A disappointing and nearly sexless vampire romance.
354654
I have not read the first book in this series, but I did read the 2nd book about Jack and Topaz. While the mythology of the series was thick in it, it at least had a good romance and dimensional characters. My library had this one, so I thought to go ahead and pick it up, despite the bad reviews.
It was pretty bad. There was next to no romance, a hurried sex scene or 2 w/ no real details, one dimensional characters (super bitch and remorseful man.. heck they were so one dimensional I didn't even get alot from Reaper). This book was nearly all back story, and the first 1/3 was very boring and all about Crisa.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from this one, even if you want to read more about characters you've seen before. You'll glean so little that it won't be worth it.
4943602
Compared to the Night Huntress series, it's just another vampire book, and not even a particularly good one.  Has none of the charm that the other series did.  The characters are bland and I did not feel any chemistry. I would have given it a two stars, but there still were some interesting plot twists, and it's much better than much of what is out there.  I  hope Ms. Frost takes a break and comes back to Cat and Bones.
1075972
Good gosh.

As many other reviewers have stated, I ADORED Twilight.
New Moon was okay for me.
But Eclipse...was a mountain of dissappointment.

The two stars was for the fact that it did keep my attention.
Badly, but it held it.

Stephanie Meyer is not a good writter by any means. Her writting style is mediocre at best; at times it seems like reading fanfiction. But I've always forgiven it, because I loved the romance and love between Edward and Bella in Twilight. I prefered the storyline to be good, rather than the actual writing itself.

But with Eclipse, everything lost it.

Here are my major problems:

Edward and Bella were amazing. I wish that Bella's relationship with Jacob would remain strictly platonic. Her love for him did nothing for the story, except make it painfully obvious, that Bella is just, well, to put it simply, dumb. Ms. Meyer states that because of the fact that Bella has chosen Edward over Jacob, that their love is pure. Yeah it could have been if only it didn't seem like Bella was being forced to pick him.

Bella. Bella. Bella.
I'm sure if you are reading these reviews that you know most readers problems with Bella already. Selfish, bland, ect. What truly bothers me about her, putting Edward issues aside, is the whole marriage thing. I'm not agreeing that 17 year olds should get married. But in their situation, in which Bella has decided to become a vampire, in fact, insisted on it, she can't even do this one thing for him. She has to make a big deal out of it, as if it would be the worst thing in the universe to happen. She consistantly states that all the things she does is for other people. I feel it is Ms. Meyer defending her. Because, in my opinion, all of her actions show no concern for anyone.

Edward. The only thing I have to say about him is, maybe you should listen to Bella. You are way too good for her. I was in love with the idea of them. But now, I think he'd be better off if he'd leave.

And Jacob?
If we were supposed to like him.
Wow.
That's all I can say.

4th book? Will I be reading it? Yeah.
Am I expecting to be happy with it? No.
But I have to find out how this ends. Because as of right now, I feel Bella and Edward's relationship is ruined. And wasn't that the whole point of this series? Yeah, they can make amends. But she cheated on him. Cheated! I don't think things can ever be truly fixed.

