Review: Marked by Kayla Bain-Vrba

Reviewed by Fehu
Marked (Proud to be a Vampire) by Kayla Bain-Vrba
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
3.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
Jake is a vampire and a drug dealer. To humans, he sells crystalized vamp blood; to vamps, he sells the blood of humans hopped up on the finest drugs. In the midst of a deal gone wrong, he runs into Benji, a human desperate to escape the city. Though they're natural enemies--hunter and prey--their paths keep crossing, and they quickly find themselves in a mess from which there is no escape.




Short Review
An interesting whirlwind romance between a drug dealing vampire and a human, who despises vampires.

Jake is a wannabe bad guy, a drug dealer and vampire, who sells human blood to his bretheren. He is also a good brother and after his first meeting with Benji, quite interested in the fate of one special human, especially, when the live of said human is at stake. Benji wanted a new life and couldn't explain his attraction to the vampire who nearly got him killed on their first meeting.

Jake was a cute at least how he was following Benji and called him babe to get a rise out of him. I liked the chemistry between Jake and Benji. Jake, with his bad boy image, was quite sweet to Benji, well in his own way. I would have liked a bit more background about the world, the author created, but it's a novella, so I know there isn't a lot of page space for that.

There is a lot of action and the world feels a bit dystopian, with vampires on top reigning over the humans and their own, like mob bosses controlling the cities. For all the angst, the solution and the final battle appeared to be over pretty quickly, especially considering that Jake had to have a lot less people than the overall vampire master.

3.5 Pants Off

Review: For the Sake of the Kingdom by Julia Alaric

Reviewed by Fehu
For the Sake of the Kingdom (Proud to be A Vampire) by Julia Alaric
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
4 Pants Off

Blurb:
Prince Erik's life is grand: his father has taken a new wife, a beautiful and sweet woman who charms all who meet her, the kingdom is prospering, and there is no shortage of men and women to keep his bed warm. If he wishes for the one person he cannot have, well, at least he's accepted it. 

But then everything begins to change, a shroud falling slowly over the kingdom, darkness creeping in and leeching his father's life away. Strangest of all, the kingdom's artists all begin to create works along the same strange and frightening theme …


Review
A great twist of the classical Snow White fairytale, with demons, vampires and shifters and a cross-dressing prince. Sounds silly? Well it isn't and that's what makes this one special!

The Queen needed an heir and the King loved her too much to take another lover, even if she couldn't bear a living child. So she takes it in her own hand and Prince Erik is conceived, but the price is very high and the queen dies, after giving birth.

Prince Erik has two guardians growing up, his mother’s old bodyguard and the King's Huntsman. It's them who are suspicious, when the king marries and brings home a new wife, but all is well for years, until the kings health begins to fail and the kingdom falls under a spell. All paintings show the prince dying and that's when Erik takes notice and start ask questions, some of the answers he find are quite surprising and he has to come to terms with his own conception and special abilities.

I would have liked to learn more about the history of all the mentioned countries, but the fantasy world was quite interesting and detailed enough for a novella. Erik didn't grew up afraid of his step-mother, she was actually not evil at all in the beginning and there was an interesting explanation for the changing behaviour of the queen, which was not used before, at least not in a version I've read. What was missing, at least in my opinion, was how Erik fell in love with the Huntsman. Suddenly he was interested in the Huntsman and the interest was even more suddenly returned.

Other than that it was an engaging story and there was quite a lot of suspense going on, at least for a fairytale.

4 Pants Off

Review: To Serve the Count by Cassandra Pierce

Reviewed by Fehu
To Serve the Count (Proud to be a Vampire) by Cassandra Pierce
Less Than Press
Short Story
2.75 Pants Off

Blurb:
Cast out of his village when he is caught kissing another man, Rupert seeks refuge at the mysterious Castle Blutstark. But refuge means carrying out unusual duties for his new master, the enigmatic Count Kaspar, and he starts to wonder if Blutstark is a place of safety after all.




