Not because of gore or graphic descriptions, but the unrelenting misery in every word and action. Stalking, misogyny, kidnapping, impending death and intense emotional blackmail. All tied up in a backward culture. With a story helmed by a broken young woman still caught in the trauma of grief.
There’s sex sure, it’s not objectionable, kinda hot, but it was also haunted by the dysfunction and imbalance of the relationship. Adam has a problem with plain speaking and honesty. And Analise is purposely obtuse. She kept asking her mate all kinds of stupid questions as his life force drained away. And it took her !!9hrs and 22min!! to figure out the guy was a vampire ffs. Oh and all of the efforts convince Analise to surrender her life to God’s will… sheesh… that was a romance novel first.
I can only guess (from the masses of positive reviews) that the author had a limited release in an evangelical community or some other anachronistic group. The book was full of digs at cities, factory farming, social media, modern tech, and working women. Also there was soooo much sexual inequality.
The final straw: the main character is 23 and the narrator is ancient