Review: Tempted by a Vampire by Susan Griscom

Tempted by a Vampire by Susan Griscom

(Immortal Hearts of San Francisco #1)

October 27, 2015

196 pages

Genre: Paranormal Romance 18+

Contains: explicit sex, language

Cian DeMarco, a sexy, rockstar billionaire vampire has lived in San Francisco's prestigious Cliff Side neighborhood in his beautiful mansion overlooking both the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean for seventy years. Happily—or so he thought. Until the rare beauty that is Magdalena De la Rosa sits down at one of the front-row tables in Club Royal where he and his band perform once a week.

Magdalena De la Rosa has it all—Bachelor's degree in journalism, a job she loves in California, a gorgeous apartment in San Francisco, and a dream guy. Except her boyfriend lives and works in Sacramento—an hour and a half drive from the city Magdalena has always fantasized about living in. All her dreams change, however, when she and her girlfriend find their way into an upscale nightclub and she's suddenly swept off her feet by the lead singer of that night's performing rock band, The Lost Boys.
Sparks ignite between the two until a threat that was thought to no longer exist returns to wreak havoc on Cian's and Magdalena's lives. Will the temptation to be together outweigh the reality of what Cian must do to keep Magdalena safe from harm?

A stand-alone book. The first in the all-new Immortal Hearts of San Francisco series. 18+ due to adult content.

'Tempted by a Vampire' is a quick read. I flew through the pages, compelled to get to the end and see Cian and Maggie's story through. So for that I give this story great readability. Maggie is new to the city where Cian has been living as a vampire for years. From their first meeting to the final scene, we get a fairly straight-forward love story with some interesting twists thrown in for good measure. We also have additional side characters who add a little something to the story, and I imagine at least a few of them will later get their own books. So, though my rating isn't super high, I will say that I was entertained.

There were some things that kept me from loving this book. For one, I almost DNF'd it in the first chapter. Cian did something that I felt was entirely unnecessary and felt like it was added in for shock value. It worked. I was shocked and bothered by his actions and the author's justification. Had this scene been modified, I would have liked this story so much more. But this was my first impression of Cian, and it remained in the back of my mind for the entire book. Though Cian did remain entirely faithful to Maggie from the moment he met her, and he has some other great qualities. So I blame the author on trying to be shocking, but instead casting shade on a hero.

Otherwise, the story really drew me in. But with the quick pace of the story, I would have liked a little more character and relationship development. This was insta-love through and through. Now, I don't entirely object to insta-love, but I wanted to see more in their relationship than the physical attraction. I feel like they could have developed emotionally better. It also took a bit to like Maggie. She was a weak character in the beginning. It was nice to see her grow a backbone. I've already said why I didn't like Cian in the beginning. He did grow on me, however. And I'm a sucker (pun intended) for a vampire love story. Oh, and one more thing: this story was pretty sexy. I'll admit to jumping my husband in the middle of the night when I was reading this book ;)

For spoilers, see my review on Goodreads.

2.5 to 3 Stars

Amazon ~ Goodreads

Book Review: Three Broken Promises by Monica Murphy

Three Broken Promises by Monica Murphy
One Week Girlfriend #3
December 31, 2013
Bantam publishing
304 pages
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance 18+
(Contains: strong language, graphic sexual situations)
Source: eARC for Honest review

Book Synopsis:

Commitment. That’s what I really want from Colin. Ever since my brother, Danny, died in Iraq, Colin’s done so much to help me, including giving me a job at his popular restaurant so I can leave my crappy waitressing job at the strip joint. But lying in bed with him every night to comfort him from his horrible nightmares isn’t enough anymore. I know he feels guilty about Danny’s death, about not going to Iraq, but I can’t keep living this double life.

I love him desperately, but he’s got so many demons, and if he can’t open up to me now, then he’ll never be the real partner I need him to be. I gave him a month, and now I’m out of here. If he truly loves me like he says, he knows where to find me.

My Review:

I loved One Week Girlfriend and Second Chance Boyfriend. I loved getting to know Drew and Fable and their incredible story. Colin and Jen were introduced in SCB, and I was hoping Three Broken Promises would bring me another great romance. But despite how very much I loved the first two books, this book was just okay for me.

What I liked:
* Colin and Jen have an interesting past, and their connection through Jen's brother was touching and honest. It was good to find out more about them.
* The way Colin came to look after and help Jen was sweet, as was the compassion Jen showed Colin. You could feel their love for each other.
* Jen attempting to become more independent was admirable. She may have not made the best choices, but I rooted for her when she wanted to start fresh.
* Drew had a great cameo, as did Owen. I loved seeing those guys again.
* There were several elements that could have made this a great novella.

What didn't work for me:
* We lost the whole "meeting (or re-meeting) for the first time" stuff we normally get, so without that, some of the plot was skipped or skimmed through.
* I never fell in love with Colin and Jen. It's not that I disliked them, I just never connected to them like I did with Drew and Fable.
* Colin and Jen have some of the worst communication I've read. It went from interesting to frustrating to annoying and completely ridiculous. Their issues became repetitive, and I found myself skimming.
* I hated how rude and condescending everyone seemed to be to Jen when she talked about moving away and becoming more independent. Even Fable disappointed me. In the real world, people move away all the time. But they treated Jen like she was an idiot in one breath, then later talk about how amazing she was. They just didn't believe she could do anything on her own. I wanted her to move away from Colin, Fable, and everyone.
* Jen's past was messy for sure, and she made some very unfortunate choices. But she's been living rent-free in Colin's house making money working full-time at Colin's restaurant. I wish she had spent those months taking a class or two at a community college or something. Or even pondering that thought as she pondered independence and realized her skills were limited. But instead she just decided to make some more poorly thought-out decisions.
* I don't normally mind reading about sex, but in Colin and Jen's friends-with-benefits case, their sex scenes did nothing for me. Maybe it's because I had a hard time connecting with their characters. Maybe it's because the scenes felt overly descriptive and redundant. Maybe it's because, even once they broke through that physical barrier, their relationship still lacked so much honesty. Once again I found myself skimming.
* Their "secrets" were so obvious I couldn't figure out why the two of them couldn't figure each other's out on their own. Probably because they are such poor communicators.
* The final plot devise to reunite Colin and Jen was a bit far-fetched. It's not that I don't believe those things can happen. It's just that it became one more glowing neon light that Jen was incompetent at being independent, and clearly was incapable of taking care of herself. And that was so disappointing.

