Archive for the ‘Kerrelyn Sparks’ Category

The Vampire and the Virgin
This book was pure sweet candy! I loved it, ate it up, and wished I had more. I was “needing” to cater to my reading “sweet tooth” and Kerrelyn Sparks sure serves it up.

Of course, as with my past experience with this series there was a fair bit of angsty, eye rolling silliness (drama for the sake of drama) but since it had been quite awhile that I’d read Kerrelyn Sparks, I was fine with it. This series was one of my “firsts” and holds a warm place in my heart. I find the author consistent in her writing, and the characters, likable…(and some even lovable…yum!)

OK, so this story is about Robby, the Scottish vampire that, in the last book, was rescued from being held prisoner and tortured by the “Malcontents” (bad vampires). Now, he’s angry at the world, and is struggling with anger management issues.

“I’m no’ crazy,” Robby growled.

“Nay, but ye’re angry angry as hell, and it makes you too unstable for work. No’ only would ye be risking yer own life, but the lives of anyone working with you.

Bugger. Robby ground the tip of his sword against the brick pathway. Angus knew exactly how to get to him. He could never put the lives of his friends at risk.

His crew insists he either begin therapy at a spa (he says NO WAY!), or take a long-needed vacation.

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll go for a week or two.”

“Four months,” Angus said.

Robby gaped. “What? The spa was only for three months.”

“The spa had a therapist,” Angus reminded him. “We figure if ye’re on yer own, ye’ll need more time. Of course, ye could change yer mind about therapy -”

“No. Hell, no.”

“The four months it is,” Angus said. “All expenses paid. Plus yer usual salary. Ye canna beat that, lad.”

Emma smiled. “We’ll see you at Christmas, and you’ll be so much better.”

Better, his arse. This wasn’t a vacation. It was a bloody exile.

And in Greece is where Robby meets Olivia. The woman who takes his breath away and consumes his very soul from the moment he sees her.

“I’ve never met anyone like Olivia before.” He looked at her and smiled. “She’s beautiful, brave and clever. I feel…at home with her, but at the same time, completely lost.”

Beautiful, delicate and inexperienced (read: virgin) Olivia is also in an exile of her own. She works for the FBI (she has an innate ability to read when people are lying – passed down to her by her Greek grandmother), but she is escaping an obsessed prisoner who seems to be stalking her from the “inside”.

Lemme warn you. In this book (and pretty much the entire series – which might be my “bigger” complaint)  the attraction and build-up to falling in love is but a “blip” in the screen. They fall head over heels with each other  – right away.

They see each other.
They see each other again and talk.
They see each other a third time and declare undying love.

“Lass, ye fill every dream in my head and every desire in my heart. I’m falling in love with you.”

But it’s all good. Why? Cause then the drama begins, and for some reason, they must separate (in this instance, Olivia’s stalker seems to have found her in Greece and she hightails it outta there.)

Logical thing to do, right? Thing is, she knows Robby is a high-end security agent/body guard, but she doesn’t bother to at least consult with him before she takes off. She just…disappears Perhaps, she could have allowed him the opportunity, considering how he’s already told her how much he loves her, to offer up a suggestion or two? It is his domain, ya know. But, for some reason, Olivia can’t “read” Robby (she still has no idea he’s a vampire – tee hee! I love it!)

She opened her senses to detect his feelings.

Nothing. In all her twenty-four years, she’d never met a person she couldn’t read. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow with concentration.

Nothing.

She’s too insecure to take his word (and his physical demonstrations) for it. And that’s another aspect of the “silliness” in the book.

But their separation is fun nonetheless, because now, we get the nice, slow build-up to their potential reunion (and discovery of his “situation”).

“We need to talk.”

A chill skittered down her arms.

“How did you get out of the apartment this morning and lock the door?”

He looked away, frowning. “I’ll explain it next weekend.”

“Isn’t their an easy explanation? Like you took my key to an all-night hardware store and had a copy made while I was sleeping?”

“That would be an easy explanation.” He grimaced. But it would be a lie.”

It was funny, it was sweet, it was emotional. And of course what would a story be without an element of danger, betrayal and revenge!

