"Ethan Connor, Vampire Prince and total douche bag, had been back in Royal Oak for less than an hour, and already he was pissing me off."The premise of this story -- two gay male vampires who hate each other mysteriously find themselves bonded as mates -- sounded really fun, and it was. The story is narrated by Jamie, who had been the Vampire Prince before his parents were murdered. He and Ethan have been at each other's throats -- figuratively and literally -- for years. But suddenly they find themselves caught up in a spell that binds them together, causing intense pain whenever they're not touching. The spell can be undone, but not until some time has passed, and not until their marriage has been "consummated."The story starts off amusing, as the two find themselves uncomfortably falling under the spell of the bond: "'I don't want to have feelings for him,' Ethan whispered, the effect of his words probably ruined by the fact that he was running his fingers through my hair as he said them." For a while they continue to bash each other, but then tenderness starts to develop, as well as lots of hot sexxing. And Jamie begins to think maybe the spell shouldn't be undone. "Violence and anger were things we'd always been comfortable feeling around each other. It made me wonder for the first time if the bond was really a curse or just a means to an end we hadn't realized would have come eventually."To Hate and to Hold is better as romance than as a paranormal. There's virtually no world-building; I assumed at first that it seemed so sparse because I'd missed other books in a series, but it turned out to be book one. I was left wondering, what's the history of these vampires? How do they have children? How does their society work so that everyone is so completely mellow about them being gay -- and since they're royal, what will they do about heirs? And why the heck do they need to use condoms? And the mystery of Jamie's parents' death, which seemed significant, completely fizzles out by the end. I guess the many, many sex scenes didn't leave room for much else; I'm not sure why there needed to be so many, since they're kind of samey -- lots and lots of anal.So basically, if you like the premise, this is an enjoyable read -- because the premise is pretty much all there is to it.