Okay, so this wasn't a favorite of mine. I'm still glad we got Colin and Jen's story. Personally, I think this would have worked better as a novella, cutting out some of the repetitiveness, and I probably would have enjoyed it more. Monica Murphy is still a good writer, just this book in particular didn't work for me. But this will not hinder me in looking forward to reading Owen's story in Four Years Later.

 

2-1/2 STARS

 

Book Review: For Real

For Real by Chelsea M. Cameron
November 14, 2013
192 pages
Genre: New Adult (18+)
(contains: strong language, sexual situations, alcohol)
Source: eARC for Honest review

Book Blurb:

Two people. One fake relationship. What could go wrong?

When virgin Shannon Travers gets fed up with her friends demanding that she find a boyfriend, she enlists the help of tattooed, mohawk-rocking graphic design student Jett. He’s more than happy to play along with their Fake Relationship, including the Ten Rules of Fake Dating that control-freak Shannon comes up with. Even if he likes to violate them. Repeatedly.

But what happens when Fake Dating starts to feel… not fake anymore? Will Shannon be willing to let go and embrace the first thing in her life that’s ever felt REAL?

My Review:

 

Sigh. I wanted to like this one. I really did. It had several elements that I thought could really work: quirky girl, quirky boy, origami cranes, dragon tattoos, virgin twist. The storyline had potential. But there were things that just didn't work for me. So overall it was a short, sweet story, that just fell flat for me. So to be fair, I'll give 5 pros and 5 cons of the book. Warning: the following contains a few spoilers.

 

What did I like?

1. Jett. I liked Jett. A lot. He is a great character and the saving grace of this book. I wish he could have a new book with new characters and I could read a new story about him. Because he was just sweet and cool and sweet and a gentleman. He was a nice break from the bad boys. Plus, he sported some awesome tattoos and hair and was Asian.
 

2. I liked that Shannon finally stood up for herself, though even when she did it was quickly glossed over and resolved. But at least she finally spoke up. Yeah for some character growth.
 

3. Javier's friendship with Jett. Javier may not be perfect (far from), but I loved his loyalty to Jett, and vice versa. The glimpse we get into their past together and their loyal friendship was special.
 

4. Shannon and Jett were really cute together, as both a fake couple and as a real couple. Their quirks and uniquenesses and insecurities and cutesiness were... quite cute.
 

5. The twist with Jett, although I spotted it a mile away, but I was still glad it was in there. It was a goods twist and part of the reason I kept reading.

 

What didn't work for me?

1. Honestly, I'm tired of "friends" trying to force other friends to lose their virginity to strangers or "just get it over with." Since when did virginity become leprosy or tuberculosis or some other contagious disease that you need to immediately rid yourself of before you can become accepted into normal adult society? Shannon's "friends" were awful. I was horrified by the lengths they went to in the beginning to practically force Shannon out of her virginity. I'm sure that they had other decent qualities, but the author did not expand and develop their characters beyond the superficial, thus we're only left with their negative qualities, and some vague sense that Hazel had been good to Shannon at other time in the past.

2. Shannon herself seemed like a contradiction. For someone who looks down on her family and her upbringing, and has left for college to live a much more prosperous life once she gets her degree, for all the strength she used to get out of the mediocrity of her family, she has minimal backbone when it comes to her "friends." So Shannon has supposed great insight into her own family and her personal goals, some insight into her "friends" and their motives even though she won't confront them about anything, but zero insight into the obviousness about how Jett felt about her. I found this all very distracting for me to fully bond with Shannon and her story.

3. The one-dimensional secondary characters. All the girls blended together into one friend-blob. And most of the characters lacked depth and description. We don't get a great picture of anyone, outside of Jett's awesome tattoos.

4. There was also some extreme stereotyping that didn't work for me. The evil Christian homeschoolers for one, was just a little much for me. Maybe the author knows people like this, but in my homeschool experience, I think she could have chosen a family a little less obvious and made the story a bit more credible. I'm sure there is an extremely small percentage of people like this, but because of this extreme this just made the book a little silly for me. I know its fiction, but still. 

5. Also, Shannon's frequent use and discussion of her B.O.B. was also a bit much. This seemed particularly out of place when she finally does lose her virginity and complains of and describes such extreme pain with it. But here's the thing, she was pretty well prepped beforehand by the guy, plus her body is very familiar with B.O.B., so I don't get, once again, why she has such an extreme reaction. I realize there is discomfort, and each person has their own experience, but from personal experience I just wasn't buying such extremity.

 

Bottomline: This is a quick read, with a cute couple and a sweet romance, in the New Adult genre. Overall, it didn't completely work for me, but it may work great for you.

 

2-1/2 to 3 STARS

 








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