“Buffy meets Charmed meets Percy Jackson” – Amazon ReviewerSerafina spends her days studying to become an archaeologist like her mother was. If only her mother had lived to see her succeed. But after Sera unearths the find of a lifetime on her summer dig, her dreams of drinking blood and violent magic leave behind an eerie sense of foreboding.Something bad is looming on the horizon. Something … looming on the horizon. Something ancient and evil.
When a well-known antiquities collector takes an obsessive interest in the Roman amulet, Sera suddenly finds her life in chaos. She’s thrown into a supernatural world that shouldn’t exist, where vampires and witches alike claim ownership of the mysterious amulet. Her amulet.
But as her connection to the relic grows, so does Sera’s fear for her life. If she doesn’t figure out the amulet’s secret soon, then she may just follow her mother’s footsteps straight to the grave.
If you can’t get enough of books by Deborah Harkness, Anne Rice, L.J. Smith, or anything paranormal fantasy, then dive on in and get ready for a vampire origin story unlike any other, with twists you’ll never see coming.
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This is book one of the Immortal Relics series and starts with archaeology students and best friends Sera and Nora working on a dig in Italy. Sera ignores their dig leader about where to dig, getting a feeling she should be digging elsewhere, and uncovering an ancient Roman amulet, which looks like it has a huge ruby in the centre of it. She thinks their dig leader Chad will take the credit for her find, but he just continues to be a sleaze, hitting on her inappropriately all the time. Sera feels a great urge to get her hands on the amulet and starts having vivid dreams that seem so real, of two sisters back in Roman times, who take part in some sort of ritual at the temple of the God Bacchus.
Her dreams get more sinister as she sees rituals involving magic and drinking of blood, as well as violence. She is also hearing a voice apparently calling her from the amulet. She wonders if she is going mad and doesn’t feel like she can speak to Nora or her boyfriend Hiro about this or her problems with their visiting professor and dig leader Chad. But it seems that she is not the only one who wants the amulet, there are also witches and vampires after it, as they want the power it can give them. The amulet has chosen Sera, but this puts everyone she is close to in danger!
Finding the amulet will also lead Sera to discoveries about her own past and the death of her mother at a dig some twenty years beforehand. Her father may not agree with her choice of job, but it is something both she and Nora have been besotted with from an early age. It is not just her that has been trying to keep the amulet safe from those who are seeking to use it for dark purposes. It seems this struggle has been going on for thousands of years and now Sera is the new chosen one, who must stop these creatures from getting it and enslaving mankind for their own wants and needs. She needs to ask others for help, others with more power and connections in the magical world than her, but who are willing to help mankind and keep them safe from the dangers of the Immortals and the Eternal one. More is to come and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of this book above.
This is book 1 of the Immortal Relics series. This was a really great for the series and a really great story that I enjoyed reading. The character work is great and the story had a great flow. I can’t wait for the next book and would recommend reading.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was my first read from this author and I did quite enjoy it! I read a small range of books: contemporary romance, mystery, and paranormal. I would classify this one as urban fantasy or maybe paranormal fiction.
I enjoyed the story’s concept, it was a refreshing twist on the Vampire / Witch genre. The polished writing, descriptions, the voice, and pacing and the author’s research and plotting were quite evident.
It was a good read!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I liked this story. It was interesting and had a mystery or two weaved into the paranormal that kept me guessing. I enjoyed how everything ended up connecting to each other and I loved the characters. The good and bad guys were all well written and easy to like and hate. Plus it was so easy to picture the characters and what was going on at any given time. The story was well written and just sucked me in as I had to see what was going to happen next. Just a fun read. Loved the Roman feel and the interesting take on the myths.
Good book that blends mythology, paranormal beings, and plenty of humor. The characters are well done and diverse.
