No sparkling vamps here. Hurray!
357389
Mia Blake, the protagonist in this romper stomper of a vampire novel, is pretty tough. She's definitely not simpering in her bedroom over some guy who likes to follow her around in his Volvo--mainly because she's fighting for her life. And inevitably losing.

A rash of kidnappings in Mia's hometown have people worried, however no one suspects Vampires might be to blame. I mean, why would they? Mia knows about the missing girls, knows that she shouldn't be walking alone after dark...but still she finds herself doing exactly that. Ryan and his henchmen snatch Mia, and her fate instantly becomes entwined with his. Ryan is a whirlwind of arrogance and sarcasm in the first half of the book, but his character grows exponentially as the story progresses. I really felt like I'd bonded with him by the time I hit the last page. Mia is sarcastic and funny in her own way too, and Roscoe treats us to a witty inner monologue that is balanced perfectly to give us just enough insight but not bog us down with too much over-thinking.

The landscape of the book is wonderfully crafted, and the descriptions are colourful and vivid. For a debut novel, Roscoe masterfully tackles the dark and sinister woven herein with the finesse of a seasoned author. After the bombshell at the end of Walking Dead Girl, I can't wait to read the next instalment of this series. I would recommend this book to all lovers of vampire fiction and the paranormal, especially if you like your stories with a decent helping of danger and grit.

A well deserved 5 stars from me...
2363200
It's over. It's finally over. After five movies of stone-faced melodramatic drivel, the "Twilight" movie series is finally over... until Stephenie Meyer churns out a few more books.

But until that happens, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2" marks the end of this irritatingly omnipresent series about sparkly vampires. Bill Condon is doing what he can with what he has, but even a brilliantly violent climactic battle can't cover up the fact that this entire movie is like a faked orgasm -- a lot of buildup with a awkward, empty denouement.

Having been made a vampire, Bella (Kristen Stewart) wakes up and is instantly perfect -- perfect super-strength, perfect superpowers, perfect skin, perfect hair, a perfect vampire pseudo-family with a perfect (creepy) CGI baby. There's only one non-perfect thing: Jacob (Taylor Lautner) has imprinted on baby Renesmee, meaning that they are soulmates. How wonderfully pedophilic.

But don't worry. Bella gets over it, and retires to a perfect luxury cottage in the perfect woods to have perfect sex with Edward (Robert Pattinson), complete with perfect sparkly orgasms. I wish I were kidding. Sparkly orgasms!

But then another vampire spots Renesmee, and reports to the Volturi that the Cullens have made an "immortal child," which is forbidden. So the Cullen clan does the only logical thing: it starts calling in random vampire buddies to come hang out at their house, so they can fight if and when the Volturi attack. If this sounds exciting, I can assure you that it's not.

You would think the build-up to a battle between two vampire gangs would be pretty awesome. Sadly, it's not -- most of the movie consists of people standing around talking, while reminding us that the Volturi (who are basically how Stephenie Meyer sees Catholics) are cartoonishly evil and just want a reason to wipe out the vampire Mormons.

But the slow build-up is tedious rather than intense -- most of the plot is just about random vampires hanging out at the Cullens' mansion, and showing off their OMG-SO-KEWL powers. The dialogue is clunky ("If we live through this, I'll follow you anywhere, woman") and the dramatic/romantic moments are delivered with such clunky awkwardness that it's impossible to take them seriously.

And I feel bad for Bill Condon, who tries to wedge action and excitement wherever he can. He's trying so, so hard. In fact, he deviates sharply from Meyer's sludgy book near the end, and for a brief few minutes, we are treated to a gloriously violent, acrobatic battle scene -- major characters are brutally killed, chasms open in the earth's crust, and heads are torn off at random. It's absolutely brilliant...

... until we find out that it was all a psychic vision. Yeah. The big exciting climax? It never happened. Everybody just wanders off home and nothing is ultimately resolved.

In fact, the climax is so unsatisfying that two minor characters actually start yelling about how stupid it is. Instead of an epic battle, we get a final massive dose of diabetes-inducing treacle, which just shows us why the "Twilight" series is not, and never has been, a "saga."

As usual, the acting ranges from bored (Pattinson) to wooden (Lautner). Kristen Stewart is the worst one here, because after four movies of mumbling and biting her lip... she's finally trying to ACT. The scene where Bella yells, "You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?!" is absolute comedy gold, and I couldn't help but wonder if Pattinson's chuckling in the background was just because of how BAD she was.