This is no special love story between two soulmates.
It's a teenage drama now.
And goodness knows there is way to much of that stuff out there.
3130213
First off, I will give Amelia Atwater-Rhodes my compliments for her success in managing to publish a book as a teenager. It is a dream for many aspiring writers (such as myself). But that's just it. That's the only thing that makes this book interesting: her age. Nothing else interested me about this book, save for the topic of vampires. I'm one of those vampire freaks, and while a gothic vampire novel is always a treat for me, this one was more like a bland piece of stale bread rather than a basket of Halloween candy.
In this novel (Actually, it's more like a novella. A novel has approximately 200 pages or more. Books less than that are called novellas, with the exception of picture books and chapter books directed to young elementary students.), we follow the story of Risika, a vampire who was once a human named Rachel, but was changed into a vampire by a vampiress named Ather after her twin brother, Alexander, was murdered. Aubrey, a seductive but heartless vampire, gave her a black rose while she was still human. It was a gift she accepted that led her to losing her human life and transforming into a vampire. Aubrey mercilessly taunts and harasses her. He manages to make Risika fear him, and he leaves a scar on her with his knife. Plus, there are scars cruelly embedded in her heart from all the evilness she has witnessed and experienced. In addition, he murders Tora, a bengal tiger at a zoo who is Risika's only friend. Risika avenges the murder of Tora, Alexander, and every unjust deed that Aubrey has commited. She shows Aubrey that she isn't scared of him any more, and he better stop controlling her and treating her like a naive child.
Amelia had good effort, but she lacks a LARGE amount of maturity. It wasn't so much of a story. It went from the present in the 1990's to England in 1701. She repeats the word "damn" repeatedly. I find this quite irritating - it's as if she's trying to sound mature, but ends up sounding she's in the lack of better things to write rather than making her swear immaturely. This is NOT a gothic novel. It has none of that dark suspense and fear that TRUE gothic writings have aroused in me, such as "The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice, "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, or "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelly. In this book, the nature of vampires have been overly altered, that they're practically NOT vampires, save for the fact that they suck blood. It's as if the author has butchered the nature of vampires and created her own species! She could've added more detail to the book. She could've gone into describing her relationship with Tora the tiger and how they started out being friends. Why didn't she write about the years between 1701 and the present? I would liked to know what had happened during that large gap of time. Why did Risika waste all that time before avenging Aubrey? Why didn't she do it earlier? Amelia's vampire books are incredibly cliched. It's always about a pretty girl who gets turned into a vampire at some point, and there's an ending with no conclusion. That just seems to be her signature style. No offense, it's quite silly.
Anyone who says "In the Forests of the Night" or any other of Amelia's vampire books are gothic novels, or that she's the next Anne Rice, make me laugh at how pathetic they are. I repeat, Amelia's books have no gothic feel to it whatsoever. Her style does not have that richly morbid, dark, mysterious, macabre, yet romantic essence to it that I always hunt for. N-O-N-E...O-F...I-T!!!! Even if she goes around telling people Anne Rice is her idol does not make her the next Anne Rice. She's not a gothic author, and never will be. But at least she managed to amuse me. It wasn't a waste of my time reading this, but I've read better books.
By the way, I wonder how many pages her manuscript was...
3587816
I had slight hope with this book.  Although I actually hated the first the second peaked my curiosity enough to have me read the 3rd, but this book takes the cake as one of the worst books I've ever read in my entire life.  This is ONLY my opinion.  I know that there are a lot of fans out there.  It just seems like everyone is willing to do anything for this Bella quite frankly I haven't read anything so far to make her even remotely likable.  She seems so quick to dispose of her family (father, mother) for someone she's known for what seems like a year. Tack on the fact that she's a kid with plenty of growing up to do.  Wherewolves, vampires the development of the two was interesting to read but then I just got so very annoyed at the overstating beautiful features of Edward, and the needy personality of Bella. No one likes to be with someone ALL the time.  I wouldn't be surprised if he wipes her after she goes to the bathroom.  I just think the character development is so dry and melodramatic.  Like a horrible romance novel gone worse.  It really is quite a shame. I think that this series had potential but the author just does not deliver.  It just seems like everyone is willing to die for Bella and she just comes off as a total whinny and spoiled brat.  If she unlocked the key to eternal peace on eath or could end global warming then okay the needs of the many out weigh the few.  Then there is the bizarre relationship between Bella and Jake which is just that, bizarre.  I couldn't help but feel sorry for Jake and Charlie.  I mean her Dad only held resentment towards Edward because they cared about Bella and they saw how hurt she was.  It seems like Bella just didn't get why her Dad was upset that they get back together.  These characters should have been adults.  I just don't buy it. Teenages just don't know what is best for them when they are teenagers.  I know I was there once and as an adult I realize I made some hefty mistakes and the one constant that was always there was my family.  I gotta say too what is up with the anti marrying thing?  I mean she's willing to have him turn her into a blood sucking vampire who will roam the earth for eternity spending every waking minute with him but she has issues with getting married??  This book was just bizzare.  I am so sorry that I hated it so much.  I wish the author focused more on making the characters more likeable than dorky and annoying.  The vampire, wherewolf relationship was a really nice concept it is to bad that this book just fall flat of being even remotely enjoyable.  Oh and one last thought what is up with the imprinting and love soul mate thing with the wherewolves.  I don't care how you slice it that is just gross to say that a wherewolf falls in love with a 2 year old.  Gross and disgusting did she even HAVE to go there?  I just wouldn't reccomend this book to my worse enemy.
8427
The romance felt shallow - and sets up for future changes. Overall it feels like the author wanted to do something like Twilight and did succeed.