This book was a pleasant trip back to the world of Roman Draganesti’s entourage. The Malcontents are still up to their baneful ways, kidnapping, plotting, and bombing, while Roman’s Coven continues to grow, as shifters and good Vamps from all over assemble, to fight for his cause.

This novel focuses on Phil, an alpha werewolf, and his attraction, to a spunky, ill-tempered vamp, Vanda. While in past books, the romantic twist always involved a couple that met for the first time, and eventually fell in love, this one took a different turn, allowing us to accompany a duo that were already “friends”, (who’ve made appearances in past books).

Due to her past anger issues, Vanda is instructed to attend anger management classes, and Phil volunteers to be her sponsor. They soon realize that she is on the Malcontent’s “hit-list”, and Phil is also assigned to be her bodyguard. They struggle against their mutual attraction (and unresolved hurt and resentments towards each other).

“Excuse me for thinking you might want to keep in touch. I had thought we were friends.”

“We were never friends.”

She gasped. “How can you say that? We…we talked.”

“You taunted me.”

She stiffened, “I was nice to you.”

He stepped toward her. You were bored, and you tormented me for the fun of it.”

“Don’t be silly. It was just a little harmless flirtation.”

“It was sheer torture.” He advanced another step.

“I hated it. Every time you touched me, I wanted to rip your little catsuit off and make you purr.”

To complicate matters further, Vanda does not know Phil is a Werewolf, and Phil, knowing her fear of werewolves, is afraid that she will not return his love, if she learns his secret. Vanda having her own secrets, fears that Phil would consider her a monster if he ever learned about her past.

Here is a part of the book that was such a sweet *Phil* moment. I truly loved his character in this series. (careful – somewhat of a *spoiler* here, at least in terms of Phil’s condition)

She’d been so intent on keeping her own secrets, she hadn’t let Phil tell his. “But you should have told me.” She pounded at his chest.

“Why? So you’d have an excuse not to fall in love with me?” He grabbed her hands and pinned them behind her back. “Whatever happened to my love being enough?”

Her eyes burned with tears. “But I hate wolves. I hate shape shifters.”

“You love this one.”

While the romantic moments were nice, and Phil was incredibly believable as a sexy alpha male, I did not find myself as enthralled by their romantic interludes as I have been with past novels by Kerrelyn Sparks. Everything was fairly even tempered throughout. There was some romantic tension, threat of danger, secrets to overcome, and personal growth, but nothing ever seemed to reach a height of exceptional excitement.

Here are some “Phil” quotes that I most certainly enjoyed!

“I want to do a lot of things to you, Vanda. You see, with me, you made one big mistake. I was never safe.”

“Fair warning, Vanda. Once you give me your body, I’m taking your heart.”

Despite this not being my absolute favorite of the series, any time I get to spend an evening with this crew is a good time. Ms. Sparks has woven an intricate world of caring individuals that I am hugely fond of. I hope she continues to expand on each character, as I look forward to each new book.

Ahhhh a quick trip back to my sweet gentle, vampires, and what a pleasant jaunt it was! After the intense, angst ridden, tumultuous world of Adrian Phoenix (which I love – don’t get me wrong),  it was a comfort to get back to the love stories of Kerrelyn Sparks.

While her novels always have an element of danger, with fierce enemies, she always indulges us with a personal tour into a new (yet familiar) love story about an unconventional couple.

In this novel, we explore the past and present, of the son of the original ”Casanova”, named Giacomo di Venezia. Noble, old fashioned, and staggeringly sexy, he has experienced three crucial heartbreaks in his short (only 200+ years) life. Despite being captivated by a beautiful red-headed human police officer (Lara), he fears getting too close, for his secret is sure to repulse her.

Her attraction to him compels her to continually seek him out (she convinces herself that it is in the name of the law – due to his strange abilities at mind control), but she finds herself uncontrollably charmed by him (despite his inability to use his powers on her – she is able to unconsciously block him).