Review
Well written, but the characters were a bit too simplistic as was the plot.

The story was quite simple: a boy gets kicked out of his village and flees to a castle to find work. There is a vampire who takes notice of the boy and invites him to his bed and to be his blood donor. Said boy had a lover, who followed him, had known the lord to be a vampire, unlike the naive boy and who wants to take the vampires riches and kill him, by using the unsuspecting boy.

That is also what happened, very fast paced, no time left for a lot of explanations or normal human reactions. If you ever find out about vampires, would anyone, especially a boy from a backward village, be so blasé about it, in a historical time setting? I find that hard to believe!

Rupert, the boy or youth in question was generally acting a bit like a modern spoiled brat. He ran away from his home, the whole dialog with his father didn't have the historical feeling, his actions were too bold for a young character with his background and he could not have honestly expected anyone in a historical period after the French Revolution to be ok about gay tendencies, when people were hanged for such tendencies in the past!

I thought he took the whole vampires exist and why not just let the guy, you known a day drink your blood and have sex with him. There is fast and then there is swearing your love after a few days acquaintance, which happened here.

I liked the writing style, but the story and the characters just didn't have any depth and were very predictable.

Review: Danse Macabre by Janette

Reviewed by Fehu
Danse Macabre (Proud to be a Vampire) by Janette
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
2 Pants Off

Blurb:
Angelo is the right hand problem solver for Broodmaster Ardoin Baptiste. He loves the hunt and thrives on the kill. Ordered to get rid of someone making Ardoin's life difficult, he finds that the job is nowhere near as simple as it should be—and just how deadly a weapon love can be.





Review
Well this one gets points for hot sex scenes.


The first meeting with Angelo and he is already having sex with his master vampire. Said sex is a bit of dub-con and sound a bit painful, what with happening without lube or preparation, but it is all explained away, as Angelo being a vampire and not feeling thing the same way as humans.

Someone has been encroaching on Ardoin's territory and he sends Angelo to find out who it was and how it was done. Angelo finds a normal human is behind it, but he has someone in his employment, with some highly unusual paranormal abilities. Of course Angelo's boss want said paranormal individual and Angelo has to make him come to the fold.


The whole story is very focused on sex, violent sex and I know this is not everyone taste. Personally I would have not minded the sex, but sometimes the scenes felt pointless and I was just confused about what the whole story was about. I didn't feel the love or a lot of tender emotions in this story, to go with the violent sex, so that did detract from my enjoyment of this particular story. 

I like romance and this one just didn't have enough of romance to make me care. The characters were not likable, they murdered without a conscience and there was mention of statuary rape at least, in one of the characters past and said character was still attached to the guy who used him like that as a child. I would have felt sorry for him if he was not a ruthless killer without any remorse for his victims. So yes, while the story was a bit confusing and a lot about some power play, the characters didn't have anything I could have liked about them, which made me uninterested in the story they had to tell and honestly with all the sex, they were not exactly about witty dialogs.

2 Pants Off

Review: Convergence by Talya Andor

Reviewed by Fehu
Convergence (Proud to be a Vampire) by Talya Andor
Less Than 3 Press
Novella
4 Pants Off

Blurb:
Chris and Ling travel the world in search of rare, exquisite curiosities, but treasure hunting is rife with danger and comes with a price. In order to retrieve a lost treasure deep within a perilous mountain, Chris hires on a vampire. But traveling with a predator comes with its own risks, and their venture may collapse into absolute loss unless they can each find the opportunity in one another.



Review
Charming characters and a nice action/adventure plot, a la Indiana Jones just with a vampire and gay blokes.
Chris works for his father on paper, but follows up his private interest in archaeological artifacts and treasures, with his partner and childhood friend Ling. A new treasure hunt in China brings with it a need for a special being. Chris can only succeed in recovering the old artefact, with the help of a dead or in this case undead person - a vampire.

