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Alliance Vampires #7
Ciuman Kematian / Kiss Of Darkness
Hutan-hutan di Transylvania selalu penuh bisikan tentang kengerian sosok legendaris berabad-abad silam, Vlad Dracul. Mengabaikan peringatan tegas dari profesor
mereka-waspadalah pada makhluk yang akan memangsa orang-orang tak bersalah-beberapa wisatawan mahasiswa memasuki hutan itu? dan menghilang. Kini, profesor mereka, BryanMacAllistair, yakin bahwa ada sekelompok pemuja setan yang sedang beraksi-dan pertemuan berikutnya akan diadakan di Amerika.
Ketika seorang psikolog, Jessica Fraser diminta Bryan untuk membantunya, dia ragu. Sesuatu dalam diri Bryan membuat Jessica takut, meskipun dia juga tak bisa mengingkari Ketertarikannya yang luar biasa kepada lelaki itu. Kini, meski enggan bersekutu, mereka bekerja sama mencari kebenaran.
mereka-waspadalah pada makhluk yang akan memangsa orang-orang tak bersalah-beberapa wisatawan mahasiswa memasuki hutan itu? dan menghilang. Kini, profesor mereka, BryanMacAllistair, yakin bahwa ada sekelompok pemuja setan yang sedang beraksi-dan pertemuan berikutnya akan diadakan di Amerika.
Ketika seorang psikolog, Jessica Fraser diminta Bryan untuk membantunya, dia ragu. Sesuatu dalam diri Bryan membuat Jessica takut, meskipun dia juga tak bisa mengingkari Ketertarikannya yang luar biasa kepada lelaki itu. Kini, meski enggan bersekutu, mereka bekerja sama mencari kebenaran.
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 18, 1955
203 people are currently reading
1675 people want to read
About the author
Heather Graham
584 books6,925 followersAlso published as Heather Graham Pozzessere and Shannon Drake.
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.
Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charity.
She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards frorn Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.
Heather loves travel and anything have to do with the water, and is a certitified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.
Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charity.
She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards frorn Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.
Heather loves travel and anything have to do with the water, and is a certitified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
December 4, 2007
It is a very Fluffy book and though I enjoyed the simplicity of the story (because I am a huge sucker for this kind of genre) I would not say that it was the highest quality of writing and story line; which of course is very predictable. It is full of cliche's and typical heroes/villians.
Yet, if you are looking for something that will not fill your mind but allow you to zone out, then I recommend this book. Or if you are a sucker like me and like Vampire novels then I say "What the hell, it is a book, and reading doesn't always have to be educational."
Yet, if you are looking for something that will not fill your mind but allow you to zone out, then I recommend this book. Or if you are a sucker like me and like Vampire novels then I say "What the hell, it is a book, and reading doesn't always have to be educational."
April 29, 2019
The woods have always been full of whispers in Transylvania, of terrors that go back centuries to the legendary Vlad Dracul himself. Ignoring their professor's grave warning—beware those who would prey upon the innocent—several visiting students travel into the forest…and disappear. Now their professor, Bryan McAllister, believes that a dark cult is at work—and that their next gathering will happen in America. When psychologist Jessica Fraser is approached by Bryan for her assistance, she is hesitant. Something about Bryan unnerves Jessica deeply, yet she cannot ignore the incredible pull she feels toward him. Now, as reluctant allies, they unite to seek the truth. The search takes them from the forested mountains to dimly lit clubs in New Orleans' French Quarter, where perversion goes beyond sexual to life-threatening.
Meh. I was not as involved or as interested in the characters as I had been in the previous books. The plot line fell flat for me and I had a hard time making it through this one.
Meh. I was not as involved or as interested in the characters as I had been in the previous books. The plot line fell flat for me and I had a hard time making it through this one.
May 7, 2015
I recently got into Heather Graham and this is the fourth book of hers that I have read, and the only one I have not enjoyed. The story seemed disjointed and the characters were underdeveloped and flat. It was a struggle for me to finish it.
