Tag Archives: Vampires

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Grave Peril

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Grave Peril (The Dresden Files #3)

by Jim Butcher (Author), James Marsters (Narrator)
The story just gets better and better as it moves along. Though each book is basically a standalone, the story is advanced every time because we always know what has happened before. They are also always at least a year or two after. Every book introduces new characters who Harry gets to interact with and maybe become friends with. The world that they live in is our world with the only twist being that the fantastic and mystical exists, and who wouldn’t want that.

The barrier between reality and the never-never is thinning. Ghosts are coming through and causing a lot of trouble in Chicago and people still do not believe. Harry has been invited to attend Bianca’s elevation in rank within the Red Court of Vampires. While Harry did not consider going the invitation was issued while he was with Susan and she is one tenacious reporter who does not get the real danger involved. There is always more going on than meets the eye and Harry is blaming himself for a lot of things.

I loved the book the first time I read it and for the second time I listened and got even more out of it. James Marsters does the narration and he is Harry for me at this point. He does a great job not only with Harry but with every other character and brings them to life  wonderfully. I loved him as Spike on Buffy, and can hear him with some characters, and could and do listen to him for hours as he takes me away to Chicago and my favorite wizard detective. This is Urban Fantasy at its best!

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Holy shit,” I breathed. “Hellhounds.”
“Harry,” Michael said sternly. “You know I hate it when you swear.”
“You’re right. Sorry. Holy shit,” I breathed, “heckhounds.”
― Jim Butcher, Grave Peril
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Christmas Healing

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Christmas Healing (Healing The Regime #1)

This was a very moving story that brought together two people who would seem to have nothing in common. I felt for Annalise from the beginning because she was such a fighter who never let her situation get her down. Her character was so clear from the beginning and once I started reading it was hard to stop. The other characters were also well defined and easy to know and like as individuals from the first one introduced to the last. The narrative flowed naturally from beginning to end and kept the story moving.

Arthur Bugresson has been asleep for 1000 years while his brothers have been conducting the business of the family. Only Brock, the youngest also went to sleep, and then only for 100 years. His family are Initials, the line from which all vampires have come to be and so he and his brothers are the King and princes of the vampire empire. When Arthur awakens suddenly he will need to be brought up to speed on the modern world and so his brother finds him a cultural tutor.

Annalise had been a popular girl whose  friends did not realize was poor and mostly lived on her own when her parents went away on business. When she became ill with leukemia and was unable to pay for her treatment she was saved by an unlikely source, a vampire doctor. The doctor made a deal to treat her and pay her a salary for helping to bring his family into the 21st century. It was working well for them all. Then the King decided to take her away to help with his brother. Was she going to be able to help or would she die.

This was so much better than I had anticipated. I thought it was going to be some drivel about a teenager who is self centered or something. This was a sweet, sentimental, moving story about two people who seem to have nothing in common that find each other even in the face of tragedy. So worth the time!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Fangs, Fur & Mistletoe

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Fangs, Fur and Mistletoe (Mystic Isle #1)

I have always loved a good romance that involves a struggle of some type for the characters to be together. The characters here are so well defined that I immediately had an affinity with them and wanted to know everything about them. I was not drawn into things right from the start but when I was I had a hard time putting it down. The narrative is very straight forward and gives a fairly good look at everyone and everything that is happening on the Island. The story is told with multiple points of view so that you do not get just one side of the story.

CoCo Jeffres is taking a trip to Mystic Isle with her four coven mates in order to get her mojo back after getting out of a bad relationship. Coco is looking for some good sex and validation that she is still a sexy vampiress after Dimitri. CoCo’s friends are an interesting mix, her best friend is Izzy who has a particular dislike of werewolves and expects her friends to follow suit. Grayson West is a werewolf who has gone to Mystic Isle because he is about to go out on another mission and wants to have some female company before he enters the jungle, or desert or wherever he may end up.

Mystic Isle is the place paranormals go to play and have sexual encounters without consequence. CoCo and Grayson run into each other, the last time they saw each other was on a battlefield 100 years ago as enemies. Even as supposed enemies there was something between them that they could not name. When they see each other it all comes back, but they are not sure what it is or what to do about it. Can enemies become lovers?

