Mitch by Dakota Rebel

TITLE: Mitch
AUTHOR: Dakota Rebel
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 63k)
GENRE: Gay paranormal erotic romance
COST: ₤3.49

Federal Marshal Mitch Baine gets his first assignment since getting seriously hurt in a vamp hunt, only to discover the serial killer vampire he’s supposed to take out is none other than the stranger who gave him the best blow job of his life in a one-night stand the night before. Jarrod Axlerod is lead singer for a band called Heartstrings, and now, the government wants him dead, for crimes Mitch isn’t so sure he committed…

I bought this book before I read the last story I reviewed by this author, which is why it has sat on my TBR pile ever since. I wasn’t sure it was going to be worth it, and when my TBR is already so big, I don’t like to waste time on authors I know aren't going to work for me. But I decided to give it a go, and while I’m still not a fan of this author by any means, this was at least a better story than the first.

The story starts out with a recuperated Mitch hitting the annual Masked Ball at Torque, a gay bar in Detroit. Usually, he sits on the sidelines, but this year, he’s determined to get into the action. Quickly, he hones in on this gorgeous man, though he knows right away the stranger is a vampire. But since he’s throwing caution to the wind, he indulges, and thus comes some of the most amazing sex he’s ever had. He’s shocked to discover the man’s identity the next day – Jarrod Axlerod, the lead singer in his seventeen-year-old sister’s favorite band. Jarrod is implicated in a string of murders, but something seems off to Mitch, and he starts to drag his feet about the assignment. He goes through the motions with recon, but try as he might to keep some distance from Jarrod, he just can’t seem to do it.

Though there’s nothing very original about either lead character, I was actually mildly engaged with their romance. The sex was on the hot side, and it wasn’t nearly as repetitive as the first story I read by this author. I also really liked the sibling relationship between Mitch and his little sister Reagan. Their banter and back-and-forth were the most realistic aspects of the entire story, and helped to carry me through portions that felt like it was stretching credibility.

But then, the whole serial killer plotline came to a head. Suspensefully so, I might add. Which would have been good if the story had ended shortly afterward. Instead, there was a whole third of the book to occur after that got resolved. The pacing that had been set ground to a halt as everything happened around Mitch, and the final straws to the romance were dragged out, page after page. Any sense of tempo was lost, and my goodwill toward the characters disintegrated as it felt like I was being dragged through more and more stuff that felt completely extraneous. That’s not due to the subject matter. I can see why the author wanted it in there for purposes of the romance. But in regards to pacing and flow, it never felt like it fit. The plotline about the serial killer was the central thread tightening its way through the first two-thirds of the book. Once it was resolved, the lack of its presence was an acute problem. It left the book feeling very disjointed, and ultimately disappointing what could have been a satisfactory read.

Readability	7/10 – Awkward pacing with a final third that felt like a brand new story dragged this down
Hero #1	6/10 – For a marshal, never felt like he was actually very good at his job
Hero #2	4/10 – Too perfect to seem very real
Entertainment value	5/10 – I was enjoying this more on a completely superficial level until the last third
World building	6/10 – Every time I started getting some nice details to flesh out the world, the story slipped back into the sex again
TOTAL:	28/50