A funny part where Jack and Lara first meet (he was at a disruptive “bachelor party”), and she and her partner Harvey were sent to investigate. The vampires are trying to mind-control the two police officers, but are only successful at mind controlling her partner, Harvey – in this instance he is doing everything they tell him to, which is bewildering Lara:

I’ve tried controlling her, but it doesn’t work, Laszlo told him mentally.

I know, Jack answered. She was every Vamp’s worst nightmare. A beautiful woman who could not be controlled.

Perhaps she has psychic power, Laszlo continued. Or she could suffer from some sort of mental defect that’s blocking our power.

“Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby?” Jack asked.

Harvey sniffed. “Yes she did.”

“Not you,” Jack muttered.

As a police officer, she works on a case where females (similar in appearance to her) are disappearing off college campuses, and with “Jack’s” help,  they uncover a serial “kidnapper” pattern that seems to suggest that the evil Vampires are behind this.

In the typical Kerrelyn Sparks “Love at Stake” arrangement, we are brought down a path of discovery, desire, friendship, danger, angst and wherever all that leads to…

One of my favorite scenes was when he teleported her from New York to Italy for a few hours of downtime *sigh*

She rested her head on his shoulder. “The stars are lovely, but I wish there was more light. When does the sun rise?”

“Too soon.” he nuzzled her neck. They had less than three hours before he’d have to teleport them back to New York City. He couldn’t risk falling into his death-sleep in front of her. “This is a good time to be here. The city is quiet. All you can hear is the lapping of water against the buildings and the occasional hoot of an owl.”

She folded her arms over his. “I’ve always wanted to see Venice. Thank You.”

“Bellissima, we have barely begun.” Jack pointed in the distance. “Do you see the light on the water? That is our gondola, coming to pick us up.”

“This is so cool.” Lara turned towards him, smiling. “Thank you for dragging me here against my will.”

Although it was similar to her past tales in this series, (lot’s of silly innuendos) I liked this one. Jack was believable. There was lot’s of witty repertoire (in particular, his reaction on page 325 had me giggling). I felt at ease, and wore a silly grin to the very end.

I finished this 5th book in the series, a couple of days ago, but didn’t find that I had anything “new” to be excited about with this one.

The book is about a human female (Toni) who’s friend was attacked by the evil vampires (the Malcontents), and has been hospitalized (and considered delusional since she is telling authorities that Vampires attacked her). Toni is intent on proving her correct, and therefore places herself in a situation to be attacked (which she is). While the attackers nearly rape and kill her, she is saved by Connor (a good Vampire from Angus Mckay’s team), and she helps him fight of her attackers. Her skills impress him, and he requests that she join his “human” team of daytime guards.

Toni takes advantage of the situation (despite hating all vamps) and now sees an opportunity to infiltrate their world, and get proof of their existence to get her best friend out of the psychiatric hospital.

She meets Ian, and instantly, their “push/pull” turmoil begins.

While I enjoyed the book, and loved Ian McPhie (the sweet Scottish vampire), it was basically following the predictable pattern of this series;

• human and vampire meet, instant attraction yet, one or both are resistant to the attraction 
• persistent “chasing” by one of the two
• problems to face but then they finally (and easily) submit to love, 
• intermittent danger etc etc…

Don’t get me wrong! That is what I like (mostly). When I read these books, I want the adventure, I like the danger, but I thoroughly lose myself in the romance. However, I do prefer a little “thrill of the chase” (and maybe even a love triangle or two throughout a series). In the “Love at Stake” series, while the slight “angst” is there, it is never intense. 

Actually, one part of this book that struck me most was when Ian gets a little bit of an “attitude” towards Toni, (towards the end of the book) and tells her:

“I have never lied to you, Toni. I said from the beginning that I wanted a Vamp.”

Oooooh that one stung, and I was actually impressed that it was “going there”.

Perhaps that is why I loved the 2nd and 3rd book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. When it came to “Zsadist”, his heart needed to be conquered, and his apparent disinterest and resistance towards the beautiful vampire (who had her heart set on him), enraptured me. 

