Review: Crazy Vampire Love by Eve Langlais

Title: Crazy Vampire Love
Author: Eve Langlais
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date October 8, 2013
Reviewer: Jasmyn

Author's Foreward
Please note, Crazy (Vampire Love) was originally published as Crazy by Liquid Silver Book from November 2010, until May of 2013.  Published anew in October 2013 by Eve Langlais, this book has been expanded from its original short story length of 22k works to 32k.  I hope you enjoy this plumper version of my poor crazy heroine and the vampire who can't help loving her.

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Ella hears voices and they don't like anyone.

Ella's always heard voices and because of them, she ends up institutionalized at a young age.  Everyone calls her crazy and she believes she is too until the night she meets a vampire and for the first time in her life, the voices shut up.

Zane just wants to enjoy his usual blood buffet, instead he runs into a wisp of a woman who makes him feel emotions he thought long dead.  Rescuing her from the insane asylum, he brings her home, determined to seduce and feed from her, a plan that is foiled by ghostly voices determined to keep Ella untouched.  But not even poltergeists can stand in the way of a vampire in love.

There were a lot of pros and cons to this one.  I loved Ella, the crazy girl who hears voices, she was funny and engaging and had a bit of a smart alec hidden underneath.  On the down side, I kept picturing her as a teenager because of her attitude and way of speaking - which really didn't fit with this type of romance.  Don't get me wrong, she was an amazing and funny character, but something needed to put her more in the adult world for me.

Zane was not quite your typical dark and brooding vampire.  He is completely flabbergasted by the fact that Ella is immune to his mesmerizing skills and when he finds her in danger, he's quick to swoop in and rescue her.  He was almost more determined to help her than she was herself.

There is a secret bad guy on Ella's trail.  I would have loved to see more about him and understand why the power was so important to him.  He just kind of popped up out of nowhere.  I'm hoping (hint hint if Eve is reading this) that there may be more to the story in the form of a sequel - perhaps Zane's female vampire friend needs to find some romance in her life as well?

Review: Duncan (The Protectors Series Book 3) By: Teresa Gabelman

Title: Duncan (The Protectors Series, Book 3) 
Author: Teresa Gabelman 
Source: Bought
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Reviewed by: Emi 

 Leader of the VC Warriors Cincinnati branch, Duncan Roark, has devoted his long life to the Warriors he calls brothers and the Vampire Council, protecting innocents of both the vampire and human race. Things change suddenly when it is ordered that he and his fellow Warriors train human Social Workers to protect themselves in their new world of vampires. Falling in love with a human was something Duncan never thought possible, but love her he did. Now instead of being the ruthless leader he was trained to be, his focus has turned to finding the woman he loved and let go.

Pam Braxton is outgoing and loves her job working with children, but when she realizes her live in boyfriend, Kenny Lawrence, has been using her and her job for his illegal activities, she becomes withdrawn, and her world is turned upside down. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she stays, trying to learn more of his betrayal so she could see him punished. That decision sucks her deeper into a relationship that has turned dangerous and abusive. Overhearing a plot that would put everyone she cares about at risk, she finds the courage to try to stop the monster who has threatened her friends and the man she truly loves. Now Pam is on the run, alone and with a secret that could change the already unbalanced world of vampires and humans.

As Duncan searches for Pam, the threat of losing his leadership role has the other Warriors worried, but their loyalty for Duncan is strong and they stand behind him. Duncan’s search is relentless; he knows he is not the only one looking for Pam. Even with his responsibilities slipping, he puts it all on the line to find the only woman he has ever loved. In a race against time, Duncan fights to find Pam before her past catches up to her. The Warrior’s path is clear: Find the woman he loves before the past finds her first.

If you guys haven't read the first two books, well you need to. This is such an amazing series. I couldn't wait for Duncan & Pam's story. I was battling myself the whole time I was reading it. Do I want to keep turning the pages because it is just sooooooooooooooo good, or do I want to go slower so it doesn't end. Duncan is absolutely lost without Pam, and once she returns he doesn't want to let her out of his sight, and he's dying, as well as the other Warriors, to get revenge for what's happened. I really can't say too much with spoiling it, especially if you haven't read the first two books. But I will say that it is amazing, not only the Warriors, but the enemy they are fighting against. It is quite real in our world, I actually wish we could seek justice the way the Warriors do. Teresa is an excellent writer and her characters are funny, loyal, sexy, and fight for what is right. How could I not love them?!  

