"Rise" by Mary Cox is a suspenseful and steamy (there are adult scenes) vampire novel about 100-year-old vampire, Matt Brenner, and his forbidden passion for the beautiful and human co-ed, Catherine Temple.
In the opening scene, Matt swoops in and saves Catherine from a demeaning teacher's assistant, Brad, but shortly thereafter, a fight ensues between the two men, one that ends badly. Catherine finds out that Matt is a vampire, and she enters a state of shock.
But Matt offers comfort to innocent Catherine who is naive about the submissiveness Brad desired from her, as a part of his dom/sub fantasy. The story takes off from there with romance, sex, different locales, and vignettes into the past. An early and favorite vignette is the sex-for-blood experience Matt has that turns him into a vampire.
The main strengths of the novel are the author's enticing plot line, provocative writing style, and her attention-to-detail in setting up scenes and character development. The book is highly mysterious, and the author's writing style really encourages you to keep turning the page! Mary Cox's "Rise" is a wonderful vampire novel with plenty of sex and mystery to engage the reader's attention.
