Guide to Ratings:

0 – Not worth starting the book

1 – Not worth finishing the book

2 – Worth finishing but not worth seeking out more by the same author

3 – Worth reading the whole series

4 – Worth reading and rereading

Notes: When I use the word Romance in a review, I’m referring to the typical characters and situations that are clichés of romance novels.

New reviews (past month) are indicated by ***

Alphabetical by author:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Acevedo, Mario: Felix Gomez series.  Quick rating: 2.  Felix Gomez is an Iraq war veteran, turned vampire, turned private investigator.  Sounds good, right?  Very guy-friendly, the writer and main character are men, lots of hot women in the books, what could go wrong?  The problem is that Acevedo isn’t a very good writer.  Scenes aren’t well described, characters aren’t well developed and dialogue is often awkward.  I’m giving it a rating of 2 because there’s so much good stuff here even if the execution is a bit lacking.  And the titles are generally intriguing and hilarious.  Who could turn down “The Nymphos of Rocky Flats”, “X-Rated Bloodsuckers” or “Jailbait Zombie”?  And Acevedo’s writing seems to improve a little with each novel, so give them a try.

Acosta, Marta: Casa Dracula series.  No quick rating.  Milagro de los Santos is a writer/landscaper/hipster wannabe who gets accidentally infected by a maybe vampire. Milagro is taken in by a vampire family, except they aren’t traditional vampires, maybe they’re not vampires at all. Confused?  Yeah, there’s a lot going on.  I’m not going to lie to you, this series isn’t very guy-friendly.  There’s significant Romance and lots of girlie writing.  So why am I wasting your time describing these books?  Because the writing is really good and the characters are really interesting.  If this were a general book review, I’d give it a 3 rating.  But I know many guys won’t enjoy it.  So there you are, make your own decision.

Adams, Cat: “Blood Song”. Quick rating: 0.5. So we’ve got a kickass female bodyguard who gets attacked by vampires and partially turned into a vampire. Sounds intriguing. And then we get page after page of complicated exposition like we just walked into the middle of a mini-series. I gave up in frustration. Cat, if you’re reading (I know, Cat Adams is a pseudonym for 2 other writers), you can’t just dump an encyclopedia’s worth of exposition on the reader all at once. I did read a few pages from one of the later books in this series and it was much better written. So it might be worth skipping the first book and trying some of the others.

Adams, C.T. & Clamp, Cathy: Started “Touch of Evil”. Quick rating: 1. This is the first book in the “Thrall” series. What’s a thrall? It’s someone who’s been infected by a parasitic creature that takes over the body of the victim. The thralls have a hive organization and mentality. And sometimes, these creatures who pass on the parasite by biting are referred to as vampires. To me, this is a cheat. I know that vampires take many forms in fiction but this was just outside my allowed framework for what a vampire can be and I stopped reading. This premise seems more like Heinlein’s “The Puppet Masters”.  The writing was OK, but not so good that I wanted to keep reading even if it wasn’t a real vampire book. If you’ve got a more open mind about what a vampire can be, give it a try. Be warned, it is a Romance. (12/11/11)

Adrian, Lara: Midnight Breed series.  No quick rating.  Look, I know I should give this series a low rating.  These are Romances, there’s just no getting around that.  And yet, there’s a very cool story running through these.  The vampires are space aliens.  Some of them have formed a secretive law enforcement group to hunt and kill rogue vampires.  Meanwhile, an even more secretive, evil vampire is plotting to rule the world by breeding super powerful vampires under his command.  Sounds kinda cool, right?  But each book has one of the good guy vampires fall in love with a female human.  And it takes at least half the book for the Romance to develop.  So each book is a unique Romance with all the clichéd situations.  But running through all the books is an interesting sci-fi, James Bondish story that I liked.  The bottom line is I can’t really recommend this series for most guys.  But I like them and I’m willing to put up with the Romance to get to the good stuff.  You might want to give them a try.

 Andrews, Ilona: Kate Daniels novels – I read “Magic Bites”.  Quick rating: 1.5.  I may want to read more in the series.  Kate Daniels is a mercenary with some magic powers.  Lots of action, little Romance, semi-fantasy world (Takes place in an Atlanta where everyone accepts the supernatural.  Well written but not a lot of vampire content.  The vampires are feral but controlled by other creatures.  Lots of were-whatevers.  Addendum: I read the second in the series “Magic Burns” and didn’t think it was quite as good as the first.  The plot was absurdly convoluted and I would’ve appreciated Cliff Notes to keep everything straight.

 Andrews, V.C.: “Daughter of Darkness”.  Quick rating: 0.  OK, maybe it was my fault for picking up a book by the author of Flowers in the Attic.  But the cover promised me vampires.  So I tried it.  Although not actually a Romance, the book is very girly.  It’s slow paced, heavy on relationships and feelings, light on story and zilch on action.  I suspect that even women wouldn’t appreciate this book with its glacial pacing and mediocre writing.

Armintrout, Jennifer: Blood Ties series.  Quick rating: 1.  I read part of the first book in the series, “The Turning”.  There was really nothing wrong with it.  It’s just that I didn’t feel the need to keep reading.  The writing is OK but everything seems to be so routine.  Plucky heroine suddenly thrust into the world of vampires – check.  Hunky but mysterious and brooding male vampire – check.  Mustache twirling evil vampire – check.  I just didn’t see anything original or compelling.

