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London Chase lived a pampered life. Rich, beautiful and a utterly miserable. No relationship with her absentee father and friends who were trustworthy as a serial killer.
When a hit is put on London, Cacious Troy, a vampire mercenary for the Custos is sent to protect her. He learns early on that London cannot be saved so easily. She gets on his last nerve every chance she gets.
But there is something special about her, a strength he didn't know a spoiled princess like her would or could possess. When the threat gets personal Cash will stop at nothing to save this woman who has somehow made his undead heart beat again.
With the Nex, the evil soulless vampires who work for the Dark and the one true enemy to the Custos are found to be behind the hit and the one who placed it, a war breaks out in a fight against the Devine and the Dark and everyone is fighting to save her.

307 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 29, 2012

23 people are currently reading
725 people want to read

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Melanie Walker

19 books709 followers

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5 stars
127 (34%)
4 stars
136 (37%)
3 stars
70 (19%)
2 stars
18 (4%)
1 star
13 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
Profile Image for Amy Pro.
109 reviews30 followers
April 21, 2013
Let me start by saying, I did enjoy this book. Strong characters. Cash was awesome as the bad boy/hero. I wanted to eat him up. London was bad ass. Preacher....mmmmm love Preacher.

I'm usually one that can overlook grammatical and editing errors but this was pretty bad. When I have to stop reading to repeatedly reread a sentence or paragraph because the grammar was off it makes the book less enjoyable.

That said. If all the editing and grammatical errors are fixed, this would be a great read and I would give it 5 stars.
Profile Image for Sadie Forsythe.
Author 1 book287 followers
May 3, 2015
**Spoiler Alert**
This book had potential. There was a point in the beginning when I thought I might really like it. But that time passed and I was never able to reclaim it. I'll grant that Cash was both manly and open about his feelings. It's a heady mix. I found him an appealing leading man.

London was also a strong female lead. I liked that about her. But while I appreciate that she had a mind to give Cash a piece of, she was practically psychotic about it. She flipped from docile to furious with almost no provocation, often then childishly acting out on impulse. For example, taking unknown drugs, provided by a known enemy, who was already making sexual overtures and suggesting the drug would make her 'want to party' and then, not surprisingly, turning into a panting, nymphomaniac, porno princess; all simply because Cash had said not to, in what she perceived to be too authoritative a tone. That's pretty much approaching 'too stupid to live' territory. What did she expect to happen? Plus, the whole begging every man present to fuck her was just about too tacky for words. Though Cash's response to it all was pretty good, that's about when I really gave up trying to like this book, but I hung in there and finished it.

I did like the side characters—Preacher, Leucious, Bastion. I think I even liked where the plot was going. Unfortunately, I don't feel like it ever really got there. It got completely sidetracked by London and Cash's deluge of self-affirmations. I lost count of how many times they told themselves (and each other) they loved the other, or how sure they NOW were that he or she was THE ONE, or how perfect the other was, or how sexy, or how dirty (in the good way), etc. It was ENDLESS, as was the sex. I like a good erotic scene as much as the next reader, but the sex definitely got in the way of the story here. What's more, by the end London was orgasming, literally, on command. It started to feel mechanical—push the button, cue the orgasm. Not sexy anymore.

By the final climactic scene, I'd pretty much forgotten what they were fighting for and the easy win didn't reestablish it in my mind. The Custos just pretty much walked in and walked out again. That easy. It was a real lost opportunity.

Lastly, editing: OMG, I have to talk about editing. But I also have to admit to a certain amount of confusion. You see, I downloaded my copy of this book way back in April (2013). The Amazon description currently reads, "This version was edited professionally and updated to Kindle on 7/27/13. Any errors remaining in the book are mine alone."

So, though my version predates the re-edit, it SHOULD have been updated by Amazon. However, the book I've just read is possibly the worst edited self-published book I've ever seen. It was full of typos, homophones, incorrect or missing punctuation, inconsistent tense, and just randomness. For example, every time the word 'next' was used it was capitalised. No idea why. Worst of all, though, was the skull-razing constant use of 'I seen' instead of 'I saw.' I mean, even the most basic automatic grammar check should have caught that. So, I'm left wondering if the problem was that my copy was never updated for some reason or, heaven forbid, it was the 'corrected' version. I just don't know. I suspect the former. It would make a whole heck of a lot more sense. But I have no way of verifying it, beyond checking for pending updates, which my account says there aren't any.

