Sexiest Vampire Alive (Love at Stake Series #11)

   Author:  Kerrelyn Sparks

   Series:  Love At Stake

   Genre:  Paranormal Romance

   My Overall Thought:  Decent Book But I Was Expecting More

Let me start off by saying this was not my favorite book in the series. I have learned while reading this series, that there are some really strong books that grab a hold of your attention and don't let go, and then there some weaker stories, that don't captivate me as much.  While they are all entertaining -that includes this book-  I feel that this one just didn't hold my attention as well as the other books did.

     

I think that my problem was that I had really high hopes for this book. Maybe my hopes were too high. This book is about Gregori. Throughout this entire series, Gregori has been my favorite character (that's why I had such high hopes). He has always been so funny in the previous books.  In this book, however, he is a lot more serious. And while it was refreshing to get to see a different side of him, I was still a little disappointed that we didn't see the humorous side of him as well. We do get to learn more about him though, which was good.

    

In the last book, Corky Currant video taped  the Vamps battle with the Malcontents and put it on the Internet in hopes exposing vampires to the mortal world.

 
In this book, the Vamp Coven Masters decide to let Gregori talk to the President of the United States and see if they can help to declare the video a hoax. That's when Gregori meets Abbigail, the President's daughter.

     

Abby is a twenty-something ( I honestly don't remember her age) year old scientist with a PhD. After her mother is diagnosed with lupus and diabetes, she spent her life trying to find a cure for her mother.

    

I really didn't like Abby's character very much. I thought her character was selfish, manipulative,  and just down right bitchy. I felt that she set such a bad tone for the story. And she annoyed me so much that I was done with her before the story was half over.

  

  Okay, now that I have all of the negative things out of the way, here are all of the things I loved about this book.

     

     Towards the middle of the book, the plot does thicken and gets very intense. At times, it was so nail-bitingly dramatic and scary that I completely forgot about all of the negative things. There were times that I was literally holding my breath while waiting to see what would happen next.

    

We also get to learn more about some of the newer characters that have been around for the last few books, which I found very intriguing at times and I think ( I hope) that help set us up for more drama in the books to come.

    

So, all in all, this book wasn't a favorite, but I would still recommend any fan of this series to read it because it did have some good suspenseful and dramatic parts that I think everyone will enjoy reading.

This review was written by Tracy Richards

   

Vampire Mine (Love at Stake #10)

Author: Kerrelyn Sparks

Series:  Love At Stake

Genre:  Paranormal Romance 

My Overall Thoughts:  Good Story. Unique Concept

It's hard to believe that we are already at the tenth installment of the Love At Stake Series. It seems like just yesterday that I was reading, what I thought, was a unique take of the vampire world, as I read about a vampire, named Roman, needing a dentist for a broken fang. And now, nine books later, the unique factor definitely takes it up a notch with Conner's story.

Having already learned about Conner in so many of the other books, I was very intrigued to see where else Kerrelyn Sparks was going to take this character.

   
In the past, Conner has always been kind of a grouch, enforcer of rules, and not a fan of all of the vampires falling in love. I have always felt sorry for Conner. You can tell his life has been filled with regrets, and we got to see some of those regrets in Darcy and Austin's story.  Already knowing a little about Conner's character, makes the ironic way he found Marielle really entertaining. I really liked learning about Conner's character and finding out what makes him such a grouch. I have always been curious about Conner's history, so I was very excited when I found out this story was going to be about him.

  
As I have stated before in my previous reviews of this series, every story is completely unique. And with one of the main characters being an angel from Heaven,  that statement is especially true in this book.

   
Marielle is an Angel that gets cast out of Heaven for constantly being disobedient.  

I really liked her character. She was funny, and charming. Watching her adjust to life on Earth was very entertaining,  and at times, extremely funny!

Watching Marielle and Conner interact was very sweet and fun to read. They complemented each others personalities beautifully.

   
If I had to give one complaint,  it would be the the ending seemed a little rushed. The book ended very suddenly and I would have liked it be drawn out a little more. But the rest if the book was very well written.

  
This book had jaw-dropping surprises that had you guessing what was going to happen up until the very last page. It also had a really great ironic twist, which is what made this book such a wonderful read that I enjoyed from beginning to end!




This review was written by Tracy Richards

Eat, Prey, Love (Love at Stake Series #9)

   Author:  Kerrelyn Sparks

   Genre:   Paranormal Romance

   Series:   Love At Stake

  

  My Overall Views:  Very Unique. Wasn't what I was expecting.  Loved Every Minute Of It! 

To me, this book stands out as one of the most unique and different stories in the series so far. Instead of having vampires as the main focus, we have shifters.

  

I was so excited when I found out that this book was going to be about Carlos! I instantly fell in love with his character in book 5, All I Want For Christmas is a Vampire, and after reading Phil's story, I was very anxious to learn more about Carlos' mysterious character and uncover more of his secrets.

    

Carlos Panterra is a panther-shifter who is worried about the were-panther species going extinct. He has been going to different countries for the last five years to try and find more panthers that are like him.