The worst part is that most of the new vampires are actually potentially interesting characters, and are played by some decent actors. Don't expect much backstory, though. You'll be disappointed.

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2" is build up as an epic clash to finish off the series... but instead you get a massive puff of stale-smelling air. Bill Condon tries, but this is only worthy of a Rifftrax viewing.
2130753
I have been reading this series since the very start and I was greatly anticipating this book to continue with the vamp and shapeshifter politics that the last book left us craving; instead I was handed the lamest excuse for a book yet!

Will the real Anita please stand up, because I see a shadow of a sulking character left sitting in the dust wondering what the hell happened. Anita feels tired and worn-out; it's no wonder after those 12-something sexscapades with "what-was-his-name-again?" I know Hamilton thinks she is crossing some great taboo by making a strong female character that can have casual sex-encounters whenever she wants with no consequences; but instead Anita has devolved into sniveling, whiny monster-bait that couldn't recognize the bad guy if they were on top of her. Don't get me wrong I LOVE erotica and Anita's passion scenes are usually hot beyond compare, but this time it felt like a junky going back for one more hit. As a longtime Anita fan I felt betrayed, I think her Vampire-hunter series was placed on the back-burner while Hamilton lived out all of her real fantasies through Merry, a fairy series I couldn't read from the beginning. I knew as soon as the covers of her books went all sexmopolitan that the plot was gonna suffer, but I didn't think she would rule one out entirely. Anita's edge is gone! She no longer seems to be the scourge among rogue vamps, but rather seems like an after-thought. She couldn't even kick-butt 'cause she spent most of her time ON IT. Jean Claude, one of my favorite characters, reduced to being nothing more than (pardon my pun) dead-weight through the entire book. His laissez-faire attitude was neither charming nor witty but just unimpressive. Richard was given the role of weak puppy that comes to lap at Anita's feet and as far as things Finally being resolved between him and Anita- Yeah right, all he did was join her harem. The Most interesting character in the book, Nathanial, was given the most pathetic leftovers from Miss Blake's enormous sex-buffet; He deserved so much more, I was downright appalled. Please Hamilton next time you think of whipping up a dime-store romance with weak S&M overtones- leave it for your fantasies and give us the Real powerful Anita Back!!
4777504
I had grown very bored with the vampire genre and I haven't read a new vamp series in some time. It's not my favorite genre anyway, I'm a fan of thrillers and suspense, but I saw this box set and grabbed it due to the great reviews and comments on the sympathetic heroine and thought, "Why not?". I was ready for a change in pace.

I also saw one very negative review about poor writing and several inconsistencies from book to book and went in with that in mind.

First, I did not find any inconsistencies. Samantha has no reflection and can only be photographed if she has makeup on. I did not notice any other book-to-book continuity errors. So that's out of the way. I also was happy to see that there were very few grammatical errors and typos. So few, in fact, that none come to mind at the time of this writing and that is unusual in Indie books, so I believe that this author does indeed have an editor or at the very least, a proof reader. Now on to the real review!

Samantha Moon is a charming and sympathetic heroine, a vampire who is also a mother and an average 30-something woman with normal feelings who was an unwilling victim of a vampire's vicious attack. Now she's a vampire who is just trying to 'live' like a normal person. She tries to live in a moral way, she doesn't kill people for food and is proud that she once was a 'highly trained Federal agent', lol (you'll laugh too once you read the book, I don't do spoilers).

She is now a PI who works mostly at night, for obvious reasons, but the police are starting to catch on and that causes Sam some trouble.

Samantha has some very quirky friends: Fang, a wannabe vampire who is her online friend; Kingsley, a rather hairy defense attorney who hires her to find the man who shot him; a creep of an ex-hubby she has to contend with and her one family member who knows about her situation, her sister.

Samantha cruises around North Orange County in her soccer-mom minivan with its heavily tinted windows and gets into a lot of silly and sometimes dangerous adventures. It sounds a bit ludicrous now that I'm typing it, but somehow it all just works.

Is this Anne Rice vampire lit? Nope, but it's light-hearted (most of the time), entertaining reading that won't tax your brain. I read a lot of heavy stuff these days and these books were a great break when I needed one. I enjoyed every bit of it.

Although I did get this set when it was free (not from the author, whom I do not know) from Amazon, I am going to buy the 5th book in the series as soon as I can afford it. I found couple of other books by him sitting in my Kindle archives that I got free in the past (pays to watch that Top 100 Free list!) which are going to the top of my 'to be read' list. Things get lost when you compulsively collect free books, lol!

