Filthy Rich Vampire (Filthy Rich Vampires, #1) (2024)

I enjoy the book for its simplicity and that the romance is pretty cute to help quench my romance deprived self, but somewhere along the book, I find it tedious. The plot feels like it wasn't connected to one another and is everywhere.

The writing is a bit amateur-ish too so it's not really my fav thing. I still wanna continue the series (since it ends in cliffhanger) but it's also one that I'd easily dropped if it still doesn't make sense in the next book.

Full RTC.

*3.5* One thousand-year-old vampire meets twenty-two-year old classical musician and is drawn to her immediately. Thus begins the constant push/pull throughout the entire story.

I can understand why so many people have enjoyed the story. It was like a watching a K-Drama or Telenovela, completely unrealistic but you can’t stop from watching! Bummed there was no actual sex between the couple here, but hinting at greater intimacy in the next book. Although he does have sex with another women in the beginning when he first wakes up with a giant boner. A gift from his brother, how sweet.

What I kept wondering, as I do with every vampire book, is why her period is never brought up. Wouldn’t that cause a bit of an issue? Not sure if I’ll read book two or not, can I resit the ott pull of sexy vampires??

2 - ⭐️⭐️

"I am yours. All of me. My body. My blood. You can have both. You can have everything.”

I'm gutted that I did not enjoy this much.

This is another case of a book with a fantastic premise but didn't meet my expectations.

Social season for vampires?
Fake dating trope?
Drama and sexy times?
I would've said yes a million times!

The characters were either mad at each other or horny. That's all I got out of them—oh let's not forget the hero's mother who invited her son and his fake "girlfriend" to a blood orgy because why not.

And I had to skim a few pages just to get to a point where I'll get hooked, and I didn't. The plot kept going in circles and the characters came off as one-dimensional.

Trigger Warnings: dubious consent and vampire venom leaves a druglike-effect.

2.5 ⭐️ Started out strong but by the end, I just didn’t like it.

"Every male in there will want to f*ck you, and every woman will want to be you."
"Because I'm with you?"
"Because they know you're mine."

WHAT TO EXPECT:
✨ urban paranormal romance
✨ san francisco setting
✨ vampires, humans, witches/familiars
✨ Julian: billionaire vampire who's being forced to marry
✨ Thea: struggling artist (cellist) and human
✨ forbidden romance
✨ insta-lust
✨ fake dating/engagement
✨ age gap (22 and 400+)
✨ virgin FMC
✨ 2.5/5 🌶️ (slow burn spice, open door, explicit with public sex, praise, spanking, biting)
✨ fated mates
✨ found family
✨ family drama
✨ dual pov
✨ third act breakup with cliffhanger ending

My Thoughts:

This is NOT a bad book. In fact, I think there will be a lot of people who enjoy this story. It's got an interesting combination of old vampire lore mixed with some fresh takes, so if you like paranormal stories, you'll probably find this interesting. The storytelling was pretty good, I enjoyed the bits and pieces of world-building, and the slow-burn spice was hot. I honestly didn't have any big issues with the book until halfway . . .

My issue lies mostly with one thing: miscommunication. I would say, 90% of all the conflict in this story derives from a lack of communication/honesty between the two MCs - and it drove me nuts. At first, I sort of understood because of the entire dynamic between vampires and humans in this world, but once they started fake dating, I expected the Julian to give a complete rundown of what to expect, some basic information about vampires and their ways, how to act, etc. But he does none of that. And whenever questions come up, it's always right as they are thrust into high-stress, chaotic situations where he's unable to explain anything in the moment, so Thea is just forced to 'go with it' and of most of the times, get's into trouble or uncovers a hurtful or disappointing truth Julian should have shared with her. This happens repeatedly over the course of the book. Too much for me to believe in this romance or think a couple like them would have a real shot in hell to work things out.

Here are examples of these moments:

*So 60 pages later and he still hasn't explained what's up with him wearing gloves.

*And it's never elaborated on.

*Legit, just ask him you idiot!