This was a great series starter and the book was filled with fantastic character work along with a terrific story line. I am eagerly waiting to see what happens in the next book in this series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I have never read this author until this book, but I think I have found a new favorite (to add to all the others LOL!). I have been a little put off recently with vampire books, but I am always willing to read one. This book was a very interesting take on the vampire myth. Not only was the writing fantastic, the plot line, the characters, and the way the writer made the book so engaging are aspects you really need to read. I was drawn in almost from the first page, and I enjoyed every single moment. A word of caution, though, this only has a little bit of romance, and it leans much more towards urban fantasy. We do get to see the world from both Seraphina and Soloman, and I was surprised at how the plot played out; I am not usually that surprised. Excellent book, and I am so eager to read the next one. I highly recommend this! I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.
„Curse of the Vampire“ the start of Stephanie Mirro’s new UF series “Immortal Relics” with Serafina, an archeology student, as its main character. Serafina is an academic student with a very realistic approach to events, who does not believe in the supernatural, until the supernatural itself proves her wrong. After making the find of the season, an ancient Roman amulet, she begins to have what she catalogizes as “strange dreams”, which in fact are visions about a violent ancient cult with connections to Bacchus and the just unearthed amulet. When group of very real modern cultist chase her claiming ownership of the amulet, Serafina finds herself in deep trouble as it appears that supernatural does believe in her and forces her to make a decision between saving the amulet and saving her love ones.
The book offers a brand-new take on vampire myth, which emphasize the action over the romance, with interesting intakes on history from the archeological point of view. The story is well written, fast-paced, with good developed characters in unexpected twists, a brand-new approach to the vampire myth, that keeps the reader invested until the very last page.
An intriguing spin on vampire mythology…
Serafina is an archaeology student that discovers an ancient amulet during a summer dig in Italy. The magic of the amulet calls out to her and she is soon caught up in its mysteries. Vampires and witches also take interest in the powerful amulet, and Serafina ends up fighting for her life with the very fate of humanity at stake.
I loved the archaeology angle as it gave off a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe to the beginning of the story. The author’s new spin on vampire mythology was also a nice touch. Gods being characters in a story isn’t something that is too common either, so there was a lot to like about this book.
There were a couple of issues with the book. First, I hate when authors use flashbacks in stories. There are dreams/flashbacks to the ancient world which fills the reader in on the backstory of the ‘vampires’ and the gods. I think the author would have been better to leave these out. If they really wanted to shed light on the ancient world, write a prequel to the series set in the ancient world. That would have been a much better route to go.
My other issue was the book was easy to put down. I’d reached the 80% mark in the story and went to bed. Normally that deep into the book, I’d keep going until I finished it.
I will note that the book ended strongly, and if the author can stay focused on keeping that final pacing going for the rest of the series, this might turn out of be a hidden gem of a series.
When archeology student Serafina finds an amulet on a dig, she never thought it would bring about so many changes to her life. Back at the university after the dig ends, she’s tasked with cleaning the ancient relic. After that, it’s placed in a museum so that many can enjoy. What most don’t know though, is that the necklace if from the ancient god Bacchus and it actually holds not only his blood, but his essence.
But that’s not all. The necklace calls out to Sera, it whispers her name on the wind. It demands she listens, it beckons her. When the necklace is stolen while on display at the museum, Sera’s on the list of suspects since security videos show just how often and for how long she’s been there in front of the piece, studying it. But the police aren’t the only ones looking for it. We find out that there’s an ancient race, Vampires, that are after it because they’re hoping it will fix everything that’s going on with their race. They’re slowly losing their immortality and they can no longer make humans immortal. They know that whoever possesses the amulet will be able to rule the world.
Serafina also finds out about what really happened when her mother died. She finds out the truth about both witches and vampires. She’s informed that the amulet has selected her and once she puts the amulet on, the voice of Bacchus himself speaks and works through her.
Running from evil vampires, being protected by a witch, and having a god work through her is definitely not what Serafina thought would happen to her life.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It does have some slow-moving parts, but it doesn’t totally distract you from the story. It is the first book in a series, so there’s a cliffhanger. There’s also lots of action, witches, gods, and vampires. What more could you want?
At the time of this review, there’s two other books out in the series, so you don’t have to wait for the next book, and you can read for free if you use Kindle Unlimited like I do.
**Read using my Kindle Unlimited subscription.