Any Way You Want It

New Orleans Vampires #1

by Kathy Love

Is That A Treble Clef In Your Pocket-- Or Are You Just Glad To See Me? Maggie Gallagher spends her nights with lots of men. Of course, they're all dead composers, but why nitpick? Her love life is just like the musical compositions she researches--undiscovered. It's time for Maggie to let loose and go wild. In a dive bar on Bourbon Street, Maggie makes a real find in the house band's keyboard player. He's hot. Sexy. Flirtatious. Soulful. And she could swear he's playing an unknown piece she's been researching, which is impossible, unless he's dead. . . Centuries before he was a badass vampire with a rock-star wardrobe and Big Easy charm, Ren was Renauldo D'Antoni, a composer on the verge of great success until he was betrayed. No one could ever know that, but tonight, the shy strawberry blonde with the big eyes and obviously borrowed outfit actually seemed to recognize his long-lost composition. Now, she wants to know about the composition, and Ren wants to know her. . .intimately. But what starts as attraction--and distraction--just might lead to the biggest discovery of their lives. . .

Genres: Vampires, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Paranormal, Adult, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy

302 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2007

About the author

Kathy Love has been labeled "a character-driven author, who prefers complex subjects that add an emotional, humorous edge" by Romantic Times. Originally from Maine, she now resides in Maryland with her daughter, Emily, their Boston Terrier, and six cats, all black. And five of which came with her boyfriend. So he's the crazy cat guy.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
(1)romance author

Reviews

[Cher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love's books are always fun fluff to take your mind off your troubles. The characters are always likable and homespun.

Okay, I changed my mind. This is incredibly boring and unthrilling. It's a short story running on way too long. The idea behind it is fine, but it's somehow lacking the depth or humor of her other novels. Classic wallflower girl gets dangerous badboy to reform because she's so "sweet". All the pop culture references are from the mid-80's, even though it's set it in the present day of its publication date of 2008. I'm pretty sure I won't finish this one. Let me know if I'm making a mistake by giving up after 120pgs?

[Rexanna Ipock-Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the romance, and the steamy sex, but the lampiric part of the story was a little weak. The hero, Ren had some angst over being immortal and eating others energies, but he could have been any kind of cursed immortal and it would have worked. I would have enjoyed more world building with his condition. Maggie, the heroine was interesting but too forgiving when it came to Ren's behaviors.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

A shallow, stereotypical vamp meets innocent near-virgin. Story had no depth to characters or storyline.

[Lizbeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't offensive.
It felt more like a straight up romance, but a bit of vampire angst thrown in.
It was sweet and fun. Girl on vacation who just got out of a relationship meets vampire rocker and they hit it off.

[Beate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure why, but I expected more from this book than I got. Maybe it's the combo of New Orleans and vamps that was attractive, but the book left me wanting more.

Other than Ren being a vampire, or a lampir, he could've been any guy in NOLA. Other than living for ever, he's not even a real vamp. Instead of sucking blood, he sucks energy. That's right. Energy.

I did like Maggie. It was easy to put myself in her shoes and see things from her perspective. Though, how she didn't figure out Ren's story sooner, is a little puzzling.

Vamp or human, fictive or real, Ren proved that all men are assholes and idiots. The ending was also a little on the easy side. Throughout the whole book, Ren believes he's cursed in love only for his brother to flip his beliefs around in less than a page. And Maggie forgives him too easily. If a man did to me what Ren did to Maggie, I would have had him castrated. And it would have taken a hell of a lot more for me to forgive something like that.

Overall, the ending comes too easily for these characters - and it being a book about vamps in New Orleans, I'm surprised there isn't more...'conflict'.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK. I definitely didn't feel the connection between Maggie and Ren. It wasn't really believable, the 2 of them together. The whole thing had this sort of air of suspended disbelief, not something I particularly enjoy when the plot doesn't measure up...and to be honest, I'm not even sure there was much of a plot, I mean, I guess there was one, there has to be one for a book right? It just wasn't much of one.

I didn't give it 1 star because it wasn't awful . It was just...OK.

[Kris-10 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!!! It was music to my ears..... or should I say eyes? lol (You will understand the joke once you've read the book) <3

[Cassy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, if you took the smut out of this book, there would be virtually no plot line 🤣

However… that’s what I wanted. And it wasn’t badly written. I got so many butterflies reading this book and it was a genuinely enjoyable book for what it was.

I really wanted something sexy and Halloween-esque and this fit the bill perfectly.

