ALL THE DOGS ARE DANCING j m goguen

ALL THE DOGS ARE DANCING is an absolute triumph in terms of world building.  The post-apocalyptic North America that Burner and Aaron traverse has texture, beauty, foreboding, strange perils, deep history, and layers that give it a strange plausibility despite being fill with roaming lions, bands of human cannibals, werewolf fight clubs, and terrifying deadwalkers.

Burner has a great deal of charm as a protagonist and the planned future alpha of his pack--which makes a peaceful subsistence living  migrating back and forth across the re-wilded countryside and staying away from the cities which are largely dystopian nightmares.

The plot, however… well.  It starts off as a risky rescue mission but quickly becomes a disorganized zigzag across the country punctuated by torture, explosions, more torture, and more explosions.  While Burner and Aaron instigate a few situations they spend the latter half of the story largely being rescued by more influential individuals.  The author makes use of some pretty huge coincidences, a couple of info-dumps, and the story eventually just peters out without anything in the way of an obvious conclusion.

This story is also very much a “with romantic elements” rather than a romance, but the charms of the main characters are undeniable and they do get a happily-ever-at-least-for-a-while. but it’s kind of a bittersweet one compared to the life Burner was living in chapter one. I found the entire book wildly original and entertaining but hope that in her future endeavors the author decides to focus more on blending these aspects with a plot that properly resolves by the end.

That said the vampires-by-another-name in the story are a truly novel take on the vampire idea in their origins, attributes, and philosophies. Goguen has mastered the art of not over-explaining how the supernatural-esque elements of the novel work, and they stand apart for the cliches that are now so common.  That alone makes me inclined to see what else this author may have written and look for opportunities to return to this dark world.

Review copy courtesy of Netgalley, 2/5

VICTORIAN VAMPIRE romance pup

VICTORIAN VAMPIRE has a lot of exciting supernatural and gothic elements, but nevertheless manages to be a fairly dull read. It is a full length novel but the prose is quite flat, the scenes disjointed, and the overall impression is of the story written once-through hastily with limited thought and research—but trying to hit a lot of popular tropes.

Our heroine Tabitha seems to spend very little time being a governess, let alone filling the role as would be expected in the Victorian era when your employer is a member of the nobility. In her various wanderings she manages to attract three suitors, one vanishes from the story without much explanation about why he was there in the first place, the other two are a sorcerer and a vampire. There is a disjointed story that involves Tabitha wandering down quite a few dark alleys and finding murderous monsters, and also repeatedly entertaining bachelor men unchaperoned. Anachronisms about.

If you aren’t worried about any kind of plausibility you might find this to be an entertaining read with the requisite romance happy ending. For me, I think I would have preferred it if Tabitha’s antics lead to a more realistic and unfortunate end and the vampire ended up with her employer, the lusty Lady Irene, instead.

Review copy courtesy of HiddenGems, 1/5, #Yawn

THE VAMPIRE’S MASQUERADE Kiersten fay

Based on the blurb I expected THE VAMPIRE’S MASQUERADE to be a dual point-of-view story, when actually it is told entirely from Kasima.  The romance is quite straightforward and mainly impeded by the hero and heroine hesitating to express their level of commitment—which is understandable given the overall context of the story.  The author does a good job of filling in the world-building and introducing characters from the first book (which I have not read).

The vampire mythos itself is not especially interesting with standard romance vampires (a.k.a. hot vampire super-heroes with no real problems from their condition) but I did like the back-history of the civil war between humans and vampires after the vampire’s were outed. Honestly, I might have preferred a more gritty story from this time period rather than a largely cozy romance set in what seems like a very comfortable community doing well after the reconstruction. THE VAMPIRE’S MASQUERADE is not an overly complex story but emotionally gratifying and engaging throughout mainly due to Kasima’s likeability. 

Review copy courtesy of Netgalley, 6/10 #SuperheroVampire

MASKED LONGING alana delacroix

MASKED LONGING is a vampire adventure-romance executed with professional polish.  The vampires are of the super-hero type with all the speed, strength, psychic ability and longevity advantages but really none of the disadvantages.   Estelle is assuming the duties as the most important vampire queen’s head of military/security.