My only regret is that I didn't get started with this author sooner.

Buy the set, you won't be sorry!
3167985
That Ghoul Ava is a hot mess!  Not the book, the ghoul.  This first book in the series is more of a short story introduction to a newly minted ghoul and the world of the supernatural she has found herself a part of.  Ava is as good at being a ghoul as Stephanie Plum is at being a bounty hunter; she's doing it, and succeeding, but it is more by accident than design.

Ava is a bit ditzy and tends to drift into her own thoughts when she gets bored, which seems to be every time someone is explaining something important to her.  She loves 80's music, particularly Poison, specifically Brett Michaels.  The other characters that are introduced in this story and carry through are a good mix, and make the story flow.

The narration is a bit flat, all the voices are too similar, like the narrator is so busy trying to sound supernatural that she forgets to sound natural.  She only narrates this first story though, and the narrator for the rest of the series so far is great!

The That Ghoul Ava series is not serious supernatural fiction; it is more like a comedy that is not blatant with the jokes.  Ava speaks to the reader, telling us what is happening and doing the whole "take a break during the action to speak to the audience" thing.  Ava also tends to go off on tangents and say whatever pops into her head, even if it has nothing to do with what is going on at the moment.  Sometimes I wish Ava were a bit wiser, but she does alright, so I accept her for who she is and go on.  This book is an enjoyable, light read, as are the rest of the books in the series.  If you are looking for a book purely for entertainment, this is a good choice.
4960547
At first I kind of felt cheated by this book.  With the title and the cute cover I was thinking this would be a light hearted, maybe even funny vampire romance novel.  Not so much.  I hope it's not only me but this didn't feel very "vampirey" at all.  It felt like an erotic romance novel that fell short on the storyline and character development.  The heroine Jane (if you can go as far as to call her that!) was completely underdeveloped and there wasn't much about her to like!  All we really know is that she had a rough childhood.  Ok.  Her and Rhys certainly fell fast and hard for eachother but... why?  There was nothing that made me feel why they had to have each other so badly.  Jane says she's in love with Rhys but all the 2 did was have a bunch of sex (very well written sex!) so really she's in lust?  What?  IDK.  If you want a sexy, fluffy book with not much background or story then pick this one up.
367008
Like, what darkness was being tasted?  If you want serious reading, then don't bother with this book. If you enjoy having (what I like to call) a fluff novel here and there to break of the monotony of life then you'll enjoy this book.  Those who read Nina Bangs I can't imagine are reading her for her literary expertise.  It's an easy read, and easy escape from your own crazy, busy life and you don't want to tax your brain on anything serious.  I write this on behalf of the the critic who put the writing down.

Now, for those who want to know what is going on.  Basically, you have a new Guardian of the Blood the Mackenzie council elected to keep their blood pure.  You see, Mackenzie are only suppose to mate with those the council considers worthy of their awesome blood.  I know, their so huffy!  Reinn is suppose to be the oldest and strongest.  Now, not like he enjoys his new job, he thinks it sucks to go off and kill any Mackenzie who wants to procreate with were anythings. But really, what kind of idiot would want to bang a were-whatever?  You see, he doesn't like them.  Of course, you could have fooled the reader, because he sure was panting heavily after meeting Kisa (Kisa is another language that means kitty--as in "here kitty, kitty").  Steriotypically, the big mean vampire falls like a rock from the Efiel Tower and Kisa learns how to dress nasty from Sparkle the Trickster and Ganymede gets to show his awesome "cosmic powers" in between eating everyone out of house and home.  All real cute.
163241
Anne Rice has written some stinkers in her time -- "Memnoch the Devil," "Servant of the Bones" and "Violin" amongst them. But for sheer disappointment, it would be hard for her to top "Blood Canticle," the not-so-grand finale of her classic Vampire Chronicles series. It wraps up both the Vampire and Witch series not with a bang, but with a slow squeaky whimper.

The book actually starts with Lestat's fantasy about being a saint. Yes, Lestat now fantasizes about being like Saint Juan Diego and chatting with the Pope. This comes out of nowhere, and is merely an opportunity for Rice to tell us that we're all stupid shallow ingrates for not liking "Memnoch the Devil."

Then we switch off to where "Blackwood Farm" ended. The dying Mona Mayfair has come to Blackwood Farm to expire, but Lestat decides to make her into a vampire because.... well, otherwise Quinn will be sad. But while she's transforming, Rowan Mayfair arrives to pick up her young cousin and Lestat has to keep her from finding out what he's done. Also, Rowan and Lestat fall in love. Seriously.

