seriously romantic: beneath the night by jen colly

i hadn't read the cities below series before beneath the night, so i wasn't too bothered by all the exposition. though there was a lot of it. maybe this stuff wasn't covered in previous books, i don't know. but there was a moment i was like, i'm 25% into this book, when will things start happening. and okay, stuff had happened, but this is a paranormal romance. the two leads hadn't met until that moment. i am impatient.

once they meet navarre and cat are intimately connected. mainly because she's been sent in to feed him, but also because it's pretty clear to everyone except cat that navarre and her are mates, and were fated to meet. i should explain that navarre and cat are both vampires, and he is the ruler of the vampire city of balinese. he's been in a healing sleep for almost seven years, and by chance one of his captains figures out that the reason he has survived this long in stasis is because cat, his soul mate is close by.

cat is a guardian, an elite group of vampires who protect the city from demons. before coming to balinese she was a stalker, a lone demon hunter, and she's retained her independence while still becoming a key reason balinese is safe. cat is so self-sufficient and strong. she's basically raised herself, and she's raised five orphans too. and navarre respects that.

and it's so refreshing. i mean, sure he has his moments of protectiveness, but the truth is she is perfectly capable and proves it over and over again. and he admires her for it. the way he looks at her, he knows she is different, but he doesn't see those differences. he just sees the woman he is meant to be with. the woman he'll put first above all things, even his own health.

they are also battling demon attacks that seem to target them very specifically and it's only a matter of time before things go haywire. when they do, the way they can trust in each other is key to everyone's survival. things are resolved fairly quickly and the epilogue gives us a glimpse of where the series might be going next. though there are several threads that remain open-ended and i presume will be explored at some point.

**beneath the night will publish on april 18, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/kensington books (lyrical shine) in exchange for an honest review.