Bottom line, Julian doesn't tell her anything and Thea is too stupid to demand answers. There's also a few times when something bad happens and then the next day (after Thea has recovered from whatever it was), he's like "oh, let me take you on a date" instead of actually discussing what the f*ck happened the night before. It just . . . didn't make sense and was so unrealistic! His avoidance to be honest and her inability to demand answers lead to all their problems. And I grew tired of it after a while.

About halfway, I started skimming. I lost interest because nothing was being explained to the FMC and, also there were just way too many unnecessary descriptions and details added. So, I skimmed a lot of non-dialogue.

Thea says the phrase, "crap on a cracker" one too many times, and I hate it. Such a weird, childish thing to say. And I've legit never heard any adult using this phrase in real life.

There were quite a few moments that gave me Twilight and Zodiac Academy vibes, so nothing really surprised me plot-wise. Specifically, the cliffhanger gave me New Moon flashbacks. More miscommunication and denying truths.

Overall, this story had promise, but because it relies heavily on miscommunication to move the plot forward, I don't have any desire to continue the series.

Thank you, Entangled Publishing and Amara, for a physical copy in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Favorite Quotes:

It was as if my life had been marked by her absence as much as this moment was marked by her presence.
_______

It wasn't that I wanted to kill her. It was that I knew one taste of her would never satisfy me.
_______

Maybe he was a good kind of nutty, more like eccentric, like tossing millions of dollars out of a plane eccentric.
_______

Every moment I spent with Thea suggested she had the survival instincts of a gnat.
_______

I wanted to experience his lifetimes, one lingering kiss at a time.
_______

She bloomed in my arms as I wrapped her in my darkness.
_______

Julian Rousseaux wasn't just a grouch in the morning; he was a total asshole.
_______

While I might not have had her blood or her body, I'd tasted enough of her to be ruined for anyone else.
_______

The families we find are the families we keep.
_______

"That's a good pet. Keep your eyes on the state and try not to let anyone know what I'm going down here."
"Wouldn't want a Rousseaux to be caught on his knees?"
"I wouldn't want to make every male her jealous. You smell delicious."
_______

I had none to offer. I only had one thing to give him: myself. Every bit of me. My heart, my soul, my body, and with it, my future.
_______

4✨

This was a solid billionaire forbidden love paranormal romance with fake dating.

Filthy Rich Vampire follows struggling student cellist Thea as she gets swept up in vampire Julian’s world. Julian is opposed to getting married during this social season (actually, ever) and propositions Thea to act as his girlfriend for next year, and he’ll help her financially with her mom’s medical bills.

Well, things go very much sideways. Once the season begins and Thea is thrust into this dangerous world, sh*t basically hits the fan.

There isn’t really a lot of world building because it is paranormal, but the vampires have a long history. Towards the last quarter of the book, vampire politics get involved there’s violence and danger, in addition to Julian’s mother attempting to remove Thea from his life. It took a little while to get there but we have the beginnings of a bigger conflict.

The romance was pretty insta-lust. So if this isn’t your thing, I would steer clear. There aren’t any love confessions until… well, things happen and it happens later on that but I’m not going to spoil.

I love fake dating, and I like forbidden love. This book felt like a good series opener and I can see that it has a potential.

Would recommend if you like the tropes and want a quick read. There is a cliffhanger (it’s not awful) and the next book isn’t coming out until Fall 2022.

DID I KIND OF GET AN ICK??!

yes.

Am I still going to read the rest of the series?

also, yes.

The FMC just fell too fast and seemed too immature. But otherwise, I loved it! I'm hoping that, as the series goes on, the FMC will have some character development.

