Review--This Time Tomorrow by Tessa Bailey

 

Roksana, heiress to the vampire slayer throne, has performance anxiety.

She’s supposed to kill Elias, but so far she’s only succeeded in maxing out his credit card. Now her failure to stake the brooding vampire has sent her back to Moscow in disgrace to face her mother’s wrath. Expecting punishment by death, she’s given a rare reprieve. She now has three tasks to complete, the last of which is to finally kill Elias. She will not fail this time.

If only the memories of one magical evening—back when Elias was human, would stop holding her back. He claims to have forgotten that night. Why can’t she? Three years ago, Elias was a SWAT team member on a guy’s weekend in Vegas. Playing poker and minding his own business, his life changed forever when a captivating blonde strolled past his table in a light-up bra. He followed Roksana as if compelled, his very bones demanding he do so, his soul resonating with the belief she would be important to him. Always. That turned out to be a vast understatement—and nothing has changed.

Roksana embarks on her mission, determined to win back her mother’s approval, but when an astonishing truth emerges in the eleventh hour, will her stake pierce the very heart that beats in her honor? Or will love triumph over duty?

 

Tessa Bailey's This Time Tomorrow continues the Phenomenal Fate trilogy, this time following Roksana and Elias on their journey to happiness! From Reborn Yesterday, we knew that Roksana and Elias had a past and this story dives into that! 

Three years prior to the events of Reborn Yesterday, Roksana and Elias meet in Las Vegas by chance. He was still a human and she wasn't quite a vampire slayer yet but since she was the daughter of the Russian leader of slayers, she was very aware of them. Roksana and Elias had an intense connection even back then and though they only shared a few words, they were clearly meant to be in each other's lives. And then a series of unfortunate events happen that resulted in Elias being turned into a vampire, Roksana's friends who she was with in Las Vegas are all killed by vampires, and Roksana blames Elias for it.

In the present day, Roksana is returning home to accept her punishment for not killing Elias and his friends, whom she had discovered--and unbeknownst to her mother had befriended on some level--while in New York looking for him. She knows she failed, but she's hoping to be forgiven and allowed back into the fold. And she is...but her mother has an impossible set of tasks setup for her. She is to play a high stakes poker game with other paranormals in order to acquire the papers that will allow the winner to wed Mary the Mad, a fae with special powers. By winning the papers, Roksana is to deliver them to Mary's mother and earn the real prize--a list of names that are its own brand of currency.

This book definitely had a different feel to it than the first one. Jonas and Ginny did make an appearance as well as Tucker, but the focus was definitely more on Roksana and Elias. Their connection was intense. I guess their brief outing in Vegas had a bigger impact that was hard to interpret. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the vibes between them! There was sort of a love/hate relationship between them since Roksana believes that Elias killed all her friends as a new vampire--and we do get that story in detail fairly early on. I was surprised by that to say the least.

The pacing to this one was much like the first book. It was a nice sedate pace. The action wasn't as intense in this one, nor the first one. But there's definitely a suspense building up. In fact, this book sets us up for the next book and I believe there will be more on the horizon than just Tucker finding his fated mate. There's definitely something bad brewing in this paranormal world and I am eager to find out what that is! Seeing as how the first two books ended for the fated pairs, I'll be very curious to see what will play out with Tucker and his mate.

The romance in this one was very intense! Granted I'm not always one for a lot of romance all the time, though I have been finding I enjoying there being some sort of romance in almost every book I read. This one perhaps was a little more than I needed for my enjoyment but I'm just that kind of reader I guess. More isn't always necessary as long as there is some! But really, it wasn't too bad. I guess some of the aspects of the romantic moments weren't really my cup of tea, but I know that's just how it goes with these moments so I don't judge it too harshly against the book!

This Time Tomorrow was another enjoyable read to take me away from reality! When vampires are involved, it's always a good day! This one was a delightful read that was a little on the sweeter side for me from my usual brand, but sometimes it's nice to take a break from the dark side! Lol!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars