I bought this volume, Dark Serenade, of the Montenegro Series without having read the first volume, but that was not a problem. I did not even know that there was a previous part to the story, so the three volumes seem to stand alone in their own right.
Right on the first page, we meet the central character of this book, Victor Montenegro, who is from a very powerful Californian family. Unbeknown to him, while he is in New Orleans in 1853, many of his friends are vampires, werewolves or hybrids of the two.
While on an adventure with one of these friends, they are attacked by an emissary of the Devil, and would have died, if it hadn’t been for the quick thinking of some of his friends. However, saving his life did not come without a cost. He became immortal, and Miss Perez expertly investigates the consequences that can have on a person’s (love) life.
Victor Montenegro has several love interests in the story to illustrate Miss Perez’s ideas on an immortal’s love life. In fact, there are quite a few instances of mortals loving immortals, immortals loving immortals, unrequited love and various love triangles.
I am no expert on American history of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, but I did get the impression that several of the backdrops used in the novel by Miss Perez were fairly accurate, which makes the story even more interesting to me.
I like to think that I have learned something after reading a book, even a novel, and Dark Serenade fulfilled that desire.
The cover of Dark Serenade suits the storyline of the novel well, and the contents appear to have been professionally edited for spelling.
I enjoyed reading Estela Vazquez’s Dark Serenade, and think that all aficionados of the romantic fantasy genre will too.
Owen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail from Barry to Gibraltar a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of fifteen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
