54:120 Masks by Karen Chance

Part of the Cassie Palmer/Dorina Basarab series.  Mircea has only been a vampire for 2 years after being cursed.  He never had a master so his understanding of his powers and the rules that govern vampire society are almost non-existent.  He has come to Venice because he has heard that it's a free port for his kind and he's tired of being chased from one area to the next by the jealous masters.  Unfortunately, he has now run afoul of the local vampire constabulary and is being sold to a vampire brothel who is preparing for the Council's coming to town when more "entertainment" will be needed.  Mircea is seen as being just the right thing for one of the Senators.  With patronage, it could be very good for him indeed but that whole 'not understanding the rules' thing he has going on is not just about vampires.  Maybe this will work for him and maybe it won't.

Originally supposed to be a free short story, it ballooned much bigger than Ms. Chance realized and ended up becoming an e-book instead so took a few more months to come out as contracts were being dealt with.  I had been looking forward to learning more about Mircea although I tend to be more of  Pritkin fan but I felt like this didn't really do much for that.  It only covered a few days in his life and really is how he met the Senator who is the Council in Cassie's time.  We get a few insights into his thought process but not much and frankly, it's so long because it is highly detailed in terms of the clothes and surroundings which don't add a lot to the overall plot which was definitely a short-story plot, not one to carry a novel.  Not a bad short-story, it plods a bit for a full-length novel but fans of the series will probably enjoy the read and at a reasonable e-book price it's almost worth it.

Page count: 406p/12,907p ytd/193,945p lifetime