So, though I know others seem to really like this story and I'll admit that there were some funny bits, the heavy-handed attempt at emotional manipulation and excessive sex-talk (by which I mean characters who talk about what they're doing as much as actually doing it), and the virtually abandoned plot left me struggling to make it to the last page.
Profile Image for Weston Walker.
2 reviews
April 21, 2013
This book was pretty cool. I know the author and by law I have to support her! Read my wife's book and support her dream. Haters don't hate on my girl! This book took heart and soul and it paid off because my unbiased opinion was that though erotic, this story is cool as ever. My favorite character in all her books is Preacher and he is about to get his own story. I swear you will love it, read it!
8 reviews
April 23, 2013
Despite the horrible grammar and typos, it's a great story. Can't wait to read the next one.
2 reviews1 follower
April 20, 2013
This book was hot hot hot....HOT! I am twitching while waiting for the next installment. I loved London Chase aka Princess. She has to be one of the most amazing characters ever. She was realistic. Raised to be a wealthy princess, ignored by her father and given money in replacement of love... she was in fact a giant brat.
Then when an erotic act leaves her alone and running from the house of sexy stud Cacious Troy she leaves with no clue the absolute danger she is in.
When the bad vampires the Cruer Nex (Not sure if the spelling is exact) come looking for London because of the bounty on her head she has no choice but to run to Cash and his sidekick Preacher for safety.
They were not prepared for the woman who is equally stubborn, sweet and all around bad ass.
Cash falls for her almost immediately and that's when the page turner becomes a page burner. The erotic side of this novel is descriptive not so much on body parts or fluid, but on the act itself. She describes the feeling of being with him, he describes being with her.
The love story is full of angst and passion, the couple loves early on in the book and she didn't lose me as a reader, it only intrigued me more.
So many books make the couple seem impossible and then bam, last chapter HEA! Not this book. Miss Walker kept me turning the page, excited to read more and pissed off when I had to put it down.
She made the love between them strong, but the ever defiant London was not okay with being left out of the action. Cash fights her nonstop on her junkyard dog attitude and she fights him back. She is strong, seductive, sweet and funny as ever. I think every woman has a piece of London in her and if she doesn't then she wishes she did.
I would like to say that the next book is I believe Redemption, and it is my FAVORITE characters book. His name is Preacher and he is a wooden cross turned into a stake wielding vampire on a mission to end the Nex and send them with final rights. He was turned after his wife and children were killed back in 1923. He was a former catholic priest before leaving his calling when he fell in love with his now diseased wife. Preacher aka Mac O'Conner is Irish, big blonde and sexy as sin. His character is one i could write a review on. Just him. Literally. He is heart broken and so full of compassion and love through out the book. His faith in humanity (or in their case) vampires and nex is failing though as he watches the dark side of the vampire world grow even darker. The book actually ends with his pov which leaves you begging for the second...like NOW!!!
The imagination and scope of genius behind this book is seriously amazing. As an erotic novel sometimes it is the same book, just different sex. With the fifty books (I am a huge fan of them fyi) I feel like had a tale to follow the sex. Bliss is the same way, though not BDSM. If you can create a world and a story to die for along with steamy sexy characters and sex, then I believe she deserves a title of NYT Bestseller. I will do my part in spreading the word and getting her there.
I don't foresee miss walker being an independent author for long. I would get this book while it is 99 cents.
I agree there were editing issues with the book. I am a self proclaimed grammar snob, though I know my own grammar is lacking, i usually prefer a book to be error free. This book was so good I didn't care about the confusion in the words. I know they are common mistakes and it usually drives me nuts, however I just didn't care with this book, that is how truly good it is. I cared less if your and you're were confused, if to and too or seen and saw. The point is i understood the book and if I gave any negative critique it would be the formatting. Each paragraph was to separated, I felt like I was reading a chapter break every paragraph. I would love to have the opportunity to be a beta reader or do an ARC of this series, so Miss Walker if your looking I am interested.
None of the errors took away from the book for me, but again the book sold itself regardless of misspellings or miss usage. I refuse to review this book on amazon and I wish I could purchase the next one on B and N. I do not agree with the review process on amazon and I was lucky enough to have gotten bliss on b and n before she joined the amazon program where she was only allowed to publish through them. Miss walker if you are reading this, please do not publish all your books through amazon. I love to read your books but I cant stand amazon. I purchased the most recent copy of Bliss on amazon so that I have the book on my shelf as well. I will say the version I read a few months back is in poor shape compared to the newer version on amazon that I purchased last week.
In short...READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11 reviews
April 21, 2013
I enjoyed it. It gave a different twist to the other vamp reads. I am awaiting more from the series especially since this was left at a good stopping point.
Profile Image for Stacy.
99 reviews5 followers
April 13, 2013
I must say this book was AMAZING!!! Cant wait for Redemption!!! Please hurry with it !!
4 reviews
March 1, 2019
Loved this book! Great beginning for this series!