This story is clearly part of a series and the author does a pretty good job of getting the reader up to speed, except for taking a very long time to explain that the masquerada, our hero Stephen being one, are equally long lived human-to-human shapeshifters.  Both heroine and hero have hundreds of years of baggage that is getting in the way of them getting together romantically, and there is also an inconvenient war going on.

Generally I am a huge fan of a romance where the female is more alpha than the male.  However at about the half way point of the book Estelle makes a horrendous decision that involves deserting her duties and gets a bunch of people she is responsible for killed—an outcome she has a passing one sentence of regret about.  Having no respect whatsoever for the heroine meant that the sudden resolution of the previously crippling emotional barriers to love, in the last few pages of the book, didn’t really have the impact it was probably meant to.

A review copy was provided courtesy of Netgalley, 2/5

New Release: Other Side of Night: Bastian & Riley Series: Other Side of Night by S.L. Armstrong & K. Piet

Out today: Other Side of Night: Bastian and Riley by S.L. Armstrong and K. Piet (Storm Moon Press)

"Vampires walk among us. For centuries, they have adapted, learning to pass undetected in our world. They no longer fear the day, only the sting of direct sunlight. They are students, bankers, lawyers, and even actors. But when the sun goes down, they are all united by their eternal thirst. We do not see them from our safe and comfortable side of the night. But sometimes, one of us is drawn away from the light and we cross into their world. Into the other side of night."

BE STILL MY VAMPIRE HEART Kerrelyn Sparks

I like a good vampire trope as much as the next gal, but I do have my limits.  A red-haired Scottish vampire in a kilt is kind of pushing it.  Especially as he is meant to be 500 years old but treats the late Victorian costume kilt as if it was authentic.

That said the vampire hero is funny and charming, and the mortal slayer heroine is ironic and independent.  The romance between them is amusing enough, although the ending is even more of a forgone conclusion than usual and the adventure sub-plot is thin-to-non-existent.

Overall I would give this a 3/5.

BLOOD GAME Rae Monet

BLOOD GAME by Rae Monet is a vampire romance published by eRedSage. The core story is that vampire Byron is taken by the enemy (a rebel vampire clan). He hides from the torture in his own dream world until Sara Weston uses a device so she can meet him on the astroplane. After he recovers she goes into hiding, sure that a gorgeous vampire will not be interested in a wheelchair-bound woman. After being an evil vampire’s lab rat Byron has a few problems of his own.

'Blood Game' is a good length at around 40,000 words. The cover is a typical male torso but they digitally added tattoo isn’t even close to the one Byron is described as having. The writing is easy to read, the romance story moves along smoothly with two clearly drawn characters go through the usual throes of mutual misunderstanding before finding true love and multiple orgasms.

It may be because I did not read the first in the series but the setting, one-hundred years in the future seems superficial, sometimes painfully so. Vampires live underground, human up top, but nothing is said about how this is achieved.

Technology seems the same as now but unnecessarily renamed (Bluetooth is an autointerface, hypodermics are autoinjectors and traffic tickets are… autotickets—the future, apparently, is automatic). Add to this blasters, turbocycles, vidmovies and helocopters and the future also sounds decidedly retro. This might not have bothered me quite so much without the three page glossary, mainly covering words not used in the book, and in no way necessary unless you are the kind of reader who needs gems like “Organics=Vegetables grown without pesticides” and “Android=Mechanical android programmed in whatever capac¬ity they are needed.” And unfortunately I was equally irritated by the pseudo-science such as “massive irregular heart arrhythmia” and the idea that a vague sort of numb paralysis of the legs, and no other symptoms, could be caused by a virus entering the eye and destroying 60% of a person’s myelin.

But enough of that.

'Blood Game' is a professionally presented and serviceable paranormal romance with sex at the appropriate place in the relationship and two flawed people who truly seem to need each other. It is a competent book but not, for me, a keeper. To be fair I have a preference for science and disability being portrayed accurately and alphas that don’t go as far as stalking and throwing things around the room. Your mileage may vary. I feel this books is let down by plotting and world-building that is sketchy and, in places, implausible. In keeping with my general feeling of benign confusion the first book in this series is available not at eRedSage, but at Cerridwen Press.

1.5/5

Other Reviews:

• 
  
  Manic Readers [4/5]: "I love a tortured hero, and Byron is certainly that—physically, and mentally"
• 
  
  JERR: "Byron is the type of male character I really enjoy; he wouldn’t give up on love, even when the outcome looked bleak."

