Monthly Archives: February 2013

Book Review of Travis Luedke’s The Nightlife: Las Vegas

I recently read Travis Luedke’s The Nightlife: New York, so when I saw the sequel (Las Vegas) come up free on the KDP list I was all about grabbing it.

Description from Goodreads:
Vampires, Aaron Pilan and his master Michelle, live by one rule — no bloodslaves. EVER. Aaron breaks that rule when he meets Anastasia. All Anastasia wants is to be loved and cherished, but the predatory men she’s attracted to bring her only pain and abuse. Escaping one train-wreck relationship for another, she finds happiness with Aaron and Michelle as a bloodslave, a ‘pet’.

When Aaron uses his telepathy to win thousands at the gambling tables, he attracts the deadly attention of the Colombian Cartel and Aaron and Michelle are ‘disappeared’. Addicted to the bite of her vampire lovers, Ana is desperate to find them. But, Las Vegas isn’t ready for vampires mixing heroin, sex and vengeance. Ana is trapped in the spiraling chaos.

Review:
I really loved The Nightlife: New York and anticipating liking this one just as one. Such was not the case, however. Luedke’s writing is just as crisp and wonderful here as it was in the first, but a lot of what I really appreciated about the first book didn’t carry over into this one. Most notable was Aaron’s innocence. This was one of my favourite aspects of The Nightlife: New York. It seemed to have been replaced in The Nightlife: Las Vegas by The Predator. While I liked The Predator’s protective nature and general badassness it was no substitute for the nice-guy feel that was lost.

Similarly, there was a lot of sex in this book. There was plenty in the first one too and I have no problem with sex (and Luedke can write one hot scene), but here it started to crowd out the plot a little bit. A good 30% of the book passed between meeting the antagonist the first time and him taking any action toward Aaron and Michelle. There was very little in the intermediate 30% but sex of every imaginable sort. Plus it all felt a little one sided. Michelle, Aaron, and Ana are all about reckless abandon, but apparently only with girls. Never once is another man brought into the mix. There are countless women and just Aaron’s ‘sole penis,’ four on one at one point. Even Michelle seemed to prefer a female partner. It didn’t feel very natural.

As one should probably expect of Las Vegas it all takes a bit a turn toward the depraved too. No longer are the pages full of Aaron’s appreciation of Michelle’s beauty and sexuality or lines like, “Being in love was the biggest turn-on he’d ever known.” Instead they are littered with what every power-hungery scumbag would like to do to ‘that piece of ass,’ ‘whore,’ ‘tramp,’ ‘slut,’ etc (sometimes in quite shockingly lewd detail). At the conclusion of The Nightlife: New York I praised Luedke for writing a male oriented PNR that women could relate to. This one just felt like some sleazy, male fantasy run amok. I didn’t find this to be an improvement. It felt like something indefinable had been corrupted.

The ending was fairly predictable, but the addition of the new character Michael intrigued me. I’d be interested in knowing where that plot line goes.

Book Review: Marked, Entwined, Temped – by Elisabeth Naughton

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This is a replacement post. I see that I reviewed Elisabeth Naughton’s Marked, Entwined, and Tempted on Goodreads. But I do not see that I posted them here. I am rectifying that. I believe the first was an Amazon freebie, and I purchased the second two.

About Marked:

THERON — Dark haired, duty bound and deceptively deadly. He’s the leader of the Eternal Guardians, an elite group of warriors that defend the mortal realm.

From the moment he walked into the club, Casey knew this guy was different. Men like that just didn’t exist in real life—silky shoulder-length hair, chest impossibly broad, and a predatory manner that just screamed dark and dangerous. He was looking for something. Her.

She was the one. She had the mark. Casey had to die so his kind could live, and it was Theron’s duty to bring her in. But even he wasn’t strong enough to resist the pull in her fathomless eyes, to tear himself away from the heat of her body.

As war with the immortal realm nears, someone will have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

My Review:
I grabbed Marked off of the KDP free list just because the cover is so tempting. The main character, Theron, lives up to it too. The book reminded me A LOT of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, though I don’t know which series came first. The Eternal Guardians has the same leather-clad, hulking alpha-males oozing testosterone all over the place and falling hard for that certain female. But hey, that’s why we read these types of books to start with, right? It’s all good.

I liked Casey’s strong spine and Theron’s dedication to his duty. The Greek pantheon makes for an interesting casting too. Though, starting with a little knowledge of the mythology will probably help. For example, I misremembered Persephone and Hades’ relationship at one point and was confused when she was excited to see him. The book does present the mythological history, so no worries if you don’t know it.

Other reviewers have commented on the random placement of sex scenes, and it’s true. The first one seemed to especially come out of left field. It generally bothers me to find characters thinking about sex when their circumstances are life-threatening. Seriously, who thinks about getting down and dirty when they’re running for their life? I’m fairly sure some aspect of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes into play here. The steamy nature of the same scenes kinda makes up for it, though.

While it didn’t top my favorites list by a long shot, I enjoyed it enough to buy the second and look forward to the third. (Demetrius was one of my favorites.) So I have no real complaints. It amused me for an evening and, therefore, served its purpose.

About Entwined:

ZANDER — The most feared of the Eternal Guardians. It’s rumored he can’t be killed, and he always fights like he has nothing to lose. But even he has to have a vulnerability… somewhere.

Forces of daemons are gathering and have broken through the barriers of the mortal realm. Now more than ever the Eternal Guardians are needed to protect both their own world and the humans’. Zander can’t afford to think about what might have been with the bewitching physician he once regarded as his soul mate. But with eternity stretching before him, he also can’t fathom spending his life without the one woman who makes him feel most alive. Perhaps he’s found his weakness, after all…

My Review:
Entwined continues much in the same vein as Marked and focuses on Zander. He makes a good tortured soul and the breach with his soulmate is believable. I generally enjoyed the book. If anything I think that it is better than the first. The world-building was done in book one, leaving more room for story here. I really liked that the Brothers…oh, did I say that…Arghonauts interact more. I like their snarky comments to one another. The women aren’t wilting violets and are more than willing to stand up for themselves, even if their culture doesn’t approve.

I did have a few issues worth venting about, though. How did Atalanta manage to raise Max to be a good kid? I’m having a hard time believing he would be psychologically sound after ten years with her. I’m just saying. Did Callia’s father really deserve to be forgiven so quickly? Did Zander, for that matter? The happy ending seemed a little too convenient. If it was being arranged ahead of time, surely someone would have said something, or the existing plans would have been canceled. Lastly, the book could do with a bit more editing. There are some inconsistencies, like “she covered her hand with her mouth “instead of mouth with hand. There are also a lot of fragment sentences. I realize that lines such as “That hurt. A lot.” is a writing device intended to force the reader to stop, thereby emphasizing the last statement. But here, it is used so much and in such a manner that it often just felt too jarring; commas would have a similar effect and not have rattled my brain so much.

Despite all of that, I enjoyed the read. Zander and Callia are a steamy couple. The Eternal Guardian’s effort to protect their worlds is honorable, and the politics of Argolea are interesting. I look forward to reading the third in the series.

About Tempted:

DEMETRIUS — He’s the hulking, brooding warrior his fellow Guardians avoid. Too dark. Too damaged. And given his heritage, he knows it’s best to keep everyone at arm’s length.

Isadora is missing. The words pound through his head like a frantic drumbeat. For her own protection, Demetrius did all he could to avoid the fragile princess. And now she’s gone—kidnapped. To get her back, he’ll have to go to the black place in his soul he’s always shunned.

As daemons ravage the human realm and his loyalty to the Guardians is put to the ultimate test, Demetrius realizes that Isadora is stronger than anyone thought. And finally letting her into his heart may be the only way to save them both.

My Review:
I have to say I think that this series is getting better as it goes along. Tempted focuses on the Guardian Demetrius, his soul mate, and his secret. I liked the way Isadora finally came into her own, but Demetrius stole the show. One of my favorite types of characters is the brooding, damaged male whose game is completely thrown off by a female. That is Demetrius all over. He is big, strong, dark, and cruel, but in the presence of little ‘ol Isadora, he’s…well, maybe not an awkward, blushing teenager, but definitely not himself. It makes me smile. The smex was pretty amped up too. There was no lack of steam here. I did get tired of the Robinson Crusoe routine after a while. I thought the plot stalled for a little bit, but not long enough for me to consider dropping it or anything.

