Lucie V.'s Reviews > Cronin's Key

✅ Characters
✅ Smut (MM)
✅ Vampires and powers
✅ Mythology and folklore
✅(🆗) Pace
✅(🆗) Romance (kind of insta-love, but slow burn at the same time)
✅(🆗) Plot
✅🆗 Some info-dump

This felt like a loooooong setup for about 15% of action near the end, but somehow I still enjoyed it and I want to read the next one to see what will happen. It was not a bad book, but it was not suuuuper good either, something was missing, and many little details bothered me… Still, I am curious enough about Alec and Cronin’s next adventure to try the second book.

Alec, 29 years old detective in the NYPD is used to “weird things” happening to him since he was a kid. Having a fanged man die and turn into dust in from of him, or having a man appear in the middle of the police station and teleport him away is a whole new level of weird though. Cronin is a millennia-old vampire that has been waiting for his mate for his whole life, and he gets the shock of his life when he realizes that his mate is not only human but also “the key” that vampires need to eradicate the new threat of a self-proclaimed vampire queen who’s been building herself an army in Egypt.

The writing is good overall, but the dialogues felt a little choppy at times, but I think that’s just me being picky. There was banter and humor though and I enjoyed that a lot. The fact that Alec, who worked hard to get where he is right now in his life and his career, just willingly gave everything up without much arguing and sadness didn’t seem that believable. It is explained, but the explanation felt a little weak considering that we are talking about uprooting his whole life: he can’t go back to his house, he can’t work as a detective anymore, he can’t contact any friends he had anymore, and he’s just so chill about it… There were also some info-dumps and drier parts because Alec knew nothing about the vampire world, and everything was explained to him in every other chapter.

The fact that Cronin and Alec have an audience for all their private conversations bothered me too. Vampires in this world have supernatural hearing, so even when Cronin and alec are alone in a room, everyone else in the apartment can hear them. On other occasions, they have conversations about sensible information in front of many people without asking themselves if this is a good idea, simply because Cronin is an elder and no one will dare betray him (I admire his trust in his coven, but still…).

“You know, there’s a joke in there somewhere. A Highlander, a Viking, and a Samurai walk into a bar.”

While this story focuses on the romance between Alec and Cronin, there is also folklore and mythology integrated into the plot and the world-building, and the plot was not solely about romance. It takes a lot of room in the story for sure, but the quest of figuring out how to defeat the evil queen and kill her army is also a big part of the book. The secondary characters are interesting too, and I liked Eiji’s enthusiasm and happy disposition.

“Covens?”
“Yes. Vampire colonies.”
“Are you in a coven?”
“Yes.”
“With Jodis and Eiji?”
“Yes.”
“How many others?”
“Four hundred and fifty-two.”
“Jesus.”
“No, he’s not one of them.” Cronin laughed and Alec balked. “I’m only joking.”
Alec narrowed his eyes at him. “Is that vampire humor?” Cronin still chuckled as he shrugged.

I am a little on the fence about whether or not I enjoyed the romance in this one.
I like Cronin and Alec’s dynamic and interactions, but I am also picky with the “fated mate” concept because it often comes with insta-love. In this case, it was an interesting mix of insta-lust/insta-love and slow-burn.

I liked the fact that while Alec was physically attracted to Cronin, he questioned everything Cronin, Jodis, and Eiji said, he was freaking out about the whole “vampires exist and they do have special powers” situation, which is the only realistic reaction to have in my opinion when you are “kidnapped” by a vampire and your whole world is turned upside down… But then, after spending a few days with Cronin and seeing that he couldn’t resist the physical attraction between them, he just decided to roll with it and accept the insta-love he was destined for, which bothered me a teeny little bit, even though I understand his reasoning in a way and they had good chemistry.


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