Another thing that irked me somewhat in the beginning of each of these books, are the corny “sexual innuendos” that the males say to these females, that they have JUST met. No matter how good looking a man is, if I was to hear some of these “crude” suggestions in real life, I would roll my eyes and walk away. UGH! I just can’t believe that any guy (especially these old fashioned, romantic Vampires, who supposedly respect a woman) would dare say these things. I just didn’t buy it.

Examples (they are discussing Toni’s ability to guard the Vampires while they sleep during the day):

“Lass, ye would never pin me.” He leaned towards her. “I like to be on top”

Oh ICK!

“Ye think I was flirting?”

“Well, yes.”

He leaned closer. “Did you like it?”

“You’re still doing it”

He smiled lazily. “Sweetheart, I can do it all night long”

Oh DOUBLE ICK!!! There is more of that where it came from, but thankfully, Ian eventually finds his personality and leaves the creep behind!

Despite these slight annoyances, I still enjoy the lightheartedness of the vampires, and their complete abandon to love. I will be looking forward to starting the next two in the series!

I finished this book last night, and it is my 2nd favorite of the series! The comedic moments had me laughing out loud, and the action scenes were vividly described (I could actually envision it as if it were a movie). There was also a nice little twist or two. Although I found the beginning to be somewhat “strange” (I would have been creeped out by the initial encounter), and the dialogue hadn’t yet found it’s rhythm (I cringed a few times), the romance ended up being out of this world. This book kept me interested, and I was still smiling at the very end.

This novel focuses on Jean-Luc Echarpe, a world famous fashion designer from France, who is also a vampire. Due to his highly public profile over the years, the media begins questioning why Jean-Luc does not appear to be aging. To solve the issue, Jean-Luc has moved to a small town, where he is mostly unrecognized, and decides to go into hiding for the next 25 years, so that he may eventually emerge as “the prodigal son” of Jean-Luc who will continue his fashion design business.

At one of Jean-Luc’s new store “grand openings” he meets a very pretty, divorced school teacher, named Heather. She is appalled by his outrageous prices and artsy designs that can only be worn by model-types. Heather, who is a size 12, decides she can improve upon his designs (she has always wanted to be a fashion designer, and has the talent, but her past has stifled her potential). While she is redrawing his dresses that are on display, (designing them to be more practical for the everyday woman), Jean-Luc confronts her, accusing her of stealing his designs.

He finds himself intrigued by her spirit, talent and her voluptuous curves (for years he has been working with super skinny and he misses the day of Marilyn Monroe body types), and decides to show her his design studio, and offers her a short-term job. While they are discussing the prospects, Jean-Luc is attacked by his nemesis, and despite telling Heather to run away, she gets involved and tries to help him ward of his attacker (“Lui”).

Now that she is known to his mortal enemy, he swears to protect her (and her four year old daughter) at all costs. We are introduced to two very different lifestyles (while he spends much of his time in her humble home), and his heart swells with the love for the family he envisions he could possible share with her. Together, they struggle to fight their own fears of their past, and their respective futures.

A “laugh out loud” moment (Heather’s controlling angry ex-husband barges into her home furious about her new “boyfriend” and calls her a few choice names alluding to her promiscuousness – despite both these assumptions being untrue).

“Enough.”  Heather stepped between them. “Cody lower your voice before Bethany hears you. You’re drunk and you have no right to spy on me or pass judgment.”

He sneered at her. “I do, too. My daughter is living here, and I can sue for full custody now that everyone knows you’re a slut.”

“I am not. And I will never let you take her from me.”

Cody snorted. “Watch me.’

Two hundred years ago, Jean-Luc would have simply skewered the bastard and tossed his body into the river, but the modern world tended to frown upon that solution. He assaulted the man with the psychic wave. You are a cockroach.

In his inebriated state Cody had no resistance at all to the vampire mind control. He fell to the floor and scurried around the foyer on all fours.

With this squeal, Heather jumped back. “Cody what is your problem?”

“I am a cockroach,” he muttered in a squeaky voice.

“hmm, about time you figured that one out,” Fidelia stepped back as he brushed against her long skirt.

Cody attempted to go up the stairs, but tipped over and landed on his back. He squirmed, arms and legs flailing.