We are also introduced to another Warrior, Slade, who is a Doctor as well. I know the next book is about Sid, and I'm absolutely looking forward to it, but I also hope Slade & Jill get a book soon too. The Warriors are HYSTERICAL, I definitely laughed out loud quite a few times, and my hubs just looked at me like I was crazy, lol.  

I cannot wait for the next book, I highly recommend this series. It has everything; sexy vampire warriors, lots of action, hot sex, an amazing plot, and the warriors are funny. 

Review: Twilight Hunger by Maggie Shayne

Title: Twilight Hunger (Wings in the Night #7)
Author: Maggie Shayne
Source: Self Purchased
Genre: Paranormal Romance (Vampire)
Length: Novel
Release Date: September 1, 2006
Reviewer: Jasmyn

When struggling screenwriter Morgan DeSilva uncovers the ancient leather diaries in the attic of an old house in Maine, she is swept into the seductive world of a long-dead madman who had believed himself a vampire. Now, though Dante's story has made her rich and famours, Morgan is wasting away.  At night she dreams of him, an erotic fantasy so real she can see the marks on her neck, feel her life's blood draining from her.  Almost as if he were real... "He comes to her at night.  Watching her.  Wanting her."

She is one of The Chosen.  She can be his, if he desires.  And he desires it so much that he is filled with a terrible fear.  He knows that his kiss can save her from destiny's curse, and from the enemies who stalk them both.  But to save her, he must trust her.  With his life.  With his love.  With the promise of immortality.

Maggie Shayne's Wings in the Night is one of my all time favorite vampire series so far.  The world builing is so perfect and the characters flawed in just the right ways.  Book seven takes us away from the group we have seen throughout the rest of the series, so it's a great place to start if you want to jump in at the middle.  There are actually two stories that intertwine in this one.  We have Morgan DeSilva and Dante, and we have Mad Maxie and her group of friends.  They collide about half way through is a totally unexpected way that completely changed what I thought was going to happen.  It was a perfect twist (especially since it happened earlier in the book than most.)

Morgan DeSilva comes of as a bit of a bitch and I almost didn't like her at first. But then she realizes that Dante is a real person (err vampire) and a whole new side of her shows through.  As a very old vampire, Dante is fighting his own personal issues as well.  One being his sire, Sarafina.  We are intriduced to her in the very first sentence and I hope that there might be more about her in a future book.

Mad Maxie was the perfect personality counter to Morgan.  A happy girl that loved her some conspiracy theories - but only the kind that were true.  Max plays a key part in every page of the book, even when she isn't really there.  I hope there's more about her soon as well.  I believe it's a good sign when a book ends with a HEA for my main characters and I hope for more more more because the secondary ones are so wonderful.  Unfortunately that was also the draw back in the book.  They sometimes stole a little too much of the spotlight from the main couple.

There are seventeen books in the Wings in the Night series and I'm slowly working my way through them.  I want them to last awhile.

Review - Aris Returns: A Vampire Love Story by Devin Morgan

Title: Aris Returns
Author: Devin Morgan

Psychologist Sarah Hagan thought she had her life under control. She pulled herself together after a painful (and unexpected) divorce. She’s currently dating a successful but neglectful attorney—a relationship that is adequate, if not totally satisfying. She has a few good friends, lives in a beautiful condo in the heart of Chicago, and loves her work as a therapist. From the outside, it looks like her life is almost perfect.

It only takes one patient -- a handsome younger man named Carlos who is on parole for car theft -- to put her well-ordered life into a tailspin. As she regresses him with hypnotherapy, she discovers an unusual presence. Is this some elaborate alter ego that Carlos has created or is something much stranger going on? In Sarah’s attempt to help Carlos deal with his issues of anger and a troubled past, she is captivated by the persona she uncovers through hypnosis – Aris. Aris reveals that he is a vampire whose story begins in the time of Alexander the Great. His retelling of his lives, involvement and apparent demise in the court of Henry VIII keep her spellbound and hungry for more.

On top of grappling with a phantom vampire, Sarah begins to have the most disturbing (and sensual) dreams. They awake the emotion, passion and vulnerability that she thought she had buried for good. The dreams both terrify and excite her as she struggles to make sense out of her world turned upside down. Sarah genuinely cares about Carlos as a patient and wants to help him find his way to a better life, but he has brought chaos, confusion and danger into her neatly buttoned-up reality. And if that’s not enough to deal with, she is inexplicably drawn to Aris in a way she can’t begin to rationalize. Can Sarah possibly love this vampire “ghost” or will he destroy everything she treasures?