Archive for the ‘Vampire’ Category

AWAKENED BY BLOOD BOOK 1: BLOOD ON SILK
Marie Treanor
ISBN: 978-0-451-23156-7
September 2010
Penguin Putnam/Signet Eclipse
Paranormal Romance/Vampire
Trade Paperback

Deep in a  Romanian mountain village Elizabeth Silk has come to research vampire legends for her thesis to earn her PhD. During her research she has happened upon the name of  an ‘ancient’ vampire Saloman which upon further investigation crops up, disappears for hundreds of years, then crops up again – many times.  So far, no real research or facts have surfaced to produce evidence that he really existed, or was he just a myth used to scare people.   Walking thru the village a man called Dmitriu came to her and informed her if she wanted to find Saloman’s tomb she would find it in the ruins of a nearby castle.  Elizabeth does find the staked sarcophagus only he has been waiting 300 years for her – his awakener!

*** A new author – a new spin on a new vampire world – you gotta love it! Or, at least – I loved it! Ms. Treanor’s character building and consciousness of where Elizabeth Silk’s thoughts went in trying to debunk the existence of such a powerful vampire for her PhD thesis was at times both humorous (actually quite a bit of humor) and scintillating.  If nothing else Elizabeth pretty much flummoxed Saloman as well as aroused him exceedingly well!  As his awakener he should have drank and drained Elizabeth dry in order to get his physical self back at his most powerful point in order to fight the traitors who arranged to betray and stake him three hundred years ago.  Instead he was totally fascinated with Elizabeth who not only was his awakener but the descendant of the woman he’d once loved and had played a key part in his betrayal.

Treanor also created  a group of Vampire hunters who had been in existence as long as the vampires they hunted giving a lot of background to further enlighten Elizabeth who up to that point really hadn’t believed in vampires.  Under the circumstances she was welcomed in by the hunters who both tried to keep Elizabeth from harm, and use her as bait to draw Saloman into a trap.   There is an obvious connection and extremely strong attraction between Elizabeth and Saloman which as it turns out could go either way.    Elizabeth is confused – on one hand she is learning (quickly) how to defend herself and kill vampires, but will history repeat itself and have her betraying and luring Saloman to his death or become his soul mate for all eternity?

Bottom line is that yes, it is another vampire tale that looks to be continued in subsequent books, but Treanor’s writing was exquisite and fully entertained me from start to finish.   I definitely can recommend this book, I loved Saloman’s arrogance and can’t wait to see more interactions between Saloman and Elizbeth!

Marilyn Rondeau, for www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

THE SHADOW WRANGLERS BOOK 1: CALEB
Sarah McCarty
978-0-425-23057-2
October 2009
Penguin Putnam/Berkley Sensation
Erotica/Vampire
Erotica/Shape Shifter
Trade Paperback

Allie hopes to seduce Caleb Johnson, but little did she realize Caleb is hiding a secret. Unfortunately, Caleb’s life as a vampire is about to change everything for Allie as she is about to learn about the vast paranormal world that surrounds her. Will Allie’s physical attraction to Caleb grow stronger, even as forces seek to separate them forever?

CALEB should have been good. I’ve read other books by Sarah McCarty and enjoyed them and the idea of vampire cowboy had so much potential. Unfortunately, potential is about all it had, as the resulting storyline is confusing while the heroine is flat out annoying. In fact, it seems like Sarah McCarty had so many good ideas she tried to cram them all into one book, creating a perplexing mishmash of a plot.

Let’s start with Allie… seriously, what woman would listen to voices in her head without questioning the need for medication? Instead, Allie follows the direction of these voices, even guessing correctly that Caleb was helping her- although later there are other voices magically popping into her head. Not only is there no explanation for why she is hearing voices, but her willingness to follow the voices is never put in any believable context either. Worse yet, she continuously whines throughout the book to the point I wondered what on earth Caleb saw in her.

However, if the world building had been entertaining, I could have ignored Allie’s annoying personality. Unfortunately, the story seems to skip many essential elements that would have made it understandable. The rules seemed to change from moment to moment or vampire to vampire, making it confusing to figure out exactly what the boundaries of this new world were. I kept looking back to see if I’d missed something, as even basic conversations seemed to be lacking vital information.

CALEB is a story with a lot of unfulfilled promise. CALEB seemed to lose focus quickly, never truly developing a solid romance or crafting a paranormal world one could dive into. Sarah McCarty has demonstrated her talent at storyweaving in other books and this reviewer would highly suggest readers seek out some of her other books in order to appreciate those skills.