I will say the sex scenes were just nice. They weren’t amazing or mind blowing but they weren’t terrible either. The characters were a little one dimensional but not completely flat either.

I’ve picked up the second one, so clearly it was good enough for that.

[gilleoin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read, even if I didn't really want to read another romance. Well, not exactly- I mis-categorized it as sci-fi/fantasy in my ereader, so I was expecting more paranormal and perhaps action, with romance taking a back seat.

The story was good, not your usual vampire trope- the Hero is a lampir. So no blood. The characters weren't horribly shallow. So it was a good companion on a slow day.

[Deb B · Rating 4 out of 5]

rates at about a 3 1/2 for me so i have rounded it up.
it was a cutesy love story that i enjoyed reading and was written quite well. the self sacrificing male lead gets a bit old and i really despised him for his method in trying to break her heart for whatever his reason (justified though it may have been) - otherwise all good

[Sandy Schleich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting for a short read but I’m not sure if I would ever read it again. There is a lot of sex in this book and not much of a story line. The little bit of a storyline that she did have in this book was very short compared to as much sex that there was in the book. It was definitely a lot more sex and a lot less storyline.

[Mary Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Didn’t hate it, but nothing super memorable about it either. Felt like it the idea for the story had lots of potential and could have been something unique. However, it was pretty predictable and lacked any real depth.

[wrkatreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

just no.

This is really a 2.5 read for me. I thought I was getting a paranormal romance. What I got was told he was a vampire and that’s it. Also I’m being generous with the rating. After the conflict that we have to wait until end of book to see, bam all is forgiven.

[Lindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this author. Great book :)

[Eliana]

Old reads

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do not desecrate the grave of Marie Laveau for wishes -that’s a myth. It’s disrespectful and untrue. I was so disappointed by the misguided start to this book.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like the title of the book and so goes the song “Any Way You Want It”. Is a likeable and fun read. With the emphasis on fun and “How many places can you spontaneously have sex?” Well let’s see, besides the bed and the shower there’s also the top of a grand piano and against a vine draped courtyard wall. I got’ta wonder – the green vine stains on Maggie's blouse and skirt must have made a mess. {giggle}

A new word I get to add to my paranormal dictionary – Lampir. A form of life force energy eating vampire.


The following is a quote from a reviewer that I read on amazon.com. She basically states my views to a “T” and here’s what they are:

By melindeeloo Quote:” While I liked the romance, the paranormal window dressing on this story was really thin. It was almost like the lampiric part of the story was added in later because there was really nothing about his eating energy and sleeping during the day that effected the story, there didn't seem to be any worry about taking too much energy and draining Maggie. So I guess lampirs are just kinder gentler vampires, no stress for them as they don't have to hunt. They can feed just walking down a crowded street. I am confused though as to whether they are undead or just immortals, so I have to agree with other reviewers that if Love was going to make Ren a Lampir instead of a vampire, it would have been nice for Love to explain her mythos a bit more. But the story would have worked just as well had her hero been any kind of cursed immortal, so I still enjoyed Any Way You Want It. Maybe she'll fill us in more when we get Ren's brother, Victorrio's story. “

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Anyway, all that criticism aside the book had promise, her characters are likeable, and the sex scenes are great. It just fizzles at the end when it should have sizzled. I'll read the other's in this series when/if they come out. When Kathy Love is on target, she's well worth reading. I have enjoyed her other novels (The Young Brothers Series, especially). The main advice I have for her is to add more depth to the novels...she's a great writer, but I think she can do better.

[Starry]

Is That A Treble Clef In Your Pocket-- Or Are You Just Glad To See Me?
Maggie Gallagher spends her nights with lots of men. Of course, they're all dead composers, but why nitpick? Her love life is just like the musical compositions she researches--undiscovered. It's time for Maggie to let loose and go wild. In a dive bar on Bourbon Street, Maggie makes a real find in the house band's keyboard player. He's hot. Sexy. Flirtatious. Soulful. And she could swear he's playing an unknown piece she's been researching, which is impossible, unless he's dead...