Okay, once again Christmas is only alluded to in the story and is not an integral part of it. It seems to be more for the use of the mistletoe. I do have to date my self a little bit though because Latham seems very much like Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island in how he handles his guests. I totally enjoyed this though, a very hot wolf, a sexy vamp, and a setting that made it all the more romantic in the end. I think anyone would enjoy this!

Sex, sand, and sun were the reason she and her four closest coven-mates booked this trip. Well, maybe not sun. The moon would have to do.

 

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A Vampire’s Christmas Carol

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A Vampire’s Christmas Carol

I am a major fan of the Charles Dickens story and read it and watch every film version I can find each Christmas. This was a perfect retelling with a vampire to rival Scrooge as a bad guy. This was a different type of vampire as well since they would not be considered technically dead, even though they are dead. This follows the original story very closely with the visitation by three guides, in this case a demon, an angel and a panther shifter. They appear for more or less the same reasons that Scrooge was visited by his spirits, in order to make him a better man and save him from himself.

Ben Prescott was an ordinary man until the Christmas Eve he was attacked and turned into what he considered a monster, he became a vampire, and he took the perception of evil to heart. His entire life was altered and he fell into a dark place because of the losses in his life and told himself that the things he did were justified. When he was about to make a mistake that could send him to the underworld for eternity ,Fate in the form of someone who cared, stepped in to give him a second chance at life by giving him a glimpse of what his future could hold if he does not change course.

There was a nice little twist to the story which may or may not be expected but I didn’t see that particular one coming. There is a Marley to start him on his journey, though not Jacob. This is a great addition to the holiday season for lovers of the paranormal.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
She flew back to the little town of Desolate. Headed into the town’s only bar. William and Jamison were already inside, waiting for her. William glanced up at her approach. His lips quirked. “A demon, a shifter, and an angel walk into a bar…” “And all hell breaks loose,” Jamison finished with a laugh.
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Storm Front

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Storm Front (The Dresden Files #1)

by Jim Butcher , James Marsters (Narrator)
I remember the first time I read this book and it sucked me in pretty quickly because it was different from anything else I ever read before. This time was the same even though I knew what to expect this time around. The idea of a real life wizard living and working as a private eye is very cool. The way he is introduced is good because it is not a far fetched story but something that is more or less plausible. The language is perfect and conveys the the feelings, thoughts, and lives of the characters perfectly. The characters take on a life even in this first book where you can see who they are and what they will be later as they evolve.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a wizard, but not an old hermit type, but a wizard who lives in the world and has to survive there. He has a P.I. license and also consults for the police department on cases that do not have an obvious cause and seems to have a supernatural component. When he is called in on a case that involves a man and woman having their hearts explode in their chests by means that are not apparent he steps into something that is more than it seems on the surface. As the only known practicing wizard in Chicago Harry falls under suspicion not only with the White Council but by his friend Karrin Murphy who does not understand why he is holding back information from her.

Harry has only two days to find the real killer and stop him from taking even more lives. But when he is targeted can he find the killer before his own time is up. And can he possibly have a life outside of magic and death.

I love Harry now and forever because he is a wizard with a heart and sense of fair play like no other. This introduces you to his world and the people and places that he interacts with the most. This series can be fun but it will always have a dark edge because true magic and magical beings have a tendency to do what they want and it will not always be nice. Go for it!

“I’d made the vampire cry. Great. I felt like a real superhero. Harry Dresden, breaker of monsters’ hearts.”
― Jim Butcher, Storm Front                Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Dresden Files: Downtown

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Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files: Down Town Collection (The Dresden Files Graphic Novels #5)

by Jim Butcher (Goodreads Author), Mark Powers, Carlos Gómez (Illustrator)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I totally have a thing for Harry Dresden and I am happy to read about him in any medium I can find him. This is a really nice new story that gives you a chance to become better acquainted with Molly Carpenter and what she is doing with Dresden as his apprentice. We also get to see the character of Marcone who does not appear a lot though he is mentioned quite often in any number of novels.

