Tag: Sara Humphreys

Review: Tall, Dark, and Vampire by Sara Humphreys

Posted August 2, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

The last person Olivia Hollingsworth expected to see at her Greenwich Village vampire club was her one true love, Doug Paxton—whom she believed to be dead for centuries. Olivia thought she had moved on, but when Doug reappears, her heart knows she’d rather die than lose him again.

Ever since Doug can remember, a red-haired siren has haunted his dreams. He never thought she could be real until he goes to investigate a murder at Olivia’s night club. However, as the bodies keep piling up at her feet, he must fight to prove her innocence—even if it costs him his life…

Olivia has been in love with the same man for 300 years. Unfortunately that man died 300 years ago. She’s more than shocked when a detective comes to the door of her New York club and he looks exactly like her dead love. She wants to figure out exactly what’s going on but at the detective, Doug Paxton, and his partner Tom are there about a murder she knows that that takes precedence over her feelings and desires. It seems that Detective Paxton can’t keep his mind off of Olivia either so as they go about trying to find the killer – or killers as the case is – they get closer.

Olivia has a lot on her plate. First, the killer is a vampire, just like Olivia, but the head of the New York Presidium, the czar, wants to make one of Olivia’s progeny pay for the killing. Maya had nothing to do with it, and they know that, but since she had been with the dead man earlier that day, the czar wants to make an example of her – to show others that messing with humans is a bad idea. Olivia can’t let that happen. When the killers attack Doug and Tom, Olivia has to make Doug a vampire in order to save his life. Doug is not thrilled, to say the least. He agrees to find the killers but then he plans on walking into the sunlight as that’s much more palatable than being a vampire. Doug doesn’t plan on getting even closer to Olivia and when that happens he’s not sure how things will turn out for him.

This was a slow starter for me but it definitely picked up after a few chapters. The characters of Olivia and Doug were interesting and I liked the reincarnation aspect of the story.

Olivia was a vampire, yes, but she was very kind-hearted. She had a penchant for saving those who had been abused and/or alone. She could be tough and definitely a killer when she needed to be but that’s now how she liked to live her life.

Doug was confused by being turned into a vampire, as he considered vampires to be monsters. When he got to know the “regular” vamps, rather than the killing rogues they were after he realized that most vamps CHOSE to be monsters, or not. Once he had time to calm down and see things in a different light he went with the flow and that made the story flow better as well.

The bad guy, imho, was easy to figure out. I had it down almost immediately but I still thought that Humphreys did a good job of weaving the characters so that it seemed like surprise. Overall a good story and I will be reading the next one in the series.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Sara Humphreys

0 Comments

Tagged: Review, Reviews, Sara Humphreys, Sourcebooks Casablanca, Tracy's Reviews

What I Read Last Week

Posted July 22, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Happy My-boss-is-on-vacation-day! lol I do enjoy working with my boss, a lot, but it’s always nice to have the office to myself. In this case I’ll get the office to myself for the next two weeks. Yes, I can get into a lot of trouble in two weeks but I’ll try to hold myself back. 🙂

Life was pretty quiet this past week. On Friday we went to a Family Night at the park where my youngest is attending summer camp (day camp). They had a potluck and then the councilors did a game rotation. It was hilarious and the kids had a ton of fun. I spent Saturday pretty much doing nothing – which was glorious, I must say – and Sunday doing a total spring cleaning of my bedroom. Every nook and cranny was attacked and cleaned out and it felt great. It’s amazing how much room I have in my night stand now that all that unnecessary crap is gone. lol

Here are a couple of random pictures I thought I’d share. This is, of course, my wonderful and crazy cat, Echo. My daughter likes to put her in strange positions when she carries her around and the cat freakin loves it. Strange cat. This one had her purring like a lion – you could literally hear it down the hall it was so loud. She looks like she’s so resigned to being treated like a rag doll but she loves it – don’t let the face fool you.