February 28, 2010
Vampires abound in this book...vampires of all types, including the so powerful Master. He is back at full strength and on the hunt. A hunt that starts with wild parties to lure in the innocents and feast. Jessica Fraser finds herself drawn into the Master's schemes in a most unusual way. She is hunting him...but how does she know of his existance and how can she expect to stand a chance against his power. The answer to this lies in an unexpected blast from the past (the very very distant past), in the form of Bryan MacAllister. Who is the man that shows up knowing more than he should at just the right moment?
The book got off to great start. We jump right in and meet Jessica and her group of freinds as she is saying good bye to them. She's going to a conference in Transylvania of all places. The action starts here at one of the Master's notorious parties. After this things began to get a little confusing for me. There is much we don't learn about Jessica until at least half way through the book. And what we don't know isn't explained in a very good way...it's just suddenly tossed out there. It left me with a "what the hell is going on" feeling. I actually went back and reread part because I thought I had missed something.
Once we have this sudden change in our main character under control, things begin to develop rapidly. They develop...and develop...and develop some more. There were at least three times I thought I was reading the final scene only to encounter a "but wait" moment. One, even two of these is fine to throw a surprise the reader's way, but this ended with a few too many.
When the ending finally did come, it seemed very disappointing after all the repeated hype. If the author had worked the ending in about 50 pages sooner, it would have had a fantastic finish. Unfortunately, it just left me feeling a bit let down.
The book got off to great start. We jump right in and meet Jessica and her group of freinds as she is saying good bye to them. She's going to a conference in Transylvania of all places. The action starts here at one of the Master's notorious parties. After this things began to get a little confusing for me. There is much we don't learn about Jessica until at least half way through the book. And what we don't know isn't explained in a very good way...it's just suddenly tossed out there. It left me with a "what the hell is going on" feeling. I actually went back and reread part because I thought I had missed something.
Once we have this sudden change in our main character under control, things begin to develop rapidly. They develop...and develop...and develop some more. There were at least three times I thought I was reading the final scene only to encounter a "but wait" moment. One, even two of these is fine to throw a surprise the reader's way, but this ended with a few too many.
When the ending finally did come, it seemed very disappointing after all the repeated hype. If the author had worked the ending in about 50 pages sooner, it would have had a fantastic finish. Unfortunately, it just left me feeling a bit let down.
January 17, 2011
I found this book lying around the house, so picked it up and breezed through it. This book won't make you smarter or more interesting or a better person. At most, it will keep you from staring blankly at the wall while in the doctor's waiting room. Yes, it's vampires. Yes, it's N'awlins. Yes, there are three erotic sex scenes. Other than that, Ms. Graham simply moves the characters from scene to scene to scene. I'm not sure that she's even been to New Orleans (the protaganist lives in a million dollar home on Bourboun St.!) There's no scare here, we know exactly what's going to happen. And with the number of copy editing errors in this book, I have to wonder if anyone from the author to agent to editor gave this manuscript a second read.
June 19, 2009
Jessica, a pyschologist, is exposed to a vampire cult while at a conference in Transylvania only to find a similar cult springing up when she returns to her home in New Orleans. When a young acquaintance is bitten, Jessica decides to take out the Master vampire. She is joined in her hunt by Bryan McAllister, a warrior who has spent his centuries of life destroying vampires. Jessica is drawn to him but is also afraid of him as Jessica is a vampire herself and Bryan doesn't believe any vampire can be good.
This is A lovely romance with an interesting paranormal setting.I've read several og Graham's books and have yet to be disappointed.
This is A lovely romance with an interesting paranormal setting.I've read several og Graham's books and have yet to be disappointed.
July 18, 2011
Though it tells you that it is a Vampire Book Story, but I was very disappointed since I really enjoy reading vampire novels. It wasn't a terrible read but the book did a little to much jumping around for me from one group of characters to another made it a very choppy read, didn't flow very well. Wouldn't recommend spending money on the book but if you get it free from downloading is okay.