I've read this multiple times now. Great character development. Kept me on the edge of my seat for book 2.
Profile Image for Nicole Colville.
Author 48 books402 followers
August 19, 2013
I found this book on one of my Erotic groups, and loving anything that is free i took a look at it. I don't usually read m/f erotic and i haven't read a vampire book since Anne Rice, (who i love) not even Twilight (don't judge me LOL)

I'm going to take time out to read this one, (even though i should be finishing off writing my own book.) I guess i'm intrigued because of all of the comments on Amazon, instead of putting me off they've spurred me to read it.

Updated RV

I really enjoyed reading about London and Cash. They are great characters and work well together. The story line was interesting and flowed well. I enjoyed how Melanie has written this, it's very up to date and current, it made me smile. I have recommended this book to all my friends who enjoy Vamp Fic and they have loved it. I will be buying the next instalment, and i can't wait to find out more about the beautiful Preacher.

The sex in this was soooo hot, i def want a vamp lover is this is anything to go by. I didn't give it five stars only because this isn't really my genre and it's not something i would normally read, personal pref only. But i believe i may be converted by Melanie on her next book because i will def be buying more of her books.


Profile Image for Joy.
605 reviews9 followers
December 14, 2014

DNF

To the hubby of the author I’m not going to ‘hate on your girl’ but I am going to give her some sound advice.

In the beginning I could overlook the mistakes until I couldn’t eg

…no Vampire espionage steak out shit. You mean stake out - right?

In Doubt there was no need to hide anything and I was going with my Vampire, no secrets no arterial motives. You mean ulterior - right?

How could anyone miss these and all the rest that littered this story that I was enjoying (sort of) up to this point.

To the author - to all authors - if you expect your readers to take you seriously and believe me most of us have at least some understanding of the blood, sweat and tears poured into said stories…well…don’t then turn round and shit on your own work by ignoring the need to proofread, proofread then proofread some more. First thing to do is sack your proofreading team grab someone who knows what they’re doing then present this story again in its newly edited form. When you do that let me know I’d like to read the rest of it.
Profile Image for Helen.
100 reviews
March 6, 2017
This book was a good start to The Custos series, I rate it a 3.5. Most of the characters were interesting in their own way. Book one focused on Cacius (Cash), London (Princess/Cookie), and Preacher. It was a fun and stimulating read; I enjoyed a few good laughs. The sex between Cash and Princess was sizzling hot. I would have given this book a higher rating but there were some things that I didn't like. This refers to the leading female London doing things against better judgement, which causes bad things to happen to her and other people. I call it the supposedly bad-ass and strong-will leading lady who becomes the unnecessary and preventable damsel in distress syndrome. This has got to stop. Please.
Anyway, I added book 2 to my list books to read list.
Profile Image for Amber Barr.
37 reviews1 follower
May 6, 2013
Melanie Walker’s “Bliss”—book 1 in “The Custos” series—invites readers to stroll on the dark side where nothing in this world is what it seems and treachery can be found in the most unlikely places. Walker’s characters are unique and fiery, clever and extraordinary. Her heroes are brusque, masculine, tormented, commanding, hedonistic, and unapologetic. Her heroines are brash, feminine, strong, and passionate. The chemistry Walker creates between her h/hs is electrifying. Readers are pulled into the action from the very first page. Walker fills her storyline with romance, intrigue, danger, sorrow, humor, and eroticism. Ms. Walker’s “The Custos” series is pure bliss.
Profile Image for Rebecca Shott.
23 reviews
December 1, 2013
I thought this was well written with Characters that were thought thru instead of thrown in there with gratuitous sex. Don't get me wrong, there is lots of sex and it's all good. But the plot and flow is there...enough for me to get the second one which was just as good if not better and I'm currently waiting on the 3rd and 4th installments...You may also enjoy Trust Me - same author - just as good.

I stumbled onto Ms. Walker by accident. Now I'm hooked and patiently waiting for the others. I don't do reviews unless I'm pleasantly pleased or thoroughly pissed. I'm so very pleasantly pleased with her books.
Profile Image for Sarez Tomoan.
113 reviews5 followers
August 2, 2013
This was a great read with awesome characters. I loved London she was firey and sassy and a lot of fun. Cash and Preacher were hot! The storyline was great too, I did really enjoy the story - HOWEVER the spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and the incorrect usage of words that had me rereading certain parts was a major turn off. I can overlook one or two errors, even a few minor errors, but this book was bad in that respect! This book is in need of a MAJOR edit!! If the book had been edited properly (or at all) it could have been a 4 - 4.5 star read for me.
Profile Image for Dee.
463 reviews
August 10, 2013
I read another of MW books - Trust Me - TAT Rockers and then i read this one and it KICKS ARSE over the other one.