Also a lot spicier than I thought 🥵👏

Nope Nada Hell Nooooooooo

Was gut an Sexy Rich Vampires war:
- Es hat sehr viele Lachtränen gebracht, als es beim Essen zum Thema wurde und wenn es vorgelesen wird, kann man sich wenigstens zusammen amüsieren

Was nicht so gut war:
- absolut cringe Sexszenen
- vernünftige Dialoge gibt es nicht
- "Kleines" (I swear sollte mich jemals jemand so nennen, dann scheppert es)
- ziemlich Frauenverachtende Ansichten
- Frauen, die allgemein nicht so gut wegkommen
- ein Protagonist, dessen Gedanke und Ausdrücke mich manchmal ungelogen zum würgen gebracht haben (Beweisstück A: mein TikTok)
- noch mehr Spice Szenen mit Wörtern wie: "hecheln" (bist du ein Pferd oder was?), "Ich reite sooo gerne" (das war Seite 11 ), "Kalbslederhandschuhe"
- kein Plot
- eine Leidenschaft für Musik, die so wichtig ist, aber gefühlt nur dreimal erwähnt bzw. ausgeübt wird
- Mommy Issues (nicht in dem Sinne, aber wenn meine Mutter versucht mich zu verheiraten und dann mich umzubringen, weil ich eine Freundin habe, diese Freundin dann immer wieder vorführt und verhöhnt, dann ja, hätte ich welche)
- Miscommunication, die sehr fragwürdig immer gelöst wird (u know exactly how)
- virgin trope (an sich ja überhaupt nichts schlimmes, aber ich hab die Krise bekommen...)
- Protagonistin verschiebt ihr Studium um ein Jahr, wegen einem Mann, den sie seit DREI TAGEN kennt (how? why?)

Dnf @ 70%

I wanted so badly to love this book. I really wanted to enjoy this book but i had trouble staying invested. I think this might be my sign that the “virgin trope” ain’t it for me.

Well, I just devoured this book. I'm so sucked into Julian and Thea's story right now. These two are seriously so perfect for each other. And I'm super mad at that ending because well cliff-hanger. I don't want this to end. I don't want to have to wait.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Smexy, a bit heavy and dark, plus ends on a cliffy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the things that is interesting about many vampire stories is that the people are beautiful. In this story, we have a gorgeous, strikingly handsome man who is under fire as he must marry and fast.

But inconveniently enough, he has also recognized the tantalizing beautiful cellist calling to his soul. Unfortunately, she is human and absolutely will not be accepted into his family or culture.

The author takes us on a journey from galas and balls to Paris and other fabulous destinations. With sweeping descriptions of beautiful places and events, it’s easy to get caught up in the story.

Lee’s characters are intense and fierce in many ways. But her two main characters of the story are definitely destined for eternity if Julian can keep her alive. With plenty of heat and passion between the two, it remains to be seen where the story will take us because it actually ends on a cliffhanger.