July 30, 2011
This was an interesting enough book, i enjoyed it, but it did leave me slightly confused at times. It apparently seemed to "change the rules of the game" more than once. I felt it just totally jumped, without warning, and without much explanation. I won't detail, as it would be a spoiler, but do be prepared for a couple, possibly confusing, surprises.
February 15, 2012
This is said to be a "Stand Alone" novel, but I felt many times that I was in the middle of a sweeping story-line, and that I'd missed some novels before this one.
There are some 'evil' vampires here and some creepy scenes. There are also a few "hot" love scenes.
Over all I liked it. I just feel like I was dropped in the middle of a long story....
There are some 'evil' vampires here and some creepy scenes. There are also a few "hot" love scenes.
Over all I liked it. I just feel like I was dropped in the middle of a long story....
November 15, 2008
Great quick read with all the elements needed for suspense and action. There were several surprises which kept me alert for more clues. If you like vampyres and warriors - highly recommended for a weekend "need to read something" book.
July 28, 2010
I beleive this is the socond book I've read from this series and I liked it. I'm not going to give anything away but I couldn't put it down. Not the greatest book ever hence the 4 stars but a worthwhile read.
July 2, 2012
I borrowed this book from the library by accident. I actually liked it and it had some nice surprises. It was able to keep my attention also which isn't something many books have been able to do lately!
Read
November 15, 2012Between the presence of vampires and the mysterious attractions between characters, Kiss of Darkness by Heather Graham might help satisfy your preferences while you wait for another Shannon Drake book.
January 26, 2009
This is part of Heather Graham/Shannon Drake's vampire series. Lately, they have been hit or miss, however, this was one of the good ones! Enjoy!
June 10, 2009
This book is not initially what I expected, but I really enjoyed it... probably because I am a vampire nut. Anyhow, it's probably one of my favorite Heather Graham books.
September 10, 2009
I usually love vampire books but I thought this was just awful right from the beginning. I read about 150 pages and decided to move on to something else.
February 25, 2017
Great book, though I seem to remember a scene where they talk about how she has a heartbeat, when she shouldn't, and couldn't find it, but yeah, this was a great book!
October 5, 2014
Good story. Interesting take on vampires. I started with #7 in the Vampire Alliance series, so now I'm going to have to read all the others!
November 18, 2025
Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
Review:
I picked this up back in September for my Halloween read. It took me longer than usual to finish this book. Apart from the busyness of life, the story and the writing just did not leave me longing for more.
It didn't take long for me to feel like this reads more like a beat sheet rather than a story. Over the course of the book, it felt like the author's plot outlines and notes were directly lifted and slapped onto the screen, with the editors/publisher calling it a day. Not to mention all the typographical errors scattered throughout the story, too.
As for the writing itself - the characters feel one-dimensional and lack emotional depth. This is such a shame considering the premise of the story is actually decent and had great potential. A more solid writing in terms of character development would've really sold it for me. For example,
The author shoves us from scene to scene, which would've been fine if it weren't confusing at times. One particular scene stands out -
Another thing that could've been improved would be the ending. Truly, the essence of "Show, Don't Tell" when it comes to creative writing comes into mind because of the way this was written.
Without sounding like a complete hater, there were scenes that I enjoyed and kept me at the edge of my seat. I do love the concept of I suppose this work just lacks a more philosophical bedrock that could've provided for a more solid anchorage in its storytelling. Nevertheless, I would say that this was an okay read for Halloween.
Overall, this was a decent enough, "meh" kind of story if you're only looking to pass the time. I'd recommend it to vampire or occult enthusiasts, but with a word of caution to manage one's expectations.
Review:
I picked this up back in September for my Halloween read. It took me longer than usual to finish this book. Apart from the busyness of life, the story and the writing just did not leave me longing for more.