“Cut it out, Cody,” Heather demanded. “Get out of here before you scare Bethany.”

“What’s going on?” Emma descended the stairs, looking askance at Cody’s wriggling body.

Fidelia chuckled. “Let’s get a can of bug spray.”

“Raid!” Cody flipped onto all fours and scuttled out the front door.

You will return to normal at sunrise, Jean-Luc ordered.

“Yes master”. Cody tumbled down the porch stairs.

Here is another funny moment (when Jean-Luc and Heather were at the fair, to watch her daughter Bethany’s recital)

“Is that your friend, Heather?” Coach’s voice roared.

Heather winced. “Ignore him.”

Jean-Luc glanced at the coach. “Who is that man? What is that machine?”

“It’s a dunking booth.”

“Ah, I understand.” Jean-Luc nodded. “If he does not drown, then he is a witch.”

“No, he’s just a creep. It’s a game.” A witch? That sounded medieval. Score another point for the immortal theory.

A sweet moment when Bethany was scared and crying

… Bethany’s eyes were simply wide with worry and need. Deep inside, he felt his heart responding. Was this how a father felt? Mon Dieu, it was something he had never expected to feel. It was… odd.

He’d always thought parenthood was all about protection and duty. He hadn’t expected such a strong surge of… tenderness. He wasn’t sure he liked it. It felt so damn vulnerable. If anything happened to this little girl, how could he live with himself?

A funny moment when Jean-Luc was trying to explain to Heather how to properly pronounce his name (she was calling him John-Luke). In turn, she was explaining how to pronounce her and Bethany’s name (he would call her Hezar)

“It’s quite simple really. Watch how I do it. See how the tongue goes against the top teeth?” She demonstrated.

He moved close and leaned over to study her mouth. “I see.”

“Now you try. Tongue against the top teeth.”

He stuck out his tongue and with a quick movement, he pulled her against him and touched his tongue to her teeth.

“Aagh!” She pulled back. “Your teeth, not mine!’

Bethany erupted in giggles.

Jean-Luc stepped back with an innocent look. “I must have misunderstood.”

You see? This is why I like this book. Despite their odd situation (and fight for your life moments), we can relate to these new friends, since there are so many normal “human” moments shared. It is probably why I liked the first book of this series, too. Touching and funny. I bonded as they bonded…

On to the next in the series (which will focus on Ian – the 500+ year old vampire, who looks like a 15 year old).

Upon completion of book #3, I realized that this series is of a similar style to the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. The series follows the lives of a group of vampires, and human characters, allowing the familiar characters to appear and interact with each other throughout each novel. However, each book follows a particular storyline geared towards a new specific couple (or potential couple). While I do enjoy this style, I find that when I have become attached to a particular character (or set of characters) I prefer to follow their specific adventures closely throughout future installments.

My favorite characters in this series are Roman and Shanna, and due to their respective backgrounds, their future together could make for some very interesting tales. While we get a lot more of Roman and Shanna in this novel, (at least, more than we were afforded in book#2), our main focus is on Angus McKay (the owner of the Security company that Roman employs) and Emma Wallace (a recent member of the CIA’s anti-vampire “StakeOut” team).

Angus (a 500+ year old vampire)  was a noble Highlands Warrior from Scotland. While his current profession is owner of a very successful security company (that is contracted by the Queen herself), one of his main contracts is security for Romatech Industries (and Roman’s private dwellings). While in a meeting with his staff, he is informed that there is a “slayer” targeting the “Malcontents” (the evil vampires), and their leader Katya, believing that Roman’s entourage is responsible, is threatening to declare war on Roman and his group.  

Angus goes to the park where the vampire murders are occurring and realizes that the “vampire slayer” is a human woman (Emma). Due to her hate of vampires (her family was killed by them), she hunts them. While she has been fairly lucky, in her recent kills, Angus knows her luck will run out (a human cannot outfight a vampire) and feels a need to protect her. Over the span of a few days, Angus repeatedly tries to gain her trust (despite her numerous attempts at staking him). While Emma is deeply attracted to him (he is beautiful, gentle, and makes her laugh), and feels he would have been the perfect man (alive), she refuses to accept that she could fall in love with a vampire, and tries to resists him at every turn.

