I remember scoffing at the platitude that one should not judge a book by its cover. That’s literally how we buy books. We look at covers, we look at short summaries and we decide if we want to take a chance on a book. So when given the chance to review Letters for Lucardo, I saw a book about vampires that was smutty and I said “sure” because I have to and I am contractually obligated to do so to break the spell that binds me to Earth.
Here’s my time to remind you that in fact this is a smut comic as I am not just your Prince of Unpopular Opinions, I am also your Smut Prince. This is a set of 18+ books and that means we’re gonna talk about two men getting down and dirty. If that offends you, well, I’d like to know what you’re doing here and also, I’m willing to give you a moment to flee to safer and more vanilla pastures.
A summary: Lucardo is a vampire who has it hot and heavy for his scribe, Edmund. Ed is mortal and is…well, he’s older. Let’s put a pin in that because it will be important soon. The two spend most of book one merely getting to know each other and honestly, book one nearly lost me. It was a slow burn of two men who clearly had a thing for each other finally melting into lust. And while I find Lucardo to be a wonderful character, I mostly found book one to be a conventional slow burn. The art is beautiful and fluid, the storytelling is solid. It just didn’t do much for me. We do get introduced into a world that is wonderfully rich and full chock full of vampires and a Night Court and fancy clothes and oh the lore, the lore. And one little detail that I’ll put another in pin because it’s much better handled in the next book. Book one though ends on an interesting note, Lucardo’s father, an old angry traditional vampire approaches Ed and demands that the mortal leave his son’s side and that banishment kicks off the in my opinion much stronger book two.
Book two kicks off with Ed in isolation and Lucardo hoping to find him. Needless to say, the battle between Lucardo and his father reaches a fever pitch and the hunt is on to find Edmund and return things to their natural order with the lovers wonderfully entwined together.
So there are two pins that I’d like to bring up. One of Edmund’s age. Now, I’m all in favor of a May-December romance and the way it’s handled in book one is….odd. Ed is treated very much like a fragile little rose and I suppose to an immortal vampire, of course he would be. But as of book one there’s not enough tension to make that sort of thing make sense. Additionally, as a smut novel, the choice to make Edmund of age and to bring it up like so…well, it did certainly hinder my level of engagement with the narrative to use veiled language. If this does it for you, I’m not here to kinkshame, it just didn’t do much for me. Book two does a much better job of giving stakes (vampire pun) and weight to Edmund’s age and mortality in ways I won’t spoil because dammit, read book two.
The next pin is Lucardo himself because I have been holding back something from you, dear reader. Lucardo is black. And a hush falls over the crowd, that’s right, a black vampire. And he’s handled so damn well that it makes the whole affair worth it. His blackness isn’t fetishized by Edmund, who is white. His family is eloquent and of status. He’s no stereotype and he’s handled very tactfully and brilliantly. But he’s far from perfect. He’s impetuous, immature and arrogant and he’s so wonderfully complex. There’s other little things about his character that I love; he wraps his hair at night, a ritual I perform every night. And his relationship with his family is complex and reminds me of my own large, Southern family even though we’re not vampires (that you all know of).
Also an aside, I love that the vampires mostly eat cakes and sweets and drink tea and that jives with a headcanon I’ve had for years about vampires and pastries and it just makes me very happy and continues to remind me of my own Southern family.
Book two does a much better job with stakes and with tension and even though the romance still feels a bit flat for me, by book two I was emotionally invested in these characters. I bought their romance, their bond, their intimacy, their struggles and oh dear, reader, I want things to be okay.
Remember earlier when I said I found book one boring? Let me explain myself.
I am myself a brooding shape in the night, much like Lucardo. Trauma has in some ways made me monstrous. It made me want characters as broken as me. Stories as twisted as me. Love as cruel as mine had been and I struggle to enjoy happiness in romance because I’ve experienced so little of it in my own life.
I’m a hard critic to please when it comes to romance and Letters for Lucardo made me start to appreciate some of the joy in the vanilla and the safe.
But these books made me see that maybe conventional isn’t so bad. And maybe a romance between a black vampire and his older lover just doing their damn best can still be compelling, thoughtful and kind.
I didn’t spoil book two because technically, that’s what I’m supposed to be reviewing and dammit, I want you to read book two because it’s so good. And I want to know what happens. I want things to be okay. I want to see what happens next. This book now has me on baited breath, eager, quivering and waiting for more.
I recommend Letters for Lucardo wholeheartedly. I hope you get as much satisfaction out of this steamy romance as I did.