Lestat takes the two younger vampires under his wing, and shows the newly powerful Mona how to maneuver the world as a vampire. But her new life also revives Mona's interest in her old one -- specifically in the Taltos child she bore some years before, which triggered the disease that almost killed her. So the trio sets out to find out if the Taltos are still around.

I'll be frank: "Blood Canticle" reads like fanfiction. Lestat falling in True Love with Rowan Mayfair? Lestat playing vampire dad to teen vampire lovers? Lestat's obsession with sainthood? Lestat having a midlife crisis (judging from his slang)? A thriller-like expedition to find the Taltos? This whole disaster sounds like a C-grade Vampire Chronicles fanfic!

Sadly, not even Rice's trademark lush, atmospheric writing can save this hokey mess of a plot -- her prose seems limp and colorless, like a stalk of wilting celery. She also seems to be trying to wrap the whole mess up as quickly as possible, since it's basically about Lestat being told where the Taltos are and a quick trip there. It seems like she's utterly tired of the Vampire Chronicles and just wants it over and done with.

She also seems to want the vampires themselves over and done with. Pretty much no beloved character except Lestat appear -- Maharet only communicates via email, Louis and Marius are only mentioned, and Rowan appears just so she can fall in Twilight-like instant love with Lestat. The only vampires who appear other than Lestat are... well, Quinn and Mona. Whee. So happy.

And Lestat does not resemble the wild, brilliant, charming vampire that appeared in the previous books. This guy seems more like a middle-aged rich guy who's having a midlife crisis -- using slang, hanging out with the "kids," getting a crush on a random woman, getting befuddled by technology, and so on.

"Blood Canticle" is a sad, shameful ending for what was once a wonderful (or at least decent) vampire series -- a damp, sputtering creature that drifts away from its own lack of substance. Just finish the series at "Queen of the Damned."
3864399
I thought this book was fun. Yes, it is mostly filler, and still missing that lusty goodness, but I appreciated the funny quips and unending sarcasm even when nothing much at all is going on. Basically Betsy The Vampire Queen wants a genuine wedding to her lover Sinclair The Vampire King. The mysterious "Book of the Dead" proclaims them already married and that's good enough for Sinclair but Betsy's still a girl and she wants the whole shebang. He gives her a few million to get it done and then promptly disappears for a good chunk of the book. This leaves Betsy all alone and forces her to make some decisions and find her inner power when a Big Bad enters the picture. Betsy is miffed; she moans and complains (for most of the book) but never got the impression that she was overly bothered by Sinclair's extended absence. His assistant is the one who fears he might be dead but Betsy doesn't give it a second thought until she is forced to.

So what else happens because surely that can't fill five hours of audio, right? Well, since you asked, here you go. Betsy is saddled with the care of her baby half-brother, all of her live-in friends and hangers-on have gone missing too, and werewolves show up and try to shoot her dead because one of them is missing as well and they blame her. Something fishy is afoot and Becky eventually investigates.

Basically all of the key characters are out of the picture (which is ok for me since I don't remember most them anyway!) and this book zooms in on Betsy. It's mostly sexless (boo) but it is funny, silly, mindless fluff and it didn't at all annoy me. It won't change your life or make you look at the world any differently but it might make you laugh and sometimes that's better than nothing, right?

And just when I was about to doze off, the dialogue and turn of phrase catches me off guard and forces me to keep on listening.

"So you, uh, don't love me, yeah, I'm getting that.

"Not . . . likely, you blonde leech on legs. I dream about locking you up in a sunny cell."

Narration Notes:  Nancy Wu has an upbeat voice that's perky, slightly bratty and truly fits the sarcastic Betsy. Sinclair though? Ugh. He sounds rather snooty instead of alpha whenever he utters his dialogue. Snooty is not sexy. It's just snooty and a little off-putting. Isn't Sinclair supposed to be sexy? Or am I remembering him wrong? No matter, he's hardly in this book anyway.
2265113
A romance novel is usually centered in the heroine -what she thinks & wants, how she finds love. Well, not here. You read a lot about Wrath and his fellow vampires, and what the bad Mr X thinks and does. About Beth? Well, she finds her new fangs very interesting and funny for Halloween!