It didn't take long for me to feel like this reads more like a beat sheet rather than a story. Over the course of the book, it felt like the author's plot outlines and notes were directly lifted and slapped onto the screen, with the editors/publisher calling it a day. Not to mention all the typographical errors scattered throughout the story, too.
As for the writing itself - the characters feel one-dimensional and lack emotional depth. This is such a shame considering the premise of the story is actually decent and had great potential. A more solid writing in terms of character development would've really sold it for me. For example,
The author shoves us from scene to scene, which would've been fine if it weren't confusing at times. One particular scene stands out -
Another thing that could've been improved would be the ending. Truly, the essence of "Show, Don't Tell" when it comes to creative writing comes into mind because of the way this was written.
Without sounding like a complete hater, there were scenes that I enjoyed and kept me at the edge of my seat. I do love the concept of I suppose this work just lacks a more philosophical bedrock that could've provided for a more solid anchorage in its storytelling. Nevertheless, I would say that this was an okay read for Halloween.
Overall, this was a decent enough, "meh" kind of story if you're only looking to pass the time. I'd recommend it to vampire or occult enthusiasts, but with a word of caution to manage one's expectations.
October 11, 2021
Jessica is a psychologist who is asked to join a professor named Bryan, who is taking college students into the area around Transylvania. While they are exploring , a few of the teens hears of a rave party. It is supposed to resemble vampirism back in Victorian England. One of them leaves a note to Jessica. She heads straight for the police, sure that drugs, and mayhem can lead to severe injury. A mist like creature that turns into a man, attacks one of of the girls Mary. The young man tries to interfere ,and finds himself badly hurt. Suddenly a man in a railroad coat appears, and hat
to direct the kids out, including an unconscious Mary. The man picks up the teen ,and gets him to safety as the police arrive. Everyone is talking about Vampires, and scared to death. Jessica meets with the professor, and tells what she saw. She is determined that no more teens are hurt, or killed by this monster. Bryan agrees he will go with her. Their are flashbacks for Jessica to the Highlands in the Scottish mist when her castle was being attacked by evil. She herself was attacked. She cannot share this with her partner Bryan, because he hates all vampires, and is a warrior against them. He in fact is a warrior back in the same time that Jessica was the Kings step daughter, but unable to reach her in time. A few of the older teens think it is a cult, and want to see this stopped. They go into New Orleans, , and face another show down, and then to Scotland , and the remains of the castle, and church where the vampires wait with their master. They go to the final showdown from where it started. They take along a contingent of evil fighters made up of Vampires, humans, and werewolves. They have one thing in common the evil being must stop. He wants Jessica, and Bryan realizes he has loved her for centuries. It was easy to follow, and some of the lore was followed like garlic, wooden steaks, the blood moon etc. The final ending tells if the curse will be released from those bitten. The Epilogue catches you up with the other characters as well. It had really spooky parts, and a few not so believable. They knew there was a traitor among them for the master, but I was shocked who it was. I gave it a 4 star. Good Halloween story, by a trusted author.
to direct the kids out, including an unconscious Mary. The man picks up the teen ,and gets him to safety as the police arrive. Everyone is talking about Vampires, and scared to death. Jessica meets with the professor, and tells what she saw. She is determined that no more teens are hurt, or killed by this monster. Bryan agrees he will go with her. Their are flashbacks for Jessica to the Highlands in the Scottish mist when her castle was being attacked by evil. She herself was attacked. She cannot share this with her partner Bryan, because he hates all vampires, and is a warrior against them. He in fact is a warrior back in the same time that Jessica was the Kings step daughter, but unable to reach her in time. A few of the older teens think it is a cult, and want to see this stopped. They go into New Orleans, , and face another show down, and then to Scotland , and the remains of the castle, and church where the vampires wait with their master. They go to the final showdown from where it started. They take along a contingent of evil fighters made up of Vampires, humans, and werewolves. They have one thing in common the evil being must stop. He wants Jessica, and Bryan realizes he has loved her for centuries. It was easy to follow, and some of the lore was followed like garlic, wooden steaks, the blood moon etc. The final ending tells if the curse will be released from those bitten. The Epilogue catches you up with the other characters as well. It had really spooky parts, and a few not so believable. They knew there was a traitor among them for the master, but I was shocked who it was. I gave it a 4 star. Good Halloween story, by a trusted author.