I know i know i shouldnt be comparing since they are different genres but i just felt that the writing in this book as well as the story was alot better than the TAT one - even though both genres (alpha vamps & tattooed cheating rockers) have been done to death i enjoyed reading this book of MW'a better than the other. It flowed better and the writing and story was better.

Looking forward to the other books to follow this & looking forward to reading Prechers story tomorrow!
Profile Image for Melanie Walker.
Author 19 books709 followers
April 14, 2013
I wrote this book as well... I love a naughty book that still maintains a story outside of the bedroom. That is EXACTLY what I wanted Bliss to be and I sure hope you all agree. Please note the errors that were in the first two days of the free download on amazon have been repaired. If you downloaded this book before the fixes, I am so sorry if it is hard to read. Don't give up on me though, I have an editor on it! LOL
Profile Image for Zina.
43 reviews2 followers
May 7, 2013
What a relief! I am finally finished with this disaster of a book. it could have been good, but for the staggering number of grammatical errors within each paragraph. I don't normally write a negative review, but this was ridiculous. A third grade child could write better than this. Some examples are "to " instead of "too ", mixing up "your '" and "you're ", the constant use of "I seen " instead of "I saw ", and so on. NAILS ON A CHALKBOARD, PEOPLE.
Profile Image for Jessi.
391 reviews8 followers
August 12, 2014
This book is really awesome in a new type of vampire novel. A new take on an overly used up genre.

The characters in this book were so dynamic and crazy it just made you want to turn the page to see what was next.

The only reason I didn't give this book a 5 star was because I felt that even though the book was great I still felt like it dragged a little and to me a 5 star book doesn't have any drag at all.
Profile Image for Marlis.
5 reviews2 followers
August 19, 2014
This book is amazing. I thought that books about "night creatures", we're all already written. But this has something that I just could not let go. There is something about the story that is NEW, and isn't that something that we want in a book. Something new that will keep us hungry for more. thank you for new perspective of vamps. I'm in love with the Preacher. Can't wait to read next one. keep rocking girl!
Profile Image for Naughty Girl Books.
257 reviews5 followers
August 30, 2014
Loved this book. I loved Cash and London's relationship. The progression if their relationship and working through their issues is what makes a book great to me. Not breaking up for stupid reasons. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because it could of really used a editor. Things like that rarely bother me so that right there tells you had bad some mistakes were but if you can get over that, the book was really a a great, easy read. I'm glad I found it
Profile Image for Teri.
1,501 reviews2 followers
May 9, 2013
I really enjoyed this story and loved the characters.

SPOILER ALERT

One thing didn't make sense though. If she was so wanted by the Nex and they knew she was with Cash then why weren't the Nex constantly attacking?? And how could she be in public and no one come after her?? That didn't make sense. And leaving her home alone or by herself in a club, wasn't protecting her!
Profile Image for book junkie.
574 reviews5 followers
October 26, 2014
I love this author this is the third book I have read of hers and I can't get enough, I was drawn in from the beginning of the story and I didn't want to put it down.. Cash is super hot and who wouldn't love a hot tough vampire , London is what he needs and she proves she's stronger than she looks... I loved all the characters and I can't wait to see what happens next
Profile Image for Suzanne.
159 reviews
September 1, 2014
I definitely enjoyed the storyline of this book. However the editing of grammatical errors and the miss spells need to be corrected. I had to reread too Many sentences and parts of sentences in order to make sense of them.
481 reviews1 follower
September 2, 2016
Awesome Book!

Wow, I loved this book. Its definitely a diamond in the ruff. It's so hard to find good vampire romance anymore. I enjoyed the characters and the world the author created. The plot was also very good. I can't wait to read the next book.
Profile Image for Heather.
21 reviews2 followers
June 4, 2013
THis book was intriguing. It gave a different twist to the whole Vamp thing. You had both the good the bad and the ugly.
92 reviews
June 17, 2013
I am not usually bothered by typos and grammer problems, but there were so many that it did finally get in the way.
50 reviews
August 6, 2013
liked it but definitely reminded me of the black dagger brotherhood series with more sex. I wish they had put more in the storyline for the pharmaceutical side.
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