Toot's Book Reviews: An Avon Affair : Review - Vampires Gone Wild By Kerrelyn Sparks, Pamela Palmer, Amanda Arista and Kim Falconer

THE AVON AFFAIR IS A 14-DAY AVON BOOKS REVIEW EVENT
ORGANIZED AND HOSTED BY CURRENT AND ALUMNI MEMBERS OF
THE AVON ADDICTS.

Blurb from Amazon.com

Vampires Gone Wild brings together four paranormal romance novellas by Kerrelyn Sparks, Pamela Palmer, Amanda Arista, and Kim Falconer, authors and bloggers at Supernatural Underground.

Kerrelyn Sparks’s demure Pamela and sexy vampire sidekick battle the Malcontents in “V is for Vampwoman.” Kim Falconer’s aqueous San Francisco vampires in “Blood and Water” want nothing from “landers” — unless it’s dinner, but that’s until Stellan meets Angeline. Pamela Palmer carries readers to Vamp City in “A Forever Love” where trapped Lukas pines for his lost love. When she appears, Lukas will fight to keep her alive. It’s been a hundred years since Valiance has dated; all is great until they’re attacked, but quiet Esme will shock Valiance in Amanda Arista’s “First Dates Are from Hell.”

Back Cover Blurb

The vampires have gone wild in this collection of never-before-published stories by bestselling authors Kerrelyn Sparks and Pamela Palmer, and two rising stars of paranormal romance!

V is for VampWoman by Kerrelyn Sparks
Pamela decides to shed her prim and proper ways for spandex and a mask to help fight the Malcontents. Now if only she weren't so distracted by the sexy vampire fighting by her side . . .

A Forever Love by Pamela Palmer
Trapped in Vamp City, Lukas has been unable to return to the beauty who stole his heart. But now that she's stumbled into his world, it will take every ounce of cunning he possesses to keep her alive.

First Dates Are Hell by Amanda Arista
Valiance's first date in a hundred years is going great . . . until they're attacked in the parking lot and quiet, unassuming Esme turns out to be way more than she appears.

Blood and Water by Kim Falconer
Beneath the waves of San Francisco Bay lives a vampire race that wants nothing to do with the "landers" except to feed on them. But when Stellan sets eyes on Angelina, everything changes.

Toot's Review

V is for VampWoman - This story is by Karrelyn Sparks. It features our hero Mikhail and Lady Pamela. Mikhail has loved Pamela from afar for over 200 year. Pamela has been a part of Roman's original harem and sheltered away for a very long time. Pamela has decided that she's tired of "embroidering handkerchiefs" and wants to take action in the war against the malcontents, specifically the human trafficking. One fateful night while Mikhail and his buddies are engaged in battle, Pamela shows up in a superhero costume exclaiming her name is VampWoman and she's there to help. Mikhail immediately recognizes her and is dumbstruck! All he wants to do is proclaim his love and squirrel her away to safety but she's done being protected and wants action!

V is for VampWoman is great short story for fans of her Love At Stake series and it's a great sampling for those who wish to discover how very fun her stories are. Pamela and Mikhail fall hard and fast while engaging in some serious action. Definitely a laugh-out-loud, action-packed, fun time!!

A Forever Love by Pamela Palmer - This story is an off shoot of Pamela Palmer's new Vamp City series and only has a quick cameo by one of the main characters from the original series. While this story takes place in the same setting, it's a completely new story. We have our heroine Elizabeth who's still nursing a broken heart after her boyfriend from 2 years ago, Lukas, went MIA from her life. She has moved on but still pines for him. She doesn't know why he went missing or what happened but knows that no man will ever measure up. She wonders though, if he could be one of the people that has mysteriously gone missing in the news. One morning while walking with her BFF to college, her world goes black. She awakens on the street, in a strange place that semi looks familiar and in the distance, she hears horses' galloping towards her. Before she can even gather her wits enough to run and hide, she is surrounded by three hulking males on horseback, whom are looking at her like she's a tasty snack when a fourth joins the three. She looks up defiantly at the fourth and realizes with a start, it's Lukas!

OMG, this wonderful PNR short story ranks right up on my top ten love stories and I totally balled my eyes out like someone stole my Barbie Dream House. Only a fabulous writer such as Pamela Palmer, can give you such an absolutely wonderful love story about two star crossed lovers and get it acrossed to her readers in such a short amount of time. She literally makes you fall in love, tears your heart open and leaves you wanting, all in the span of a few short pages. Even though this story is an off shoot from the main Vamp City series, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Elizabeth and Lukas make another appearance in the main story. I really fell in love with these characters! A TOTAL MUST READ!

In Amanda Arista's story, First Dates are Hell, we have Vampires, Shapeshifter and Fairies. When wallflower Vamp Valiance is told by his Prima that he needs to "get a life", he decides he knows the perfect way to start. Recently he bought sheets at a department store and really liked the clerk that helped him. He makes his way back there and asks the equally shy human, Esme, on a date. She agrees and they go for coffee but like any great and epic first date, all hell breaks loose!

This was a fun quick PNR story with some flirtatious canoodling. I haven't read Amanda Arista's work before, so some of the PNR lingo was lost on me but it didn't get in the way of the story. I enjoyed going on these two characters first date and getting to know a bit of the world that Amanda has created. I'll definitely add her series to my TBR pile.

Lastly we have Kim Falconer's story called Blood and Water. This one is set in San Francisco in the year 1906, so it's a bit of a HR/PNR. Our heroine is a lady named Angelina, whom has a very controlling family who has basically arranged a marriage for her. She is a woman trapped in a bad situation bound by family duties. While sailing with her soon to be mother-in-law, the boat capsizes. She wakes up on the shore with a mysterious man looming above her. Our Vamp in this story is named Stellan. He's a Mar, which is your traditional Mer-folk (men and women) and his sister is the one who overturned the boat. See, the Mar feed on humans when they want to go ashore and they have heard about a huge bridge being built in San Francisco and want to put an end to it before it ruins their home. Only Stellan can protect both worlds and he also has his sights on the beautiful Angelina.

This story was definitely different from your traditional PNR Vamps but was still a fun quick read as well. I liked how Kim wove real historical events that happened in San Francisco in 1906 into her story. I do have to say, it wasn't my favorite out of all the entries but it was a good addition. I normally am not a HR fan but that didn't bother me in the least here. I think, if I had to critique the story, what bothered me most was that the story didn't flow right for me, at least from a readers POV. I wasn't sure in the beginning who was talking out loud, who was talking in their head and who was just commenting. It was a bit confusing to read. Then there was the whole Mar/Vamp thing, which took a bit for me to wrap my brain around as well but once I got there, it was a good read. Another thing I have to say, is I think there were too many characters (OMG did I just say that?). When everyone was in a room, I couldn't remember who was whom and I never did get a good picture in my mind of each of them. So when all heck breaks loose and characters are running about, I'm like who was that and where did they come from? It was all a bit dizzying. I don't think I'd want to read a whole book about this but for a short story it was good.