Dead of Night by Lynn Viehl

Dead of Night by Lynn Viehl
Publisher:  Flux Book
Publish Date:  July 8, 2012
ISBN:  978-0738726465
Pages:   312


I received this book from www.netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.



I will say up front that I didn't read the first book in this series.  However, it didn't really seem necessary, there was enough explanation to help me along and until I got into it, I didn't even realize that this wasn't the first book!

So to catch us all up:  Cat and her brothers, Gray and Trick, are Van Helsings, but they want to lead normal lives.  Or at least her brothers do.  Cat is in love with Jesse - he's not exactly a vampire, but almost.

Powers: 
Jesse and his parents don't age, but they can't stand sunlight.
Cat - can command felines, of all sorts.
Gray and Trick - I can't keep them straight for some reason.  One has the power to track anything and one has the power to cover up your memories.

Cat and Jesse didn't make me believe they're in love.  The couple-ness just didn't touch my heart and the whole star-crossed lovers thing just didn't fly for me.  I was saddened, but I know that not all couples can be like Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes. :)

Trick and Gray, even though I can't keep them separate in my head, came across as more real than anyone in the story, I liked them.  I did feel like Cat came across as a bit of a spoiled brat - her brother, while trying to protect her and control her - still spoiled her to pieces. 

While not my bag of chips, you might like it if you enjoy the vampire/vampire hunter romance.

Of Light and Darkness by Shayne Leighton

Of Light and Darkness (Light and Darkness #1) by Shayne Leighton
Publisher:  Decadent Publishing
Publish Date:  June 26, 2011
 Available as an e-book
484 KB


Finally, a vampire that acts like a vampire.  I mean, Valek needs blood to survive and he doesn't hid it and he doesn't hesitate to do what he has to do to get it.  Valek rescued a human child about twenty years ago and now she's all grown up and doesn't look at Valek as a father figure anymore.  She's realizing that he's quite the catch and is ready to take on the challenge of being with a vampire.  Charlotte is no wimpy girl, she holds her own against werewolves, elves, vampires and witches.


The setting for the story is inside and just outside of Prague, a city that seems to be getting a lot of attention in new releases lately.  I think it's history lends itself to lots of paranormal stories, it's wonderful to visit someplace new!  There are cities called "Occult Cities" where all the magical folks live and they aren't allowed to leave their cities, the elves passed that law.  But if vampires don't leave, they can't feed.  For years, Charlotte has done the initial hunting for Valek, but now the elves are out for her too.

Of course Valek and Charlotte can't just fall in love and live happily ever after.  The elves are the light-bearers in this universe and they've decided to destroy all the vampires as they are hateful and live in the dark.  The biggest problem is that the next in line for the throne is Aiden, an elf who grew up with Charlotte and who is infatuated with her and determined to keep her from Valek.

The setting for the story is inside and just outside of Prague, a city that seems to be getting a lot of attention in new releases lately.  I think it's history lends itself to lots of paranormal stories, it's wonderful to visit someplace new!  There are cities called "Occult Cities" where all the magical folks live and they aren't allowed to leave their cities, the elves passed that law.  But if vampires don't leave, they can't feed.  For years, Charlotte has done the initial hunting for Valek, but now the elves are out for her too.

This is the author's debut book and I think she's done a delightful job.  My e-reader let me know that my tv was lonely as I was reading this book instead of watching tv during primetime. :)  I think that's a good indication of how wonderful the story is...I gave up watching Big Bang Theory just to finish it. ;)

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Publisher:  Viking Adult
Publish Date:  February 8, 2011
ISBN:  978-0670022410  
Pages: 592

Book One of a trilogy:  All Souls Trilogy.  Book Two is due out in 2012 and will be reportedly titled SHADOW OF NIGHT.




My mind keeps wandering back to the world of Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont.  I know it was amazing simply because it makes sense - scientifically and historically.  I was asked to slightly suspend belief, but there was so much history and science involved that it was easy to believe.  Especially since Matthew was studying genetics - my favorite science!


So...Diana Bishop is an American professor on a research trip in England at Oxford. She is a history professor studying alchemy.  Diana knows that her family is full of witches and that she herself is one.  But she refuses to use her powers, going so far as to note how many times she uses her power and getting mad if she goes over a certain limit.  So Diana is hanging out at the library calling up books for her research when she ends up with a weird book.  She can tell it's enchanted, but all she does is lay her hand on it and it opens.  So she uses it and sends it back.  Little does she know that all the beings (witch, vampire and daemon) want that book and no one has seen it or touched it in hundreds of years.  Now they want her to call it up again.  Some of them believe that the book shows the genetics of all three lineages, some believe that it shows their future.

So the three lineages - are they really separate?  That's the question, isn't it?  Are they totally separate from humans?  Another good question.  Let's see:  witches are magical; vampires have near immortality and super senses and speed; while daemons are usually born of human parents, are highly creative and often mad.

One of the beings looking for the book is Matthew Clairmont.  Matthew is a 1500 year old vampire.  Currently he's a genetics scientist, but he's studied a great deal of things in his time.  Matthew starts out wanting the book and ends up wanting only Diana.  However, there is Diana's distaste and fear of vampires to get around as well as the law against relationships that cross the lines between species.

The author, Deborah Harkness is a professor of Western European History at the University of Southern California as well as a very popular wine blogger.  She uses all of her expertise in both areas for this book.  I think that's what makes the whole thing believable - it's got some basis in fact.  Isn't that what's always said about lies?  The best ones are based in fact?  Similar idea.  I read that Ms. Harkness said that she began the book by wondering what vampires would do for a living in our modern world.  Well, working long hours as a research scientist would be dandy, wouldn't it?