From the ideological point of view, it's disgusting. Vampires are a little fascist: black shirts, rites of passage,... Some sentences about humans ooze disdain as if they were "untermenschen". They are very class-conscious: all that obsequiousness from the doggen just makes me sick. Sexist: there's a role for the male vampire and a different one for the female. The girls are just sexual objects or idealized figures, not real women. What they hope or think has no relevance. They are just an excuse for the male behaviour.

These Brothers are very childish. First, their stupid names. Then, it doesn't matter if they have lived for centuries, they find nothing more sublime than baseball and beer. They talk like teenage rappers boasting about their babes or their cars. So, what's the point in them being vampires? They are not even a threat to anybody because they don't need human blood.

So what about the relationship between Wrath & Beth? Sex from the beginning, nothing about their inner lives that make them perfect one for the other. No relationship development. But the sexual scenes, although explicit, are very trite. Hasn't Warth learnt anything special in all those centuries of his life?

Yes, I dislike the paranormal. But a good story is always worth the price. Alas! This is not the case. Nothing redeems this book. The story is not interesting. The characters are shallow. And the new perspective about vampires soon looses its appeal.
4564757
I am the first one to say that I love the Vampire Academy novels. In fact, right after reading The Golden Lily, I had to reread the original series (which I just finished).

I'm finding myself not happy with this Bloodlines series. I mean I love that we get more Adrian and Jill and Eddie. My problem lies more in the narrator-- Sydney is dull. Rose was so dynamic with her colorful language and snarky witticisms. The relationship between Dimitri and Rose was swoon worthy and probably the most romantic pairing since Buffy and Angel. I know that Adrian deserves his happily ever after, but with Sydney? I just don't see it and to me it feels forced.

So let me just go into what I didn't like. The storyline goes nowhere. It took a lot of pages to get to the finale scene which was just made me scream (in my head) WTF! I adore Richelle's writing and Vampire Academy is so tightly plotted and written so damn well, that this series seems like a completely different writer is writing it. Where are my clues that were sprinkled in VA? Where is the underlying passion and greatness that I have come to adore in Mead's writing?

So what did I like about it: Angeline. We first meet her in Last Sacrifice (the final VA book), where she lives in the mountains with The Keepers. A ragtag bunch of vampires and Dhampirs and human who commune together in harmony. Angeline has spunk and her besottedness with Eddie is fun to watch. Eddie Castile. Ever since Frostbite, I have adored this character. He's strong willed, he's a good friend to Rose and he adores Jill (The Queen's illegitimate sister). Jill can be annoying at time. I know that she's learning all about being royalty as it was thrust upon her. Plus having your life constantly in danger should make you a more exciting character, but she's not. You know who is missing from this series? Mia Rinaldi. I like Angeline, but Mia would work well especially as possibly a rival to Adrian's affection from Sydney. There needs to be some conflict and Syd being an alchemist just doesn't bring the fervor.

Adrian Ivashkov deserves his own paragraph. Adrian is still smarting from Rose's deception and defection of her heart to her one true love, Dimitri Belikov. What makes matters even worse? Dimitri is in this whole book with another strigoi turned back, Sonya Karp. They are trying to find out the secrets of turning back from Strigoi and long-term effects of spirit. So Adrian and Dimitri are in close contact often and the turn of events are funny and sometimes sad. However, snarky Adrian is always fun. Drunk and smoking Adrian is hilarious.

Even Adrian can't help this installment. I'm pretty invested in the series so I'm definitely interested to see where she's going with it (let's hope not 6 books), and I'd like to see everyone happy. I know Rose' story is done, but I'd like to see her back (even if she was briefly in Bloodlines).

I know that there will be people who won't agree with my assessment of The Golden Lily. I tried to love this book, but came away with a half-assed infatuation of it.
1770036
If you are a fan of D. B. Reynolds Vampires in America series, you are quite aware of the main characters for this novella.  Raphael is the lord of all the North American vampires and a force unlike no other.  His mate, Cynthia, is a human, but she is a very determined, logical, fierce woman.  In the last installment, Raphael was brought down by a combined force of vampires from Europe, and Cyn saved him with the add of her friend, Nick Katsaros.  Nick is a sorcerer who had the key to magical cuffs that were keeping Raphael imprisoned.  Nick helped Cyn, but asked for a return favor sometime in the future.

