ORDER A COPY: Sleeping With The Entity
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publishing Date: June 4, 2013
Paperback: 336 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Meet Daniella Delaney. She’s all ready to open her shop, Heavenly Cupcakes, in one of Chicago’s sleepier districts. But she’s having a hard time convincing the local business association—namely Nick St. George—that she’s a good addition to the neighborhood. Daniella hopes that her famous red velvet cupcakes will be enough to melt any man’s heart. But Nick is no ordinary man. He’s got fangs.
As leader of the Vamptown clan, Nick has no intention of letting Daniella breathe new life into his old haunts. But something about her leaves Nick hungry…for more. He can’t control her mind like other humans, a trait that makes Daniella irresistible. Could it be that, for the first time in centuries, Nick has met his match? Love is always a force to be reckoned with. But can this vampire have his cake and eat it too?
Daniella Delaney has a dream to open her own little bake shop. Her mother always made cupcakes and called them comfort food. Now Daniella want to bring a little comfort to others. When her Dad offers her one of his buildings with a little apartment above it, she can’t say no. It’s her chance to make her dream come true. It’s just that the other neighborhood businesses don’t seem to want her moving it. Who doesn’t like cupcakes? And if it goes well, it will bring in new customers for the other businesses.
That is just what Nick St. George is afraid of. That the little cupcake shop will bring in lots of hungry humans into his neighborhood. This little area of Chicago is known quietly as Vamptown for a reason. The vampires that live here want to segregate themselves from the human community. So the last thing they need is more humans coming around and worse, bringing in more human businesses to destroy their peaceful existence.
It is up to Nick, the area leader, to get rid of Little Miss Cupcake no matter how tasty she looks. Except not only can’t he convince her that this area is not a great location for her store, when he tried to use vampire mind control to get rid of her, he finds out that Daniella is immune. That has never happened before in his entire existence.
Since vampires gossip as much as high school girls, it doesn’t take long before the neighborhood is full of humans looking for cupcakes and vampires who want to know why Daniella is immune.
THOUGHTS:
I will actually say that I hated this book. The only thing good about this was the references to yummy cupcakes which sent me into a baking mood. (I made my peanut butter filled cupcakes, and I stole the smores cupcakes out of the story.)
I understand that paranormal romance isn’t considered serious literature, but if you’re going to write paranormal, you really have to try a little harder. There is the clichéd vampires that can’t go out in the sun or be seen in mirrors. There is the modern twist where they can go out during the day and they drink bottled synthetic blood or they own blood banks and drink from a bag. In this novel, they mysteriously (which translates to unexplained) were able to re-vitalize blood from corpses and even I say “Ewww!”
They could go out during the day because they have mystical tattoos which were created by a vampire tattoo artist who looks like George Carlin. Really?? I thought vampires only made more vampires who were as hot and sexy as they were. And who had a thing about Mrs. C from Happy Days? Who turned a Marion Ross look alike, a vampire with a mommy complex?
These vampires lived in a section of Chicago called Vamptown. VAMP TOWN! And met in their headquarters underground in the Vampcave. VAMP CAVE!!! Really? You’re not even trying.
There was no sex appeal between our hero and heroine and there were several hot kisses that went nowhere because he walked away so he wouldn’t kill her during sex, but eventually he relents when he finds out that she has a mystical background that even the vampires never heard about before, and if he mates with her, he will increase his vampires powers. Oh, suddenly when I can make you all powerful, I’m irresistible?
Cat Devon is a pseudonym for a Bestselling author and I want to know who. I am sure she writes wonderful novels, but please skip paranormal. There are two more books due out already, one in July and one in August. Yeah, I’m gonna skip those.
Favorite Scene:
It hadn’t worked. He’d never had a human resist him before. She was supposed to respond to his vamp thrall by agreeing to do his bidding. All the others had for centuries.
He’d established direct eye contact and done his vamp thing. But instead of surrendering, cheeky Little Miss Cupcake had laughed. She’d actually laughed.
Like all vamps, Nick had a superior sense of smell. He could tell by her scent that she wasn’t a vampire herself. But there was something about her…
“Do you have a cold?” she suddenly asked him. “Allergies?”
“What?”
“You were sniffing.”
Nick glared at her. Daniella eyed him suspiciously. And so she should. He could eat her for breakfast.
Okay, so he didn’t actually eat humans. He only drained them of their blood. And only when they really aggravated him.
She finally looked away. “I, uh, brought something that’s sure to change your mind about me joining your business community. I brought you…” She carefully lifted a sturdy cardboard box from an oversized bag and opened it with obvious pride. “My cupcakes.”
Studying her closely, Nick was impressed by her great breasts even if she was hiding them under that prim sweater. Too bad vamps didn’t have X-ray vision like Superman. Still, they did have supernatural hearing, and he could hear her heart beating faster.
Good. He must be having an effect on her after all.
But her focus remained on the box full of elaborately decorated cupcakes with little bats and spiders on them in honor of Halloween in a few weeks.
His focus remained on her. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Not even close. But she had a passionate nature and a luscious mouth. And she got to him. Big time.
“Try one,” she said.
“No thanks. I don’t like cupcakes.”
She gently shoved them a little closer. “They’re my specialty. Red velvet.”
He eyed them. She’d gotten the red color right but the ingredients wrong. There was no blood in these cupcakes.
“Come on. Just take a bite,” she said.
Nick could feel his fangs starting to emerge. Hell yes, he wanted to take a bite. Of her.
Damn. He hadn’t been this temped in ages. Literally ages. Decades certainly. An entire century maybe. He was no raw teenage vampire unable to manage and suppress his desires.
“Just one little tiny bite,” she said. “It can’t hurt.”
He leaned closer. He could see the pulse beating in her throat. He was dying to take a bite. Well, not dying, since vampires were immortal. But shit, she was temping him. Was she doing it on purpose? Daring him?
If so, Little Miss Cupcake was definitely playing with fire. Garlic and crucifixes didn’t bother him. But fire could destroy.
Was she a witch? A demon? All Nick knew for sure was that she was a problem, and he didn’t like problems he couldn’t solve. He prided himself on being in total control of all situations. In total control of his emotions and his needs.
Exerting his willpower, he was able to overcome his need to feed. For now.
“Come on,” she coaxed him. “I can tell you’re tempted.”
“Lady, you’re pushing your luck,” he growled.
I kind of wanted to read this one but I think I may pass on it or wait and see if the library gets it. 🙂