June 29, 2015
This was bad writing, plain and simple. When I first started reading it I could tell it wasn’t well written, it doesn’t take any time at all to decide whether you like the way something is written. The prologue was confusing and the characters were hard to keep up with, so following along was a task. Then she jumps into modern times with a psychologist who I think is just that. But as the novel progresses the author drops these huge bombs right into the story with no warning whatsoever. All of a sudden the male student accuses Jessica of knowing more than she’s letting on, and she just up and spews out all of these facts about vampires, after saying she didn’t believe in vampires, after she had said so much psycho babble to explain what happened, there she sits and suggests crosses, garlic and holy water. Out of freaking nowhere this happens and I am thrown for a loop! It’s stated that Jessica is the dominatrix that appeared in the beginning of the story with the students in Transylvania, just up and mentioned with no warning whatsoever. Um, okay. I’ll just swallow that one down too. Then the third bomb is dropped that Jessica is a vampire. And then it just goes on and on. She goes to her friend’s house, Maggie, who just starts talking about Jessica being alive for centuries and being a vampire and that the Master is after her, and I am just wondering who are these people and where did they come from?! All of a sudden Jessica is the being she claimed not to believe in, she was the woman we read about in the beginning and had no idea it was her, her friends all know what she is and have known for years. And Maggie suggests Bryan is Ioin, the knight from the prologue who loved the king’s daughter, Igrainia, and Jessica is Igrainia.
I picked this book up for a dollar and I wish I wouldn’t have come across it at all, but there was no indication whatsoever that this was a series, and I hate it when authors can’t let readers know by the cover of a book that it’s a part of a series and not a stand-alone novel. I had no idea I was jumping into #7 in a series, and the author didn’t seem to think she needed to let people know that. Thanks for Goodreads numbering the books in the titles, I saw it was #7 and maybe that’s why I was so lost, but I’ve seen for myself what kind of writing is produced and I won’t waste time on any more books by this author, especially not this series.
I couldn’t wait for the moment where Bryan learned the truth, that Jessica was the woman he loved, but when Sean, Maggie’s cop husband, says her name in front of Bryan the following moments were so anticlimactic it was yet another letdown in this already disappointing waste of time. Nothing happened, they didn’t talk about anything and hanging over them was the threat that he would kill her, because Bryan had said he looked for her to kill her because he believes all vampires are evil. Very romantic.
It’s like not a whole lot of thought was put into it. It lacked substance in every department. I can’t believe someone didn’t catch all of the errors in this book. It was littered with run-on sentences, improper punctuation, no punctuation at all, words where there shouldn’t be words. It was like a kindergartener read this thing with no grammar teaching at all and sent it to publishing. I can’t believe no one noticed the dozens of mistakes all throughout this novel. It’s absolutely unacceptable to sell a book in this condition in which readers are stumbling over mistake after mistake. I don’t know who edited this thing and didn’t catch the million mistakes left, but they’re obviously not good at their job. There for a while it seemed like every page had some kind of error that would jolt me away from the reading as I tried to piece together what it was supposed to say.
The story was so monotonous. Literally the same thing would happen over and over and over. Jessica would see the students at the hospital, and then go back to her house. Bryan would see the students at the hospital, and then go back to her house. Finally they left the hospital, only to have Jessica send them to her office. She’d see them in her office, then leave. Bryan would go to her office, then leave. And you could bet that if she sent them to the office, she would go home and an attack would happen at her office. If she sent them to her house she would be somewhere else and the attack would happen at her house. Wherever they weren’t at, that was where the attack took place and you could literally bet that they would be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So infuriating having the characters be late for every attack.