Centuries before he was a badass vampire with a rock-star wardrobe and Big Easy charm, Ren was Renauldo D'Antoni, a composer on the verge of great success until he was betrayed. No one could ever know that, but tonight, the shy strawberry blonde with the big eyes and obviously borrowed outfit actually seemed to recognize his long-lost composition. Now, she wants to know about the composition, and Ren wants to know her...intimately. But what starts as attraction--and distraction--just might lead to the biggest discovery of their lives...
_____________________________________________________________________
.
x1
erika and jo-friends of maggie

ren&maggie-main characters who r in2 music alot and thats how they meant
drake-ren's lead guatarist
johnny-drummer n band

erika and maggie went to a fortune teller, and that fortune teller told erika she will meet a dark-eyed prince(next book n series). as for maggie, her life is filled with music and surrounded by music, and she will be seeing more of a guy(ren) in her life.
she goes to the bar again with her friends, and ren keeps thinking about how maggie knew one of his songs that he never left any evidence of back in the old days. Ren is alittle crushed in his long life, becauyses he was once involved with a mortal and lets just say things didnt ended up well.
#100

[TheVampireBookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely a beach read. I mean, anyone can say that just by the look of the cover but I wanted to make it clear. It's either for holiday or that time of the month when you need romance with good end. That's exactly what the cover suggests and what you'll get.
New Orleans with its swarms of tourists attracts a lot of creatures and no one really notices the absence of aging, right? So, in one bar there is a vampire band. But don't think cool vampire band. Just a good band.. they play covers of cheesy hits after all. And the lead singer used to be a very good pianist until he wasn't and now he only sings (I'm not gonna spill the only twist of the story, so read for yourself why). BUT he gets this urge to play his very own old piece on the piano and BAM! that attracts a visitor who needs a break after a bad break-up and who got her tea leaves read and, of course, she is to meet a hot dude. The music reminds her of one piece she was to verify (and thinks no one else should know the melody) before her departure for her deserved break so it's exactly that what draws her in.
They hit it off and say it's going to last only a week (her vacation is to be over then). Well, you know that there will be steamy passages and that the fling will grow into something more and then the secrets will come up. It's the usual set up for a romantic piece.
What I disliked, however, was the ending. It was too rushed and some things were forgiven on the spot despite the person's previous behaviour. But hey, holiday! So whatever...

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie is a classical music authenticator in desperate need of a vacation. On a trip to New Orleans with her two best friends, she overhears what sounds like the music of a recently found piano score written by an obscure 18th century composer coming from a small Bourbon street bar.

Ren is the off again, on again vocalist of a rock band that caters to the tourist crowd. He’s also a world-weary vampire who is resigned to his fate. For he’s not an ordinary vampire, but is also cursed.

I really enjoyed this. Maggie is a little too naive, but it fits the story. She’s just coming out of a bad relationship (zzzz) and so is skittish about another. But after having her tea leaves read decides to go for it. I love her two friends, they're just the right level of support, at least at the beginning, but from then on they are major fail.

I love Ren though he is a jerk. The scenes with his rock group are priceless. I can’t wait to learn more about his family and his years in New Orleans. His brother Vittorio (who’s the lead in the next book) is great and has a lot of common sense.

The descriptions of New Orleans nightlife and history are interesting. We get the contrasts of the tourist hype and the down to earth as seen by the locals.

Fave Scenes: 1) Maggie getting her tea leaf reading, the ghost tour, meeting Vittorio and the bookstore.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm in love with this series. Sure, it had some formulaic elements to it and had a somewhat stereotypical self-sacrificing main character, but there's a reason those things are popular. I will easily forgive those "sins" for the really fun read that I had here.

Maggie is trying to get over her ex with a wild and crazy trip to New Orleans. The first guy she meets, though, ends up being more than she bargained for. Was it her wish to the famous voodoo queen that threw their lives together? Who knows! Either way, Maggie's work researching and authenticating music directly intersects with the performer on stage, seemingly performing an unknown piece of work from way too long ago. The rock star and the shy tourist end up dancing around one another while her friends try to push her to take the plunge into one-night-stand territory.

The rock star, Ren, is also pretty smitten with the shy tourist. They give the one-night-stand thing a try, but it's pretty clear that they are addicted to one another. Their romance is filled with secrets, supernatural, and (of course) sizzle. What begins simply enough ends up becoming a life-changing ordeal for them both. You get a nice HEA at the end here and I'd be interested if any other characters we meet get their own love story afterwards. I'm surprised this book doesn't have more reviews - it was great!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I love the Kathy Love books that I've read in the past and I liked this one too. She has an adorable way of writing that's both cute and sexy at the same time.

The only problems I had was how quickly Maggie was to accept everything. Like how she believed and had no problems with vampires and the fact she'd been in a relationship with one for many nights. But I think what disturbs me the most was how quickly she got over him cheating on her when he knew that it was the one thing that she'd never forgive. And yet she did within a few pages. I got so angry at her.