While this novel focuses on the potential of love (and the hardships that come with such a situation), this installment moves quickly with the constant threat of danger (after all, both Emma and Angus are fighters, and they take the bad guys, head-on).

Here are some scenes that I enjoyed (this first one sets the tone of Emma’s and Angus’s bullheaded, yet comical, bantering):

This part takes place when Angus approaches Emma for the first time in the park while she is out hunting Vampires with her wooden stakes (keeping in mind, his Scottish accent)…

He stepped toward her. “I could ask the same question. How do ye protect yerself with a wee stick when the attacker could have a gun…or a sword?”

She swallowed hard “Are you challenging me?”

“I’d rather not. ‘Twould not be a fair fight.”

Male arrogance, again. “You’re underestimating me.”

He tilted his head studying her. “That may be true. May I see one of yer wee sticks?”

She hesitated. “I suppose”. She reached into her tote bag and handed him a stake. If he got any funny ideas, she could kick it out of his hand in a second.

He closed his fist around the stake, examining it closely. “This is a sorry excuse for a stake.”

One scene that I found particularly striking, was when Angus and Emma were being held captive by the evil vampires in the cell together (and Emma was provided food, while Angus’s flask of synthetic blood was empty):

“We saw you were awake. We thought you might be hungry.” He set the tray on the table.

“Ye make a good servant,” Angus muttered.

“Indeed,” Emma agreed with a sweet smile. “Be a dear and empty the chamber pot for me?”

Alek glared at them both. “We are watching your every move. And very soon, we expect it to be quite entertaining.” Chuckling, he left the room.

Burien followed him. The door slammed shut, causing all the silver to glimmer. The bolt slid home.

Emma brought the chair back to the table. “What a creep. After I eat, I’ll find the cameras, and destroy them.” She touched the stuff in the bowl and tasted it with her fingertip. “Porridge. Not bad, actually, and I’m starving.”

Angus sighed. His flask was gone. His heart twisted. Poor Emma. Katya had come up with the perfect way to torture them both. No wonder she wanted to watch.

“I hate to eat alone.” Emma sat at the table, frowning. “Those jerks didn’t bring you any food at all.”

Then her eyes met his and her spoon dropped with a clatter on the table. At last she was realizing the true nature of their imprisonment.

“Aye,” Angus told her. “As far as they’re concerned, they have left me a source of food.”

Oooooh so ominous…

While this one was, in my opinion, better than the 2nd book, the first story in the series remains my favorite. While I did connect with Angus and Emma, I found that the ending, while good, made me cringe slightly at how a Emma decided to handle a certain dilemma.

Well I’m off to read the next one. Bring on Jean-Luc…hrmm…how will I picture him in my head? Any suggestions?

Now this is more like it! I started with Book #2 (which was good, but not great). Book number one (this one), however, was hard for me to put down. I laughed a ton, and found the romance was quite intense. Roman Draganesti is the perfect vampire! Handsome, intelligent, rich, spiritual (as a human, he was a Monk) and completely in touch with his emotions.

I admit, like most books of the genre, some may find them easily predictable. They frequently follow a typical story format (and even have similar characters), but it is the depth of emotional connection between the characters, and the humorous dialogue that sets each of them apart. This one, in my opinion had that depth.

The story is about a dentist (Shanna) who is in hiding (she is in the Witness Protection Program for having witnessed a Russian Mob Coup, and testifying against them in court). She finds herself in a bind when she is re-discovered by the mob. They find her working the late shift, at her dental clinic, just shortly after, “Roman Draganesti”, the gorgeous vampire comes to her clinic to get his fang repaired (yeah – it fell out from lack of use…see I told you he was sweet – no biting from him!)

Roman was expecting to be able to use mind control on the dentist so that she wouldn’t remember implanting an actual vampire FANG, but the initial consultation proves fruitless as her mind repels his attempts and she cannot easily be influenced.

