Review: Nocturne by Syrie James

Nocturne
by Syrie James

Genre: Paranormal Women's Fiction
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Cost: $12.78
Release Date: January 4, 2011

What I Liked:
Some people might be tempted to categorize this as a romance novel. That, my friends, it is not. It might be a story about a man and a woman falling in love (think Nights in Rodanthe with snow instead of hurricaine and Edward Cullen instead of Richard Gere--or maybe Richard Gere without who sleeps all day and has no tan), but like those fabled books by the one we call The Spork, this is a love story, not a romance novel.

Why the distinction? Well, to tell you that, I have to give away something very important about the novel. So if you are worried about SPOILERS, please stop reading now. I'm going to spoil something very important.

Seriously, stop reading.

Okay, now that we've weeded out all the spoiler-weenies, let's get down to the nitty gritty. The H/H do not end up together in the end. It was the most realistic vampire love story I've ever read, for that reason precisely. Why do I say this?

Because, and I really hate to admit this, but Edward Cullen was right. It's an act of supreme selfishness to turn someone you love into an undead monster. (Never, ever tell anyone that I said anything good about Edward Cullen.) That's not true love. That's obsession, desire, lust: self-centered. When you're truly in love with someone, you want the absolute best for them, even if that means you never get to see them again.

Spoilers aside, it was interesting to read the book just to get to that place. But that alone was good enough that I had to highlight it, because this is how every true vampire romance should end, at least if the characters are really in love with anyone else besides themselves. So, kudos to the author for that. The book is worth checking out just for that alone.

Book Blurb:
When Nicole Whitcomb’s car runs off a Colorado mountain road during a blinding snowstorm, she is saved from death by a handsome, fascinating, and enigmatic stranger.

Snowbound with him for days in his beautiful home high in the Rockies, she finds herself powerfully attracted to him and soon comes to realize that the feeling is mutual. But there are things about him that mystify her, filling her with apprehension—and Nicole can’t shake the feeling that he doesn’t want her there.

Who is Michael Tyler? Why does he live alone in such a secluded spot and guard his private life so carefully? What secret—or secrets—is he hiding?

Nicole has secrets of her own and a past she is running from—but Michael understands her better than anyone she has ever known. Soon, she is falling as deeply in love with him as he is with her.

But as the sexual tension between them builds, the clues mount up. When Nicole learns the terrifying truth—that her host is an ages-old vampire who is torn between his love for her and his desire for her blood—there’s nowhere for her to run but into the blizzard raging outside, and he’s the only one who can save her life.

- Rebecca Lynn

Review: The Keepers by Heather Graham

The Keepers by Heather Graham

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Harlequin Nocturne
Cost: $3.89 on Kindle!

What I Liked:
Well, I'd been a Heather Graham since I was a kid. But her most recent stuff left me a little cold. In fact, I haven't read a book of hers that I've liked in years. Until now! I don't know if it's the fact that I read books 2 and 3 in the series and already loved them, or if it's just that this was a great book and happened to be part of a great series as well. But this was really a great book.

Book one (Keepers) was a vampire romance, book two (Shifters) a shifter romance, book three (Wolven) a werewolf romance. Book two was my favorite, and this one (book one) was my least favorite. But still, I loved them all! So to be my least favorite in one of my favorite paranormal trilogies in a long time is a very good thing.

The hero in this book, Jagger, is the kind of vampire I like. Stoic, realistic, kinda edgy. Not too broody, not too dark. In other words, not a caraciture. He was real to me, which is unique. But I liked him a lot. And Fiona, the heroine in this book, was my favorite of the three sisters. The scene where her sisters burst in on her after she's just slept with Jagger is priceless. Loved it.

Aaah, Heather Graham, I am back to being a fan. Looking forward to more books like this.

Book Blurb:
At the core of New Orleans lie the otherworldly vampires and shape-shifters that hide in plain sight among mankind. As one of the Keepers, an elite group possessing superior skill and strength, Fiona MacDonald's duty is to maintain peace in a place where one vampire's bite could ignite war. When Detective Jagger DeFarge, a vampire, is called in at the discovery of a body drained of blood, both the detective and Fiona must join uneasy forces.

Jagger will stop at nothing to find the murderer— including working with the sensual and suspicious Fiona. As more die, it becomes clear that this isn't the work of an ordinary vampire. No one is safe. So when the killer's attention turns to Fiona, will Jagger risk destroying his own species to protect the woman he so passionately desires?

The Keepers: Three extraordinary sisters, balancing the duties of their birthrights and the yearnings of their hearts…

~ Rebecca Lynn

Review: Love Bites by Adrienne Barbeau

Love Bites
by Adrienne Barbeau

Genre: Paranormal with Romantic Elements
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Cost: $16.49

What I Liked:
Well, for a vampire novel, I liked that it wasn't anything like Twilight. I'm really bored with angsty vampires and their human lovers.