See also:

• Fictionwise
• Rae Monet talks about Blood Game
• Amazon kindle 

ROYAL BLOOD rona sharon

Royal Blood is a Tudor-period vampire romance. Yep. Tudor period. With vampires. That could work, and for a lot of readers it clearly did. For me, it was a total clunker. Sorry. It seems that once again I am out of step with the mainstream of popular opinion. What sort of reviewer am I?

The ornate use of language struck me as off key from the very first page--sometimes sounding like an undergraduate trying to use a vocabulary they haven't quite mastered yet. "Mud splotched the grille of his visor as massive hoofs reached his sprawled form and reared up, threatening to fossilize him in the midden." What? Rearing hoofs (as opposed to 'hooves', and disembodied from horse) are going to fossilize (a word and concept not invented for another 300 years and not related in any way to being crushed) him in manure pile (that is presumably some distance away from the jousting field). I like ornate language, but I like it to make a little more sense. Many reviewer's seem to consider the language historically accurate but it struck me as rampantly anachronsitic and awash with unecessary ticks like hundreds of uses of "alas".

We meet King Louis' unwed daughter sleeping with a commoner, dragged naked through court and called a whore before being sent off as a spy. Uh-huh. Right. Where she will meet Michael Devereaux, heir to an Earl, who will go on to save the King's life, win the princess's heart and investigate some mysterious murders. The hero's struggle with his vampirism which he takes to be a seating sickness is probably the most interesting aspect of the book, but otherwise I found both the historical and paranormal aspects unconvincing separately, and jarring in combination. The first half of the book only hints at the role vampirism has in this world, then it springs up rather suddenly and takes over the plot.

One thing I will say is that this is a highly original book with an idiosyncratic plot, subject and voice. You'll either love it, or in my case be very, very irritated by it--but you probably won't be bored.

Rating: 1/5

See also
Love Vampires: 4/5

Running average: 2.5/5

STAKES AND STILETTOS Michelle Rowen

It wasn't apparent to me when I requested Stakes & Stilettos that it was the fourth book in a series. So this review will need to be taken with a grain of salt. For at least the first third of the book I was keeping up with the very busy life of Sarah Dearly, chick vampire. There was enough information built into the book for a reader to make sense of what was going on, but there were a hell of a lot of "as you know, Bob" statements to fill in the gaps.

Essentially the book is about Sarah, her master vampire boyfriend Thierry, and lots of surrounding secondary characters. At about the middle of the book the story coalesces into a discernible plot involving a witch who curses Sarah based on an old high school grudge, and a mysterious vampire hero of legend called the Red Devil. Sarah is an amusing, glib character and her first person account really draws the reader to identify with her. By the end of the book I was finding it entertaining and engaging and seriously considering buying subsequent books. However the meat of the story did seem to be squished into the later parts of the book with one heart wrenching plot twist thrown in and completely resolved within the three, short final chapters--which seemed something of waste given how whole chapters early in the book were devoted to such thrilling activities as borrowing a dress to wear to a party.

Ultimately I would suggest that readers considering this series start at the beginning, because a proper introduction might make the uncomfortable and uneven melange of themes work better. I mean the first chapter is fully serious third person account of Thierry in the verge of suicide, and he also has a lump of similar serious-boarding-on-melodramatic chapters in the middle of the book. There is a large subplot that is unashamedly Scarlet Pimpernel with a dash of Zorro. The rest is first person chick lit.

And my problem with some chick lit did rear its far-too-pretty head. That is that the chick lit heroine has a tendency to resemble the most shallow and nasty girls form high school, meaning that if one was, lets say a late bloomer, seeing such a character become more gorgeous, more successful, more beloved and more supernaturally powerful is not 100% gratifying. And Sarah is an ex-cheerleader who publicly humiliated a girl in a fit of pique and forgot about it by the end of the day. Personally, despite the witty first person, I was at least a s sympathetic with the "villain" and ultimately unhappy to see her meet a grisly end.

I felt that Sarah was a shallow character who, despite her boyfriends repeated warnings, behaves foolishly and is regularly almost killed. She starts the book as a cross between Buffy and a vampire Cynthia Nixon (Sex in the City) and ends up the same but with an extra dose of super powers. I think Michelle Rowen writes well, but ultimately having her heroine rewarded for a combination of sarcasm and stupidity (with true love as her only real redeeming feature) didn't sit well with me. Now a story of the high school pariah learning black magic and getting her own back through a series of curses before being redeemed by true love, that I would like to read.

MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH Wendy Pini

MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, Volume 1
Wendy Pini
Go! Cmi
graphic novel: $19.99
2/5

This graphic novel is the first in a series (very) loosely based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe. While not about vampires per se, it does concern a quest to achieve immortality--so I am going to consider it "close enough". The creator, Wendy Pini, is most famous for her work on Elfquest.

This graphic is a hybrid comic/manga with strong yaoi (gay erotic) themes. Some commenters have been a little shocked by that--unused to comics with adult material. However these kinds of themes are entirely welcome to me as a fan of similar work by the likes of Donna Barr and Coleen Doran.

The main characters are the reclusive Anton Prosper who embarks upon a secret scientific project, and the gorgeous Steffan Kabala, soon of a preeminent geneticist and a scientist in his own right. Both characters are rendered as a cross between an Olympic swimmer and an anorexic model. The general styling of the world and people seems exotic but haphazard.

However in this case I was disappointed. The plot is slow moving, the art work suffers from a lack of distinct line work and is weighed down by amateurish digital techniques like filters and gradients. While this is obviously a work of love Pini has spent a lot of time on it simultaneously seems thin and poorly worked out.

For example, Prosper effectively tortures himself in penance for using a single lab rat (at least I think it was a rat) yet provides his pet black panther with flocks of goats to recreationally hunt and kill. Ultimately, Masque of the Red Death had some charming moments and clever conceits, but equally deep flaws in rendering and general lack of engaging plot. I think this graphic novel may amuse Pini's more established fans but it is too self-indulgent to win her any new followers.

Masque of the Red death . com

Other Reviews:
Deb Aoki [About.com]: [3/5] "While there are a few missteps, such as the garish costumes, the long-winded dialogue, and a more 'grown-up' plot than most yaoi manga, it does accomplish something unexpected...."
ComicsBulletin: [5/5] "Taken all together, Masque of the Red Death is a superb opening volume."

See also:
GoodReads : Wikipedia

SLEEP Tula Neal

THE VAMPIRE ORACLE: SLEEP*
Tula Neal
Cobblestone Press
ebook: $3.99
3/5

Sleep is essentially the story of a man rescuing the woman he is destined to be with. In this case the man, Kai, works for a paranormal agency and the women, Gabrielle, is a vampire deranged by a century of captivity. The story is told from Kai's point of view. This was something I was pleased to learn as I happen to be a great fan of male POV romance fiction.

I found Sleep an effortless and entertaining read. However I felt that Kai was thinly characterised and exhibited rather little in the way of skill or intelligence. His research skills in finding Gabrielle (the main focus of the plot) seemed to be a combination of happenstance, rudimentary strategies like going to the public library, and relying on the vast resources of the paranormal society that employs him. It was difficult to find him a particularly admirable protagonist and he does not seem to develop as a character throughout the story.

His fascination with Gabrielle before they even meet is the most vivid and convincing element of the Sleep, but in terms of being a genre romance Kai first lays eyes on Gabrielle a full two thirds of the way through the book. In terms of being an erotic romance, the sex scenes would add up in total to about 1 and 1/2 pages out of 60. If you want a straightforward tale of boy wants girl, boy rescues girl, boys gets girl, Sleep may be for you. However I felt the romance and erotic elements were slight, meaning the novel rests largely on the appeal of Kai as a protagonist and a desire to see him win the woman (literally) of his dreams.

(On a minor note the italicising of zombies throughout struck me as unnecessary and distracting.)

*Ebook provided by the author. Disclaimer: I have fiction published by Cobblestone Press.

DESMOND Ulysses G Dietz

DESMOND: LOVE AND THE MODERN VAMPIRE
Ulysses G Dietz
Alyson Books
4/5

In Desmond a brooding older vampire has his life profoundly changed by a young unemployed museum creator. A Gaywyck-style gothic tone makes this a pleasingly predictable romance. Fine details in the descriptions reflect the author's 'day job' as decorative arts at the Newark Museum. Overall the book definitely has a first novel feel to it with some wordy sections and a certain self-consciousness of style, but if you like a vampire-with-heart-of-gold meets intelligent-twink-who-really-loves-him story this is an archetypal example.