Story?  The protagonist is a physician who gets turned into a vampire by a presumed corpse in the hospital morgue.  She needs to quickly find out the rules for living as a vampire.  And she needs to decide how much she’s willing to follow those rules even if it means giving up her independence.  If that sounds interesting to you, give it a try.  Like I said, it’s reasonably well written. (12/18/11)

Barant, D.D.: The Bloodhound Files.  Quick rating: 2.5.  I read the 1^st in the series, “Dying Bites”.  Let’s see if I can describe it accurately.  A female FBI profiler winds up in a parallel dimension where Earth is mostly populated by vampires, werewolves and golums (the Jewish kind, not the Tolkien kind).  Humans are a small, endangered species.  She’s asked to help a law enforcement agency track down a serial killer.  And then things start to get weird.  I liked this book.  It’s primarily a police procedural.  Second, it’s science fiction.  Only third is it horror (Minor spoiler: the ending gets kinda Lovecraftian) and it’s very little Romance.  The story is interesting, the situations are suspenseful and it’s very guy-friendly.  I’m knocking off half a point because the vampires aren’t very vampirey and the ending doesn’t make a lot of sense but I’ll be looking for the sequels.  Addendum:  I just read the 2^nd book, “Death Blows”.  It’s even more convoluted and less logical than the 1^st.  When you write fantasy/horror/mystery, you can make up the rules.  But once you’ve stated the rules, you have to follow them.  Barant just changes rules whenever she feels like it.  I’d rate the 2^nd book as 1.5.  I really had trouble finishing it and it sure didn’t leave me wanting to read the 3^rd.

Barbeau, Adrian: Vampires of Hollywood series.  Quick rating: 2.5.  A Hollywood actress/producer/secret vampire teams up with an LAPD detective to solve mysteries and murders in show biz.  These are pretty well written (Barbeau has a co-writer) and reasonably guy friendly (lots of gore).  I liked the 2 books in the series so far.

Beck, J.K.: “When Blood Calls”.  Quick rating: .5.  A female prosecuting attorney falls for a handsome vampire on trial for murder and …why am I describing this?  This book is definitely not for guys.

Briery, Traci: “The Vampire Memoirs”.  Quick rating: 0.  I read about 25 pages of this before giving up.  It starts with a vampire’s memories of her human life centuries ago.  So the author needs to write some historical fiction.  She’s not very good at it.  I didn’t believe any of the characters, situations or dialogue.

Briggs, Patricia: Mercy Thompson novels.  Quick rating: 3.  Yes, I know.  There’s a fair amount of Romance in these books, some more than others.  And vampires aren’t even prominent in all the stories.  But these are so well written and Mercy Thompson is a strong enough character and there’s so much cool action that I’m recommending the whole series.  Mercy Thompson is an auto mechanic living in the Pacific Northwest.  She’s also a shapeshifting coyote who was raised by werewolves.  Vampires, gremlins and other creatures populate the stories.  Alas, she spends a lot of time deciding which werewolf to hook up with but there’s always plenty of action and mystery for readers like us.

Brandreth, Gyles: “Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders”.  Quick rating: 1.  This is part of a series of Oscar Wilde mysteries and it’s not all bad.  There are appearances by other literary figures of the Victorian Age such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker.  And Oscar Wilde’s personality comes thru in clever ways.  But the pacing is too slow.  I read about 100 pages and the story wasn’t going anywhere.  If I had been close to the end, I would have stuck it out to see if a vampire really committed the murders.  Unfortunately, 100 pages is less than 1/3 of the way and the pages just weren’t asking to be turned.  I have no idea if there is a genuine vampire in this story or not.  It’ll cost a couple weeks of your life to find out.

Butcher, Jim: The Dresden Files series.  Quick rating: 4.  Harry Dresden is a wizard acting as a kind of magical P.I. in Chicago.  Vampires appear in many of the books, some very prominently.  The writing is very Dashiell Hammett but contemporary.  I can’t recommend these books too highly.  They’re well written and full of fascinating characters and situations.

Chase, Ashlyn:  “The Vampire Next Door”.  Quick rating: 0.  Although the writing wasn’t bad, I didn’t finish this book.  It’s just pure Romance.  If your idea of fun is matching up your vampire, werewolf and witch friends, this book is for you.  But it’s not for guys.  (2/26/12)

Cody, Christine: Started “Bloodlands”. Quick rating: 1. This is a SciFi/Romance/Western/Vampire mashup. In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a young woman is just trying to survive until a mysterious stranger (who happens to be a vampire) staggers into her life. Cody’s writing is fairly ambitious. She doesn’t resort to lazy cliches and she attempts varying dialects for different characters. I admire that. Unfortunately, the pacing was too slow. After about 60 pages, I still hadn’t gotten to any story and wasn’t willing to wait any longer. If you don’t mind leisurely pacing, you might give it a try.

*** Collins, Nancy A:  Sonja Blue series.  Quick rating: 3. Some reviews refer to Sonja Blue as a “punk vampire”.  That’s not a description I’d use although she certainly has badass style and a disdain for all authority figures.  Sonja is a vampire who hunts and kills other vampires and the primary target of her hunting is the vampire who created her.  This is a uniquely psychological approach to the vampire canon.  Collins focuses on the question of how much of the original person survives after being turned into a vampire.