So this entire novella was simply a set-up for a new series by D. B. Reynolds that would connect and interact at points with her Vampires in America series.  That would have been great if it had been done well, but it wasn't.  My main complaint was the main characters acted like idiots.  Here is a centuries old vampire, Raphael, who constantly and continuously bickered with Nick over Cyn the entire book.  Both of them acted like a slight step up from freshmen in high school, let alone powerful and ancient men.  The reason this happened was the author wanted a reason to send in Cyn by herself over an artifact that was in a vault that Nick needed.  It was absolutely silly that Cyn waited until Raphael was down for his day sleep to sneak out and put her life in jeopardy over something so lame.  Talk about a poor decision.  The entire time she was making this decision you knew and every other reader in the world knew it was dumb as hell, but as with most TSTL heroines, Cyn talked herself into this with the justification that she didn't want Raphael and Nick to kill each other.  Really?  Yeah, really.  If two men centuries old can't act better than this, let 'em go at it.  They deserve whatever they get.

I really feel like the author became lazy in this book.  Reynolds twisted her characters' personalities (Cyn was never dumb & Rafael was never anything but controlled) to fit a plot to introduce her new series.  There had to be a better way than to compromise characters that she has carefully built up over ten or so books.  In addition, the character of Nick was always charming and calculating, but he came off as snarky, petty and mean in this book.

I did read this entire book, but felt it was a very lukewarm addition to a series that has been very exciting up to now.  Hopefully, Reynolds gets her characters back on track in future installments.
1546111
When Mordred Soulis took a job as a mercenary in the Second Crusade, he didn't count on finding out that his employer (King Conrad) was a complete nitwit.  After several examples of military ineptness Conrad manages to get his men killed off and stranded in the Arabian desert, until finally Mordred alone is alive, and that only barely.  Just as our doughty Scots hero is about to die he is killed instead by Vlad the vampire.  Next he finds himself collected by a group of mystics that apparently specialize in picking up Vlad's leftovers.

One the get the knight into shape he is transferred to the Templars for advanced lessons on how to be a vampire.  Mordred, you see, is the 'chosen one.'  No, not Buffy, but the half vampire with what it takes to stop the evil Vlad in its tracks.  Now, with the story in full swing, the novel settles down to  a regular pattern of fight a little, learn a little, bit a little, and whine a lot.  After Mordred graduates from the Templars he studies under Kabil, one of the 'real' vampires, and so on, and so on...

There are only a few things that will put me off a vampire story.  In general I want them to succeed and I'm willing to forgive a myriad of sins to enjoy the little bit of occult mystery that surround the genre.  Rule one, though, is that vampires shouldn't whine.  And Mordred is perpetually tripping over his reluctance to be what he is and asking people 'why me.'  In my world a vampire who complains that much is just a meal ticket waiting to happen.

Another pet peeve is daylight.  With a great deal of magic, a vampire can survive direct sunlight for very short periods of time.  A newbie should go straight up in flames.  Burbank has Mordred making a desert trek to Egypt in bright daylight barely a month after he is born.  Vampires need weaknesses, otherwise they become boring, all powerful characters.  There is no such thing as a tanned vampire.

And how is it possible that a crusader wouldn't know what a camel was.  It is this kind of mistake, and the relatively small amount of plot, that makes me give this book a low rating.  Burbank does seem to be able to write, but doesn't seem to be in control of her subject matter.  Plot shifts are almost always due to outside, miraculous intervention (a werewolf shows up to resolve a battle, etc.), not character development or force of events.  So unless you are totally vampire starved, I suggest you read elsewhere.
250203
With almost absolutely no romance and very little plot line that actually advances this series Blood Bargain was a bit disappointing after such a good start to the series. The writing is still good, though there's more than a little politics dashed in. I happened to agree with most of it but still didn't think it was always appropriate to the storyline.

Basically Keira Kelly, whose still going though a sluggish  change from powerless supernatural to the selection of her defined powers, and her shifter brother spend the whole book traveling around Rio Seco, Texas setting things right even though they aren't usually involved in the situations. No progress is made between Keira and powerful vampire Adam, who plays a weak role in this book. The suspenseful part in the graveyard is very creepy but the end of the book leaves you with a cliffhanger which you partially see way off. Don't get me wrong, I'm not writing this series off at all. But I'm just saying this one was kinda blah and I'm hoping for better things next time, which I'm sure the author will deliver.
1526954
I really enjoy this series. However, there wasn't any real suspense or events. I kept waiting for an emotional scene that never came. For a vampire novel there was a lack of blood and passion. The previous novels were somewhat seductive. This one was really dry with a lack of emotion. I really hope they take their time and add more to the next novel.
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!
3053938
Redundant storyline. Nothing new here. Absence of any editing very disappointing and annoying. I enjoy a good vamp romance, but this definitely isn't one.