Since it's not exactly easy to find a vampire per announcement in the paper, at least you cannot request one; Chris devises a plan and publishes a poem instead. The only one to answer is the mysterious, but quite charming Dorran. Dorran proves to be more interesting than Chris anticipated and soon he finds himself fighting his growing fascination with the vampire, whose interest and loyalties, Chris is still unsure of. They travel together to China and have to survive a more than one test, to get to the artefact and the last challenge might prove to be quite deadly to Chris.
I've read other book from this author, but so far no paranormal story and I hope to see more of Chris and Dorran, since their relationship just begins after they get back, at the very end.

The characters were interesting, but of course had their faults, which made them quite charming. I was a bit disappointed in how easy the guys solved the challenges and that they didn't need all that much time to do it. Action/adventure stories do need time, at least in my opinion. Thankfully the recovering of the artefact was not the end of this story and I was glad to see that Chris and Dorran did not just rush in a relationship. The slow build in the relationship was a bit of a contrast to the quick progress of the plot. Still for a story of this length, it was a pretty good in terms of plot and characters.

It's a story that leaves you wanting to read more!

Should You Read It? I very much enjoy this story and liked the characters, so I would recommend it. After said that, I'd love to see another story with these characters and where the adventure part is a bit more drawn out!

4 Pants Off

Review: Thicker Than Water by A.F Henley

Reviewed by Fehu
Thicker Than Water (Proud to be A Vampire) by A.F Henley
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
3 Pants Off

Blurb:
Ladomer's first experience with vampires instilled a deep hatred--an emotion he gladly uses to bring destruction to the beasts that can't be purged from his memory. Hunting alongside the compelling man who saved his village, Ladomer and Zor are ruthless in their quest to stop the growing threat. When a new call pulls them deep into Eastern Europe, Ladomer learns anew just how cruel vampires can be--and how much deeper love can go.


Review
Intriguing, but too short to fulfill the promise of the summary. We first encounter Ladomer, when he first encounters a vampire as a child and that experience sets the course of his future.

In a world where vampires have come out from their hiding, the civilization is no more. Cities were abandoned and farm communities have grown. No electricity exists any longer and people trust only the strangers who come when the sun shines. No one leaves when it's dark, since that is the time when vampires hunt.

When Landomer was a boy he dreamed about travelling and seeing more than just his village, to see places filled with books and the machines former people in the cities abandoned. A lot of knowledge was lost, when people left the cities to live in small villages and of course it sounds like a great adventure to a boy to recapture at least a bit of this knowledge. That is also the time when he is not careful and does not see that it did get dark, he follows a firefly and it leads him to a strange man. Landomer would have been dead, but his brother has come to his rescue and died in his place.

That is something Landomer still dreams about, when he and his lover, Zor, rest after finishing their hunting for the night. Years later, a grown up Landomer has become a hunter and helps the man who has come to the rescue of his village. He has fulfilled his dream to travel, but has paid a high prize.

Now Zor and Landomer want to kill a master vampire, the one who created the creatures they encounter and this is one encounter, where they might not survive.

Flashbacks are not favorites and I know some people don't like them, so consider you warned. The first scene, Landomers childhood, was quite detailed. Other things like him becoming a hunter were a bit of a flash forward. In the end I ended up not knowing a lot about the grown up Landomer, there was some telling and not nearly enough showing, to get me invested into these characters.

The initial story, what about the vampires coming about and hunting humans, so that humans have to leave was not explained well enough. Why didn't the military do something? All scientist in the world could not combat vampires and no armies? That was my problem with the plot, there was just not enough reason to leave the cities and abandon all the modern props, which might give humans a fighting chance. Also I didn't understand how wanderer protected themselves in the night from vampires, since people did leave their village; I would have loved an explanation for that!

Should You Read It? The first scene and chapter were quite promising and if the story would have been longer it might have lived up to it full promises. As it is, it's promising, but I'd love to have some answers for my questions to word building.

