Title: The Sweet of Bitter Bark and Burning Clove
Author: Doris Egan
In: Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal romance, Vampires
Dates read: 2nd April 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: EOS
Year: 1998
5th sentence, 74th page: She pulled her mouth away, pushing him back.

He gets six weeks with Lilith at a time. They’re the best six weeks of his life. And this time it’s ont exception.

Any story that features Lilith in one of her many incarnations tends to fascinate me. There is just something about her persona and character that I am kind of completely in love with. Something about her that makes me smile. She’s never “good”, but she’s never truly evil either… for me, the perfect mix of characterisation.

One of the parts of this story that I enjoyed the most was the feeling of mystery and history that is prevalent throughout this story. There is so much past that is constantly bought up throughout the tale that completely draws you in. Yet, there is a great looking forwards to the future in every moment. Add that to the fact that the man in this story is hunting for a missing person and an evil one at that… well, it makes an amazingly powerful and enthralling story.

This story was quite lustful. But what I liked the most about it? It was kind of bloody and violent too. Yes, the lust and the romance are great, but I’ve been reading a lot of that lately. It turns out that I’m now in the mood for a bit of blood and guts now…

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Image source: Goodreads