ORDER A COPY: A Vampire for Christmas: Enchanted by BloodMonsters Don’t Do ChristmasWhen Herald Angels SingAll I Want For Christmas (Hqn)
Publisher: Harlequin
Publishing Date: October 18, 2011
Paperback: 384 Pages
Overall Rating: 5 stars
All they want for Christmas is you…
It’s the time of year for twinkling lights on trees and kisses under the mistletoe. Yet the passing of another year means nothing to the stunning immortals who lurk in the shadows of the new-fallen snow.
And they don’t care if you’ve been naughty or nice.
Let four fanged lovers open your eyes to a passion you never dared to imagine. After all, there’s no place like home for the holidays—and these dazzling vampires can’t wait for an invitation.
First of all I have to say for four “vampire” stories, the fact that they involve vampires seemed incidental. These stories felt more like a love stories to me – ok, ok, if you ignore the memory wipes and the vampire teeth, blah, blah – but you know what I mean. In all these stories the vampires seemed to not like that side of themselves and tried to suppress their “evil” natures.
These were four very well written short stories with wonderfully characters. I think you will find them quite enjoyable, whether you are into the paranormal romance or you simply like a nice romance.
Enchanted by Blood by Laurie London – One year ago, Trace and Charlotte were in love. But Trace had to erase Charlotte’s memory after she witnessed a vicious vampire attack and he couldn’t allow her to know of their existence. Anyway, relationships between vampires and mortals were frowned upon and if he were to take his place on the Governing Counsel, he needed to abide by those rules.
One year later, Trace saves Charlotte from a vampire attack. She doesn’t understand why she trusts this stranger so much or why she’s so attracted to him. Now that Trace has Charlotte back in his arms, will he have the strength to let her go again. But not everyone is happy for them. Someone wants what Trace has, and they are more than willing to kill for it.
I liked Trace and Charlotte right from the beginning. Their chemistry was off the charts. Since there was a history between them, their story didn’t feel rushed or forced.
This was a very enjoyable story and I will be putting Laurie London’s Sweetblood series on my list of books to read. I have already downloaded her Hidden by Blood which was a Free Nook Book as of the date of this post.
Rating: 5 stars
Monsters Don’t Do Christmas by Michele Hauf – Young vampire Daniel Harrison would have thought that getting your butt handed to him by a pair of werewolves was the most embarrassing thing to happen, until he gets rescued by a human – and a woman to boot. How humiliating.
Until that moment Olivia Adorata, didn’t know supernaturals existed, but then again, she raised to keep an open mind. She was not surprised that “monsters” exist since she considers herself one too. A rising star, she is normally surrounded by all the trapping that go with the stardom, but the week before Christmas she goes back to her old apartment to enjoy a quiet week of vacation.
Can a vampire and celebrity have any type of relationship?
Although I don’t understand why Olivia considered herself a monster, it was a nice story and again, very enjoyable characters. Apparently I had already downloaded Michele Hauf’s Kiss Me Deadly at some point, I will have to make sure to get to it soon.
Rating: 5 stars
When Herald Angels Sing by Caridad Pineiro – Damien has lost his love for the second time last Christmas. He doesn’t know why she keeps coming back to him, but he does know that her death is always his fault. What he doesn’t know is that Angelina is no ordinary woman. She’s a guardian angel. Heaven and Hell are fighting for Damian’s soul, a vampire who won’t kill.
His enemy, Pedro Ramirez, has made a deal with Satan that if he gets Damien to kill, he will get not only great power but he gets to keep Angelina for himself.
Can Angelina finally get Damien to control his temper before it is too late for him?
It took me a while to warm up to Damien in this story. Although he is declaring Angelina as his great love lost, at the time when Angelina is killed the first time, he is rather callous and he’s just using her. When she is reincarnated a second time, there is more of a relationship between them, but considering how he treated her the first time, I am surprised he was drawn to her a second time and so strongly.
Because I eventually warmed up to Damien and Angelina, I got to enjoy the rest of the story.
Rating: 4 stars
All I Want for Christmas by Alexis Morgan – Eagan McHale is a police officer in a special unit of supernaturals. He is staking out a neighborhood where teens are ending up dead from blood loss. He suspects the killer is a young vampire. He doesn’t want to stand out as a stranger in the neighborhood, so he heads toward the local diner.
The diner is run by Della Breit. A woman who has an open heart and a free meal for those who can’t afford one. When she mistakes Eagan for someone down on his luck, he realizes that trading odd jobs at the diner for food is the perfect cover. Except the only warm meal Eagan wants is Della. He just needs to keep his hands, and fangs, off her long enough to solve his case.
Again, a pair of very likeable characters, including several great subcharacters, and it didn’t take a great leap to figure out what was going to happen when Della cuts herself badly in the kitchen and Eagan rushes to her rescue.
Rating: 5 stars
Received an advance copy from Netgalley.com, courtesy of Harlequin Books.
Favorite Scene:
This scene if from All I Want for Christmas.
“Wait a minute, young fellow! You and Della are standing under the Mistletoe. Don’t tell me you’re foolish enough not to take advantage of that! When I was your age, we relished such moments ‘Tis the season after all.”
Eagan wasn’t sure which he was having a harder time processing: being called young fellow by a man who had to be decades younger than he was or that he was going to have to kiss Della in front of everybody. There was no way to avoid it without hurting her feelings and alienating most of her friends.
As far as the lady herself, she’d backed up half a step. He suspected she was about to chastise Harry for putting both of them in such an awkward position. He could let her go ahead, shifting the attention back to the old man.
But maybe this was the one opportunity he’d ever had to find out if Della tasted every bit as sweet as she looked. Evidently, his curiosity was running hotter than his common sense because he held out his hand with a wink and waited for the lady to take the dare.
Della focused on Eagan’s hand for several seconds before she could work up enough courage to look him in the eye. To make matters worse, her friends were chanting “Kiss him! Kiss him!”
It didn’t help that last night she’d dreamed about what it would be like to be held in those powerful arms and how that straight slash of the mouth would feel. Well, now was her one chance to find out if her subconscious had come close to the reality.
Placing her hand in Eagan’s somehow carried more weight than it should have. The palm-to-palm connection between them sparked and sizzled. When had the room gotten so hot? Eagan tugged her closer, wrapping her in his embrace firmly enough to say he meant it, gently enough not to leave her feeling trapped.
“Shall we dazzle them?”
