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Pharaohs Rising #1
Night Life
Once a revered pharaoh betrayed by his people, Adrian King, a vampire and owner of a Las Vegas casino, is drawn to Egyptologist Christine Day, but a great evil from his past has awakened, determined to take her away from him forever. Original.
292 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 3, 2007
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97 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Guest
2 books4 followersPseudonym for Suzanne Simmons.
Elizabeth Guest is the award winning author of nearly forty historical and contemporary romance novels written under Suzanne Simmons, Suzanne Simmons Guntrum and Suzanne Simms for various publishers. In 1998 she was honored by Romantic Times for Career Achievement in Contemporary Romance. Her most recent books comprise a series based around the small town of Sweetheart, Indiana.
Elizabeth Guest is the award winning author of nearly forty historical and contemporary romance novels written under Suzanne Simmons, Suzanne Simmons Guntrum and Suzanne Simms for various publishers. In 1998 she was honored by Romantic Times for Career Achievement in Contemporary Romance. Her most recent books comprise a series based around the small town of Sweetheart, Indiana.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 17, 2008
This was a light read. I managed to chew through it in about five hours.
The storyline was fairly straight forward with no surprises or twists to speak of but still I enjoyed the unveiling of the hero's history. As a vampire legend fan, I enjoy reading different interpretations about the origins of vampires and Ms. Guest has a truly interesting take on it with the Ancient Egyptian angle, however, she "played it safe" by keeping this aspect superficial and necessary only to move the story forward through time. There were several storyline plot points left open which left me feeling less than satisfied and the heroine; she was kess developed than our hero. I really didn't "know" her and her blatant acceptance of the hero's announcement of identity was hard to swallow. Too much time was spent on St. Alban, who really didn't do much for the story other than give the hero someone to intimidate. I'd have preferred more face time with the villain. Which, by the way was too short and anti-climatic. As far as villain's go, he was more like a spoiled child just being a nuisance.
Not a rousing read but it didn't stink either. A solid middle-of-the-line book for a time when you don't want to work too hard or expect too much.
The storyline was fairly straight forward with no surprises or twists to speak of but still I enjoyed the unveiling of the hero's history. As a vampire legend fan, I enjoy reading different interpretations about the origins of vampires and Ms. Guest has a truly interesting take on it with the Ancient Egyptian angle, however, she "played it safe" by keeping this aspect superficial and necessary only to move the story forward through time. There were several storyline plot points left open which left me feeling less than satisfied and the heroine; she was kess developed than our hero. I really didn't "know" her and her blatant acceptance of the hero's announcement of identity was hard to swallow. Too much time was spent on St. Alban, who really didn't do much for the story other than give the hero someone to intimidate. I'd have preferred more face time with the villain. Which, by the way was too short and anti-climatic. As far as villain's go, he was more like a spoiled child just being a nuisance.
Not a rousing read but it didn't stink either. A solid middle-of-the-line book for a time when you don't want to work too hard or expect too much.
June 20, 2019
Night Life: by Elizabeth Guest
This was an interesting book that is hard to categorize. Basically, Adrian King is a man who has lived a looonnngg life. That is to say, he has been reincarnated over and over since the days when pharaohs ruled Egypt.
After a quick backstory section, the book moves to modern day Las Vegas, where we are introduced to Christine Day, a professor of Egyptology in Chicago, who is in Vegas to attend a conference and staying at the Royal Palace Hotel, owned by King.
Guest is able to draw clear, believable characters and move between centuries with ease. Throughout the story, readers are swept back and forth between the present and 3,000 years ago while never feeling lost. Mostly this is a love story that unfolds in a most interesting way. Guest has the talent to take an unbelievable set of circumstances and make them totally believable.
This is a book that romance readers should put on their “To Be Read Soon” lists.
This was an interesting book that is hard to categorize. Basically, Adrian King is a man who has lived a looonnngg life. That is to say, he has been reincarnated over and over since the days when pharaohs ruled Egypt.
After a quick backstory section, the book moves to modern day Las Vegas, where we are introduced to Christine Day, a professor of Egyptology in Chicago, who is in Vegas to attend a conference and staying at the Royal Palace Hotel, owned by King.
Guest is able to draw clear, believable characters and move between centuries with ease. Throughout the story, readers are swept back and forth between the present and 3,000 years ago while never feeling lost. Mostly this is a love story that unfolds in a most interesting way. Guest has the talent to take an unbelievable set of circumstances and make them totally believable.
This is a book that romance readers should put on their “To Be Read Soon” lists.
November 13, 2018
The characters are two-dimensional--uninteresting. The ending leaves a *lot* of loose ends, creating an unsatisfying ending.
June 3, 2020
Wait, what shade of brown was her hair? And what type of nipples did he have???