Given that I haven't read the first book, it was nice that I could pick up this book (2nd in a series) and not feel like I'd missed so much I couldn't read it. On the other hand, I did feel like I'd missed out on the best part of the story.

What I really enjoyed about the book was the heroine's voice. It's told in first person (both from the male and the female perspective), and I found the man's voice to be unrealistic and a little over-beta for me.  But the female's voice was a lot of fun. Very modern and funny. I would have almost preferred the whole thing be from her perspective, but it was interesting to see the story through both characters' eyes. The nice part was that it was always obvious who was talking.

Will I go back and read the first book? Probably not. I liked this book, but there are a lot of other vampire novels out there to be consumed, and I'll probably move on to others. Still, the nice thing about it being a Hollywood Vampyre novel is that it was written by a real Hollywood star, so there's a good chance it's a real as Tinseltown gets.

Book Blurb:
Ovsanna Moore is a gorgeous Hollywood scream queen with a secret no plastic surgeon can rival: she's a 450-year-old vampyre. Yet when Beverly Hills Detective Peter King discovers that Ovsanna's pearly whites are really fangs, instead of grabbing a wooden stake, he asks her out. And a romantic Christmas Eve turns into a holiday of horror.
First the werewolf attack, then the mutliated body at the Sportsmen's Lodge, and finally, Orson Welles and Mary Pickford fighting for their careers in a rat disguise and a Cyndi Lauper costume, respectively... What's the just-getting-to-know-you couple to do?

It doesn' thelp that Ovsanna's personal assistant and sometime lover, Maral, will do anything to get Peter out of Ovsanna's life, including make a trip to the cemetery to consult with Marilyn Monroe.

Peter and Ovsanna have to fight for their lives. (And yes, even a vampyre can be killed--and if you've survived in Tinseltown as long as some of these monsters have, you know how to do it.) Ovsanna enlists her clan, the Vampyres of Hollywood, to help battle a coterie of supernatural beasts straight out of Alien vs. Predator. This is no ratings war, it's a fight to the death. (from the book jacket)

Review: Vampire Vendetta by Alexis Morgan

Vampire Vendetta
by Alexis Morgan

Genre: Paranormal Romance (Vampires)
Publisher: Silhouette Nocturnes (Harlequin)
Cost: $5.25

What I Liked:
Well, it's easy to talk about what I liked in this book, because I liked most of it. In fact, there was little that I didn't like, and what little there was, I don't really feel the need to talk about because it was the typical Harlequin stuff, which I've learned to love all in all. But this was my first real foray into the Sillhouette Nocturne line, and I think I will be staying.

I'm a huge fan of vampire books. As a Buffy and Angel fan, I've been into vampires since before it was all the rage. And I get that feeling from Alexis Morgan as well. I like the way she creates her world, and even more than that, I like that she doesn't make a big show about it. I'm left with a lot of questions about the world when the book is done which is great!! A lot of authors misunderstand that half the interest of world-building is discovering the world. I don't want someone to tell me everything about a world, I want to find it myself. And when the book is over, especially if it's a series, I want to have more questions than answers. This makes me want to come back for more.

I will definitely be going back and reading the first in this vampire series. And I hope she continues to write about vampires and chancellors for a long time, so I can have the benefit of seeing that world through her eyes as a reader. It's quite a lot of fun.

The hero, of course, is almost always my favorite part of a book that I like, and th is book was no exception. I thought that he was a bit one-dimensional at times, but I really loved the fact that he could still surprise me. There were parts of his relationship with his sister that didn't quite compute for me through the entirety of the book, and that relationship felt very under-developed. (I know she's dead, but still... it was his motivation, and it just sort of went away... it was strange.) Still, I was interested in him as a character, and there were some very hot scenes involving fangs that I'll just let you read about yourself.

I appreciated her worldbuilding, and I thought her heroine was interesting. The villain, as was appropriate, was sadistic and horrifying. It really set up the heroine's motivation nicely, and made her needs very present to the story once the villain came on the scene. Overall, I thought this was a good book and it definitely made me want to read more of this author. Thankfully, she has a lot of books out for me to peruse. :-) I will be doing so in short order. 

Book Blurb:
"Hell hath no fury like a passion-hungry vampire bent on justice in Alexis Morgan’s sexy new saga

"As the lone survivor of his vampire clan, Seamus Fitzhugh lives only for revenge. And now that he’s infiltrated the compound of his enemy his chance has come…until he rescues a stunning hybrid from certain death. Megan Perez is a woman on the run from her own demons, and she’s a distraction that could cost them both their lives. But the passion that burns between them is too hot to ignore, and not even the threat of danger can keep them apart.

"Now their fates are intertwined--for better or worse--as they risk everything to experience the ultimate sensual release as evil closes in all around them. Seamus must weigh how far he will go in the pursuit of vengeance…or love." (from the author's website)

Excerpt here.