Also I had a bit of a problem with Ren getting over his "being cursed" so quickly. He spends over 150 years thinking that any woman who falls in love with him is going to die and then within a few pages and an apparently inspiring conversation from his brother, he's completely over it? That was a bit hard for me to take.

I loved the characters in this book. And whilst whirlwind romances aren't really my favourite story I did like this one.

[Lori Wilen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this 4.5 star rounded up to 5 book. This was my first book by Kathy Love and the first in the Bourbon Street Series. I really enjoyed everything about this book from the first sentence to the last. Vampires are hot and sexy to me but Ren, he was totally irresistible. Nothing about him that wasn't absolutely gorgeous. Maggie was a wonderful character and I loved how she developed and found herself. There were so many light moments to laugh out at and some that were very dark and moody but honestly for me this book had it all. I loved with writing and how well the story was crafted and came together. Didn't hurt that it was in New Orleans, one of my favorite cities to visit.
If you have never read Kathy Love but enjoy vampires and the paranormal give this one a try and I don't think you will be disappointed. If you are new to the genre this would be a great introduction and would probably get you to want to read more. As for me, I shall be reading the rest of this series and I look forward to reading other of Katy Love's books and series'.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was enjoyable and entertaining enough. I do like a good read set in the fun city of New Orleans and this one had it all..3 hot best friends out to have fun to forget cheating ex fiancé , a tea-leaf reading psychic,sexy musician vamp and even a ghost tour. BUT..... I am really sorry to say it had a piss weak ending....in fact I can honestly say it was the shittiest ending I have ever read in a book. The author lays the ground work for a particular scenario throughout the whole book only to use it to such lame effect at the end. I actually wrote a better conclusion to a story I wrote in the second grade by finishing with "and then I woke up"..
95% of this book I enjoyed reading and would easily give 3-3.5 stars but that ending makes we want to give it a big fat 2!

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. But don't be fooled, even those these seem like they are not in a series, they really seem to be. As a matter of fact, the main male character is mentioned in My Sister is a Werewolf. Luckily, even though I picked up I Want You To Want Me first, within the first 2 pages it was obvious that there was a relationship that was familiar and previously established. I look forwar to reading the rest of these.

[Laurie Treacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute paranormal love story between human music authenticator Maggie and vampire rocker Ren. From the book jacket I expected a great love story with music an important secondary character. Maggie goes on vacation after finding a sonata from a unknown dead composer. In new Orleans with her two girlfriends, she goes to a bar and hears what she thinks is the same music, but why would the young guy playing piano know this song? I really wanted more on the music side instead of just being teased about it. Overall, this book is enjoyable, but not everything I thought it would be based on the jacket copy.

[Denise Strand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but I didn't love it... Something just didn't click with it... I don't know if it was the way a vampire was referring to the female as 'Darling'... to me that's like a snotty English reference, I almost pictured them in my head drinking Earl Grey tea and eating Scones. Maybe its just me and another of my pet peeves. I just don't think a brooding, hot & I-could-kill-you-with-a-look vampire should use such terms, especially as he didn't start the endearment until they were about to have sex. No... just no!!

[Juana "Darkness" Duran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it but it's a little slow paced for me. Anyway Ren meets Maggie for the first time at the bar where he performs. But he got a little sidetracked and played a song that he wrote back when he was like 14 years old. The only problem is that he was 14 years old in like the 18 hundreds. So it goes that Ren is not trying not to fall in love with Maggie. Why well because Ren is a vampire, he will want to turn her so they can be together. Add that to the other problems that are happening around them and you've got trouble.

[Fairyblood · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun story of a trip to New Orleans and a twist of fate.

In addition to beignets, ghost tours, and cafe au laits from Cafe Du Monde, New Oleans has more to offer Maggie. She meets a very sexy rock singer in one of the clubs on Bourbon Street. He's sexy and talented and oh he's also a composer from the 19th century. Being a vampire has it's drawbacks or more specifically a lampir. But Ren is also cursed in other ways and he fears for Maggie falling in love with him.

I enjoyed this book; it was a fun read and enjoyed the very sexy scenes between Maggie & Ren.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this a couple of weeks ago and now I can't seem to rember it very clearly. It took place in New Orleans which is why I read it in the first place and It was about a lampire (one who lives on energi instead of blood) who thought he was cursed.

What I didn't like about the book was that the vamp hade spent a hundread years and than some beliveving that evey woman that loved him would die and he has one short drunken moment with his brother and then he suddanly doesn't believe it anymore.