April 16, 2025
Since childhood the heroine has been utterly captivated and fascinated with ancient Egypt. Her grandfather aided in that passion but being an archaeologist himself but at heart, her love the desert people of old has always run deep in her veins. When she steps forward into the Las Vegas casino, she is stunned to see true hieroglyphics written on the stone outside. As she travels deeper into the establishment, she is surrounded and immersed in stories of success and conquering done by the last true Pharaoh merneptah seti. The casino is full of genuine and excellent replicas of artwork and treasures from around the world. It's there that she has yet another of her waking dreams. Since childhood she has dreamt of this man and when she awakens again, he is standing before her.
The hero was betrayed and upon his death, he was not given a true burial. Now, he and a few of people have arisen again nearly 3000 years later. With his vast wealth and born ruler mentality, the hero has built himself an empire in a new desert- battling the darkness that dwells within him. He too has had dreams of a mysterious woman whom he calls the Beautiful One. And now, she stands before him, wearing the ancient perfume he crafted for her and embodying his name for her. He can see a small resistance on her part to accept his offer for diner but in the end, she agrees. He shows her his many treasures and lost in a sea of wine and history, he finally has her for his own. But in the morning, she is gone. Not used to be denied or refused and frightened by his need to have her and love her like he's love her for 3000 years, he pursues her with what he knows she cannot refuse. He shows her his truth. His treasure. At that moment, the connection they share is forged and the love they've shared only in dreams becomes reality. But an ancient evil has awakened and seeks revenge against the hero and those he cares about. He is willing to die rather that allow his evil to hurt the heroine. He is willing to sacrifice himself so he himself does not become a monster as well.
This book was very lovely. The author, I felt, put a lot of time into researching the ancient Egyptian ways and beliefs. It didn't feel like a cheap knock off but something that was real and well developed. I do so love ancient Egypt as most of us do and I was in love with this hero. As a King he was also a God. As an immortal, he was no lesser a man than he had been 3000 years ago but he was never selfish or vain. He treated everyone with respect, even those who sought to cheat him, and you never got the sense that he considered himself a God. He was very much just a man, albeit an immortal who is filthy rich. The heroine was a lovely character in herself. She spoke the language of his birth, was intelligent and beautiful and willing to believe in magic. Her passion for history was inspiring and her sense of self was nice to read in a female. She was kind and respectful, she never lost her temper or expected things to be handed to her. She worked for everything she has and though she may be sleeping with this rich man, she didn't want any gifts or trinkets, all she wanted was his heart. She wanted to be the woman he needed but couldn't purchase. She wanted to be something he desired but had to work for. And she got it. They had a lovely relationship and the bond of the dreams connected them deeper than anything. I enjoyed this book though it had its flaws. It was hard to judge the passing of time and it felt like some scenes were missing. I think the heroine was just a bit too quick to accept the hero was an immortal Egyptian. I would have liked to have a bit more time spent on her processing this realization rather than the author quickly jumping from that scene to the characters suddenly in bed together. Things like that through me off a bit but regardless, I found this book to be lovely. Again, I wonder what happened to the rest of the series. I would have enjoyed more of the immortal Egyptians but this book is the only one published. Strange.
The hero was betrayed and upon his death, he was not given a true burial. Now, he and a few of people have arisen again nearly 3000 years later. With his vast wealth and born ruler mentality, the hero has built himself an empire in a new desert- battling the darkness that dwells within him. He too has had dreams of a mysterious woman whom he calls the Beautiful One. And now, she stands before him, wearing the ancient perfume he crafted for her and embodying his name for her. He can see a small resistance on her part to accept his offer for diner but in the end, she agrees. He shows her his many treasures and lost in a sea of wine and history, he finally has her for his own. But in the morning, she is gone. Not used to be denied or refused and frightened by his need to have her and love her like he's love her for 3000 years, he pursues her with what he knows she cannot refuse. He shows her his truth. His treasure. At that moment, the connection they share is forged and the love they've shared only in dreams becomes reality. But an ancient evil has awakened and seeks revenge against the hero and those he cares about. He is willing to die rather that allow his evil to hurt the heroine. He is willing to sacrifice himself so he himself does not become a monster as well.
This book was very lovely. The author, I felt, put a lot of time into researching the ancient Egyptian ways and beliefs. It didn't feel like a cheap knock off but something that was real and well developed. I do so love ancient Egypt as most of us do and I was in love with this hero. As a King he was also a God. As an immortal, he was no lesser a man than he had been 3000 years ago but he was never selfish or vain. He treated everyone with respect, even those who sought to cheat him, and you never got the sense that he considered himself a God. He was very much just a man, albeit an immortal who is filthy rich. The heroine was a lovely character in herself. She spoke the language of his birth, was intelligent and beautiful and willing to believe in magic. Her passion for history was inspiring and her sense of self was nice to read in a female. She was kind and respectful, she never lost her temper or expected things to be handed to her. She worked for everything she has and though she may be sleeping with this rich man, she didn't want any gifts or trinkets, all she wanted was his heart. She wanted to be the woman he needed but couldn't purchase. She wanted to be something he desired but had to work for. And she got it. They had a lovely relationship and the bond of the dreams connected them deeper than anything. I enjoyed this book though it had its flaws. It was hard to judge the passing of time and it felt like some scenes were missing. I think the heroine was just a bit too quick to accept the hero was an immortal Egyptian. I would have liked to have a bit more time spent on her processing this realization rather than the author quickly jumping from that scene to the characters suddenly in bed together. Things like that through me off a bit but regardless, I found this book to be lovely. Again, I wonder what happened to the rest of the series. I would have enjoyed more of the immortal Egyptians but this book is the only one published. Strange.
