Paladin's Kiss (Elemental Covenant Book 3) by Elizabeth Hunter
Paladin's Kiss
Elemental Covenant
Adult, New Adult, Paranormal Romance, Mystery, Paranormal & Urban Fiction, Mystery
Recurve Press, LLC
August 23, 2022
Kindle, Paperback
326
It’s the vampire wedding of the century… and maybe the end of an empire.
Invited to the marriage ceremony of two old friends, Carwyn ap Bryn and Brigid Connor venture south, ready to relax in the company of Marie-Hélène Charmont, the vampire queen of the Delta, and four hundred of her esteemed immortal guests.
The upper echelons of vampire society have gathered in New Orleans, curious to witness the joining of Gavin Wallace, the immortal business mogul, to the human woman who captured his heart.
But when Gavin asks Brigid and Carwyn to look into a mysterious man stalking his human employees, they’re unprepared for the tangled web of deception they uncover. Tug on the wrong string and centuries-old alliances might fall apart.
In a tenuously balanced society full of apex predators; even one slip can prove disastrous.
Elizabeth Hunter’s Elemental Covenant Series is comprised of stories centered around Carwyn ap Bryn and Brigid Connor, “two elemental vampires finding the lost, righting wrongs, and searching for meaning in the endless stretch of immortality they’ve been granted”. In Paladin’s Kiss, Carwyn and Brigid are invited to the vampire wedding of the century between international businessman and vampire, Gavin Wallace, and his human bride, Chloe Reardon (Gavin and Chloe’s story is told in The Devil and the Dancer). When Gavin’s human employees working on new technology for vampires start disappearing, Carwyn and Brigid are asked to investigate. Little do they realize the complicated and deep webs of political intrigue and personal animus they are about to uncover.
I cannot say enough about Elizabeth Hunter’s Elemental world. In typical Elizabeth style she has created a diverse and fabulous cast of memorable characters, with Carwyn and Brigid being right up there at the top of the list. They are such a dicotomy of personalities as Carwyn is a former Welsh priest, gregarious mountain of a man, and ancient vampire who loves to wear loud Hawaiian shirts while petite Brigid is a newly turned immortal who is exponentially more of a badass then what even her all black, loaded with weapons attire suggests. Together they not only make a formidable team but their attraction and devotion to each other heats up page after page.
Since getting married, Carwyn and Brigid have been traveling the world using their propensities as earth and fire vampires as well personal skill sets to go after the bad guys, both vampire and human, that take advantage of the most vulnerable. For Brigid, a young and fairly volitile fire vampire, it is a way to squash the demons of her human past that have followed her into immortality and control an element that would consume her if she did not control it. As Carwyn and Brigid begin to investigate the mysterious man following the human’s under Gavin’s protection they realize that there are more insidious forces at work that put many more vulnerable at risk.
Paladin’s Kiss is also a riuniting of some fan favorites couples like Geovanni and Beatrice, Tenzin and Ben, and Gavin and Chloe with some wonderfully entertaining moments.
“Oh, Tenzin will show up.” Chloe’s smile was wicked. “I made her part of the bridal party.:
The skies parted, the moon shone brighter, and everything in Brigid’s world suddenly glowed golden. “Are you telling me that you made Tenzin – a three-thousand-year-old vampire assassin – a bridesmaid for your posh wedding?”
This was possibly the best thing that Brigid had heard in her entire life.
“Better.” Chloe’s eyes were dancing. “I made her the maid of honor.”
I think all these characters together had to be one of my favorite parts of the book. It was the perfect balance to a suspenseful plot.
Drawing from many of Elizabeth’s other stories, Paladin’s Kiss is reminds me of how rope is created by weaving a number of individual stings into one chord. The main storyline keeps you guessing until the very end with a great mystery woven through Gavin and Chloe’s wedding. The other subplots tie in previous information in a way that still allows this to be read as a stand alone. However, I highly recommend reading all the books in the series, not only because it will give you a fuller understanding as you read Paladin’s Kiss but because they are all five star reviews as well! (You can find my reviews for all of them here on The LitBuzz) Elizabeth tied up this story really well but still left enough unanswered questions to make us believe there will be a book 4, which will make fans of Carwyn and Brigid quite happy.
You can find a book list and reading order for the Elemental world and other Elizabeth Hunter series on her website https://elizabethhunterwrites.com.
Tanya’s love for books has been a lifelong passion that she likes sharing with others. Reading is also the thing that relaxes her after a day of juggling the many responsibilities that come with being being wife to an amazing man, mother to four great kids spread around the world, business manager, and farm hand on their place in southwest Missouri; home to Akaushi cattle and a menagerie of pygmy goats, horses, chickens, dogs and cats.