Don’t worry, there’s plenty of action and quite a bit of mystery and sex to keep your interest.  In fact, Collins juggles a lot of themes and styles in these books.  These books have text, sub-text and sub-sub-text.  She’s good enough to pull it off.  The 1st book, “Sunglasses After Dark” isn’t the best although it’s still pretty good.  The 2nd book “In the Dark” is my favorite, so far. (3/8/12)

Correia, Larry: “Monster Hunter International”.  Quick rating: 1.  An accountant/martial artist/sharpshooter gets recruited by an organization that hunts monsters.  This is another decent premise undone by poor writing.  Correia just isn’t a good enough writer to pull this off.  A big part of the problem is that the book is too long and slow.  It comes in at over 700 pages, many of them pointless.  This could have been improved by a good editor wielding a chainsaw.  Or just tear out half the pages at random.  Or just eliminate all detailed descriptions of weaponry.

Cronin. Justin: “The Passage”.  Quick rating: 4.  This has gotten a lot of attention in the mainstream literary world and seems to have transcended genre.  But don’t let that put you off, it’s still a dynamite vampire book.  The book starts with a science experiment gone horribly wrong, releasing a plague of vampires on the world.  We see the desperate battle to contain the vampires and save humanity.  Then the book skips forward 100 years to show a world overrun by vampires with only small communities of humans surviving in heavily fortified compounds.  We get lots of characters, all of them well developed.  It’s a huge book but well paced.  This gets my highest rating and I can’t wait for the sequel.

Del Toro, Guillermo: “The Strain”.  Quick rating: 1.5.  This book was conceived as the start of a trilogy and that often leads to overwriting.  That was my problem with this book.  I knew exactly where it was going but it was taking forever to get there.  I finally got so frustrated, I bailed about 1/3 through.

Duncan, Glen: “The Last Werewolf”.  Quick rating: 2.5.  The book opens with Jake Marlowe finding out that another werewolf was been hunted and killed.  He’s now “the last werewolf”.  Unfortunately, the organization of werewolf hunters isn’t the only group after him, there’s also the vampire group and maybe others.  On top of all that, Jake isn’t sure he really wants to keep living after nearly two centuries.

This novel is written in a very literary style.  I think Duncan put a lot of effort into finding the perfect word and polishing each phrase until it gleams.  He seems more of a wordsmith than a storyteller.  And yet, there are plenty of interesting and surprising twists in the story.  This style of writing requires some effort and it isn’t exactly beach reading.  Overall, it was worth the effort and I would consider another supernatural book by Duncan.  And if any English Lit profs want to assign a werewolf/vampire book to their students, this is the one.

Eden, Cynthia:  Dee Daniels series – I started “I’ll Be Slaying You”.  Quick rating: 0.  This is a difficult book to bring home from library or book store.  It’s got a typical Romance cover with a shirtless hunk.  The inside isn’t very good either.  It’s not well written, full of Romance clichés and the story just wanders aimlessly.

 Elrod, P.N.:  Vampire Files series – Quick Rating: 2.  This series seems like a natural winner.  The vampire is a private investigator.  Most of the stories are traditional mysteries.  The stories take place in Prohibition Chicago.  It’s kind of like Dashiell Hammett with a vampire detective.  So why are these stories so boring?  I don’t know.  I only know that I read 3 or 4 of them and each was a struggle to finish.

Farnsworth, Christopher: “Blood Oath” – Quick Rating: 3.  As of now, there are no other books in this series but I’ll look for the sequel that’s on the way.  The premise is that a vampire is working as an agent for the President.  This vampire has been working for Presidents since Andrew Jackson.  The President assigns a liaison to work with and handle the vampire.  The old handler is retiring and a new one needs to be appointed.  They pick a goofy guy who’s been getting a little too close to the President’s daughter.  The new handler isn’t at all prepared to deal with a secret vampire or the bad guys plotting to rule the world.  Believe me, it’s better than my description.  Nicely plotted and well written.  Addendum: Just finished the sequel, “The President’s Vampire”.  Movie reviewers would describe it as a non-stop thrill ride.  Sure, there are plot holes big enough to fly Air Force 1 through.  If you can turn off the logical side of your brain, it’s a good read.

Frost, Jeaniene: Night Huntress Series – Quick Rating: 2.  This review is largely based on the most recent book, “One Grave At A Time” but I’ve read most of the books in this series.  What I like about them is the way the main character, Cat Crawford, keeps changing.  She starts as a half-vampire, amateur vampire-killer.  Over the course of the series she becomes a full-vampire, marries a vampire, works for a government monster-hunting agency, becomes a professional monster-hunter, becomes a free-agent again and who knows what comes next.  The stories are well written and well paced.  How come I’m not giving these a higher rating?  There’s a little too much Romance, particularly in the early books.  But these are Romances that a lot of guys will enjoy.  (1/6/12)

Galenorn, Yasmine: Otherworld series – Started “Witchling”.  Quick rating: 0.5.  This story seemed to meander pointlessly without a single original concept or vivid character.

Grahame-Smith, Seth: “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”.  Quick Rating: 3.  This book actually delivers on the title.  It combines a very interesting biography of Lincoln with very cool vampire slaying.  Well written and well conceived.  I gave it a 3 based on the quality even though it didn’t get me to read Grahame-Smith’s similar novel “Pride & Prejudice and Zombies”.  I’ve never read Jane Austen so I didn’t think I could appreciate the concept.

Grange, Amanda: “Mr Darcy, Vampire”.  Quick Rating: 0.  What if a contemporary author continued the story of Jane Austin’s “Pride and Prejudice” but made one of the characters a vampire?  You’d get a really boring story that no guy would be caught dead reading.  (Full disclosure: I didn’t make it all the way through this book.)