Personally this type of insipid romance makes me cringe. It is a creative version of beauty and the beast, but I will skip the sequels.

Also be warned of moderately explicit sex scenes for those who don't like that.
1775508
I rarely give one star reviews, mainly because most books have some value - even a few hours of keeping the real world at bay is enough for me to be generous with my opinions.

This author can write well, her world building was sound and interesting, but her characters were very, very wooden with little individual personality to distinguish one amongst the cast.  So far, that amounts to a flawed book, but not necessarily an awful one.  What pushed this book beyond bad was the freakish amount of hormones all characters exhibited.  I'm not kidding, the main character was frantic to find her missing sister, but 5 seconds later she was totally distracted by the male lead's scrumptious butt.  One second she's arming for action commando-style to rescue her sister, and the next she's having sex with the guy.  Uh, I guess her sister can wait?  I don't mind romance, sexual tension or sex in a story, but this was just crazy amounts of horniness in very inappropriate situations.  I guess that's what bothered me the most about it - no one would act that way, so her characters became less than genuine people.  They were caricatures drawn from someone's puberty and given dubious life in an otherwise decent story.

The other factor that caused the book to fail for me was the rapidity in which the main character switched "sides" from hating the "Center" that creates vampires to becoming sympathetic to their cause.  Probably because the aforementioned owner of the scrumptious butt is the head of the Center.  Why she had rejected her family's history and become a vampire hunter was not explained, and that lack of knowledge made the story seem incomplete.

Maybe the second installment fills in those gaps, but I'm not counting on it.
783261
[...]Aidan is a 200-year-old vampire who hates what he is - well, similar theme to all of Amanda Ashley's books so far, but Forever And The Night had the saving grace of not being Gothic, it seemed. But I couldn't come to like Aidan, because he was incredibly selfish and self-obsessed. For example, his friend Valerian, whom I did like, risked his own life on several occasions to save Aidan from the consequences of his own stupidity, and how does Aidan repay him? He refuses even to acknowledge that Valerian is a friend. He's extremely ungrateful and rejects all overtures of friendship and good advice.
Aidan doesn't want to be a vampire any more. He tells Valerian and Maeve that he can't see a single good thing about his vampiric state. I wanted to scream at him and tell him to wake up and stop lying to himself! Because of his vampire powers, and only because of those powers, he saved Neely's life several times. If he hadn't been a vampire, Neely would have been killed in chapter 3 of the book - end of story. He can travel through time and space, exercise mind control, has incredible strength: because of these things, Neely stayed alive. And Aidan claims that there's nothing good about being a vampire??
And then there's Neely - the ultimate thick-as-a-brick heroine. Other reviews have already commented on her behaviour. One thing to add: in the course of the book, she meets three vampires - Aidan, Valerian and Maeve - all of whom are kind to her and take steps to help her. And yet she's still terrified of all vampires??
And where's the romance? Aidan and Neely spend far more time apart than together, and much of the togetherness is in any case mental rather than physical. Aidan claims that he loves Neely and that he wants to protect her, both from the drug dealers and from rogue vampires - so what does he do? He leaves her alone and heads off on his crazy quest to become human again. He spends most of the book on that quest, which I found simply boring.
I can't say that I'm interested in reading any more of this series. As the other reviewer said, I too was looking for a vampire *romance* - not a horror novel. I don't read horror. But there was most definitely very little romance in Forever And The Night, and the vampire hero was tedious, to say the least. I just wish that Maggie Shayne would write more vampire romances!
1131321
The sex scenes are quick and lack depth and intensity; the events are repetitive and the plot is broken and well beyond the bounds of acceptable poetic license (see review by "Mike" above).  If this were my first erotic read, I might have found some measure of sensuality but it's not and I didn't.  Funny thing is, there were so many scenes that were set up that could have been developed into a very hot image, but every time, it just stopped short.  A very poor read.
4695941
This was a complete waste of time and had such a 50 shades of Gray/Twilight vibe about it (strong glowering male protagonist who keeps telling the low self-esteem female protagonist how much he liked her but how dangerous he is). Ugh.
450337
Sylvia Day's A Touch of Crimson: A Renegade Angels Novel is the start of a series. On the whole it's a fairly average erotic paranormal romance. When I got into the details, however, I liked it less.

