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The Vampire Shrink
Paperback
Published July 5, 2012
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About the author
Lynda Hilburn
20 books314 followersLynda's books can be classified as urban fantasy/dark fantasy with romance, suspense/mystery, satire, horror, humor and sex.
Lynda Hilburn writes paranormal fiction. More specifically, she writes vampire books. After a childhood filled with invisible friends, sightings of dead relatives and a fascination with the occult, turning to the paranormal was a no-brainer. In her other reality, she makes her living as a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, professional psychic/tarot reader, university instructor and workshop presenter. Her series, Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist is being rewritten and will be republished by Quercus Books in the UK and Europe, and by Sterling Publishing/Silver Oak in North America. The UK version of the first book in the series, "The Vampire Shrink" will be published September, 2011. The North American version a few months later. Book #2 (tentatively titled "Blood Therapy"), which is a new book, will be published a year later, and book #3 (the book that used to be called "Dark Harvest") will follow a year later. She also has a short story in the anthology, "Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance," called "Blood Song." "Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker" and "Undead in the City" are available through Amazon.com and Smashwords.
Lynda Hilburn writes paranormal fiction. More specifically, she writes vampire books. After a childhood filled with invisible friends, sightings of dead relatives and a fascination with the occult, turning to the paranormal was a no-brainer. In her other reality, she makes her living as a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, professional psychic/tarot reader, university instructor and workshop presenter. Her series, Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist is being rewritten and will be republished by Quercus Books in the UK and Europe, and by Sterling Publishing/Silver Oak in North America. The UK version of the first book in the series, "The Vampire Shrink" will be published September, 2011. The North American version a few months later. Book #2 (tentatively titled "Blood Therapy"), which is a new book, will be published a year later, and book #3 (the book that used to be called "Dark Harvest") will follow a year later. She also has a short story in the anthology, "Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance," called "Blood Song." "Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker" and "Undead in the City" are available through Amazon.com and Smashwords.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 21, 2025
This one’s complicated. There are aspects that are good, but there are quite a few things that make this book waffle between 2 and 3 stars, but I’m going to give it 3.
What I didn’t like: (there will be spoilers)
- The fMC, Kismet Knight, pretty much waffles between two guys the whole book. I didn’t know if I should root for Alan or Devereux. We get introduced to Devereux first and since this book is clearly about vampires, I assumed he’d be the mMC we would be reading about.
- The author makes these jumps sometimes and doesn’t explain certain things very well. So sometimes the story is just confusing or unclear. The story is entirely told through Kismet’s POV but sometimes her thoughts are so ADD jumpy that it wasn’t the easiest to follow the story.
- Kismet isn’t a very likable character. First, she’s so freaking stubborn for far too long that she was just annoying. Then she just can’t make up her mind between Devereux or Alan. And for all her psychic intuitions, she has shitty instincts. She does the dumbest things throughout the book. Not locking her doors, investigating her very clearly and obviously broken into office, ignoring the advice of people who definitely know better than her, like Devereux. She isn’t a character I was fond of at all.
- Some of the magical elements are weird and don’t make sense. Maybe they just aren’t explained well. But the pentagram pendant Kismet receives from Devereux through a very elaborate protection ceremony that was done in another realm on clouds (yeah don’t ask I don’t know how that’s explained either), doesn’t actually do shit to protect her. WTH kind of protection necklace allows others to manhandle you and I assume it would’ve allowed her to be run through with the sword since she was able to get banged up. So if it’s only good for keeping vampires from touching her neck, I don’t think it’s very useful at all since the vampires can kill her or harm her in so many other ways. And all the paranormal stuff is really out there and not well explained at all. And the way the author gets away from making it make sense is by having it all explained in dreams Devereux shares with Kismet where he explains it to her and she says it’s stuff the human brain can’t handle knowing 🙄 and that’s all it tells us.
Okay. So now for what I did like:
- you can tell the author spent time developing something different from just a vampire love story a la Twilight or True Blood, where human girl falls for vampire guy, and it’s complicated. (But the author should spend more time editing for story flow.) And I can appreciate the details and planning involved in what will be a much larger story.
- I do want Devereux to end up with the girl, only because he’s already so committed, especially since he believes she’s his mate And his devotion is just too good for Kismet. So while I’m sad it’s her, I still want him to get his HEA.
- Alan isn’t a bad guy either but I hope he’ll find his happiness elsewhere. And finds what he has been searching for, which is .
- the idea of a human psychologist seeing and helping vampires is fun and different.
What I didn’t like: (there will be spoilers)
- The fMC, Kismet Knight, pretty much waffles between two guys the whole book. I didn’t know if I should root for Alan or Devereux. We get introduced to Devereux first and since this book is clearly about vampires, I assumed he’d be the mMC we would be reading about.
- The author makes these jumps sometimes and doesn’t explain certain things very well. So sometimes the story is just confusing or unclear. The story is entirely told through Kismet’s POV but sometimes her thoughts are so ADD jumpy that it wasn’t the easiest to follow the story.
- Kismet isn’t a very likable character. First, she’s so freaking stubborn for far too long that she was just annoying. Then she just can’t make up her mind between Devereux or Alan. And for all her psychic intuitions, she has shitty instincts. She does the dumbest things throughout the book. Not locking her doors, investigating her very clearly and obviously broken into office, ignoring the advice of people who definitely know better than her, like Devereux. She isn’t a character I was fond of at all.
- Some of the magical elements are weird and don’t make sense. Maybe they just aren’t explained well. But the pentagram pendant Kismet receives from Devereux through a very elaborate protection ceremony that was done in another realm on clouds (yeah don’t ask I don’t know how that’s explained either), doesn’t actually do shit to protect her. WTH kind of protection necklace allows others to manhandle you and I assume it would’ve allowed her to be run through with the sword since she was able to get banged up. So if it’s only good for keeping vampires from touching her neck, I don’t think it’s very useful at all since the vampires can kill her or harm her in so many other ways. And all the paranormal stuff is really out there and not well explained at all. And the way the author gets away from making it make sense is by having it all explained in dreams Devereux shares with Kismet where he explains it to her and she says it’s stuff the human brain can’t handle knowing 🙄 and that’s all it tells us.
Okay. So now for what I did like:
- you can tell the author spent time developing something different from just a vampire love story a la Twilight or True Blood, where human girl falls for vampire guy, and it’s complicated. (But the author should spend more time editing for story flow.) And I can appreciate the details and planning involved in what will be a much larger story.
- I do want Devereux to end up with the girl, only because he’s already so committed, especially since he believes she’s his mate And his devotion is just too good for Kismet. So while I’m sad it’s her, I still want him to get his HEA.
- Alan isn’t a bad guy either but I hope he’ll find his happiness elsewhere. And finds what he has been searching for, which is .
- the idea of a human psychologist seeing and helping vampires is fun and different.
July 14, 2024
Lynda Hilburn’s sharp writing, witty dialogue, and vivid descriptions made for a book I couldn’t put down.
Although some people may find Kismet’s acceptance of the supernatural world abrupt, the novel’s mix of romance, mystery, and psychological aspects is thoroughly enjoyable.
A must-read for fans of the Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance genre.
Although some people may find Kismet’s acceptance of the supernatural world abrupt, the novel’s mix of romance, mystery, and psychological aspects is thoroughly enjoyable.
A must-read for fans of the Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance genre.
November 25, 2025
Just... no.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews