May Day | ARC Review – A Dance With Books

Thank you to Josie Jaffrey for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.
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It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.
When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.
To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.
Body bags on standby.

Josie Jaffrey has been an author on my list (I have The Gilded King) so when I got the chance to read May Day I was right on board for that. I was slightly hesitant because vampires can be such a hit or miss for me, but in the end I enjoyed this book all the same.

This book follows Jack Valentine, a newly turned vampire who is apart of the Oxford’s seekers team. The seekers take care of the supernatural crime (which is mainly vampires like them) that live beneath the public eye. Some vampires don’t follow the rules however and do kill or need to be set straight. So when a body falls of a tower on May Morning they are ready to investigate.

One thing that I have always been interested in are special teams that deal with the supernatural alongside the police. I like the bits of detective work and tip toeing around the humans not finding out. The idea that they live among us, is mightily interesting. And that is what this book gives us.

But not only that. May Day has a great set of characters that you can’t help but warm up to. Jack who wants to be the best but also super brass. Cam who is nursing a broken heart. Their team leader who wants to prove himself so much. Killian who has a bit of a crush and sends sparks flying.

I have two complaints. The vampires are greatly at large here but there is little that makes them vampires. They drink blood from a bottle but there is no mention of fangs. They easily move through the day. There is little history given on the origins of the Seekers etc. I missed those bits of world building. This is set in the same world as Solis Invicti so maybe there is more explanation there? However as this is a new start to a series we should be getting it here as well.

And the romance. There is a sapphic romance between Jack and another character. It is cute. But on the side she has a very strong on the page chemistry with Killian. And I feel like the cute sapphic romance will be thrown to the side for that chemistry with Killian in the future (as she almost does now).