Loving this series. For a lot of reasons, but especially the treatment of the main relationship. Read an article recently about how women like romance novels because they feature not just happy endings, but men taking responsibility for bad behavior, apologizing and changing that behavior. Committing to love, respect, and care for the woman protagonist. Another article recently talked about how we are if the first generations where a woman doesn’t have to marry to exist in society. It cited the relative recentness of women being allowed to work, own property, and have their own bank accounts. It’s a choice now, to marry, not a requirement for survival. Though that is still not universally true, because capitalism.
Anyway. The Night Huntress features a woman protagonist who is doing her own thing and through the enemies to lovers trope, hooks up with our male protagonist. I love this trope and it was well done, IMHO. But that’s not what I want to talk about.
The relationship itself. The ups and downs, the fights and the reconciliations. It shows openness, honesty, communication, and the ability to admit when you were wrong are pillars of this relationship. It shows that a fight, even a knock down drag out fight (it’s a vampire hunting series), even when one runs away for a time (usually from a misunderstanding or sense it will protect the other), doesn’t have to destroy a strong relationship. That assumptions are poison, and direct and honest communication the antidote. Love wins out, but it still takes work and choosing, over and over, to make it work.
And I love it!
In other relationships and situations, it also shows that abuse and manipulation will not be tolerated. Even by those with more power, political or vampiric. Love this.
This series is not for everyone. It is quite violent in that the main thrust thus far (I’m a few books in) is hunting down and killing bad vampires. I’m a action movie fan myself, so this doesn’t bother me. But reader beware of you’re looking for soft romantic vampire erotic. This is not that, though the few sex scenes scattered about are a delight.