I think of Adrian as a Slab O'Man. He doesn't seem to have a lot to him beyond that, physically and personality-wise. Lindsay is somewhat more interesting, as is Elijah, her lycan bodyguard, but the other seraphim are even sketchier than Adrian and seriously lacking in personality. I often felt as though the characters were posing for the reader instead of behaving naturally.

There are some frustrating character point-of-view oddities. Early on we're seeing things from Lindsay's perspective, although in the third person. Some vital information was left out of this part of the narrative just to make a revelation surprising a little while later. Since we had supposedly been getting Lindsay's PoV, this felt like a cheap cheat.

I have a real problem with plots that rely on someone having decided to "punish" a being by making them more powerful and/or more dangerous to all of those around them. It can work in stories with a certain mythical, fairy-tale feel, but A Touch of Crimson is about as far from that sort of feel as possible. Angels aren't wild and mythical; they're soldiers with wings. Thus, the fact that angels were turned into Vampires when they fell-Vampires who feed on humans and can spread vampirism to humans-vampires the angels aren't really supposed to kill because that negates the punishment aspect... that's just plain bad plotting.

And now for the quote that really gets me:

  "Lindsay shook her head. "No."

  Adrian's features lit with a glorious smile. He twisted swiftly and she found herself beneath him ...

  "I know what it means when you say that," he murmured."

Yes, by all means, let's put a scene into a romance that indicates that the man not only knows better than the woman does what she means when she says "no," but feels it appropriate to act on his imagined "yes" rather than her spoken "no." WTF. There are better ways to produce a dynamic where Lindsay is reluctant-but-wanting and Adrian draws her out, that don't imply that it's not only okay but desirable for a man to decide he knows better than a woman what she really wants in bed, and to act on that without her agreement.

There are a few similar tidbits. There's also a set of decisions later on-one by Lindsay and one by Shadoe-that get made ridiculously easily given what each of them would have to pay for her decision. (I'm not specifying further to avoid spoilers.)

I was going to give this book a 2 out of 5, but honestly that bit about `no' meaning `yes' pisses me off enough that I'm demoting the book to a 1 out of 5.

[NOTE; review book provided by publisher]
1835621
I read a lot of YA and this is like the teenage version of a vampire romance. Angels, danger, sexy sexiness without sex. Meh.
1071734
____Reading other reviews (which will give you details about the book), and the summary I thought this would be a very exciting story. A story with mystery, suspense, and maybe some steamy love scenes (optional but something I'd look forward to). But it dissappointed me very much.

____When you first read about Roshan he is the classic based vampire. Can't walk into the sun, can change into mist/light/wolf, and ect. And that was something that just turned me off the book making me want to put it down. After reading Stephanie Meyer's (sp might be off) Twilight I can never look at vampire stories in the same way. She put a such creativity in what vampires are. Though it's young adult if a fan of an amazing vamp story with new twists and romance then do read it. Though I do give Ms. Ashley credit for giving them the ability to transport. And that was probably the only thing I liked about Roshan.

___Another thing that bothered me was there was no mystery or suspense. Not that this book was in that genre, but when a summary tells you of a dark power growing ect, you'd expect that right? Wrong (atleast for me. The minute Brenna went and met certain characters in ana certain shop it was beyond obvious who was the villians once murders started taking place ect. Especially if the murder is trying to use vamp blood...well I won't spoil it. But let's put it this way that blood taking and injecting was something I remember watching in Dracula 2: the ascension.

___If your looking for a wonderful steamy sex scene. That is not the case in this book. O.O sorry to burst your bubble. But I must say it was tender and romantic.