She spent as much time with the side characters as she did with the main characters, which annoys the crap out of me. I was so fed up, sick and tired of the boring students, Mary the newly turned vampire, Jeremy and Nancy who I couldn’t care less about, the criminals in the police station, the boy from the morgue who was hurt by Mary, it was just all too much. The author kept switching back and forth to them and chopping off scenes. I just wanted a full conclusion with Jessica and Bryan before we whisked off to people I didn’t care about. The main characters are supposed to take center stage, not get bombarded by all the side crap. Jessica and Bryan barely had the spotlight, and their romance, and that is a major stretch of this word, was so underdeveloped it isn’t even funny. I kept waiting for them to have a moment alone and actually express some feelings, to think on the past, how far they’d come, how they missed each other, what they’d been doing, there was literally so much for them to say and they said nothing. Absolutely nothing. What a waste.
They didn’t even say they loved each other. They slept together two or three times, and it was the worst kind of romance scenes for me because it was brushed over with that truly awful flowery speech that gives no details or feelings, just the barest minimum, enough to give you the vaguest notion of what’s happening. I HATE romance novels where the authors can't handle writing the romance. It was lukewarm at best. This novel was one mechanism where the author played her card the entire time, just milked it for all it was worth. The Master was the villain and she teased readers with tiny skirmishes here and there where the characters would break apart, sleep, and then go out looking. It was all very passive. For someone with a task to kill the most evil being on the planet, they sure took a lot of breaks. So very boring. I have to say it again, it was such bad writing.
I picked this book up for a dollar and I wish I wouldn’t have come across it at all, but there was no indication whatsoever that this was a series, and I hate it when authors can’t let readers know by the cover of a book that it’s a part of a series and not a stand-alone novel. I had no idea I was jumping into #7 in a series, and the author didn’t seem to think she needed to let people know that. Thanks for Goodreads numbering the books in the titles, I saw it was #7 and maybe that’s why I was so lost, but I’ve seen for myself what kind of writing is produced and I won’t waste time on any more books by this author, especially not this series.
I couldn’t wait for the moment where Bryan learned the truth, that Jessica was the woman he loved, but when Sean, Maggie’s cop husband, says her name in front of Bryan the following moments were so anticlimactic it was yet another letdown in this already disappointing waste of time. Nothing happened, they didn’t talk about anything and hanging over them was the threat that he would kill her, because Bryan had said he looked for her to kill her because he believes all vampires are evil. Very romantic.
It’s like not a whole lot of thought was put into it. It lacked substance in every department. I can’t believe someone didn’t catch all of the errors in this book. It was littered with run-on sentences, improper punctuation, no punctuation at all, words where there shouldn’t be words. It was like a kindergartener read this thing with no grammar teaching at all and sent it to publishing. I can’t believe no one noticed the dozens of mistakes all throughout this novel. It’s absolutely unacceptable to sell a book in this condition in which readers are stumbling over mistake after mistake. I don’t know who edited this thing and didn’t catch the million mistakes left, but they’re obviously not good at their job. There for a while it seemed like every page had some kind of error that would jolt me away from the reading as I tried to piece together what it was supposed to say.
The story was so monotonous. Literally the same thing would happen over and over and over. Jessica would see the students at the hospital, and then go back to her house. Bryan would see the students at the hospital, and then go back to her house. Finally they left the hospital, only to have Jessica send them to her office. She’d see them in her office, then leave. Bryan would go to her office, then leave. And you could bet that if she sent them to the office, she would go home and an attack would happen at her office. If she sent them to her house she would be somewhere else and the attack would happen at her house. Wherever they weren’t at, that was where the attack took place and you could literally bet that they would be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So infuriating having the characters be late for every attack.