Something is killing innocent people and the police, Karrin Murphy, calls in Dresden because it is obvious that whatever it is its not human. While Harry has never seen anything like it before he is ready to stop it no matter what it takes.

This does not have a lot of plot, it is simple and straight forward, which is perfect for a graphic novel. Good story told in minimal space with decent characters, no need for major development, some fun facts.

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‘Salem’s Lot

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‘Salem’s Lot

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Stephen King at his best. This is a vampire story that does not have a happy ending or nice vampires. These are the old vampires who just want to kill and create more as they go. The characters are good and very realistic for the time and place that they occupy. It is very much a product of the time that it was written in but does still hold up well.

Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem’s Lot to exorcise the ghosts of his past. He had a terrifying experience in the local haunted house as a child and wants to write that terror away. What he could not have foreseen is that a new terror has come to take up residence in the Lot and it is something he would never believe could happen. The haunted house has been bought by some foreign gentlemen and soon things start to happen. People are missing for no reason that anyone can figure out at first, but then it becomes plain what is happening.

This may not be one of the greatest novels ever written to some but it is one of my favorites because I love a good vampire story and he told one here. This had an evil vampire who wanted to take the town and everyone in it as his own. There was more than one hero, though Ben was the main one, and they are flawed but brave in the face of certain defeat. It does kind of remind you of Bram Stokers Dracula with a modern face on it. Look at the characters and you can actually line them up from book to book. I have read both and like it. I would recommend it!

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4 stars No Review

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Each book has a hot story with great characters who are very human.  You have demons, vampires, and just plain people in situations they would not have chosen for themselves in most cases. I really liked each of these and even though I did not recommend them at the time I cannot see why anyone should miss out on them. This is escapism at its hottest with a real story behind it. Enjoy!

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Books with No Review but 5 stars

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18166667  21509141  15781825   13477321  Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter - The First ... by Laurell K. HamiltonLaurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter - The First ... by Laurell K. Hamilton  Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake Vampire Hunter – The First Death # 1 & 2 ( Marvel Comics) by Laurell K Hamilton (Author), Jonathan Green & Wellington Alves (Illustrator)

Each of these books is really good as far as I am concerned. Each is from a slightly different genre so there should be something here for most tastes.

 

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Enraptured

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Enraptured (Vampire Awakenings #4)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am so in love with this series! I love the characters who continue to grow and make me care for them and what is happening in their corner of the world. I was pulled into this story pretty fast and did not want to stop reading until the end because something was always happening to pull me along. Even though they are vampires they are more human than some that they come in contact with. The new characters are always fully fleshed out with a background that makes sense for their interaction with our mains. The language of each character is right for them and does not cause a drag on the overall story. Everything flows very well and the story moves forward at a pace that builds the tension and gives you a chance to follow and figure things out for yourself.

Ian reached maturity 11 months ago and has seen his sexual appetites go off the charts. He only has a few more months until graduation and then he will not see a lot of his college friends again since he has stopped aging, and will have to devise a new way to find women to bring to his bed. While his older sister and brother have found their mates, he does not think he will be doing so for a while and so must simply endure.

Paige has had a hard life after being attacked by a vampire and left for dead. She has aligned herself with the hunters because they have promised to help her track the vampire who scarred her. But as luck would have it she finds him and is not prepared but is lucky enough to be at the bar frequented by Ian who finds her being drained and rescues her, with no sign of her backup.

Paige wakes up and finds herself in a house filled with vampires, whom she believes to be nothing more than monsters. Here is where things get crazy for both as they try to find trust and safety for each other and family.

Another great entry and I am already jonesing for the next one. I want Aiden to hit his maturity next but it can be about one of the new guys we have met or even one of the Stooges (that would be a hoot). I enjoy the fact that the family is always in whatever story is being told because they really are a part of the whole. As usual there was a little hot sex, some great banter, laughs, tears, and heartache. These books take you through the wringer and leave you wanting even more. Highly recommend the series!!