3 Pants Off

Review: Drinker Class X by Sasha L. Miller

Reviewed by SinChan
Drinker Class X (Proud to be A Vampire) by Sasha L. Miller
Less Than 3 Press
Novella
4 Pants Off (Rounded Up)

Blurb
Bitten on the job, Laurence is left to readjust to living as one of the drinkers he has always hunted. In order to be declared a stable citizen—and get back to work—he must attend a series of court-mandated sessions with a psychiatrist specializing in newly-turned drinkers.

The worst part of being a drinker, besides adjusting to life without sunlight, is that it's mostly doctors and red tape and tedium—right up until it isn't.



Review
I love the set up of the story. Vampires are now called drinkers and they are highly regulated through hospitals, blood centers, and a police force specialized in handling rogue drinkers, or Class X drinkers. Laurence is part of this police force and is bitten by a Class X on the job. In order to readjust and get his job back, he needs the psychiatrist, Ira, to give him a Class A rating, meaning he can handle high stress situations. They are interested in each other and when their professional relationship as doctor and patient is over, they plan to go on dates. Unluckily, Ira disappears without a trace.

Laurence is struggling with his new status as drinker and trying not to be depressed. He's very easy to sympathize with. His whole life changed when he got bitten and now he has to see a psych, which no one wants to do. Nevertheless, he has a strong, healthy mentality and a let's-get-it-over-with personality. He's calm and optimistic, which balances with Ira's over-analyzing personality.

One thing that confused me is the dress code, and by relation, the time period. The dress style for the main characters and the side characters are described in detail. It seems like some kind of Victorian style is preferred, however, they live in an age where hospitals can analyze blood protein levels and do brain scans.

When Ira gets kidnapped, that's the start of a thrilling mystery. Laurence gets thrown in with Ira in a locked room with kidnappers that's planning torture them. Combined with a morbid back story, I can't stop reading or tear my eyes away from the pages. Although one thing that can be clearer is the reason behind the murders, but that doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the story.

Ira and Laurence are not totally in love with each other yet but they have a budding relationship. Their ordeal together builds trust and lays a good foundation for future friendship or love. The author really succeeds in writing a vampire story that's different and describes the world in detail. I definitely recommend this book to vampire fans and someone who likes a little bit of thriller in their books.

4 Pants Off

Review: The List by Sandra Bard

Review: Bloody Kiss by Mell Eight

Review: Bloody Kiss by Mell Eight

Reviewed by Fehu
Bloody Kiss (Proud to be a Vampire) by Mell Eight
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
3 Pants Off

Blurb:
Lis had been enjoying his school trip to Egypt until a statue came to life and drank his blood. Back home in Boston, nothing feels or tastes or smells quite the same, he's plagued by strange dreams, and has a craving that nothing seems to satisfy—until the statue shows up again.






Review
So much potential and room for a sequel! What do you do, when you get caught by a statue, after you fall into a cave?  You kiss it of course! At least that's what Lis has done and since he was bleeding at that time, he managed to break a century long curse on said statue that turned out to not be made out of stone after all. After his return to the States Lis begins to have flashbacks about a boy named Cey and all that happens to said boy, who became a vampire and who turned out to be the statue that halted his fall in Egypt.

A bloody kiss is an offer to vampire to be their willing human slave, but only if this blood and the kiss is offered freely. Since Lis found the guy very attractive the kiss was truly given, even if he wasn't aware of what it all entailed. Now Cey was coming for him, but Lis childhood friend and his grandmother don't think it's all that good. A lot has happened after Cey was cursed and the vampires now are bidding their time to kill their own and to grow into more power that way. Unknown to Cey he is travelling in the territory of an old enemy and his Lis, the man he wants to be his lover and companion lives there.

It's not my first book by Mell Eight and I'm glad that I could see the author with every book she wrote. This one was no different, but its potential wasn't really shown to the fullest, which is sad because even with Cey being a murderous and mostly remorseless killer, the author made me feel pity for him and actually made him somewhat redeemable, which is no small feat and takes a lot of skill. I actually found him more interesting than Lis.

