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.