Filthy Rich Vampire is an imaginative and exciting story that brings us smexy heat and passion but includes somewhat dark themes as well. Lee interlaces humor and grumpiness, age gap romance, and the ever-loving billionaire spoiling Cinderella into this enticing story. Just be prepared that you will not get your HEA!
~~~~~~~
* I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
* full review - https://amidlifewife.com/filthy-rich-...

The blurb describes this book as a Bridgerton meets twilight, and this transported me immediately to an historical with vampires, which for some reason I discovered I absolutely needed.

It was my mistake, and in reality, the story happens in a contemporary setting and feels more like a cross between twilight and fifty shades of grey.

The characters and world are not too developed, but still it was a fun and fast read.

Read this if you like:
- overprotective, alfa and rich MMC
- Needing virgin FMC
- Dual POV
- Spice
- Vampires
- Fated mates

The book ends up in a light cliffhanger and I’ll probably read the second book.

I would like to thank Dialogue Books, Renegade Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I requested this book from the library I expected a paranormal romance. What surprised me was that I got an amusing screwball comedy as well. Mix a financially challenged young woman with a filthy rich vampire and what do you get? A lot of ridiculous shenanigans, that's what.

Thea is a music student. She has student debt and her mother's medical bills to worry about. She is a talented cellist and plays in a quartet as one of her jobs. Her group is hired to perform at a vampire event, although they don't realize the nature of the crowd. Julian is a vampire from an old, established family. He has been recalled from hibernation because he is the eldest son and vampire society has reinstated the Rites. It is his turn to choose a wife and produce children. He wants none of it! But there is a beguiling cellist performing at the opening party….

Julian is out of touch with contemporary society due to his hibernation. Thea has no idea that vampires exist. He finds that he's unable to enthrall her. She can't understand why he's being such a dick. They manage to break her cello and he swears he will replace it. Thea receives a priceless instrument that she's scared to touch. Ancient vampire has no idea how to deal with a 21st century woman. Modern woman has no idea how to drag the truth out of old vampire.

These two fool themselves into believing that they can spend a year together: Thea agrees to be Julian's “girlfriend” for a year to exclude him from the marriage market. In return he will pay off her debts and they will part, both getting what they want. What could possibly go wrong? (Spoiler alert: Lots.)

If this had just been a straight up PNR, I don't think it would have been nearly as much fun. But watching this pair try to find their equilibrium as they learn more about each other was highly entertaining. Thea may be an innocent and a mere mortal, but Julian finds himself discombobulated dealing with her. How can a young woman in her 20s shake his control so easily? Fast and fun. Perfect for us vampire fans.

I forgot how much I loved Thea and Julian 😭- Re-reading this was so much fun. I didn't love it as much as I did the first time, but still, 5 stars for the nostalgia 😭. Onto the next one again 🫡.

----
I don't know what to say other than the fact that I absolutely loved this 😭🙏💞.

I'm obsessed with the storyline and characters and literally could not put this down.

Well, I'm off to read the next one- just know that a little part of me will crumble away if the next book doesn't live up to this one 💀.

This is pretty long for a book that not much happened in . The pacing in this isn’t the best. We have a billionaire, sexy, irresistible vampire and a virgin ( shes not like other girls) Fmc

They pretty much just hang out the entire book while he rejects her sexual advances because apparently in this lore vampires cannot have sex with virgins or theyll be tethered forever . That’s the main conflict of the book.

My main issue with the book is that every single side character is more interesting than the main fmc. Did i mention shes a virgin?

Still, the Audiobook is good and worth a listen if you like vampires and romance

Very low spice

"Her blood sang to me across the space, its intoxicating lullaby luring me closer."

This is objectively the worst book I will read all year.

* I wrote a great review (heh, heh) for this book as soon as I finished it, but somehow Goodreads (or my tablet) dropped it and now it is no more. SO… I’m re-writing it with the caveat that I’ve now read the second in the series and most of the problems are ironed out quite soon in that second book*

The overall plot, world and characters in this book grab a reader almost immediately and keep them riveted throughout the story. But as one is reading, there are some things that make ya go Hmmm, as well. First, the whole Thea’s virginity and how and when to lose it aspect drove me NUTS! It is approached as if she is the last virgin on planet earth - a unicorn that no one knows what to do with. Seriously? Even in today’s society it isn’t that shocking. Plus, because of this, Thea is also portrayed as the most unbelievably naive woman in the history of women. C’mon! There is no way a 22 year old in today’s society with all the social media et al, would not know what a man is doing when he “arranges his junk”. Shaaeeesh!