Griffith, Clay & Susan: “Vampire Empire: The Greyfriar”.  Quick Rating: 1.5.  My local library classified this book in Science Fiction rather than Fantasy or Horror.  That’s exactly right.  It takes place in a steampunk future where vampires have conquered Europe and North America.  Surviving human empires fight back using Victorian Era technology.  This is projected to be the first of a trilogy.  So how did I like it?  It got off to a great start.  About 1/3 of the way through, I was ready to give it a 3 rating and was looking forward to sequels.  Then the story slowed to a crawl and became a lot more predictable.  By the end, I wasn’t looking forward to sequels.  You should know that the book seems intended for younger readers.  I’m not sure if the target is adolescent or high school age.  This isn’t a criticism and I have no problem reading and enjoying YA books.

 Gustainis, Justin: “Hard Spell”.  Quick Rating: 2.5.  What if Sgt. Joe Friday worked for the Scranton Occult Crimes Unit instead of the LAPD?  Stan Markowski isn’t quite as by-the-book as Joe Friday but I could easily see Jack Webb writing something like this.  And the writing is pretty good.  Gustainis’ writing isn’t elegant, or fancy.  This is just straightforward, linear storytelling.  And it works.  The basic premise is that a special police unit has to deal with crimes by and against the supernatural community living among humans.  And we get a little of everything: goblins, witches, demons, etc.  But vampires are featured prominently.  I can see certain similarities to The Dresden Files but wouldn’t push the comparison too far.  A sequel is expected in a few months and I’m looking forward to it. (12/15/11)

“Black Magic Woman”.  This is the 1st book in the “Morris & Chastain Investigation” series by Gustainis.  Morris is Quincy Morris, the great-grandson of the character from Dracula.  Chastain is a white witch who assists him on investigations.  Again, Gustainis’ writing is solid but not spectacular.  The story is very good and it kept my interest throughout.  I should warn you that vampires only have a brief cameo in this novel, but it’s probably the best part.  (Updated 2/13/12)

Haig, Matt: “The Radleys”.  Quick rating: 3.5.  This isn’t exactly a vampire book in the sense of the usual horror or Romance clichés.  It’s a well written novel of mainstream fiction about a family trying to fit into small town society.  It’s about family relationships and family secrets.  Oh…and the main characters happen to be vampires.  I can’t think of another book about vampires that can be enjoyed more by men and women, fans of genre fiction and mainstream fiction and pretty much anyone who likes to read fiction.  If your book club wants to include a novel with vampires, this is the one.  It’s got enough subtext to keep a discussion group busy for weeks.  And yet, it isn’t boring.  Although my rating suggests you’ll want to read the whole series, there isn’t one.  As of now, this is a one shot by Haig.  The only drawback is that the book seemed similar to the recent ABC series, “The Gates”.  I’m not suggesting any plagiarism here and I don’t know which concept came first.  But if you enjoyed that show, try this book.

 Hamilton, Laurell K: Anita Blake series.  Quick rating:  1.5.  I actually read about a dozen of these books before figuring out that I didn’t like them.  I know that sounds crazy but let me try to explain.  First, Hamilton is a decent writer.  Second, Anita Blake is a kickass character.  She’s not just a vampire hunter but also a necromancer.  And she’s just cool.  And every book starts with an interesting premise.  So I kept reading these books but always wound up disappointed.  It took a long time before I finally gave up on the whole series.

So what are my problems with the series?  First, most of the books feel like a bait and switch.  The first few pages promise an interesting story.  Let’s say a mysterious character comes into Blake’s office with an intriguing job offer.  After a few pages, the story gets sidetracked into some relationship soap opera and the original premise is completely ignored.  Finally, she comes back to the original case in the final pages and quickly wraps it up.

My second problem is Hamilton’s habit of writing characterization by fashion.  When she introduces a new character, she likes to give a half page describing what the character is wearing.  I’m guessing that I’m supposed to understand something about that character’s personality from their sense of fashion.  But I’m a guy so all this goes over my head.  It’s just a waste of half a page.  It gets worse when a group of new characters walk into the room.  Each gets a half page fashion review and I’m stuck reading 3 or 4 pages of nothing but color and fabric descriptions that mean nothing to me.  But even regular characters get a paragraph of fashion description when Anita meets them, I assume to show what mood they’re in that day.

My final problem with this series is the sex.  Anita Blake is a total slut who likes to solve problems by having sex with an ever widening circle of friends with benefits.  That’s not all bad but too many of the sex scenes are orgies, always with Blake and 2 or more males.  I can handle sex scenes written from the female viewpoint.  It takes a little mental judo to place myself in the male’s position (literally).  But I just can’t do it with more than one male in the bed.  The bottom line, regardless of quality, this series is just too guy unfriendly to recommend.

*** Harkness, Deborah: “A Discovery of Witches”.  Quick rating: 0.5.  The writing here is very rich, very dense…..and very boring.  The main character is a historian (and witch) doing academic research in a library at Oxford.  She runs across a mysterious and magical manuscript (how’s that for alliteration?) and also encounters a mysterious vampire.  And that’s about all that happens in the first 75 pages so I saw no reason to continue reading.  Most of the “action” consists of reading manuscripts in a library or showing us the quaint setting of Oxford.  I’m yawning just writing this review.  Maybe there’s a great novel coming up in the next 500 pages but an author needs to do more to keep me reading.  (5/13/2012)

Harris, Charlaine: Southern Vampire series (also called Sookie Stackhouse series):  Quick Rating: 3.  You may already know these from the HBO series “True Blood” and you’re wondering whether to read the books.  I say, yes.  These books are well written and stand on their own.  The TV series made significant changes to characters and used original storylines as well as borrowing from the books.  In my opinion, the 1^st season of True Blood was actually better than the book it was based on.  The character modifications they made were an improvement and the actors really brought the characters to life.  The 2^nd season dropped off a lot but the 3^rd season came back strong.  Anyway, the books are worth reading on their own.  They are reasonably guy-friendly.  As of this writing, there are 10 books in the series.  I thought the 8^th book (From Dead to Worse) was a perfect place to end the series.  The last 2 books have been disappointing.