There were flashbacks and I didn't mind them, I was more interested in the flashbacks and would have loved to see more of Cey's life. It would have been great if there was half a novel which was about Cey and how he became a vampire and then the time when he met Lis, who woke him up.

Lis well he wasn't all that fascinating, but I'd love to read more about his best friend, who is a witch and just came into his powers! It's a talent of this author, I think, that she always introduces some characters I'd love to read more about. Actually I'm even curious about the vampire in whose territory Lis lives and would love to see him get his own story, since he appeared to be more of an ambiguous chap, than a true villain. He did help Cey after a fashion, since he didn't tell Cey's maker about his mistake, which allowed Cey to survive long enough, to become a vampire. The ending is pretty open and I was looking for another chapter, when I finished, because it felt like the whole ending and epilogue were missing.

Should You Read It? Well, it has potential and if there is a sequel then you definitely need to read this one! I really hope there is a sequel, because I'd love to learn more about Cey. A lot of characters in this story are quite interesting and I'd love to read more about them!

3 Pants Off

Review: The List by Sandra Bard

Review: The List by Sandra Bard

Reviewed by Fehu
The List (Proud to be A Vampire) by Sandra Bard 
Less Than 3 Press
Novella
4.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
Gavin Summers' quiet, academic life is shattered when he is attacked by a mugger and rescued by Dillon, a member of the Night Watch. Soon Gavin finds himself embroiled in anti-vampire propaganda, vampire politics, and the dangers of associating with vampires in a city where vampires are being killed daily, forcing him to make a choice: remain neutral or stand with the vampires.



Review
Delightful vampire story and I lucked out with my first pick! With a new author, I am always a bit apprehensive, but it turned out I didn't need to be. The List had an interesting premise; vampires are not some obscure myths figures, but a part of society. Of course not all people are happy about them. Vampirism as an answer to human disease is not a new take, but the list adds a twist. There is a list and people need to be on this list to be turned, they are only turned when new vampires need to be made and it is all regulated as to who might get turned and what cases they decline.

Vampires work close with the police, but have their own group: the Nightwatch, which accepts donations in blood or money. After Gavin was assaulted and nearly died, he came across a member of the nightwatch, who introduced himself with a number and told him to report to the police station to make his statement. The vampire he met and who actually did help him get home, Dillon, picked Gavin's curiosity.

In the meantime the anti-vampire protests and actions have reached their peak. Hate groups were killing vampires, by chaining them and letting them burn alive. Gavin's advisor is a very vocal member of the anti-vampire movement and it turns out the vampires suspected Gavin to be of the same opinion. What the vampires didn't know and wanted to find out, was how the haters managed to snatch their people, since vampires are usually faster and stronger than humans and of course how did they find them? That's why members of the nightwatch have been assigned to watch out for the leaders of the anti-vampires groups and people close to them and that is how Dillon has been assigned to watch over Gavin.

The meeting with a vampire turns out to be a catalyst for Gavin, since now he sees all the bad things posted about them and his own advisor makes him participate in the rallies against vampires. His own positive experience and the ones of the many people saved by the nightwatch, don't seem to mean munch in the face of so much prejudice. Meanwhile there is the attraction he feels towards Dillon and the drive to find out more about vampires in general, that motivate Gavin to research more. Gavin's questions about the vampires don't go unnoticed and soon he has to pick sides. Especially after Dillon get's kidnapped by the radicals to be burned by the sun.

I liked the characters a lot. Gavin was a bit naive at first, but it was nice to see him grow a pair and actually fight back against his advisor, who exploited him. Dillon was a bit of a mystery, but he grew on me pretty fast and actually turned out to be a very sweet person and not at all as standoffish as he was when he first encountered Gavin. The regulations of who was to be turned intrigued me, since there didn't appear to be rogues, who turned people at their whim. While this was not a very long story, it managed to be quite engaging with interesting characters and fast moving plot.

Should You Read It? If you search for a good vampire story that avoids the typical tropes, than The List is a good pick.

4.5 Pants Off