   

As I have said before, I love Carlos' character. He has always been so funny and carefree, but also very mysterious. He has always had his secrets and  he definitely still had some in this book too. It was very entertaining learning about him, unraveling all of his secrets, and finding out that he also has a sweet and serious side to him as well.

   

 Caitlyn Whelan is another character that I instantly loved. She is the sister of Shanna Whelan-Draganesti ( Roman's wife) and hasn't seen her sister in a very long time. When she gets an invitation for Tino's birthday, she is shocked. She didn't even know her sister had any children ( let alone, Supernatural ones) and she rushes to the Dragenesti residence to meet her family for the first time.

I enjoyed watching Caitlyn learn about the supernatural world for the first time. I thought Sparks did a great job at describing her emotions throughout this story. Once again, Sparks has created a very dynamic and believable character.  Just like her sister, Caitlyn  inherited some interesting psychic abilities from her father, which makes Caitlyn an ideal candidate to accompany Carlos on his journey to find more were-panthers. And the journey was filled with so much excitement and drama that I could not stop reading this book, once I started.

   

This book was filled with so much drama that I was constantly trying to rush through one page so I could hurry up and find out what would happen next. Sparks delivered a great book filled with super-steamy romance, nail-biting action and suspense, while also throwing in a little humor to make sure the reader was never bored. This book took me into a whole new world of shifters, while still keeping is engaged in the vampire world. Another brilliantly executed story!



This review was written by Tracy Richards

The Vampire and the Virgin (Love at Stake Series #8)

    Author:  Kerrelyn Sparks

    Genre:   Paranormal Romance

    Series:  Love At Stake

    My Overall Thoughts: I liked it!  It is a very sweet, romantic story.

 After Robby MacKay was rescued from being held prisoner by the Malcontents, he is only focused on getting revenge on the evil ones that had tortured him. It has consumed his every thought so much that his great-grandfather, Angus, and his wife,  Emma, decide that he needs to take a little vacation to relax and recuperate. He doesn't want to but he eventually agrees to spend a few moths on a remote Greek island to recuperate and get his mind off something besides revenge.

  

 He is miserable at first, but after meeting a beautiful, curly haired woman, he is soon very glad that he came.

   

Olivia Sotiris is an FBI agent who has taken time off work after being stalked by a crazy, dangerous criminal. She has come the Greek Isle of Patmos to visit her grandmother and hopefully hide from the stalker.  Life is pretty boring, yet safe, on the island until she spots a handsome,  vampire jogging on the beach one night.

 
I really loved the entire concept of this story. This story was so different from the other stories. One of the things that made this story so different, was the relationship between Robby and Olivia. They actually had a long-distance relationship for a while. I thought that was such a unique thing to do to a relationship in a romance novel. You don't usually see the two main characters spend months apart. And you would think that would make for a boring story, but it was actually the exact opposite. Kerrelyn Sparks portrayed their relationship in such a brilliant way that not only made a captivating read, but also made their relationship seem much more believable because they took the time to get to know each other.

  

The other great thing about this book is the great characters. Just like the other books, we get to see some of the same characters from the other books, but we also get to meet some new, and fascinating characters, while also getting to learn more about Robby MacKay.

   

 I loved Robby's and Olivia's characters. They were so much alike and they complimented each other perfectly.  They seemed very different at first, with Olivia being a psychiatrist and Robby being a warrior, but after a while, I discovered that even though they come from two very different worlds,  they are actually very much alike.

  

Suspense, action, romance, deceit, and learning to rely on faith alone, are just a few things that make this book a very exciting read. Once you start it, you will not want to put it down. This story has everything you could ever want from a paranormal romance, and then some!



This review was written by Tracy Richards

Forbidden Nights with a Vampire (Love at Stake Series #7)

    

     Author:  Kerrelyn Sparks

     

     Genre:  Paranormal Romance

     Series:  Love At Stake

     My Overall Thoughts:  I loved Every Minute Of Reading This Book!   

       I can sum up this entire book in three words: Oh. My. Goodness! I loved this book so much! I love how every book in this series has such a unique and different plot concept. Every book is so different from the last. In the past, when I have read other Paranormal Romance series, after a the first few books, I knew when a fighting scene was about to happen, or when a love scene was going to happen.  That was definitely not the case this series. Every book is so uniquely and brilliantly put together that you are constantly guessing what will happen next, which means, there is never a dull moment.  That is especially true with this book.

  
   I was so excited when I found out that this book is about Vanda Barkowski! I loved her character so much any time she made an appearance in any of the other books. She is tough, sassy, and sometimes mean. She doesn't let anyone walk all over her and she values her independence. She is everything I love about a heroine.

  
    Vanda is the owner of a nightclub called the Horny Devils. She is very good at her job, but her temper gets her in a lot of trouble when some of her employees file lawsuits against her, she is forced to attend anger management.  She has a hard time finding a sponsor for her anger management program until one of the daytime guards, Phill, volunteers to help.

     Phil has worked at MacKay S&I for eight years and has known Vanda since he started working there. He is handsome, kind, and has an animalistic need to protect everyone he cares about ( which makes sense being he is a werewolf).

