Title: May Day

Author: Josie Jaffrey

Year of Publication: 2020

Genre: Fantasy

Number of Pages: 388

Summary: From Goodreads: “If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.

It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.

When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.

To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.

Body bags on standby.”

Review: Thank you, Dave, at The Write Reads for organizing and inviting me to be part of this blog tour. Thank you, to the author, Josie Jaffrey, for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw the email about this blog tour, I was hesitant to sign up because the premise sounded interesting, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about vampires. Fortunately, I ignored my doubts and signed up for this tour, which was a good thing, because I thought this book was fantastic.

May Day takes place in Oxford, England, in a world where the Silver (vampires) live undetected amongst the humans. Jack Valentine is a member of the Seekers, which is the Silver police force that investigates crimes, the biggest crime of all being any activity that risks the humans finding out about the Silver. On May Day morning, when a human is thrown off the top of a tower by a Silver, it looks like it might be tied to a string of murders in London and Jack and the other Seekers think it will be like any other case. Unfortunately, this case leads Jack to start uncovering a web of conspiracies and corruption involving some very powerful Silver, which could be incredibly dangerous for everyone involved.

My favourite thing about this book was the mystery aspect of it. I loved the twists and turns, following the clues, and trying to make sense of everything that was going on. I loved all of the different layers of the mystery and how it kept me guessing the entire time I was reading it. I was fascinated by the corruption that Jack was uncovering, and I can’t wait for the second book to be released so I can find out what happens next.

Another reason why I liked this book is because of the characters. Jack is self-destructive, but she’s aware that she is, and I felt like her heart was in the right place. I also liked that Jack took steps to try to curve her self-destructiveness, even though it was difficult. The scenes with Jack and Baron Drake made my enemies-to-lovers heart sing with joy because there was so much chemistry between them, even though Jack hates Drake with a fiery passion. Overall, I liked how mysterious Baron Drake was, and I want to see much more of him in this series. I also liked Cam, Naia, and Boyd, the other Seekers on Jack’s team, and I would love to read more about them and their backgrounds.

Another thing that I liked about this book was the romance element. I liked that the romance was not the main focus of the story, but there were still a handful of steamy scenes. I liked that there was a hint of enemies-to-lovers in this book, and I hope it’s explored more in the rest of the series. I enjoyed reading about Jack trying to sort out all of her feelings, and I’m curious about how her relationships will turn out later in the series. I also liked that there was gay and bisexual representation in this book, and though I can’t comment on the accuracy of the representation, I liked seeing it.

I want to take a moment to talk about some of the content warnings in this book. Firstly, I want to give a huge shoutout to the author for having a list of content warnings at the back of the book, which I think is something that all authors should do. This book does contain violence, both on the page and implied violence. There is blood and gore and things that would typically be associated with a murder investigation. There is some predatory sexual behaviour mentioned, but not seen, in this book, including stalking, sexual assault, and rape. There is also a brief mention of suicide and miscarriage. I think there are a few content warnings that I forgot about, but there’s a full list on the last page of this book, which is important to check out before you start reading.

Overall, I thought that this book was fantastic. The twists and turns kept me guessing what would happen next, and I can’t wait to find out where this web of conspiracies and corruption leads to next.

Rating: 4 Stars!