This is the tree in my front yard. Isn’t it great? I love it when it blooms because the rest of the year it is seriously one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. lol

Ok, on to what I read:

I started off the week with Forgotten Sins by Rebecca Zanetti. The story is about Josie who was married to Shane for 2 months and then he left for work one day and never came back. It’s now 2 years later and Shane is back but he has no idea who he is as he has amnesia. Josie takes him in temporarily but it’s not exactly safe for either Josie or Shane as there are people after each of them. You can read my full review here. 3 out of 5

Beauty and the Billionaire by Jessica Clare was next up and this was the second book in the Billionaire Boys Club series. The story is about Gretchen who is a ghostwriter and is commissioned to write an epistolary novel based on letters but the letters can’t leave the owners home. The owner is Hunter Buchanan and the whole thing is a set up so that he can get closer to Gretchen. He’s a scarred virgin hero so I loved that. He did act like an ass and ended up doing a fair bit of groveling but he did it well. 🙂 4 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Next up was The Highlander’s Desire by Margo Maguire. This is a medieval romance about a man who heads off to marry a woman he’s never met so that he can be named as the next Laird as the woman is the current Laird’s daughter. When he arrives he is met by his enemy who it appears is also courting the woman but it turns out that Lachann is more interested in the serving maid, Anna, than in the nasty daughter, Catriona. This was a good story but I did think the romance started pretty abruptly. I’ll post my review for this one next week. 3.5 out of 5

Tall, Dark and Vampire by Sara Humphreys told the story of Olivia, a vampire who owns a club. Unfortunately one of her progeny, Maya, was playing with a human and then that night the human was dead. The murder is investigated by a man who looks like Olivia’s love from 300 years ago so while she tries to figure out who the murderer is she tries to figure Doug out as well. Doug is attracted to Olivia and tries to stay professional during the investigation but when he almost dies and is turned he just wants to walk in the sun. It was a good story and the start of, hopefully, a good series. 3.75 out of 5

Elite by Rachel Van Dyken was a New Adult book that had me turning page after page. It was about a girl from a farm in Wyoming who attends a very elite school and is met by condescension and frankly people who are just plain evil. She ends up being protected by the group called The Elect but this has both its up and its downs. I could go on but I’ll post my review for this tomorrow so you can read more then. Just know, it was very good lol 4 out of 5 (FYI – there’s a giveaway going on right now for this book right here on the blog. Go here for the post.)

Last for the week was The Lady and the Laird by Nicola Cornick. This story was about a man who would lose his inheritance if he didn’t marry a woman from a particular family. The only option – after he’s left at the altar is Lucy who has vowed not to marry because of a tragedy that occurred when she was 16. Robert isn’t about to lose though and the more he pursues her the faster he falls in love. They both have issues that they need to work out though and of course a villain’s thrown in too. It was a good story that I very much enjoyed. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Not the Leader of the Pack by Annabeth Leong

Happy Reading!!

5 Comments

Tagged: Book Binge, Family, Jessica Clare, Margo Maguire, Nicola Cornick, Rachel Van Dyken, Rebecca Zanetti, Sara Humphreys, What I Read Last Week, What I've Been Reading This Week

What I Read Last Week

Posted October 16, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 4 Comments

Happy Monday!

Well, I wish I could say that it’s a happier Monday than it is. I’m in mourning as my Kindle died a horrible death last night. Actually it was more a matter of it dying in its sleep. It was fine yesterday afternoon when I stuck it on my bedside stand but then last night when I went to get it the screen was dark with horizontal and vertical lines on it and apparently that’s a death knell. It lived a good life but now I’m without an ereader as I lent my EZreader to a friend of mine. Oy. Imagine, I had to actually pick up a print book today! Luckily it was the one I planned on reading next anyway so it all worked out. I’m in the process of getting another Kindle – hopefully I won’t have to be in withdrawal too long.

Other than that it was a pretty quiet week. There was one day that I was so tired that I left work early, went home, crawled into bed at about 5pm and didn’t wake up until 6:30 the next morning. Wow.