She spent as much time with the side characters as she did with the main characters, which annoys the crap out of me. I was so fed up, sick and tired of the boring students, Mary the newly turned vampire, Jeremy and Nancy who I couldn’t care less about, the criminals in the police station, the boy from the morgue who was hurt by Mary, it was just all too much. The author kept switching back and forth to them and chopping off scenes. I just wanted a full conclusion with Jessica and Bryan before we whisked off to people I didn’t care about. The main characters are supposed to take center stage, not get bombarded by all the side crap. Jessica and Bryan barely had the spotlight, and their romance, and that is a major stretch of this word, was so underdeveloped it isn’t even funny. I kept waiting for them to have a moment alone and actually express some feelings, to think on the past, how far they’d come, how they missed each other, what they’d been doing, there was literally so much for them to say and they said nothing. Absolutely nothing. What a waste.
They didn’t even say they loved each other. They slept together two or three times, and it was the worst kind of romance scenes for me because it was brushed over with that truly awful flowery speech that gives no details or feelings, just the barest minimum, enough to give you the vaguest notion of what’s happening. I HATE romance novels where the authors can't handle writing the romance. It was lukewarm at best. This novel was one mechanism where the author played her card the entire time, just milked it for all it was worth. The Master was the villain and she teased readers with tiny skirmishes here and there where the characters would break apart, sleep, and then go out looking. It was all very passive. For someone with a task to kill the most evil being on the planet, they sure took a lot of breaks. So very boring. I have to say it again, it was such bad writing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2017
I read this series out of order so when the plot jumped I was not ready for it. Up until about halfway it didn't matter and even after they explained a lot. But I am intrigued enough to go back a book or two in the series. Rave parties are being set up by vampires to feed on. It seems the Master vampire is actually trying to get the main character Jessica's attention. She got away from him many times over the years and he will kill all those she loves to get to her. The romance is fairly predicable and so is the story but a fun read nonetheless
August 6, 2019
I loved the premise but the execution left me underwhelmed. My biggest complaint is that I think the author was trying to be clever by hiding the true identities of the two main love interests from the reader. Unfortunately, when they are POV characters that seemingly don't EVER think or talk about their true natures, histories, or even recent behavior it comes across as very contrived.
March 1, 2022
this my first read that I would give five stars too. I really enjoyed it. (It may have been because the story was revolved around supernatural creatures like vampires, werewolves and what they called Warriors.)
I was happy to see that they defeated the vampire they called The Master and that Jessica and Bryan were able to live their lives together after being apart for so many years.
I was happy to see that they defeated the vampire they called The Master and that Jessica and Bryan were able to live their lives together after being apart for so many years.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2024
While Jessica is in Transylvania lecturing on psychology, Professor Bryan McAllister is there giving speeches on old legion of cults etc. When a party goes while unbeknownst as to the other , they fought the evil. Now the evil has come to New Orleans no matter what they believe they have to work together with some of her friends to stop that evil but will the lose their lives first.
August 25, 2018
I have read of lot of Heather Graham's books but this was the first one about Vampires and it was just not what I like to read. The story was written well and if you like vampires, you will enjoy it.
October 15, 2020
Warrior and vampire
Heather Graham has written another great story. It stretches across time. Two souls that try to turn the tide of evil while yearning for a past love. Will they defeat the evil by rides the night.
Heather Graham has written another great story. It stretches across time. Two souls that try to turn the tide of evil while yearning for a past love. Will they defeat the evil by rides the night.
July 10, 2021
My Mistake
I've enjoyed several other books by this author and didn't read the description carefully. The paranormal theme was too much for me to enjoy the storyline.
I will read other works by this author but not this series.
I've enjoyed several other books by this author and didn't read the description carefully. The paranormal theme was too much for me to enjoy the storyline.
I will read other works by this author but not this series.
May 8, 2018
A vampire romance that's a little different.
May 22, 2018
Fun fast read. Nothing overly great or bad about this book.
it was a fun read, with a bit of a twist on the Vampire thing.
enjoyable
it was a fun read, with a bit of a twist on the Vampire thing.
enjoyable
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