Book review: A Vampire for Christmas by Michele Hauf, Alexis Morgan, Laurie London,Caridad Piñeiro

A Vampire for Christmas:
Available now from Harlequin, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

 Enchanted by Blood
Monsters Don't Do Christmas
When Herald Angels Sing
All I Want For Christmas


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.

I've never read a anthology Christmas paranormal book before. This was new for me and i enjoyed trying it out. There are four stories by four great authors but it was kind of hit or miss for me. The first one Enchanted by Blood by Laurie London was pretty good. I like the idea of the vampire that's a corporate guy and a man in charge. Poor guy had to give up his true love for duty or so he thought. A chance run in with her a year later and he's in the soup all over again but this time he doesn't want to let her go. Give it a A! The 2nd one is Monsters Don't do Christmas by Michele Hauf was OK but not my favorite. The guy Daniel was a big shot before a late night attack left him a vampire and then he started feeling sorry for himself. He was a good guy but he was slightly wimpy in my mind. Olivia was just not that believable to me. I know it's fiction but her character didn't work for me. The story was enjoyable but not my favorite. I'll give is a C. The 3rd is When Herald Angels sing by Caridad Pineiro.  This one was good but probably could have been a whole lot better as a full story instead of a novella. It could use a lot more details and well time. Everything happens quickly. Reminded me of the movie A Christmas Carol. Kind of the same concept but with vampires. The guy Damien has had a hard life and lives his life rough but the Archangel Raphael thinks he could be redeemed and enlists Angelina as his guardian angel to help him find the error of his ways. Turns out they both needed to learn a lesson. Good read. I'll give it a B. The last one was my favorite. All i want for Christmas by Alexis Morgan. Might be my love of Alpha males but i loved the characters in this one. Eaghan is a hotter than hell vampire cop. He's trying to bust some vamps who are being bad and has to use the diner owned by Della as cover. Problem is they are attracted to each other and Della is human. She doesn't know about vampires or werewolves and fae. She's going to find out because they are all around her. This one would be awesome as a full book. By far my favorite. I'd give it a A! The book as a whole was enjoyable and of the four authors i have only read  one before so it was a intro to the other authors writing as well which is always a neat side effect to anthology books. I give A Vampire for Christmas 3 and 1/2 Modokker Book Pick stars.

Find out more about the authors at the links below.
www.michelehauf.com
www.caridadpineiro.com
www.laurielondonbooks.com
www.alexismorgan.com

Book Review: Forever Vampire by author Michele Hauf

Michele is a new to me author. I have never read her work before. I received a ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I do like my paranormal genre very much and i really have not read many of late and certainly not vampire related books so i was happy to try this one on for size. The cover is intriguing if not broody. I liked it but wasn't sure of what the inside of the book might be like based on the cover. Once you get reading though it's easy to see the story is portrayed nicely by the cover as Vaillant (Vail) is dark and somewhat brooding. Michele boasts her writing is sexy paranormal book are like Twilight for big girls and i have to agree. Here is a blurb for Forever Vampire.

Vail the Unwanted is a pure blood vampire. But raised in Faery, he has neither home nor peace, and when his aid is sought in the recovery of a priceless diamond gown, his price is information. Specifically the whereabouts of his accursed father. His goal is revenge, and the supernaturally sexy Lyric, the icy blond vampiress with whom he must work, is a distraction he can't afford.


Outwardly as cold as the diamond dress in which she was kidnapped, Lyric has her own secrets. Desperate to break free from her criminal family, she aligns herself with the brooding Vail. Together they seek justice while each secretly works for freedom and a fresh start. For Lyric that means holding herself apart, even from the smoldering blue-eyed Vail. For Vail, it means a battle to the death for revenge—and for a temptress he can't deny.

I admit i looked at a few reviews for this book before cracking it open and wasn't sure what I'd find. Everyone seems to say something different. I found that 25 pages in i was really liking it. It was a totally different story than other vampire themed paranormals I've read before. I'm going to say there is some violence in this book but nothing to out of the norm for what you find in paranormal books sometimes. It's actually to me a paranormal romantic suspense. This book is about Valliant or Vail as he is referred to the most. He is a blood born vampire who was raised in Faery until 3 months ago when he was banished to the mortal world. His uncle Rhys Hawke tried to take him under his wing and help him adjust but he doesn't really want to adjust. His mother is reportedly insane and his brother who is a werewolf seems to hate him.No one seems to want him. He takes a job for his uncle locating a vampiress Lyric Santiago. Seems she was kidnapped along with a priceless and stolen power filled diamond gown. He finds Lyric easy enough but getting the dress is a harder thing to do. His goal was to find Lyric the dress and then turn them over to get info on his father which he hates and wants to kill. Lyric proves  hard to resist. She and Vail are drawn together. Even though he vows he'll never take blood from another vampire or human there is something about Lyric that draws him. Unfortunately Vail has enemies and suddenly so does Lyric who want the dress and to kill them. Will Vail work out all his parental issues and get the gown and Lryic back where they belong and will Lyric be the one who finally helps Vail see who he really is and where he belongs.  There is such a great story going on in this book. I really enjoyed it. It was was full of action, romance and hot monkey sex. I wasn't sure how this book was going to end. Some books you can kind of guess but not with this one. There is one part at the end i wish had been more dramatic but the rest was good.  You can read the first two chapters and find out more about this book and the other 2 books in this series by clicking here. I give Forever Vampire by Michele Hauf 4 out of 5 Modokker Book Pick stars. NOTE this book is available for pre-order right now. Release day is April 19th