On to what I read this past week:

First up was Deadly Silence by Victor J. Banis. This is book 5 in the Deadly Mystery series and it was another great book. Now, I wanted to beat Stanley a bit in this book as he was annoying me a bit but other than that it was definitely worth the read. Stanley and Tom are hired by a woman to find out who is trying to kill her father and the suspects are many. 4 out of 5

A Deadly Kind of Love is book 6 in the Deadly Mystery series by Victor J. Banis and as far as I know the last one written. In this story Tom and Stanley head out to Palm Springs, CA to help their friend Chris when he finds a dead body in his bed at the hotel he’s staying at. This one was a bit more on the tense side for me but good. I wanted more from Tom and Stanley’s relationship after what happened in the previous book but we didn’t get too much insight into that, unfortunately. 4 out of 5

Next I picked up Untamed by Sara Humphreys. This is a paranormal /shapeshifter story about a woman who is half shifter/half human and the full blooded shifter that is her mate. I got about halfway through the story and was not into the book at all. I was a little bored and didn’t care for the heroine so unfortunately this ended up being a DNF.

Hot and Haunted by Lauren Hawkeye, Megan Hart and Saranna DeWylde was a three story anthology with some far out stories. There was one with a girl trying to seduce a man whose car is stuck in a ditch, one with a US Marshal who’s hunting a serial killer and one with a girl, her two men and a zombie apocalypse. You can read my review on this book here. 3.5 out of 5

Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas is book 2 in the Fitzhugh trilogy series. This is the story of Millie and Fitz. Fitz is just 19, has just come into his title as an Earl and finds that he’s forced to marry as the title is destitute. Millie is just 16 and had been engaged to the previous Earl before he died. Millie falls for Fitz immediately but Fitz is in love with a woman with no money and their love is not to be. Millie and Fitz make a pact that they won’t have marital relations for 8 years and Fitz can live as if they are friends and not married. The book takes us through current times with Fitz seeing his lost love again and also through periods of time from their past 8 years. The book was well written and utterly heart-wrenching as I read about the couple’s years together. I wanted to kick Fitz in the balls and tell him to open his damned eyes but it all worked out. A painful (literally my chest ached!) and angst ridden book but very good, imho. 4 out of 5

Hunter’s Season by Thea Harrison is a novella in the Elder Races series and I think it’s my favorite novella so far. We get these wonderful stories in between full length novels and this one just worked for me so well. The story is about a commoner and palace guard in the Other lands who guards the Dark Fae queen. She ends up falling for and then protecting the Dark Fae Chancellor and they fall in love. I loved the setting, the solitude the couple had and, I guess, the normality of it all. Yes, the Chancellor was powerful but other than being in the Other lands no magic was used – just 2 people falling in love. Good stuff. 4 out of 5

Stygian’s Honor is book 27 (yes, you read that right) in the Breed series by Lora Leigh. The story is different as the Breeds look for 2 girls that have not been heard of for many years. They’re protecting 2 girls that the Genetics Council wants and the Breeds want to know why their after them. Stygian falls for Liza but the whole romance and mating heat and the woman wanting her independence thing was just too similar to other books to be exciting. It was a good book but nothing spectacular, imho. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Last for the week was a re-read. My Fair Captain by JL Langley is still one of my favorite m/m books. It was one of the first ones I read and I love it still. The latest book in this series just came out and I bought it almost immediately. I think thought…ya know, it’s been so long since I’ve read the other books I should probably do a re-read. (Easier freakin said than done with the Kindle gone – waaaah. Ahem) The story of Nate and Aiden is so great. I usually don’t like historical m/m but the fact that Regelence accepts the gay men changes everything for me. If you haven’t read this series yet I highly recommend it. Of course we had to wait 4 years in between books 2 & 3 but hey, anticipation is good for us, right? lol 5 out of 5

And I thought I had this lovely picture that I once got from Lisabea aka LB Gregg of what Nate looks like – or at least what he looks like in our heads, but I can’t locate it. Too many computers to check. I’ll post it if I find it. 🙂

My Book Binge Reviews that posted last week:
When the Duchess Said Yes by Isabella Bradford

Happy Reading!