Holmes, Jeannie: “Blood Law”.  Quick rating: 1.  I managed to finish this book although I’m not sure how or why.  It’s not that the writing was awful (clumsy would be more accurate).  It’s not just that so much of the story was derivative (small southern city, vampires out of the closet thanks to an artificial blood beverage, bigotry against vampires and other elements straight out of Charlaine Harris’ books).  It’s not just that the Romance elements were so perfunctory.  Wait…maybe it is all those things.  Whatever, I have no intention of reading the sequel.

Hubbard, Susan: “The Year of Disappearances (An Ethical Vampire Novel)”.  Quick rating: 1.  I suspect this is a pretty good book, but not for guys.  It’s a slowly paced, teenage girl coming-of-age story.  Definitely chick lit.  Sure, the girl and her mother are vampires but that seems largely irrelevant to the story.  I admit I only made it thru about 50 pages.  Maybe it gets better.  I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

Hunt, Lee: “Vampire of New York”.  Quick rating: 1.  There’s some interesting stuff going on here but the pacing is so slow and much of it reads like your 8^th grade history book.  An anthropologist discovers evidence that a vampire was killing prostitutes in New York in 1863.  Meanwhile, the police are investigating similar murders in 21^st C New York.  The story shifts back and forth between centuries as investigators in both settings hunt for Dracula.  Using forensic science and lots of footwork, they stalk their prey and ….zzzzzzz.  I’m sorry, I dozed off there.

Hunter, Faith: Jane Yellowrock series – read “Skinwalker”.  Quick rating: 1.  There’s a lot going on here.  Jane Yellowrock is an amnesiac/shapeshifting/Cherokee/vampire hunter.  That’s a lot of storylines to juggle without dropping anything.  Hunter just isn’t up to the task.  She seems to be an OK writer but got overambitious with this book.  The pacing is uneven.  Lots of storylines lead nowhere.  Whole chapters seem pointless and the ending is rushed and unsatisfying.  There’s a bit of romance but not Romance, nothing that most guys would find off-putting.  In summary, there’s a lot of potential to the character and premise and the writing is close but just misses the mark.

Huston, Charlie: Joe Pitt series.  Quick rating: 3.  Huston really puts the “urban” in urban fantasy.  He also takes out a lot of the “fantasy”.  Joe Pitt is a vampire kinda P.I. in contemporary Manhattan.  He’s a classic hard-boiled detective and the writing is very noir-ish.  The setting is all mean streets and tenements.  This takes some of the fantasy out of the stories.  There’s also a scientific basis (viral) for vampirism instead of magical.  In fact, there isn’t much magic in the first book.  I liked the first one a lot, enough to pick up the rest of the series.  I knocked off half a point because the ending was confusing and disappointing.  But good noir should leave you depressed and Huston delivered.  Update:  The other books are even better and even more depressing.  Read this series!

Jaffarian, Sue Ann: Madison Rose Vampire Mysteries.  Quick rating: 2.5.  I read “Murder in Vein” and “Baited Blood” and both were pretty good.  Madison Rose is a young woman who gets rescued from a brutal assault by a couple of vampires.  And they are a couple, long married and very domesticated.  Madison lives with them and gets drawn into the world of vampires, eventually going to work for the vampire council.  Some vampires are very nice and some, not so nice.  And that’s just the setting for these stories.  Of course, Madison becomes an amateur sleuth investigating crimes by, or against, vampires.

These books are a blend of mystery and Romance, leaning heavier to mystery.  They are slow moving at times but the writing is solid and the Romance elements aren’t too bad.  The first was good enough for me to read another.  (12/20/11)

Jayne, Hannah:  “Under Wraps”.  Quick rating:  0.  This book is different than most urban fantasy.  Most of the heroines are kickass ninjas while Jayne’s heroine is a wimpy bureaucrat.  That could have been interesting.  Unfortunately, the story is so unfriendly to guys that I couldn’t get more than 50 pages in.  This might be a good book for chicks but I’ll never know.

Kane, L.A.:  “Blinded by the Night”.  Quick rating: 2.  This book is completely amateurish.  It seems to be self-published and unedited or, at least, not professionally edited.  Likewise, Kane’s writing is very amateurish.  This isn’t surprising since this is his first attempt at writing fiction.  So the book is full of awkward phrases, uneven pacing, jerky transitions and multiple typos.  And yet, there’s a pretty cool story hiding under all the technical flaws.  The main character is a cop/martial artist trying to catch a serial killer.  He fights and kills a vampire, mistaking him for the serial killer.  Since this vampire was the king of the local supernatural community, the cop becomes the new king.  This is a testosterone fueled thrill ride.  Don’t stop to think logically or you can’t enjoy the story.

***Kent, Jasper: “Twelve”. Quick rating: 2. I’m sorry, I can’t review this book without referring to it as the War and Peace of vampire fiction. The novel takes place during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. Would the Russians have been desperate enough to hire vampires to attack the French? Like War and Peace, this book is very long, complex and full of unpronounceable Russian names. It’s also very well written. It’s got all the things you’re looking for in literature: character development, imagery, foreshadowing and subtext. It’s also got all the things you want from vampire fiction: graphic violence, horrific torture and nerve wracking tension. I wish this book had been shorter but it was worth my time. (4/29/12)

Klinger, Leslie S.:  “The New Annotated Dracula”.  Quick rating: 1.  (This review is just for the articles and annotations.  Go here for a review of the novel.)  So what’s in the huge edition?  First, you get a bunch of articles on the setting of Victorian England, a brief biography of Bram Stoker, a history of vampires in fiction before Dracula, movies about Dracula, Dracula fan clubs, etc.  These are pretty interesting and help give some context to the novel.  Then you get annotations in the margins of the novel.  These fall under a few categories:

1. Explanations of British or Victorian words and idioms.  These are very helpful.
2. Geographic info.  These are sometimes helpful but not essential.
3. Discrepancies between the full novel, the abridged version and author’s notes.  I really could have done without any of these.
4. Errors in the text such as conflicting timelines, incorrect dates or geographies.  I’m sorry but none of these errors hindered my enjoyment of the novel and I didn’t need to find out about them.
5. Speculation about the motives of the characters.  These were occasionally interesting but I found myself disagreeing with most of these notes.  I also didn’t like Klinger treating the novel as if it were based on actual events.

All in all, this is a wonderful resource for serious Dracula scholars.  It’s a helpful resource for casual readers if you just read notes in the first 2 categories and ignore the rest.  That’s why my rating is a 1.  It shouldn’t be read cover to cover but only referred to when you need to.  Overall, I recommend reading another edition for your first reading of Dracula.  It’s better to get swept along by the story rather than getting bogged down reading all the notes.  This is a good edition to read after the novel or when re-reading the novel.

McCarthy, Erin: Vegas Vampires series – Started “Bled Dry”.  Quick rating: 0.  My negative reaction might be partly based on this book being a continuation.  I jumped into the middle of a story.  But it’s not very well written and very female oriented.

McCray, Cheyenne:  Night Tracker series – Started “Vampires Dead Ahead”.  Quick rating: 0.5.  My major complaint isn’t the weak writing or the major Romance themes.  I had a bigger problem with the idiot plot.  Night Trackers are an elite police force in the paranormal world.  So why was I always 2 steps ahead of these supposed elites?  Roger Ebert defines an “idiot plot” in movies when the story only works if all the main characters are idiots.  That’s what we’ve got here.  There are some decent characters and concepts in this series.  They could have been interesting in the hands of a better writer. (2/26/12)

McKinley, Robin: “Sunshine”.  No Quick Rating.  I just don’t know how to rate this book.  On the one hand, it’s waaaay over-written.  On the other hand, it’s very well over-written.  Let me put it another way.  McKinley really knows how to write.  She just doesn’t know when to stop.

Let’s get to the story.  It takes place in a post-non-apocalyptic world.  It’s been ten years since the “vampire wars” but the world doesn’t seem very different as a result, at least superficially.  The more we read, the more we learn about the many ways the world has changed.  The main character, Sunshine, is a seemingly ordinary young woman living a very ordinary life until she gets kidnapped by vampires.  Many pages later, she escapes with the help of a seductively mysterious vampire.  And then the story slows to a crawl for a few hundred pages, all of them well written.

How can I rate this?  There were several times when I almost stopped reading.  But then I got to the end and checked to see if there is a sequel I could read.  If you enjoy good writing, this might be to your liking.  If you like a fast-paced story, don’t bother starting Sunshine.

***Martin, George R.R.: “Fevre Dream” – Quick Rating: 1.5.  How would you like to take a steamboat trip down the Mississippi in 1857?  Wait, before you answer, you should know there are vampires on board.  Some of them are harmless, but maybe not all.  This book is very well written in terms of language and character.  But it’s also like a steamboat trip down the Mississippi: long, lazy and meandering.  If you don’t mind sitting back and enjoying the ride, this is a book for you.  If you’re in a hurry to get to your destination, don’t bother. (4/22/12)

Melton, Keith: “Blood Vice” – Quick Rating: 1.  This sounds like a can’t-miss premise.  Three words: vampire mafia hitman.  What could go wrong?  But even the great premise can’t overcome the terrible writing.  It’s not just the uninteresting storyline, thin characterization and telegraphed plot twists.  The greatest crime is the absurd dialogue.  The best thing about this book is that it’s hard to find.  It wasn’t available at any of my local libraries and some of the big, online book venders didn’t carry it.  I went thru way too much work to get a copy, considering I couldn’t even finish the thing. [Addendum: I see this is now available from Amazon if you want to give it a try.]

Newman, Kim: “Anno Dracula”. Quick rating: 3.  What if Dracula weren’t destroyed at the end of Bram Stoker’s novel?  And what if he seized power by turning Queen Victoria into a vampire and marrying her?  That seems like an interesting premise.  Now add in the investigation of the “Jack the Ripper” murders with vampires involved everywhere.  While we’re at it, lets throw in every figure from late Victorian history and fiction including: Dr. Jekyll,  Bram Stoker, Professor Moriarty, Fu Manchu, Frederick Abberline and all the characters from the Dracula novel.  Does all this work?  Absolutely.  It works as a mystery.  It works as horror.  It even works as a love story.  Newman gets the job done at every level.  There are two sequels and I plan to read them soon.  The more you know about the late Victorian era and the Ripper case, the more you’ll enjoy this book.  But if you know very little, you’ll still enjoy it.

Peeler, Nicole: Jane True series.  Quick rating: 2.  This is a pretty high rating considering it isn’t a true vampire series and it isn’t guy friendly.  The supernatural characters are more fairy tale based than horror based.  There are strong Romance elements.  And the writing uses too many pop culture based clichés.  So why do I like it.  I don’t know, maybe I just like the main character.  Jane True is part selkie with magical abilities.  Her boyfriend is a vampire detective.  They’re kinda sweet together.  I don’t blame most guys for staying away from the series after this description but I found it readable.  The second book, “Tracking the Tempest”, is very heavy on action.

 Priest, Cherie: “Bloodshot”.  Quick rating: 2.5.  This is a pure action book where the main character happens to be a vampire.  Raylene Pendle is a century old vampire working as a high-end thief.  She agrees to steal some government documents on behalf of another vampire and stumbles across a massive government conspiracy.  She’s hunting the government while the government is hunting her and…well, it’s just cool.  One of the things I loved about this book is that vampires are the only supernatural element in it.  I think it’s lazy for most urban fantasy writers to assume that if vampires exist, so do werewolves…and elves, witches, werebunnies, Bigfoot, hobbits and every other imaginable fantasy creature.  This book has vampires but otherwise takes place in the same world I live in, if government agencies were capable of sustaining gigantic conspiracies in secret.  This is the only book by Priest with this character but I look forward to more.

Resnick, Laura: “Vamparazzi”.  Quick rating: 2.  This is part of the Esther Diamond series but is the only one that deals with vampires.  Esther Diamond is a NY actress who tends to encounter the weird and supernatural.  In this book, she’s acting in a play about vampires.  One of the other actors claims to be a vampire.  He has lots of fans who are vampire wannabees.  Are there any actual vampires in this book?  I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to reveal that there are.  And this book has a nice take on vampires.  It’s pretty interesting and original, too.  The book is generally well written except that many of the scenes go on way too long.  But other than that, this is an interesting and funny book. (1/6/12)

Richardson, Kat: “Greywalker”.  Quick rating: 2.  This is the first in a series about a P.I. who gains the power/curse of seeing ghosts after a near-death experience.  This brings her into contact with the supernatural community of Seattle including a witch and a whole bunch of vampires.  The writing is solid.  There isn’t too much Romance.  There are lots of interesting characters.  The only thing I didn’t like is the pacing.  The book dragged in serveral places and some storylines seemed to go nowhere.  I’m undecided if I’ll try other books in the series but this one was worth my time.  (2/24/12)

Rosemoor, Patricia & Paoletti, Marc: Started “The Last Vampire”. Quick rating: 0.5. What do you get when you tell a story with a mummified vampire, a team of super soldiers and a voodoo witch? I don’t know because I couldn’t finish this turkey. The story seemed kinda interesting, if predictable, but the writing was soooo bad. The authors felt they had to tell me every thought in the characters’ heads and every emotion they were feeling. I can figure some things out for myself. Sometimes, a good writer needs to trust the readers. The repetition and predictability made it worse. The reader shouldn’t be way ahead of the story. If so, there’s no reason to turn the pages.

Saberhagen, Fred: Started “The Dracula Tape”. Quick rating: 1.  I don’t know how I missed this when it first came out (1975) and I wish I had read it then. I probably would have enjoyed it. This is Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” told from Dracula’s point of view. He was a nice guy who’s every action was misinterpreted. I’m sure this was very clever and innovative at the time. We hadn’t seen vampires interviewed. We hadn’t seen benign vampires. Now, we have and the idea is just stale. I know this isn’t fair to Saberhagen but the book just hasn’t held up. But is it a good read on it’s own merits without the gimmick? Not really. It’s got all the slow pacing of Bram Stoker’s book without the thrilling parts. I’m sorry, I know many consider this a classic but it didn’t work for me.

Singh, Nalini:  Started “Angels’ Blood”.  Quick rating: 0.  This is supposed to be the 1^st book of the Guild Hunter series.  But so far, it’s the only one.  The concept must have sounded great to the publisher.  Angels are hot, vampires are hot, this is a can’t miss concept.  But it missed with me.  Every page begged me not to turn to the next one and I bailed fairly early.  Maybe it picked up, I’ll never know.

 Smith-Ready, Jeri: Ciara Griffin novels: – No quick rating on this one.  You’ll have to read a little.  I read and enjoyed the 2^nd book in the series “Bad to the Bone”.  Ciara Griffin works at a radio station where most of the DJs are vampires.  The vampires are fairly human.  Some are bad, some not so bad and they all seem to have human failings and emotions.  The book is heavy on action, lots of relationships and no Romance clichés.  I tried the 3^rd book, “Bring on the Night” but couldn’t finish it.  The characters just seemed too unlikable and the pacing was too slow.  Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood.  Still, this series is worth a try.  It’s reasonably “guy friendly”.

Stoker, Bram:  “Dracula”.  Quick rating: 2.  (This review is just for the novel.  Go here for a review of the New Annotated edition.)  If you’re a fan of vampire fiction, you’ve got to read Dracula.  It’s not enough to watch one of the 57 movie versions or read a comic book adaptation or the Cliff’s notes.  You’ve got to read it.  Dracula is the starting point for all later vampire fiction.  Everyone borrows from the Stoker version or references the Stoker version.  Even if another author chooses to deviate from the Stoker version, Stoker’s version is what they are intentionally deviating from.

This makes it sound like reading Dracula is good for you, like eating broccoli.  Actually, it’s a pretty good book.  Parts of it are genuinely scary, mysterious or thrilling.  Some of the characters are well developed.  Sure, the pacing is slow at times.  And it isn’t always easy understanding the Victorian British references and idioms.  But really, it’s a good read.  I recommend reading an abridged version.  The full text needed some paring down. (Note: the link to Amazon for this book gets you to a free version for Kindle.)

Taylor, Karen E.: “The Vampire Legacy”: Quick Rating: 0.  I started the 2^nd book in the series, “Bitter Blood”.  It was way overwritten and not very interesting.  I bailed on it after about 30 pages.  Forgetting completely about the previous experience, I tried reading the 1^st book in the series, “Blood Secrets” and got about 100 pages in before bailing.  This is typical Romance.  The lead character is a successful businesswoman going about her life while trying to decide which pursuing male she should favor.  The fact that she’s a vampire seems completely incidental.  To make the series even less guy-friendly, she’s a fashion designer.

Weinberger, Michael: “Blood Harvest: The Hidden Among Us” – Quick Rating: 2.  This is a close call.  On one hand, the writing isn’t great.  The book shows some of the problems  of amateur authors: unnatural dialog and heavy handed exposition.  I also found  some misspellings or typos.  So why am I recommending this book?  Because it’s got a really cool story.  Or maybe I should say it has multiple, intersecting stories that are cool.  It’s got a vampire detective investigating a massive corporate conspiracy.  There’s a lot of medical jargon that reminds me of Michael Crichton (for better or worse). I don’t want to give away too much because the book has a lot of unexpected twists.  If you enjoy conspiracy thrillers, give this a try.  If you’re looking for a new spin/origin on vampires give this a try.  Like I said, it has weaknesses but I always looked forward to turning the pages. (1/6/12)

Wellington, David: Laura Caxton series:  Quick Rating: 4.  I just loved these books.  They include “13 Bullets”, “99 Coffins” and “23 Hours”.  The vampires aren’t suave or sexy.  They are near feral killing machines.  The vampire killers are more like shark hunters.  The writing is outstanding and the stories are genuinely terrifying.  Wellington also writes werewolf and zombie series.  They are also worth checking out.

Weston, Lucy:  “The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer” – Quick Rating: 0.  I didn’t get very far with this one for 3 reasons.  I was put off by the faux Elizabethan English, the pacing seemed very slow and it seemed too derivative of the recent “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”  (a much better book).

Whedon, Joss: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8”.  Quick Rating: 1.  Although I’m a huge fan of the TV show, I’ve never been a fan of the comics.  But I had high hopes for these issues since they had a lot more involvement by Whedon.  I’ve listed him as the author here even though he didn’t write all (or even most) issues.  He is listed as Executive Producer and these issues are considered “canonical”.

So what didn’t I like about this run of comics?  First,  I was constantly confused.  The overall story arc was complex and many of the smaller stories were also complex.  This “season” was stretched out over 4 years and 40 issues.  In addition, all the characters speak in half sentences and cryptic references.  This was one of the things I like about the TV show but it doesn’t work as well in print without competent actors to bring this dialog to life.  The TV series was also helped by “previously on Buffy…” exposition.  The comics had a similar section on the inside cover but it was also cryptic and unhelpful.

What about the artwork?  I didn’t like it.  George Jeanty was the primary artist and he did some great panels, but not very consistently.  In general, I didn’t think the drawn characters looked enough like the actors and I often didn’t know who I was looking at.  This just added to my confusion.  In addition, the characters didn’t have a consistent appearance from panel to panel (much less issue to issue).  Jeanty had a habit of drawing Buffy to look like she was in her mid-20s in some panels while appearing to be ten years old in others.  I must say that the cover art was generally great.  Each issue came with variant covers.  One cover was done in a photo-realistic style by Jo Chen and the other in a cartoony style, often by Jeanty.  Some months I preferred the Chen cover while other times I preferred the Jeanty.  Kudos on the covers.

Finally, I have to talk about the season’s conclusion.  Without giving away too much, I found it confusing and pointless.  This isn’t just about inadequate exposition.  The story just didn’t make any sense, even upon rereading.  Without this awful conclusion, I probably would have given this series a rating of 2, just based on my fondness for the Buffyverse.  But if ever a work deserves the review, “not worth finishing”, this is it.

In conclusion, if you are a big Buffy fan, go ahead and read some of these storylines.  I particularly liked “Wolves at the Gate”.  But only read them in graphic novel form where the stories are easier to follow than individual issues.  And skip the last 2 storylines, “Twilight” and “Last Gleaming”. (1/26/12)

Winship, Thomas: “Væmpires:Revolution The Evolutionary War, Book One” – Quick Rating: 1.  You say you’re tired of books with just ordinary vampires?  How about a book with ordinary vampires AND “mutant vampires”?  This book has a sci-fi premise in which a future Earth is shared by humans, vampires and  væmpires (mutant vampires with special powers).  Suddenly, the long peace between these groups is shattered and we now have a vampire vs. væmpire war.  This seems like a pretty good premise but it doesn’t really go anywhere.  Not much happens in the book except for very repetitive fighting.

How’s the writing?  This is a first novel for Winship and it shows.  He’s not a good writer, yet.  The book has way too many cliched phrases, awkward sentences and clunky expositions.  I’m also not sure who the target audience is.  The simplicity of the storyline and over-explaining of the narrative suggests it’s for younger readers.  The level of gore and a fairly graphic attempted rape implies an adult readership.

So, can anything positive come out of this effort.  I’m certainly not looking forward to book 2 in the series.  But I can imagine this concept working better as a graphic novel.  It has some good visuals and lots of action.  Come to think of it, it would probably work even better as a video game.  The protagonist spends the whole book killing hordes of enemies, rescuing helpless victims and overcoming challenges.  Doesn’t that scream “video game” to you?