February 27, 2014
I had high expectations when I started to read this book but I was rather disappointed when it ended. It was a promising plotline, egypt, a pharaoh reawakened, vampires, etc. but -I´m sorry - the creative implemenation of this interesting setting was frustrating and boring. There were plotholes as big as the ozone hole above antarctica even I could not overlook (and I can overlook much when I like a book) e.g. why on earth did members of Merneptah Seti´s court reawaken too? Had they undergone the same ritual as he had to gain immortal life? The answeres were rather succinct and – honestly – an egyptian pharaoh who was not embalmed was very unbelievable in my opinion. Even the reasons of the villain in this book were far-fetched and I couldn´t really comprehend the hate he had for Seti or Adrian King in his new life. And the leading female character? The "waking-dreams" about Adrian of Christine Day, an epytologist and Adrian´s love interest in this book, was seemingly enough to fall into bed with him instantly – I really would have wished for a more building up relationship throughout the book. When the love-story was done on page 119 the rest of the book Adrian aka Seti always smells evil or has the stench of evil in his nose and when finally the villain appears out of nowhere and the final big confrontation takes place there was neither suspense nor excitement. I never feared for our main couple, everything went smooth and boring. I give this book two stars because of the research the author has undoubtedly done on ancient egypt and her efforts to integrate her results into the storyline. But I think there could have been much more to this story, it´s a pity about the interesting plotline.
Website of the author: http://www.elizabethguest.net/
Website of the author: http://www.elizabethguest.net/
September 14, 2007
The author obviously researched ancient Egypt; I would have liked the book better if that information had been less obviously presented. Maybe the problem is my lack of experience with experts in the field; perhaps Egyptologists do go around saying things like "… take the five elements of his existence from him: his akh, his ba, his ka, his name, and his shadow." I was not happy with the vampire aspects of this world, either; there was too much repetition of the phrase "Eater of Blood and Breaker of Bones" and not enough explanation of how these creatures came to be and why there were no good alternatives to them being evil monsters.
February 11, 2012
A unique and uneasy version of vampires. If you're looking for something out of the norm of paranormal romance, try this book. At first, I really wasn't sure about this book (the prologue queased me out), but the further I got the more fascinating the characters became. The writing is purposely repetitious and reminiscent of rituals and secrets (apropos, rather). A different read, but still one I enjoyed.
March 18, 2012
The magical world of the Egyptian Pharaohs comes to life in this modern day paranormal romance. Adrian King (Merneptah Seti) is a vegas tycoon as well as a warrior and king. Egyptologist Christine Day visits his renowned collection of artifacts.[return]This creative take on the vampire myth will appeal to paranormal romance fans. However, the romance between Christine and Adrian is rather briefly set up and develops quickly. Overall the premise is great, but the execution is weak.
June 8, 2015
Night Life - Elizabeth Guest (5/10)
Paranormal Romance. A clever variation on vampires that was totally ruined by poor writing. Cardboard characters and everything very flat. It would have been a waste of my time, except that I was sick and skimming this was about all I was up to.
[Copied from LibraryThing.]
Paranormal Romance. A clever variation on vampires that was totally ruined by poor writing. Cardboard characters and everything very flat. It would have been a waste of my time, except that I was sick and skimming this was about all I was up to.
[Copied from LibraryThing.]
December 28, 2013
I liked where the book was going, decent character and plot development and then suddenly it was over. What the heck happened? The ending was sappy blah. It had a lot of potential to be a longer and interesting story, but it was indeed a romance novel, which really limited it.
February 6, 2008
Total cheese! But hey it involved Ancient Egypt, Egyptologists and vampires!
December 8, 2009
It was jumpy. It could have been a really good story.
March 2, 2012
Surprisingly good read. Interesting change on vampires, very light on the romance, but a great read overall. Loved the back history, and a heroine who doesn't freak out.
August 12, 2012
An easy read with hot romance. Elizabeth Guest kept me turning pages and I think I learned a tiny bit about Egyptology, too.
June 6, 2013
Please read our full review at www.moonlightreads.com.
March 1, 2016
This was a great book very well written and detailed
November 10, 2007
read 06.27.07
January 10, 2010
This book was a very slow read.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews