mignon mykel { reviews }: { revised } review || THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE VAMPIRE by Sara Humphreys

Sunday, January 3, 2016

{ revised } review || THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE VAMPIRE by Sara Humphreys

Sourcebooks Casablanca | January 5, 2016 | Paranormal Romance
Dead in the City, book 4
★★★★1/2

SOURCE: PUBLISHER

Beloved author Sara Humphreys' acclaimed paranormal romance series continues with sweltering attraction between two vampires who have all the time in the world to satisfy their desires...

He wants eternity?

Dakota Shelton is a vampire cowboy with a penchant for cinnamon lollipops and Johnny Cash. Though highly skilled and deadly dangerous to his enemies, he's still a Texas good ol' boy at heart. And he has that heart set on wooing Trixie LaRoux-the most badass punk rock chick in town-the old-fashioned way.

Over her undead body...

Trixie is tough as nails and sharp as a silver stake-the last thing she wants is a man to sit on a porch and not grow old with. So it'll take going to hell and back fighting a new threat to vampires before she admits Dakota's courtship makes her blood hum. Turns out chivalry's not dead after all.

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I was a bit surprised to find I didn't quite connect with this book, and really didn't care for Trixie. Granted, I've only read VAMPIRES NEVER CRY WOLF but I thoroughly enjoyed that book. Where Sadie and Killian's bickering was fun (I love a good bicker), it just didn't quite hit it's mark with Dakota and Trixie. Dakota's cowboy drawl and sex appeal was just a bit overdone for me, too.

~~--which is quite the kicker, because I loved him so much in the previous book.~~

...maybe I just need to revisit VAMPIRES NEVER CRY WOLF and jump into this book again. Perhaps the 10 months between publications was too much for me. I find that sometimes I need to read a series in "one sitting" in order to stay connected with the characters.

Have you ever been in a book-reading-slump? You've read too many books and can't manage to connect with ANY that you pick up afterward?

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE VAMPIRE was a victim of that mentality. I found myself incredibly annoyed with Trixie and the southern drawl slingin' Dakota -- even though I loved Dakota previously. I was annoyed with Trixie's standoffish nature and when I jumped to the epilogue, I was further annoyed by the "boy..." and "darlin'" -- it was way too "Hey, girl, heyyyyy" for me so I put the book down. I was disappointed I didn't like what I read, because I remembered absolutely loving the previous book in the series.

After writing my non-review above, I decided to give it another go. I hadn't picked up a book in a week (in order to get read-out, I read to be super ahead in my review tour schedule) and was of fresh mind.

So I tried again.

And I loved it.

Trixie's standoffish nature has a reason -- she hasn't quite come to terms with chunks of her past and what she left behind in her human world. Dakota, who doesn't quite know about this bloodmate thing that has been whispered about, just knows that he's drawn to the crazy haired vamp and wants to ease her troubles. Dakota was a great lead and watching him try to help Trixie through everything was lovely. I loved his caring nature, and his protective nature, and how he enfolded everything that was Trixie and made her issues his own.

Side story wise, my heart aches for Suzie and Damien. I love the quiet, unsure vampire, and I hurt for the love Damien has for her. I am curious how all of that is going to be resolved.

I'm so glad I gave this book another try -- this crazy coven with it's vampires and werewolves and witches, oh my, is quite the eclectic mix, yet they work together oh so incredibly well.

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a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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Sunday, January 3, 2016

{ revised } review || THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE VAMPIRE by Sara Humphreys

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