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.
    

Frostbite. Vampire Academy Series (book 2)

                Author: Richelle Mead


               Publisher: Penguin Group, US
       
               Format that I used: ebook

               My Overall Thoughts: OMG!! I Have Never Loved Anything More!





The Second installment of the Vampire Academy Series picks up right where the last book left off.  The intrigue and suspense definitely increase in this book. Frostbite still  has the same main characters from book one, like Rose, Demitri, Christian, Mason, and Lisa. However, Richelle Mead decided to add a few new characters, even more complications to an already complicated love life, and a very surprising tragedy, insuring  that there is never a dull moment tin the book!


In the story, Christmas is approaching, and because of recent strigoi threats, the school has decided to celebrate Christmas at a secured ski lodge. That way Moroi and their families can still be together without students having to travel and possibly being endangered of the strigoi.  This is where we get to meet a lot of our new characters. First, is Tasha Ozera. She is Christians aunt. She is very loving, and protective over Christian. Her nice, genuine personality, and her crazy, radical views on how Moroi -royals and non royal- should conduct themselves, make everyone instantly like her.

Next, we get to finally meet Rose's mother, Janine Hathaway, who has spent so much of her life being a great guardian that she hasn't had the time to learn how to be a good mother. Janine's and Rose's relationship is very awkward at first. Rose has a lot of resentment for mother never being around much as she was growing up. However, I found their interactions with each other to be very entertaining. it was fun to watch both of their characters grow and realize that they aren't as different as they may think.

The other new character we get to meet is Adrian Izkov. He is a witty, sarcastic, free spirited Twenty-one year old moroi who adds an even more comical dynamic to the story.

Another  major part of the story is Rose's complicated love life.  We saw how she and Dimitri had definite chemistry and attraction to each other, however, we also learned why they could never be together. I enjoyed watching Rose trying to cope and make sense of her feeling and also trying to suppress them. Both Rose and Dimitri try to move on and date other people in hopes of forgetting about their attraction for each other. It was both entertaining and frustrating watching those two try to move on and accept that they can not be together.

Just like the first book, Frostbite had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. The story flowed so smoothly and all of the characters, both new and old, added such a wonderful dynamic to an already wonderful story.

This story had me on an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end.  So, if you like to laugh, cry, feel happy, feel scared, and like JAW-DROPPING, dramatic surprises, then this book is one that you definitely don't want to miss!



This review was Tracy Richards

The Undead Next Door ( Love At Stake Series #4)

  Author:  Kerrelyn Sparks

  Genre:  Paranormal Romance

  Series:  Love At Stake

  My Overall Thoughts: Fun and entertaining from beginning to end!

  In The Undead Next Door, we continue the journey of good vampire verses bad, in the nail-biting, suspenseful story of Jean-Luc Escharpe.

   

     At first, I wasn't sure that I was going to like this book very much. From what little I have seen of Jean-Luc, he didn't seem like a very interesting character. But once again, I have been proven wrong when it comes to the Love at Stake series.

    

      Jean-Luc is a famous fashion designer from Paris. When some of the media start to question why he never ages, he decides to move to a small town in Texas and go into hiding for twenty-five years.

  

       I loved Jean-Luc's character. I was afraid that his character was going to be boring and a little on the stuck up and snooty side, but as I have stated before, I was very wrong.  His character was well-developed and have many different layers. His funny and witty personality was very entertaining to read about. In this story, Jean-Luc takes having to move to Texas very hard. After living so long in Paris, France, a small town in Texas seems like a prison sentence. He is very depressed about being there until he meets a woman named Heather Westfield.

   

       Heather's character may be one of my favorites so far in this series. She is a single mother, which I thought was a very unique and brilliant concept to add to the character. She is trying to find her independence and strength after her divorce. She can be tough at times and very sweet at other times.  Just her character alone, set me on an emotional roller coaster that had me laughing at one second, and screaming with frustration the next second.  I loved seeing Heather interacting with Jean-Luc. Their personalities seem to compliment each other's perfectly.

   

       In this story, we are introduced to a few new characters. One of my favorites was Fidelia. She is a psychic live-in babysitter for Heather's daughter, Bethany. She was one of the funniest characters in this series so far.  I don't think she will be the star of any of the upcoming books, but she definitely added some fun and humor in this book!
   
     The last thing I loved about this book  was the amount of action, suspense, and romance that was in this story. The romance was a little more drawn out in this book, than it has been in the others, but in my opinion, that is what made the story so good. You never really knew what was going to happen between those two and it kept you guessing until the very end.

   

       This book also did not disappoint when it came to the action and suspense. With Jean-Luc fighting a villain that has been determined to destroy his life for the last few years, this book is jam-packed with many intense, and suspenseful moments.

   

       I thought this book was terrific! It was perfectly paced and brilliantly written that it held my attention from beginning to end. 

Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, Book #1

Author: Richelle Mead

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Penguin Group US

Format that I used: ebook

My Overall Thoughts: Seems Very Intriguing!



When I first saw Vampire Academy, I wasn't sure that I would like  it. Now, Don't Get me wrong, I love Fantasy Fiction as much as the next person, but this was a Young Adult Fantasy, and I haven't been mistaken for a teenager in quite some time. So, I really didn't think that I would like this book. I decided to give it a try, but I didn't have high hopes for it. I figured it was going to be a little on the "immature" side, but thought  it would be something to read just to past the time.

BOY, WAS I WRONG! I was intrigued by this book from beginning to end! I absolutely loved everything about this book! True, the book is about teenagers in high school, but with all of the drama, secrets, lies, budding romances, and thrilling action, this book had me on the edge of my seat and such suspense filled content that it was anything but you average teenage story.

