When the mother that abandoned them years ago suddenly shows up and moves them to New Hampshire, Madison has no choice but to go or lose her family. Shoving her dreams aside yet again, she tries to make a life for her siblings only to discover that nothing is going the way that it should. It’s really cold. Her fifteen year old sister acts like a hooker in training. Men act funny around her. Her … Her boss is a real jerk. She feels like an outsider. Her best friend turns out to be a mouthy sixteen year old kid and the incredibly handsome guy renting the room adjoining hers not only hogs the bathroom, taking three showers a day and leaving her with cold water, but he also has a secret. A secret that she becomes a bit obsessed with and can’t let go no matter how many times she’s warned off.
Detective Ephraim Williams learned long ago not to show any emotion or allow himself to get attached to humans. What was the point? They came and went and he remained. This time wouldn’t be any different or so he thought. When his landlady told him that her grandchildren were moving in he didn’t expect much, well other than to be left alone. What he didn’t expect was to have to fight bloodlust every time he so much as caught the scent of his delectable neighbor’s blood or her bombarding him with questions every time she cornered him. If that’s not bad enough, a Master from his past has found him once again and is demanding his blood and is willing to do anything to get it, even using the beautiful, irritating, neighbor that makes him feel more than pain for the first time in centuries to get it.
more
Love the characters.
I’m not usually one to read paranormal romance stories and I’m not usually into vampire fiction but I definitely enjoyed the plot and the characters created by the author. You know a book is well done when you feel attached to the characters and intrigued by the story. Can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
What can you say about a book that hooks you so completely that you forget the world around you? Awesome maybe? Spectacular possibly? Well this book is all of that. I really loved this book. The characters are funny and witty and the whole vampire thing, though a little over done, was actually refreshing in this book. A new kinda twist I guess you could say. Madison was a great heroine to be set in the mind of and Ephraim was a hoot! I highly rrcommend this one to anyone.
A Vampire but better!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration:
Romance:
Heat/Steam:
Story/Plot:
World building:
Character development:
The heroine: Madison – her mother never acted like a mother so Madison was always in charge of her siblings. Though when her mother needs a place to stay and threatens to take the kids away to New Hampshire to live with their Grandma at her boarding house, Madison has no option but to go with or lose her siblings from her life.
The Hero(es): Ephraim – he is a Pyte, which is basically a vampire that can walk in the daylight. He has more power than a vampire and can’t be killed. He was born in nineteenth century England and was tortured when his family and the local magistrate found out what he was.
The Story: Ephraim lives at the boarding house that Madison and her siblings move to. He is a detective with the local police department and is quite the loner. He and Madison share the side of the house that has a separate entrance and they share a bathroom.
Ephraim is good at controlling his cravings for blood, but when he gets a whiff of Madison’s blood he struggles to control his blood lust. I liked that aspect of the story as well as the whole bit about the Sentinels, which are a group of people born with angelic blood whose job it is to protect humans from Vampires.
The Sentinels want Ephraim to join the fight against Vampires. The romance between Ephraim and Madison was steamy, the supporting characters were great, especially Chris. As for the narrator, she was ok but not great. I would rather have had a few narrators. Though I liked the family theme and I can’t wait to hear more of this series.
I’ve always passed this series by because of the covers. I didn’t particularly like them at all, very low budget and I thought the series can’t be THAT good.
So I was very pleasantly surprised once I got into this book. It was pretty entertaining, the setting and background well-developed, and characters were fun and interesting.
if you like paranormal romance that includes vampires, you should ignore the cover and give it a try. It doesn’t rank on my favorite series of all time, but it’s definitely a good escape.
I stumbled onto this series, and I loved it!
I’m his biggest fan.
But he’s a arrest.
His tast ion every thing is so so spot on .
He never lets me down on any of his books. He always god galaxys above no clif hangers so you want to read his next book because he’s great not because it cures off.
Iv spend the last 11 days reading his books.
Well rea reading them. Iv Ben his fan for years now.
You’ve got to read his books
He pulls you in the books so gifted at this. Can’t wait for kale’s story
I came across this author and book from another author/blogger’s site. They oozed praise for this series. I must admit, I was not impressed by this book’s covers and almost did not read it because of that. I know, I know, don’t judge a book by its cover. But, there is just something alluring about a good cover that entices you to give an unknown author a chance.
Needless to say, I went against my desire to pass this one by and I am so glad I read this book. I found that I enjoyed Madison and wanted her to get the break she deserved from all that life kept throwing her way. Despite all the hardships she had, I liked that she would do anything for her family, even if that meant sacrificing herself.
Ephraim was just as awesome. I was hooked within seconds of beginning the prologue. His character was written in such a way that I could not help but want him to find what he was after. I felt that I was getting to know his character and loved the fierceness that he portrayed for those he cared about.
The supporting characters added depth and drama to the story. I liked Chris. I felt that his backstory, though sad, is true for many students today. These students, like Chris, are made scapegoats with few to help them fight. I hope we get to see more of him in the next book. I also enjoyed Joshua and his grandmother. Jill was a mess and grated on my nerves, along with Emma (Candy).
This book hooked me and I did not want it to end. I read the prologue and the first 2 chapters, then was made to tell what I was reading, to a few people, because I kept chuckling aloud. They could not believe that my recap only covered so few pages of the book but was so intense.
This book made me laugh, yes laugh as well as want to slap a few characters. The pacing was a great match for the book’s content. There were some editing issues, but I did not feel that this took away from the story. The pov switches between several character prospectives (like a scene change in a movie).
Overall, I found it easy to follow and it worked well for this book. I did feel as though the blackmailing part was haphazardly thrown in the mix. It came out of nowhere without the character toiling, stressing, confiding or fighting.
There were several places where time jumped in the book. I did not get too confused by this, but did have to go back once to figure out if I had missed something. There is bad language, violence, torture, neglect, references of substance abuse and sexual abuse of a minor (though not explicit) and a mother who should have been behind bars for a long time.
Well worth the price and time spent reading. 4.5 stars
Really enjoyed Madison and Ephraim’s story. Great introduction to a new series.
Ephraim sure gets a shock when he realizes what sharing a bathroom with a woman mean, “oh….effme…” His hands shook as he reached down and picked up the pink box, menstrual pads. “Eff.” Ephraim sometimes has to demonstrate things, “he took her earlobe between his lip and gently sucked on it. “No, baby, I’m not gay.” He’s like any other man in the bedroom he likes to get his girl going, “the first thing you should know, once I put my c*** in you I’m not going to stop effing you until my d*** explodes inside of you.” I was hesitant to start this series, I wanted humor and I wasn’t sure if I was going to get that but I did, R.L. once again has made a series with lovable characters and memorable ones and I can’t wait to dig in to the next book
Audiobook review: Excellent story of a Pyte finding his mate and chosen family. The story is well written and executed and the narrator did an excellent job! There were a few humorous scenes but the story deals with a lot of dark social issues like child abandonment, conwoman parent, torture, and death.