There's a scene where Emeline has parasites removed from her body - the remnants of a vampire experiment she didn't consent to - and it's described with the kind of clinical, unflinching detail that made me sit up straight at the circulation desk. I was shelving returns during a slow Tuesday afternoon, earbuds in, half-paying attention, and then suddenly I was very much paying attention. That scene? That scene understood something about body horror that most paranormal romance never even attempts.
And then the book went back to being paranormal romance.
The Horror Is in There. It's Just... Trapped.
Look, I need to be upfront: this is book 27 (or somewhere in that neighborhood) of Christine Feehan's Dark/Carpathian series, and it is romance first, horror second, fantasy third. I knew that going in. But the premise - Emeline Sanchez, survivor of a vampire experiment, caught between two supernatural worlds, carrying something inside her that shouldn't be there - that's a horror premise. That's body autonomy terror. That's the kind of psychological dread that Shirley Jackson walked so others could run with.
Feehan does land it in places. The parasite removal scene is genuinely unsettling. The face-to-face confrontation between Dragomir (our ancient Carpathian hero) and Emeline crackles with the tension of two people who are both terrified of what she might be becoming. There's real weight to Emeline's fear that she's been permanently changed - that the taint isn't just physical but something deeper. Growing up in a house where I was told horror itself was a kind of spiritual contamination, that particular thread hit me in a way I wasn't expecting from a series romance.
But here's the thing. For every moment that leans into the dread, there are stretches of Carpathian lore-dumping and mate-bonding rituals that drain the tension right out. At 15 hours and 19 minutes, you feel those stretches. The pacing assumes you're already invested in the broader world and its rules, and if you're not - if you're here for the horror like I was - you're going to be checking the time stamp more than you'd like.
Jim Frangione Reads You a Story (And That's Both the Strength and the Limit)
Frangione has a genuinely good voice. Warm, steady, authoritative. He reads this book the way someone would read you a story by a fire, and for a 15-hour listen, that consistency is a real asset. You settle into his rhythm.
The problem is that's kind of all he does. The narrator commits - well, the narrator half-commits. He commits to the narration. He does not commit to the characters. Dragomir and the other male Carpathians blur together into the same low, gravelly register. Emeline gets a slightly softer approach but not enough to feel distinct from other female characters. And there were moments - multiple moments - where it felt like he'd forgotten what vocal register he'd established for someone. A character would speak and I'd think "wait, who is that?" before context caught me up.
For a single narrator handling a cast this size, you need vocal architecture. You need me to close my eyes and know who's talking without dialogue tags. Frangione doesn't give you that. He gives you a pleasant, immersive reading voice that flattens the ensemble into one temperature. If you've heard him on the Black Dagger Brotherhood audiobooks, you know exactly what you're getting. No surprises, good or bad.
(Shirley - my cat, not Jackson - climbed onto my chest during one of the quieter romantic scenes and fell asleep. Reader, same.)
Content Warning: This One Doesn't Pull Punches
I need to flag this clearly: there's sexual violence in Emeline's backstory that's referenced throughout. Abuse, assault, the aftermath of both. The parasite/experiment plotline is essentially a violation narrative. Feehan doesn't shy away from it, which I respect on a craft level, but it's handled more as backstory fuel for the romance than as the central horror it could be. If you're sensitive to those themes, know what you're walking into. If you're not, know that the book raises them without always doing the hard work of sitting with them.
Who Gets the Most Out of This
If you're deep into the Carpathian series and want Emeline's story, this delivers. If you're a paranormal romance listener who likes your romance dark and your world-building dense, you'll find what you're looking for. From Blood and Ash is probably the clearest compass point in this genre right now - darker, denser, and more willing to let the dread breathe alongside the romance. If you're coming to this as a horror listener hoping the vampire-experiment premise means genuine horror? You'll get flashes - good flashes - but you'll spend most of your 15 hours in romance territory.
I'm not mad I listened to it. But I'm not bringing it up on the podcast either.
Not My Dark Legacy to Claim
This is competent paranormal romance with horror seasoning, not the other way around. The moments that work - really work - made me wish the whole book had that nerve. Frangione's narration is reliable without being remarkable. At this point in a 27-book series, you already know if this is your thing. If it is, the audiobook won't disappoint you. If it isn't, one very good body horror scene isn't enough to convert you.
