Published: November 23rd, 2010
Publisher: HQN Books
346 pages (paperback)
Genre: Historic romance/paranormal
Acquired this book: at the library
Warning: may include spoilers
Publisher: HQN Books
346 pages (paperback)
Genre: Historic romance/paranormal
Acquired this book: at the library
Warning: may include spoilers
Synopsis, taken from dust jacket of book: As a soldier, Cole Granger fights to restore peace to a world divided by war and evil. His extraordinary talents are enlisted to prevent the president's horrific premonition from becoming reality. Nothing - and no one - will stop him from fulfilling his duty. Especially the mysterious young woman who claims to be his comrade's sister. Enemy or ally, he can't yet determine. But one thing he knows for certain is that he must keep her close. Very close.
Megan Fox's quest to uncover a family secret leads her to the centre of vampire riots in West Virginia. To find the answers she needs - and clear herself of suspicion - she must join forces with Cole. They work undercover to bring justice, but they can't disguise the potent attraction and need that draw them together. Yet trust doesn't come easily for Cole...and when Megan unearths the grim, dark truth, can she trust him to believe her?
I've mentioned several times before that Heather Graham used to be one of my favorite authors. When I discovered her books 2 or 3 years ago, I devoured them - read almost all of them, and loved them. In the last year or so, her books have not been as good as they used to be. I don't know what happened - usually authors get better with time, not the other way around, but because I loved her earlier books so much, I keep giving her new books a try.
Night of the Vampires wasn't quite as good as her earliest books - and not as good as Blood Red or Kiss of Darkness, two of her other vampire novels - but it gives me hope that she might make a comeback yet.
In this book, Heather put an interesting spin on the Civil War - many of the deaths being from vampires as well as the actual fighting - and an interesting spin on vampires themselves - vampirism being an infection. But the characters were similar to characters from her other novels - the leading male, in this case Cole, was unsure whether to trust the leading lady, in this case Megan, but developed feelings for her despite his best efforts, and Megan developed feelings for Cole despite the way he treated her. Like many of Heather's female characters in other novels, Megan is rash, doesn't want to be told what to do, thinks she knows best and does things behind Cole's back, consequences be damned.
When the characters weren't talking about the war, it was hard for me to remember that the book was a historic romance - the characters didn't talk or act like I would have expected them to in a book set in the 1800s. Anyone who's ever read any historical fiction will likely know that there's a certain quality to the language - the characters talk in an old-fashioned manner, they do and don't do or say certain things, they act in a certain way, but there wasn't much of that in this book. It made me think that she chose Civil War America as a setting because she had the idea for vampires taking advantage of the hard times, death and destruction, but decided not to develop it any further.
That being said...if you've never read a Heather Graham book before, I wouldn't suggest starting with this one. Start with her older ones, there are plenty to choose from (some of my personal favorites are Ghost Walk, Dead on the Dance Floor, Haunted, The Dead Room, Blood Red and Kiss of Darkness). Otherwise, I would recommend this book if you enjoy a historical setting, or anything with a vampire twist.
Megan Fox's quest to uncover a family secret leads her to the centre of vampire riots in West Virginia. To find the answers she needs - and clear herself of suspicion - she must join forces with Cole. They work undercover to bring justice, but they can't disguise the potent attraction and need that draw them together. Yet trust doesn't come easily for Cole...and when Megan unearths the grim, dark truth, can she trust him to believe her?
I've mentioned several times before that Heather Graham used to be one of my favorite authors. When I discovered her books 2 or 3 years ago, I devoured them - read almost all of them, and loved them. In the last year or so, her books have not been as good as they used to be. I don't know what happened - usually authors get better with time, not the other way around, but because I loved her earlier books so much, I keep giving her new books a try.
Night of the Vampires wasn't quite as good as her earliest books - and not as good as Blood Red or Kiss of Darkness, two of her other vampire novels - but it gives me hope that she might make a comeback yet.
In this book, Heather put an interesting spin on the Civil War - many of the deaths being from vampires as well as the actual fighting - and an interesting spin on vampires themselves - vampirism being an infection. But the characters were similar to characters from her other novels - the leading male, in this case Cole, was unsure whether to trust the leading lady, in this case Megan, but developed feelings for her despite his best efforts, and Megan developed feelings for Cole despite the way he treated her. Like many of Heather's female characters in other novels, Megan is rash, doesn't want to be told what to do, thinks she knows best and does things behind Cole's back, consequences be damned.
When the characters weren't talking about the war, it was hard for me to remember that the book was a historic romance - the characters didn't talk or act like I would have expected them to in a book set in the 1800s. Anyone who's ever read any historical fiction will likely know that there's a certain quality to the language - the characters talk in an old-fashioned manner, they do and don't do or say certain things, they act in a certain way, but there wasn't much of that in this book. It made me think that she chose Civil War America as a setting because she had the idea for vampires taking advantage of the hard times, death and destruction, but decided not to develop it any further.
That being said...if you've never read a Heather Graham book before, I wouldn't suggest starting with this one. Start with her older ones, there are plenty to choose from (some of my personal favorites are Ghost Walk, Dead on the Dance Floor, Haunted, The Dead Room, Blood Red and Kiss of Darkness). Otherwise, I would recommend this book if you enjoy a historical setting, or anything with a vampire twist.
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I love your reviews! Thanks for the honesty in this one. If I give this author a try, I will definitely pick a different book at first.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog earlier and leaving a comment. I hope you have a great week!