I know a lot of us were creeped out by the stalkerish/protectiveness of Edward toward Bella in Twilight.  There was never a good excuse for it and it came off badly.  Matthew is also territorial and protective - however, it's explained using wolves and packs; and Diana is no Bella, she's a grown woman who's been on her own for a long time!  I was never reminded of Edward and Bella, even though some reviewers have stated that this story is Twilight for grown ups.  Let's just toss that idea right out the window.  The two stories are nothing alike.  These are adults with ideas and feelings and they know what they want to do.  They may sometimes be stupid or do the wrong thing, but they are adults.

The intelligence of the writing was a joy to read.  The characters are fully fleshed out and have some real issues to deal with.  The daemons were fun to read about and finding out who, in history, was a daemon was a hoot!  While this isn't listed as a YA book, I think that many YA readers would enjoy it.  It's a bit long, but the story never lags and I spent several nights up way too late as I couldn't put it down.  I cannot wait for the second installment, I really need to know where Matthew and Diana went and how they fare!

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

Publisher:  Harcourt (Houghton Mifflin)
Publish Date:  April 20, 2009
ISBN: 978-0152066093
Pages:  362
Jacket Illustration:  Heath McKenzie
Jacket Design: Scott Magoon


This is not your run of the mill, sexy vampire story.  It's quirky and snarky and funny as heck.  These vampires aren't powerful supernatural beings.  Heck, they don't even sparkle.  The vampires in THE REFORMED VAMPIRE SUPPORT GROUP are sad, sick, weak specimens.  They bicker...a lot...about the same stuff...for years on end.  They've sworn off human blood and raise guinea pigs to feed off of (or 'fang' if you will).  They should be frustrating and boring, but they are hilarious.

One of the members of the support group gets staked in his coffin.  The group finds a clue and off they go!  There are werewolves, illegal fights, vampires, vampire slayers, priests, humans and guinea pigs.  That's quite a cast! 

Father Ramon heads up the support group.  He picks them all up, with the help of Dave (another vamp), and keeps them from bickering too much.  Dave was a musician and is pretty capable, better than the rest of them anyway.  Nina was fanged when she was 15 years old in 1973 and lives with her mother, to help support them she writes a series of vampire novels.  Her vamps are sexy and mysterious, everything she is not.

To top it off, these vamps live in Australia.  I don't know, but once you get out of the big cities, it seems that it would be hard to live as a vamp.  We definitely get the chance to find out!

There's a very very small love story in there, but it won't slow you down.  Promise.  This book won't appeal to Twilight fans who are looking for sparkling romance, but it will appeal to the sarcastic nerdy vampire lovers.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Publish Date:  April 19, 2011
ISBN:  978-0446563079
Pages:  352
Cover Art:  supplied by Grand Central Publishing



I picked up this book as I've always been fascinated by Abraham Lincoln.  He was a poor farm boy and 'pulled himself up by his bootstraps' to become President of the U.S.A.  Pretty impressive, eh?  Well, this book brings to light even more impressive feats by President Lincoln.

While we applaud President Lincoln for freeing the slaves and saving the Union; his other side, the Vampire Hunter, was hidden.  That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith got his hands on Abe's secret diaries.

The beginning of the story was a bit rough, I found myself skipping through a bit, hoping that the rest of the story was good.  I'm happy to report that it is!  The story is fast paced with great dialog and fascinating tidbits about Abe's life - both real and fictional.  The fictional bits flow seamlessly and you can see where the story is believable.  I think this story worked well as it wasn't trying to shove vampires and vampire hunting into a pre-written story.  Instead the author wrote a biography of Abe's life, adding the vampire hunting in as it went.  It definitely worked!  As you read excerpts of speeches you can see where he could be speaking of the threat of vampires to the U.S.  The extra photographic evidence in the book adds to the story and is amazing.  Poor Abraham, no wonder he seemed like such a driven man.  The ending was quite a surprise and I'm not sure I liked it, although it was a bit amusing.  If you go into it looking for a fun read, you'll love it.  Can I say that the cover slayed me?hahahahaha

Department Nineteen by Will Hill

Publisher:  Razorbill (Penguin Group)
Publish Date:  March 31, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59514-406-5
Pages:  480

We all know there are secret government agencies, right?  I mean, someone has to deal with aliens, monsters and vampires.  That's where Department Nineteen comes in.  Will Hill's debut novel is amazing.  He writes a beautiful historical back story, great characters, kick-ass modern weapons and mean-as-snake vampires.  No sparkling allowed here, these creatures are bloodthirsty and set on revenge..or something.

Jamie's dad is killed one night, in front of the family, and then the family is told a story.  It's one they can hardly believe.  Two years later, Jamie discovers the truth accidentally and is pulled into Department Nineteen.  Remember good 'ol Van Helsing, Harker and the rest of the gang from Dracula?  It would seem that they knew it wasn't going to end there and made a deal with the government to set up a secret agency.  Cool, huh?  Yep, that's Department Nineteen. The tagline is "Department Nineteen: The Reason You're Alive".

Now, the only thing Jamie cares about is in danger and it seems the only way out...is to sacrifice himself.  The chapters go back and forth between the present with Jamie's story and the past with Van Helsing's group.  A lot of questions are answered by looking into the past.  With chapter names like Teenage Wasteland and It's Hard to Breathe with a Hand Around Your Throat, things move along quickly and kept my interest.  The characters are well written: from the military men to teenage Jamie.  Luckily this is the first in a series - I'm looking forward to the next one already.  My favorite thing - the T-Bone.  It's a vampire killing weapon and I can't believe no one thought of it before - GENIUS!