I'm really tough on novels that don't meet my standard. But the book is worth the read most definitely. Just if your expecting something new and not done quite a few times over then you'll find it dissappointing...Like I did.
4695995
I found Shades of Gray to be extremely marginal.  I found myself skipping over sections, which I rarely do.  The hero, Grigori, was yet again another typical vamp, a gorgeous mysterious dead old guy falling for a sweet young thing, in this case Marissa.  There was nothing about Marissa that explains why she was the one to evoke his long dormant passions, unless it was that she didn't immediately fall in bed with him. On top of that, when the wife that he's grieved for and tried avenge for centuries ends up being still alive, he picks Marissa.  I was hoping that Marissa would smarten up and choose the vampire hunter instead.  I admit I may be a little bit jaded since I read 5-6 books a week, but there are definitely much better vampire romances out there. Save your money on this and use it to buy one of those instead.
1416892
It was an ill conceived, uninspiring clone of the hundreds of books coming out that are all twilight inspired. The quality left something to be desired as well as the characters. Each of them were utterly bland and even the sex was boring. I've had better drunken one night stands (not like it happens often). It seems like someone had been reading too much Twilight and had a sexy fantasyland wrote the whole damn thing completely hammered. Certain details were neglected, or repeated and everything g seemed to happen exactly like you thought it was.
3457810
Generally, I expect Vampire stories to have a strong element of horror in them.  Their nature is one that should inspire fear, not pity, and they are endowed with a set of powers that makes them efficient killers.  The successful exceptions to this are those vampires that combine humor, sex appeal, intelligence, or unexpected ethics with their grimmer nature.  Because a vampire that breaks from its essential nature really isn't a vampire any longer.  This is the major flaw of 'Cathedral of Vampire.'
Cecilia, a vampire, has conceived a need for vengeance for Sade's complicity in the death of her child's death.  Allied with her are Justin, a half vampire, and Marie, who has reincarnated in the dead body of Justin's mother.  Marie is actually Sade's mother-in-law, killed by him, and shares the old master's lust for pain and cruelty.  Justin has dedicated his life to helping vampire 'find peace,' a politically correct euphemism for killing them.
Standing against this trio of misfits is the count himself, ensconced in his French chateau, debauching and eating the nymphets of the village when he is not throwing gala bondage parties for people he generally seems to dislike.  Sade has adapted the local cathedral so that he can lock up vampires behind its walls, hence the title of the novel, and most of the story is about Cecilia's incarceration there and the efforts of Justin to free her and her fellow victims.
Marquis Donatian Aldonse Louis de Sade, was very much a thinker, as well as one of Frances's most famous perverts.  Rather than a man of intelligence and wit, we, we are presented with a very petty old man who takes senseless risks to sate his lust, and who spends even more time plotting petit vengeance than he does torturing the innocent.  Indeed, both he and Marie who are well over two hundred years old behave with a surprising and unconvincing lack of maturity.
There is something farcical about Mary Ann Mitchell's characters and her humans fare little better.  This would be acceptable if the farce was intended, but it was not.  Anne Rice, who is hardly much kinder to her casts, still treats them with a basic level of respect and dignity that is lacking here.  I have not read any of Mitchell's previous stories in this series, which are apparently better, but this one is ill conceived.  Hopefully that will be remedied in the future.
397549
I was so disappointed in this book.  The other books from this series are much better and are really romantic reads.  This read more like an action/adventure book than a romance novel.  There's so much fighting in this novel, with very little glimpses into the development of love between Yvette and Haven.  I guess if the author says they're in love, the readers are expected to just believe it! Also, the novel is very disjointed.  Near the opening of the novel, Yvette is doing some medical investigating on the inability of female vampires to get pregnant. Unfortunately, this issue is never resolved in the book, even after Yvette and Haven realize their love for one another! Perhaps most disappointing is the fact that in the previous books of this series, Yvette is presented as a really strong female vampire.  While the author follows through with the presentation of Yvette as strong (and by this, I mean that the author simply WRITES that Yvette is strong), the author doesn't SHOW Yvette's strength in this novel.  She is quite weak against the witch that captures her, and she shows very little resistance to Haven.

I belive this author has taken advantage of the following she has gained from this series and has forgotten that POOR WRITING does not inspire continued loyalty. This unsatisfactory read makes me feel that the readers have been taken for granted by the author. I'm so disappointed that I wish I could get my money back!