LEECH david eveleigh

Playwright Jean Kerr once said “I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want - an adorable pancreas?”. But in the word of leech by David Eveleigh, vampire-like beings see, smell and hear humans inside and out—and so have very different notions of beauty. Thus reluctant paparazzi photographer “just pretty” Maria, becomes an unfortunate participant--and ultimately pawn--in a game of wits between a brave private investigator and an evil vampire king.

Leech is really a fairly straightforward horror/adventure story with a hero, hero’s girl, villain and minions and a small cast of secondary characters. It flirts with more adventurous themes such as what really makes one a parasite, but never gets very far into them. It toys with taking a new angle on vampires but uses them ultimately as a stock embodiment of evil. It strays somewhat into romance territory with the unusual decision to have Maria be the point of view character for much of the middle of the book, but its culmination of the story is the triumph of hero over villain not love over adversity.

Leech is a very readable vampire novel with hints of greater ambitions but, in my estimation, the different between good and great is the willingness to take at least one major risk. Any one of Leech’s more novel elements could have represented an exciting departure from tried and true tropes of the genre, if pursued just a little further.

3/5

IN SEARCH OF DRACULA raymond mcnally and radu florescu

This is the 1994 edition of a book that was first published in 1989 as 'Dracula, prince of many faces: his life and his times'.  Most of the book focused on the historical figure of Vlad Tepes and his connection to the character of Dracula.  There is a lot of information and some helpful grey scale illustration.

The main limitation of this volume is it's rather haphazard structure which seems to relate more to how the authors discovered the material than how a reader might want to assimilate it.  The later section on vampire fiction and movies in general is already hopelessly out of date.  This is no long an area where effective comprehensive coverage is really possible.

This book might be a little tiresome for a casual Dracula enthusiast, good for a more dedicated one, but lacking the rigor and referencing a true expert would demand.


3/5

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.

THE KEEPER Armstrong & Piet

THE KEEPER by SL Armstrong and K Piet is an a novella that puts a new twist on the gay vampire romance. There is a pretty common story type where a mortal meets a vampire, works out exactly what he is, angst ensues, and they end up together. In this case the mortal is Hadi, a 24-year-old involved in the world of high fashion who is sent to a remote household in Algeria to fulfil a family obligation--being 'the keeper' for the mysterious Dhakir. 

The basic plot of THE KEEPER is as I described above, but the novel aspects are a convincing back story for the 'vampire' and his feeding representing a real imposition on the donor.  The angst, reversals and obstacles to the relationship make sense for both characters. The limitations, at least for me, are that the the outlook and expression of the vampire do not fit someone who has lived for so long. Also, once the obstacles to the relationship are resolved the story continues too long in my opinion.  But I am notorious for losing interest during HEA sex scenes, which other people thoroughly enjoy.

THE KEEPER puts enough of a twist on the familiar vampire/mortal romance story to make it interesting without undermining the cozy trajectory of the trope.

3/5

See also:

• Smashwords
• Storm Moon Press

IN THE DARK Rob Grahan

IN THE DARK is well written but it messed with my head. It has four distinct sections. In the first we meet the vampire hero Georges but learn almost nothing about him. Although it was neutrally written the villains as black men using drugs and sexual prowess to, um, wipe out the white race made me really, really uncomfortable. When this was followed by a section where the male vampire seduces himself a lesbian girlfriend and confronts a lesbian villain--and what subsequently happens to her--well....

 

The third part is about Georges and his girlfriend Diane being reunited in more ways than one is more comfortable reading. Georges finally became more of a rounded character with vulnerabilities and character. In the final part they journey back to Diane's home and both characters and the relationship become three dimensional and their world and lifestyle are fleshed out, just in time for the book to end.

 

Frankly this book didn't do much for me. I felt like maybe the writer developed and matured during the writing and if there was a sequel it would hit the ground running with two fully rounded characters as well as a supporting cast of secondary character with potential (but who didn't do very much in this story). I would say this story is worth a look but the four sections are mismatched in genre and quality and some of the content in the earlier parts is politically incorrect to say the least.

Note: this title is now out of print

3/5

 

Other Reviews of IN THE DARK

• Bitten by Books [3/5]: "This book wasn’t quite for me, but I encourage others to read it and see if it is for you."
• Two Lips Reviews [4.5/5]: "Rob Graham’s style is smoothly enchanting and leads the reader like a moth to the flame."
• Romantic Observer [3/5]: "The first section seemingly doesn’t relate to the following three, which makes one wonder why it is there...."
• goodreads [3.5]

See also:

• Let Me Tell You a Story About Vampires: "I contacted Rob and he was not only willing, he was enthusiastic. As I was a fan of his vampire novel "In the Dark," I suggested a vampire romance novel--but a historical one."

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.

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.

DARK THIRST various authors

DARK THIRST
various authors
Pocket Books Fiction
3/5

I have read a hell of a lot of vampire books and a lot of them, to be perfectly honest, are terrible. But I am always interested in seeing if someone can breathe new death into the old vampire cliches. 'Dark Thirst' is a collection of stories by African American writers, some of them established romance writers. Although this is not a romance anthology it certain does have more than a pinch of romance and a large dollop of erotica.

My favorite story was 'The Family Business' by Kevin S. Brockenbrough. This story basically drags the vampires and werewolves up to date by writing a rapid fire, action-filled story. The author also slides in a point about the true nature of monsters.

A close second would be 'The Ultimate Diet' by Monica Jackson which riffs on the Buffyesque vampire cliches. Jackson's story has a couple or truly delicious characters who drift palpably apart with the arrival of a vampire in the neighbour. The ending is telegraphed way in advance but the execution is pitch perfect and highly entertaining.

These two great tales bookend four other stories that were fun enough at the time but difficult to remember in retrospect. 'Vamp Noir' by Angela C. Allen throws together a gorgeous vampire vixen and the mafia, but an idea that seems promising at the outset never quite gels. 'Human Heat' by the Urban Griot is about a gorgeous man who becomes a vampire, has some sex, and kills some people (I found italicised sound effects like Uurrgghh!, Eeeaarrrkkkk! and Blooommm! impossible to take seriously). 'Whispers During Still Moments' by Linda Addison is about a gorgeous vampire who is hunted by a half-vampire. 'The Touch' by Donna Hill is a nice enough but unsubtle story about a gorgeous vampire's quest to find redeeming love.

Overall I think this book is certainly worth the cover price as an addition to my extensive collection--but if all the stories had been as deft and diverse as my favorite two 'Dark Thirst' could have been astounding.