Then, there is Julian’s reaction to it. It is never explained why he is so horrified and determined to work around it. This becomes a huge focus of the story throughout the rest of the book, and results in large chunks of graphically detailed scenes of sex/not sex (basically every single way one can have sex without the final “push”). Remember, however, that the reader has no idea why Julian adamantly refuses. Now I’m all for not going the final mile but I need to know WHY they are not. There is obviously a reason but we are never told! GAH that is annoying - especially when it is the focus of so much of the book!

My final opinion ended up being pretty schizophrenic. I was absolutely riveted with the overall story but ended up skipping so much of the graphic notsex scenes and rolling my eyes over the constant virginity arguing that I couldn’t decide if I wanted to continue or not.

SO there it is. People who love lots of steamy kinda sex scenes probably rate this book much higher. Others, like myself have to decide if it is worth it to trudge through the annoyances of this story or not.

God I did not expect to breeze through this bloody quickly! I literally started it yesterday morning and I’m mad with myself that I just devoured the whole thing in just over 24hrs.

I have no words for this book, no words. Just like vampires, witches, fake dating, grumpy sunshine…it CALLED to me! Idk why I’m so invested in paranormal contemporary Romance atm but this was fun, it was spicy, it had a LOT of drama! Imma have to grab the second one sometime. Solid 4.5 though, there was a lot of tropes etc and it didn’t exactly offer much NEW to the vampire myths but I enjoyed it non the less

Jakoś od połowy zaczęła mnie ta książka męczyć. Nuc ciekawego sięnie działo, jeśli chodzi o relację to kręciliśmy się w ķółko, zaczęło mnie wkurzać niezdecydowanie głównego bohatera i głupota głównej bohaterki.

I hate everything about this. This stole my time.

The title should be "Filthy rich, super rich - the richest of them all Vampire (already mentioned that he's like super rich? If not, take a look at his infinite bank account)".
Also, I fully believed that this had great potential in being exactly what I was looking for: decent smut. What I got? A virgin. You don't get the problem? Me neither. So yeah, that was disappointing, to say the least.
If you would look up to find the definition of "co*ck block" you would definitely find a link to this book.
And to finish this of, I would love to introduce you to the worst pet name EVER. It's pet. Literally. To be honest, now I get why they couldn’t bang. I would be disgusted too.
The story itself is decent and the characters were well written. Unfortunately the rest still throws me off so it's more of a no for me.

This had a lot of promise as an urban vampire Romance but unfortunately the pacing really dragged at times and so i didn’t get fully hooked.

I love our main girlie - Thea was cool and totally acted like how any of us would if we suddenly met hot vampires. A+ to her.

Julian, however, was a bad communicator and made himself a damn martyr. Whomp.

If I had to sum up this book in one sentence, it would be "Ancient powerful vampire with untold resources turns into a puddle for his little mortal." There's more to it than that, but I stand by it.

Thea is a human working multiple jobs to scrape by, on the cusp of graduating as a stellar cellist. Julian is the eldest son of the Rousseaux vampire family, unhappy to be newly awake from a three-decade nap. The two don't belong in each other's worlds, but it seems nothing will stop fate from bringing them together anyway.

The spice delivers. The physicality is well written and believable. A certain snag comes up which I didn't love as a queer reader (how we as a society approach "virginity" and sex really needs an overhaul), but having read most of the series by now, I think it works. It certainly didn't stop the story from being compelling and entertaining, while it did ramp up the spicy stakes.

This book hits some fun tropes - the fun(ds) of dating a billionaire, the fake relationship we all know they secretly wish could be real, a touch of sunshine with a whole lotta grumpy, and of course the air of Cinderella's rags-to-riches. I did notice some surface similarities between this and Crazy Rich Asians, which I assumed going in was the inspiration for the story (not so sure after reading it).

Just be prepared for a multi-installment ride because holy cliffhanger, the HEA ain't in this one. I actually had to double check where this book ends before writing a review because when I was reading, I clicked straight from book one to book two faster than ever before. That's always what an author wants to hear, lol

If you're looking for your next spicy MF paranormal romance, I certainly recommend this one.

**Vampire romance 😍
**Billionaire vampire
**Age gap
**Cliffhanger
**He falls first

Libby listen 🎶 👌

