Reviews

Salvation by Stella Rainbow

carlaabra's review

4.0

Awww this was so sweet and gooey. MM, an ancient vampire who exclusively feeds on evil people helps a young starving wendigo learn he’s not a monster. Together they fall in love and hunt bad guys.. also they’re fated mates but that’s a subplot if anything. I laughed out loud multiple times, the dialogue is great, and it has all the cozy found family vibes, they even adopt a dog. 

TW: the bad guys they hunt are rapists/murderers/pedos. Details are described but not graphic imo. 

Fun moments

• If I could convince Dell to join me, maybe we could truly punish the assholes. I could slowly drain them while Dell took little bites out of them. Ooh, that would be fun.

• They go to a motel and Val compels the receptionist to put them in a single-bed room. Hahaha
• Val has a sarcastic self-deprecating take on himself. He’s not too bothered by what he is and it’s nice to read.
• The casual proposal. So cute. 
• Hahaha:

[talking about a bad guy]
 Dell: “He lives in a huge-ass farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. He has to be up to something shifty”
Val: “You live in a cabin in the middle of the woods”
Dell: “And hunting and eating humans is shifty.”

There’s some hurt/comfort vibes with Dell but the resolution was too easy for me. Basically

they confess to eachother their deepest sins - that when he was first turned into a vampire, Val accidentally killed his wife; and that after being fed human meat by his mother for years, Dell became a wendigo and ate her - and then it’s like “oh well I guess we both didn’t mean to kill them. Time to make out.

Like Val’s past came out of NOWHERE, and then Dell’s was this central tension through the book that got resolved in five seconds. Meh. 

khalleur's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

tktish's review

3.0

I enjoyed the characters and their relationship. I've never read a book with a wendigo MC, so that was different. With a vampire and wendigo pairing, it was definitely bloody and gruesome at times, but that's kinda to be expected.

But. This book really, really needed some trigger warnings. Not for the blood and gore, but for the things the criminals the pair hunted did. All of them hurt kids in some really bad ways. And I can see that being an issue for a *lot* of people. But I looked everywhere and there aren't any trigger warnings anywhere. Hell, if I had known, I wouldn't have picked up the book in the first place. It makes me hesitant to read more by this author.

lydiaaa's review

dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Delightfully gruesome but otherwise pretty boring

ankysbookbubble's review

5.0

Oh wow, this book was so freaking good. I absolutely loved Dell and Valerio. Dell was a sweetheart, and I loved the way Val took care of him! Can't wait to read about more of the innocent monsters!

crysgjust's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

buffyloverlori's review

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

samt03's review

emotional funny fast-paced

2.0

It was very cute 

tea_literature's review

adventurous dark hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mousegoddess's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

It was a good read I just have... mixed emotions when settlers use indigenous beliefs in a plot like this. I'm not sure how I'd say it shook out in the end. It was a lot less disrespectful than other takes I've seen on the same entity, tho that is kind of a low bar with some of the shit I've come across. But... idk also didn't quite land for me because of that particular choice, in spite of the great dynamic between the main characters.