Note: I also read Enraptured and Enslaved. But I only reviewed them as heavy-handed and repetative.

Book Review of Travis Luedke’s The Nightlife: New York

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Travis Luedke and I recently connected on Twitter. At the time he jokingly offered me a free copy of his first Nightlife novel (New York). It happened to be free on KDP that day so there wasn’t much sincerity in the offer, but it was amusing. Turns out I had already downloaded the sucker (pun intended since it’s a vampire book). I like the cover art and that’s often enough to grab my attention…that and it’s about vampires. I’m a sucker, I know. (OK I’ll stop.)

LONG Description from Goodreads:
Vampires, strippers, escorts, night clubs, gangs, pimps and corrupt cops, the Nightlife of New York is never boring.

Is she a beautiful blond guardian angel as he imagined, or something else entirely? When Michelle saves Aaron’s life she shares the benefits of her blood (after getting him shot accidentally). He awakes a changed man, living in a purgatory of eternal night, never to see the sunrise again.

Michelle drags Aaron through a hardcore learning curve of vampiric slavery. Forced to adapt to servitude, Aaron is subject to her authority of compulsion. She orders him around like a puppet on a string, a dog on a very short leash. First things first, he must learn to feed properly without creating bloodslaves (humans addicted to the powerful drug-like effect of their venomous bite).

And then she puts him to work-a male escort in the sex trade-same as Michelle. Aaron walks a tightrope of strictly controlled feeding regiments and intensely erotic sexual adventures while catering to the neurotic control-freak tendencies of his new master. It’s do or die, Michelle vows to eliminate him if he proves too difficult to control. The real kicker-amidst all these shocking and degrading adjustments, Aaron finds he’s falling in love.

Can he maintain and keep a sliver of his humanity intact? Innocence is a luxury few can afford in the decadent nightlife of New York. In a world where sex, blood, and power over women is so readily accessible, Aaron struggles against the predatory instincts deeply rooted in his new psyche. He must find his way quickly, practicing rigid self-control, or risk the consequences of Michelle’s wrath.

Review:
Nightlife: New York is a paranormal romance unlike I’ve ever read and it took me a little while to pinpoint why. Surprisingly, I think it is the fact that it was written by a man. It changed the feel and focus of the romance. There was a realism to the main character, Aaron’s, thoughts and actions that I can only imagine was born of the male author’s innate ability to relate to the emotions of a male character. This multidimensionalism is often lacking in other PNR. They regularly focus almost exclusively on the man’s alpha qualities, to the exclusion of all others. And while I enjoy these novels it was nice to come across a PNR hero who had a little more depth to him.

Aaron Pilan is the nice guy who never gets much coverage in this genre. He isn’t 6’5”. He isn’t build like a tank. He isn’t bulging with muscles or oozing raw sex appeal. He doesn’t even wear leather or shitkickers. He’s attractive, but innocent and a little naive. Meeting the gorgeous vampire Michelle and being brought into her way of life throws him for a serious curve. I adored him! Over the course of the book he grew to be the strong alpha lead we women currently love so much, but managed to maintain the caring qualities that attracted Michelle in the first place. He was interested in more than just pounding a hapless, lust-driven female into a mattress (though the springs did get a workout or two) and I appreciated his internal debates as he tried to reassess his new role.

There was a little bit of an info-dump in the beginning as Luedke established what type of vampire we’re dealing with. Do they sparkle or brood? Do they maintain their human intellect or become mindless predators, etc? The book gets a little dry during this necessary evil, but quickly picks back up. There are a whole host of interesting underworld characters who play their role without ever cluttering up the plot, a little bit of humour, some sizzling moments, and some tender moments. There really is just about enough of everything.

This is definitely one worth picking up. I have Nightlife: Las Vegas which I have every intention of reading. As an aside, I happened to notice that both books are still be free on Amazon at the moment. I don’t know how long that will last though.