    I just loved watching Vanda and Phil together. Their witty banter, and their need to hide who they really are, make them a perfect match.

 
   This book had a little more romance, and a little less fighting in it than the other books, which was fine with me. I loved every single minute of this story and I was never bored and I never wanted to put this book down.

   This book had so many great things about it, but my favorite thing would probably be the ending. I can't really say what happened, because I don't want to give away any spoilers. I can say, however, that with the other books in the series, I sometimes felt that they had a very predictable ending. That was definitely not the case with this book. I was not expecting what happened in the end. And in my opinion, the ending alone is what made this good book turn into an absolutely Great book!

Secret Life of a Vampire (Love At Stake Series #6)

  Author: Kerrelyn Sparks

   Genre:  Paranormal Romance

   Series:  Love At Stake 

   My Overall Thoughts:  Decent book but not as entertaining as the others

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In this book, we get to learn the story of Jack, the illegitimate son of the famous Casanova. 

I really liked Jack's chatacter.  His character did surprise me a little bit though. Jack is a very suave and smooth talker (which I expected) but he is also insecure and very lonely (which I did not expect).

 
The story starts out with Jack throwing a bachelor party, for Ian, in a fancy hotel room. When the party starts to get a little too loud and rowdy, the police are called to the hotel to see what is going on. And that's when Jack meets Lara ( or Officer Boucher).

   

I loved the concept of Lara's character. She is an ex- Beauty Pageant Queen who decided to become a cop, in hopes of one day becoming a detective. She is tough, and smart. And from the very beginning, can tell there is something odd about Jack and she is determined to figure him out.

   

If I am being honest, I have to say that this story was not one of my favorites in the series. Now, that's not to say it wasn't good. In fact, so far, I have yet to read anything from Kerrelyn Sparks that I would classify as "bad," but this book just didn't seem to hold my attention as good as the other books did.

   

I thought that there were parts that Jack and Lara's relationship seemed kind of predictable to me. And there were other times that Lara's character didn't seem very believable.  At times, I expected more emotion from her character than what was given.

    

However, I absolutely loved Jack's character! I thought he was sweet, kind, compassionate,  and very selfless. He showed immense bravery throughout the entire story.  His chatacter is everything I want in a sexy, strong hero.

   

I also liked Lara's roommate and best friend, Latoya. She was very witty, and caring towards Lara. She also added a good dose of comic relief at just the right times. I'm not sure if she will be in the series anymore or not, but I hope so; I think she could add a good dynamic to the series.

   

As I have said before, even though this book was not my favorite, I still think it was a fairly good book with an interesting plot. Just like the other books in this series, this book comes complete with humor, romance, suspense, and action. The book kicks off with a high dose of humor. I actually laughed out loud within the first few pages of the book. This is definitely a sweet, and entertaining book to read.




This review was written by Tracy Richards

All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire. (Love at Stake Series #5)

     

    Author: Kerrelyn Sparks

   Genre:  Paranormal Romance

   Series:  Love At Stake

   My Overall Thoughts: Best book in the series so far!

     What a great story! So far, this is my favorite story in this series! I loved all of the characters, and the action was scattered throughout the story; I never wanted to put this book down! I even started to get a little sad when I knew the story was about to end.

  

    This story is about Ian McPhiney. I have really been wanting to read about Ian since the very beginning of this series. After seeing him use the stay-awake drug in the last book, and aging twelve years in twelve days, I was really intrigued to learn more about him.

    

      I had felt bad for Ian because he was an adult trapped in a teenager's body, but I really loved the way Sparks went about handling it. Instead of having a really old vampire trapped in a teenagers body,who goes after other teenage girls, (which has been done in several other vampire novels, and I have always secretly thought that was a bit creepy.) Sparks tries to solve the problem without making anyone feel uncomfortable for reading about a grown man dating a teenage girl. She didn't make him look as old as he is, ( which is great news, because I wouldn't want him to look centuries old) but he does now look like an adult, which couldn't have come at a better time because Angus had just hired a new daytime guard named Toni.

   

       I really liked Toni's character. I thought she complimented Ian's character perfectly. I really liked how Toni was able to go from being sarcastic, to serious and compassionate in the blink of an eye.

   

      Tony has been through a lot before being hired as a daytime guard for the vampires at Romatech. Her and her friend both had a traumatic experience with the Malcontents, but Toni courageously teams up with the good Vamps to help her friend.

   

      There are also some new characters. One of them is Toni's neighbor and best friend, Carlos. So far, I really like his character. He seems very funny, loving, and mysterious. I hope we get to learn more about him in the upcoming books.

    

      This book also had some really hot and intense romance in it. It took a little bit longer to get to the romance in this book, than it did the last, but when the romance did happen, it was so steamy-hot that it was well worth the wait.

  

     Just like the other books, All I Want for Christmas ends with issues that don't get resolved, but the one thing that I love about this series is that even though each book focus on a different character, we still get to learn more about the characters from the previous books, which definitely makes you want to hurry up and start the next book in the series.