4,5 naprawdę jestem zaskoczona ze to było aż tak dobre, woooow

Y'all… YOU WANT THIS BOOK! I picked this up at 5pm on a Sunday and literally could not put it down. I was sitting in bed, head bobbing, holding my eyelids open, saying "just one more chapter…" until midnight. Thought about it all day at work, wishing I could be sitting at home so I could finish it… And then promptly came home and finished it. Such a great read!

Sexy vampires meets Bridgerton, with a hint of Christian Grey. Not the red room part…. Just the overprotective, rich part. Thea is a fabulous character and Julian is such an enigma! I couldn't read this book fast enough! That ending though… GAH! I'll definitely be checking out her other books!

DNF ✥ Couldn't do it. This is one ridiculous misunderstanding after another. I mean, seriously the vampire MMC just doesn't tell the FMC human anything helpful, BEFORE bad things happen... over and over again... that's the plot.

THOUGHTS
He is 900 years old. And a vampire. She is early 20's. And a human. He's riiiiiich. She's broke.

This author chose to let our MMC never quite tell the FMC the things she needed to know before she needed to know them. So FMC is always off kilter, confused, doing dumb-ish stuff because she doesn't know any better. You'd think he would be able to prep her a bit better. Even a few words to clear things up now and then.

FMC is talk-backy, which apparently constitutes as snarky and feisty? And even though she finds out he's a vampire, in a world where they are secret, when she finds out, she wants him to lose control... again, because she's sooooo??? Brave? Dumb?

ANNNNND, she's a virgin. And somehow has no idea about anything about sex. In this day and age? Is it possible, it's not like she grew up on an island. She doesn't know ANYTHING about sex stuff. Heck she can't even say sex. When he suggests she use her mouth on him, she thinks that she's got a lifetime of licking ice-cream cones so she should be ok. I meannnn really? I wish she had at least had a few conversations with friends about sex, or ya know watched a rated R movie. But don't worry friends, she's amazing at giving blow j*bs from her first try.

👀 POV: 1st person, both MCs

🧨 Slow burn » 🕯️➳❥❤️‍🔥« Insta-lust/love: Insta-lust/mate scent starts this tale off.

Addicting from start to finish. Was quickly swept up into the world of Julian and Thea. Their relationship was crazy and felt doomed from the start. I really hope that somehow, either Thea is a witch from a powerful line or that Julian works its way around the whole rites thing. I really hate Sabine. She's such a bitch!! I know she's meant to be that, but she should love and accept her kid regardless. There is so much to unravel and I hope that the second book actually touches on it

I absolutely loved the beginning of this series! My next read will for sure be book #2. The plot was great, the characters loveable, romance was sweet and the spice was on point for what we got so far. Some thoughts:
*I liked that that there was a risk with their relationship but there were still limits as to how far they can go.
*Julian is swoon worthy.
*Thea is sweet but needs to be more assertive.
*Jacqueline is my favorite I adore everything about her.
*The family drama was not over the top and made sense.
* I liked that it was told in a dual pov.
*The ending was unfortunate for the time being. Since there is a second, third and fourth book in the series the cliffhanger it was left on seems pretty mute.

Would definitely recommend.

4.5 stars. It’s been a min since I’ve read a series where each book follows the same couple. It was a nice change of pace. This read very similarily to another fave series of mine and I really liked it! The angst and tension, a certain trope I LOVE, vampires, and Teddy Hamilton as Julian 🫠 😍❤️ That ending tho?! So ready for book 2!

I should feel bad about the ending but I honestly don’t…
—
I was so excited for this book! I thought this would be a dark romance that had a strong fmc and a co*cky mmc… I only got one of those things.

Thea (fc: Bridget Satterlee):
- SO ANNOYING!!! I couldn’t stand her and how she desperately wanted to loose her v-card like girl STAND UP!!!
- She fell to fast and she barely knew Julian?!?!
- Choose a man over everything… could never!

Julian (fc: Henry Cavill):
- Way too possessive like calm down-
- It was cute when he tried to figure out how to use a phone.
- What a bad man breaking rules-
—
This book was honestly annoying like this had instant love trope which hello?!?!

This didn’t feel like fake dating to me! Geneva don’t lie!

The spice wasn’t what I expected I needed more… LOOK AWAY!!!

I still can’t believe Thea is that dumb and naive that she threw her life away for a man.

THIS GIRL NEEDS TO STOP MAKING HER VIRGINITY HER WHOLE PERSONALITY LIKE WE GET IT AND YOU WANT TO LOSE IT TO A VAMPIRE CALM DOWN!!!

I don’t know if this is considered fantasy romance? If it is I am so lost! Didn’t understand anything! :D
—
Overall 2.5/5 stars. This book let me down I didn’t like it and will be selling it on Pango Books.

Will I read the second book? Probably.

I found out that there’s 4 books about Julian and Thea not 2… FOUR BOOKS!!!

Book 2 better be delivered today…