their all-consuming passion and the rest of the story, which is crammed in at the end when Elise wavers. Suddenly Terrence is ragefully resentful bc he wants Elise for himself (which creates the explosive triangle). Suddenly, in the 11th hour Edward shares his warning. Suddenly there is a pact and promises that are important, but didn’t come into play when they knew Maria was courting Elise? I can see there is meant to be an underlying tension in the trio waiting to boil over, but it's barely established and over in a flash in the rushed ending. However, I liked the story overall even if I was a bit disappointed by it and the narration.

The narration is not the worst I’ve heard, but I’m unsurprised Sandra Detweiler has only one narrator credit listed. She is a fine reader but that’s pretty much all she’s doing, and it’s distracting enough that it may have colored my impression of the story. I struggled during the moody, atmospheric introduction to the vampires and their mortuary altar to art in the prologue. There is no real inflection or cadence to anything; she is reading descriptors. She sometimes gives some oomph to the bigger emotions or moments, but even those are muted. Any true passion, deep emotion, or nuance is lacking. It’s also good that the vampires all have an accent bc it would've been harder to differentiate them. When she drops the accents (which is frequently), it's difficult to tell who is speaking or if it's an inner thought because each character sounds like her prose voice. However, her voice is pleasant, and I think with time and practice she will become a very strong narrator.

Interesting, Unique and Sad

Overall I enjoyed it, although it took me a little bit of time to get into this story and like the characters. Elise was my favorite and I was waiting for her chapters the most. This book was very unique and had a good flow, I liked it a lot, but I wasn't prepared for how sad it will make me feel. Narrator did a good job telling this story. I thought I would prefer male narrator, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this narrator's work. Her performance made this a very good listening experience.

The atmosphere of this story goes CRAZY

This is the first time I try a mmff book, and I ended up enjoying it VERY much, but it turns out the romance isn’t what appeal to me here, the VIBE is.

The atmosphere of this story goes CRAZY, so immersive like it’s almost dragging you in violently. It’s not like anything I’ve seen. The damp, warm, moldy weather of the city; the too-perfectly shaped vampire faces and their porcelain-like white skin; the hungry thrill of riding on the blade of a sharp knife until orgasm hits with a primal force that’s almost too good to feel good…this book just hits me with all sorts of intoxicating feeling over and over, making me an addict to this disgusting humid world with breathtaking creatures that’s has no warmth to their skin. All the descriptions and world building is skillfully done, characters are not exactly lovable but intriguing, and the casting for the narrator is PERFECT.

Sandra Detweiler’s voice is cold, distant, sexy with just a hint of danger, annoyance and laziness. It fits both Elise and Edward so well!

The book jumps between than and now, unrobing the process of Edward being seduced by Terrance, one of the vampire duo, fifty years ago; and the process of Elise being sucked in the trio by Maria now. Both Elise and Edward are ungodly talented artists with no recognition and money. They were only supposed to be a meal for Terrance and Maria, but lucky for them, Terrance and Maria are suckers for art, and have eyes for true talent.

So now they’re stuck together. Reluctantly. How will Elise navigate through this terrifying situation when every movement of Maria sent a shiver down her spine? And how did Edward ended up still with them, after Terrance made it clear that he’s not into men?

To be honest, romance is not my focus when I read this book. Because the experience of finding pleasure in scenes so brutal, cruel and bloody, is beyond thrilling and more than enough for me to keep listening. No matter what ridiculous thing happens, there’s no going back. Because somewhere between the weed vampires feed their victims, and the human flush they rip with their fangs, I too along with anyone who had ever laid eyes on them, became addicted. To the pain and the high that comes with it.

No HEA here

This was NOT what I expected it was sad from beginning to end. NO HEA. No romance, even the spice scenes were lacking. Addiction and drug use are at the forefront of every interaction.Yes I read the blurb and yes I read the triggers this was just not my vibe. Edward is the most clear character of the four but in the end he just stands there and cries, SERIOUSLY. I feel their was know development in Terence or Maria characters. Elise runs... UGH

The narration was not a good fit. Her accents were inconsistent. The recording and or mic had quality issues as well.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.