 Rose Hathaway is a reckless, loudmouthed, take-no-crap-from-anyone kind of person. She is a dhampir,(half human, and half moroi) and training to one day be the guardian to her best friend Lisa. Dhampirs are usually taller, stronger, and faster than morois, and even humans are, which makes them good at fighting strigoi (blood thirsty, evil vampires that kill people by drinking them to death.) and protecting the moroi from them.

Vasilisa (Lisa) Dragomir is a moroi (vampire) princess who is timid, reasonable, and always tries to think things through before acting. Lisa is part of the Royal family and is the last surviving Dragomir, which makes her very valuable and precious to all moroi and dhampirs alike.

The story starts out with Rose and Lisa on the run from St. Vladimir's school (a special kind of school that helps dhampirs and morois learn and improve their skills.) However, they quickly get captured by the school's guardians and are brought back to St. Vladimir's. Upon returning, Rose finds out that while they were away, she missed out on two years of important guardian training and has to do extra training sessions with Dimitri, one of the school's guardians, in order to be caught up enough to graduate with the rest of her class.


We watch Rose as she figures out that even though she may be 17 years old, she is training to become a guardian and will one day be protecting someone's life, which means that she has to grow up a lot faster than most teenagers if she wants to be the one that protects Lisa after graduation. With the help of Dimitri, Rose quickly realizes that she can not act as wild and care free as she once has.

We also get to see that while Lisa may be the quiet and controlled one, she will also do anything for her best friend.While Rose may be training to be Lisa's protector, we quickly find out that Lisa is just as devoted to protecting Rose. Lisa's character also goes through quite a transformation and it was very interesting to watch her character adapt to life back in school.

I loved how well developed all of the characters were. I felt like I actually knew every character in this book. Richelle Mead did such a great job at describing her characters. She made sure that everyone had a rich, unique personality. She also did a great job on the general description of the character. I knew what everyone looked like, and I was so captivated by the characters, that after reading the book for a little while, I felt like I could actually see what facial expressions they were making during certain events, without Mead  even having to describe it. I laughed with the characters,  I cried with characters, I even had small crushes on the characters  (yeah, that's right I had crushes on fictional characters, but read the book before you go and think I am completely crazy... your opinion might change).

Another  thing I like about this book was how well written and well thought out the entire book was. There was mystery, action, and romance (even some forbidden romance, which is truly the best kind!) All of the scenes seemed to flow very smoothly. None of the book seemed rushed or just thrown together at the last minuet just so the book will have more content.  At first, I was a little confused about the different types of vampires, and the Dhampirs, but I thought that Mead did a great job at explaining the different groups of people in a way that was easy to understand.

Having read the entire series already, I can tell you that this book has more "Young Adult" content and situations than any other book in this series, but this book gives you a good introduction to the characters and even gives you small glimpse of their past so you can better understand why they act the way the do. This book is definitely a good start to a great series, and I recommend anyone who is a fan of paranormal romance to give it a try.




This review was written by Tracy Richards

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire. (Love at Stake series. Book #1)

    Author:  Kerrelyn Sparks

    Genre:   Paranormal Romance

    Format that I read: ebook

    My Overall Feelings: Couldn't Put This Book Down!

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire is a fast-paced paranormal romance book that kicks off the Love At Stake Series.  I thought this book had everything you would want in a paranormal romance.  It had action, romance, mystery, and humor.  I really thought that the concept of this story was very unique and compelling.

 
PLOT

Roman Draganesti is very smart and successful scientist who has saved millions of human lives by inventing synthetic blood. He just has one little problem: He is a vampire. A very old and lonely vampire.

 

MY THOUGHTS


When I first heard a brief summary of the story,  I have to admit, I didn't have high hopes for the book. A vampire scientist that tries out one of his newest experiments, and in the process, loses a fang and has to find an all-night dentist. The whole concept seemed a bit silly to me. Once I started to read it, however, I soon realized that this was not just some silly book poking fun at vampires. It was actually a very compelling book with a very unique plot.

I thought the delivery of all of the different characters was very refreshing and unique. I loved Roman's character. Kerrelyn Sparks did such a great job at making his character seem very believable.  He has such a dark past and has his own demons that he battles with throughout the story. It was a real pleasure learning about his character and getting to understand why he acts and thinks the way he does.

Roman has been alive a very long time and has given up on love until he meets a beautiful dentist named Shanna Whelan.

 
   
Shanna's character was very well developed. She is a dentist that had recently been part of a very horrific murder, and as a result, is now in the witness protection program and working the night shift at a 24 hour dentist office so she can try and keep a low profile.

 Shanna's character did seem a little wishy-washy at times, in relation to coming to terms that there are other beings besides humans on Earth, but I thought that was what made her character so exciting to watch. I never really knew what she was going to do.

All of the other characters in this book are also very well-written and thought out. I can't wait to learn more about them in the rest of the series.

 
If I had one grievance about this book, it would be that it was too fast-paced at times. I thought the author could have done a better job at describing certain situations and people's emotions, but instead, it seemed like she rushed through the descriptions so she could hurry up and move on to the next thing.  That was the only negative thing I have to say about the book, and really, it wasn't always a negative thing because there were times that I was on the edge of my seat with excitement and I was thankful for those moments when she decided to hurry up and move on because I was so anxious to see what would happen next.

 
I was also a little disappointed to see that the book ended with some issues left unresolved. However, having read most of this series already, I now understand that the next story continues where this one left off and any unresolved issues will be addressed in the following books to come.

In conclusion, this book may not be the best in the series, (every book seems to get better and better) but it is definitely a great starting point to a very great series.  I think anyone who loves hot and steamy love scenes, mixed with some very exciting drama, will absolutely love, not only this book, but the entire series.
 

This review was written by Tracy Richards