When the mob surrounds the clinic, Roman, realizing only that the female dentist is being targeted, rescues her, and takes her into hiding to his personal town home. Shanna, not knowing whether he is trustworthy, but not having any other safe options, flees with him. While living within his entourage, she discovers his soft side (which she falls in love with), and shortly thereafter, his dark side.

Here are some examples of worthy “laugh out loud” moments:

A little blurb from the initial rescue attempt:

He moved back still gripping her wrists. “I need you to trust me, Shanna. I can protect you.”

Her headache returned with a vengeance, cold pain stabbing at her temples. She gathered all her strength, every fiber of resistance, and rammed her knee into his groin.

Breath whooshed out of him, strangling his shout before it could erupt from his throat. Only a few garbled croaks emerged. He doubled over and fell to his knees. His complexion pale before, turned a mottled red.

Shanna winced. She’d gotten him good. She spotted her gun beneath the patio table and ran to collect it.

“Holy Mother of God!” he gasped, supporting himself on all fours. “That hurts like hell.”

“It’s supposed to, big guy.” She dropped her Beretta back in her purse, then sprinted for the staircase.

“I never – no one’s ever done that to me.” He gazed up at her, his contorted expression of pain mellowing into a look of stunned wonder. “Why?”

Tee hee!!! Couldn’t you just envision that perfectly? A big bad vampire gasping in pain just like a mere mortal male! ha!! I don’t know why that made me laugh so much. Maybe I’m just mean!

Another one of my favorite parts that was very well written, and again, incites us to laugh loudly was when Roman has convinced Shanna to let him hypnotize her (she thinks it’s to get over her fear of blood) but Roman takes advantage of the situation to have her install that Fang before his mouth seals it off (they are not alone, he is accompanied by his lab technician Laszlo). He disturbingly discovers that not only can he control her mind, but she can completely read his (which is unusual in vampire mind control). This scene takes place while she is under his “hypnosis”.

He would have to be very careful with his thoughts. Only think about  safe subjects.

Regrettingly his mind wanders (onto subjects not usually spoken in public), and Shanna comments on his thoughts.

Laszlo was gasping for air. “My God, how did she come up with such a–an outrageous–” he narrowed his eyes, switching his gaze to Roman. “Mr. Draganesti! How could you?”

Yup! I’m still giggling like a schoolgirl!

Lots more comedy like this (but to quote them would give up some spoilers, so I won’t). You’ll also enjoy some danger/action adventure, some romantic tension (loves me, loves me not), a steamy encounter or two, and just a read-full of fun!

This is is the first book I read out of the series (it should actually be read as book#2). I DO recommend that you start with the “How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire” (book#1) . It’s not that the stories are specifically related to each other, but characters from the first book appear in the second, and I pretty much got the “gist” of what happened in the first book, because of what was recounted in the second installment.

While it doesn’t take away from my wanting to read the first book (as soon as I am finished with this blog, I’m going to start it), I love going into a book, somewhat “clueless” (I HATE spoilers!)

Vamps and the City revolves around the lives of a human CIA agent (Austin), and a newly turned female vampire (Darcy). Austin is a vampire hunter (and also a telepath who has telekinetic powers). Austin infiltrates their world (vampires are still in hiding) via one of the vampire’s own TV reality shows (he’s undercover as one of the hunky stars!).

Problems arise, however when the beautiful Darcy (director if the show) catches his eye, and he can’t quite figure out if she’s dead or not.

There is a fair mix of friendship, romantic tension (lots of good scenes here!), some comedy, and self discovery.

A scene that made me chuckle is when Austin tried to scramble his partner “Garrett’s” memories (Garrett is another CIA agent with powers), while they were reporting back to their boss, Sean at their main headquarters:

Austin slipped into Garrett’s mind and fed him more pictures. “I remember the contest, and there were five judges.”

“Poodles,” Garrett said.

“What?” Sean shot him a confused look.

“The judges were fluffy pink poodles.” Garrett frowned and rubbed his glistening forehead. “That can’t be right.”

While I did somewhat enjoy how the author chose to end the book, I would have liked it to end a little slower. I found that it wrapped up too quickly, which seemed to interrupt the original pace of the storytelling.