Sex, Lies, and Vampires

Hilarious, fun. It occurs to me that I wouldn't want to read too many KatieMac books back to back--the heroines have a certain similarity which could get wearing after a while. But in small doses, it's a fun character. The heroine is a 'charmer'--that is, she can charm spells and wards--undo evil spells, things like that. But the last time she tried, it left her best friend dead and her in the hospital for 3 months with a stroke. She's hired to rescue a young boy, and ends up in the middle of feuding vampires and back up against the very demon lord responsible for her previous disaster. Treachery, a misunderstood hero, just all around fun.

Vampire romance is a genre, which too often takes itself too seriously and stumbles over its own cliches. Let's take for example Christine Feehan -whom I very much dislike- and her whole one-soulmate-for-a-perfect-hero-who-can-read-minds-and-is-invincible thing. What can possibly be more boring than a hero who is so perfect and invincible that he makes you want to puke?! However, Katie MacAlister's Sex, Lies and Vampires manages to be a very refressing, enjoyable and funny book despite the fact that she uses the same one soulmate/beloved and mindreading cliches than Feehan. The difference is, that MacAlister treats the cliches with humor (you can even see a little parodical elements in the book). I especially loved the easy flowing, sassy and sizzling dialogue and the relationship between the main characters. Adrian is certainly hot (and not at all too perfect) and Nell is funny, even though at the end I got a bit tired of her constant babbling. MacAlister's writing reminds me of Karen Chance, whom I also like, although there's much more dialogue and less high-octane action. I definitely recommend this book to anyone, who likes their vampire romances to have some action, funny and sexy dialogue and a main couple with sparks between them.

A not bad but pretty typical Vampire Romance. So not in the Horror genre, there was no real horror or sense of doom in it mostly because the main character, Nell Harris, has a great sense of humour about the entire thing and really doesn't take anything all that seriously.When she's asked to look into a kidnapping because of her ability to work charms and defuse them, she finds herself in cahoots with a man who is considered one of the ultimate evil.Owes a fair bit to the likes of Christine Feehan (who has a blurb on the front) but honestly I found it more readable than hers.The author would have done well to talk to people recovering from strokes and long-term disability tho, cause apart from some comments by Nell about her disabilty I really didn't get a feeling that it got in the way.

I stumbled upon this series several years ago. Prior to reading Ms. MacAlister, I had stayed with vampire tales more along the lines of Ann Rice. Suffice it to say, Ms. MacAlister reformed me. Ever since reading this book, I have been a sucker for a good vampire romance. To date, I have read the entire Dark Ones series (and am anxiously awaiting the next installment).If you enjoy this author's style of writing, you should also read her Guardian series!

The story itself isn't that special, however, the cast of characters and the humor make it a fun read.
B

not too bad a bit hard to follow at times

This was a fairly good read, though not quite as good as the previous book in the series, Sex and the Single Vampire. (This is the third book in the series and A Girl's Guide to Vampires the first.)Thank Goddess we no longer see Joy and Roxy, main characters from the first book who reminded me of a couple of whiny teenagers, in this one. We do have Ally and Christian and a few other characters from the second book though and I was glad to see them return in this one.In this installment, Nell Harris, a Professor of Medieval History at the University of Washington, is also a Charmer who can create and disarm magical charms and curses, a practice she gave up 10 years ago when she accidentally killed her best friend while trying to disarm a curse. She's been asked to the Czech Republic by Melissande, a Dark One (sorta like a Vampire), on the premise of translating an inscription on a fourteenth-century breastplate. The real reason behind Melissande's asking Nell to come though is because she's aware of her background as a Charmer. Melissande wants Nell to use her Charming skills to help find her 10-year-old nephew Damian who's been taken by the demon lord Asmodeus.Immediately, Nell runs into "The Betrayer", Melissande's brother Adrian, who has been bound to Asmodeus, while searching for clues to Asmodeus's whereabouts in Christian's castle. Adrian whisks Nell off against her will when he realizes what she can do for him. Despite Adrian's curse binding him to the demon lord by his father when he was only 2 years old, Nell immediately sees the good in him and they soon realize that Nell is Adrian's Beloved. (A Beloved is a Dark One's "other half" who is able to bring light into his soul, etc.) Melissande, Christian, and the other Dark Ones including Melissande's other brother Saer are all against Adrian and would prefer to just do away with him. But Adrian also wants to save Damian as well as have Nell remove his curse. So Nell joins forces with Adrian and while working to get the information they need to free Damian, they must also avoid the other Dark Ones trying to slow them down. Thoughout the story, Nell's character reminded me a little too much of Joy or Roxy from A Girl's Guide to Vampires—her comments and American colloquialisms were meant to be funny, but I found them annoying more often than not. Plus, she's a bit too mouthy for her own good and doesn't think how her actions will affect what she's trying to accomplish. Fortunately, there were a number of other funny parts in the story, the mummies for instance, which had me cracking up!

Third in the Dark One series. I liked this book particularly because there was a good story/adventure surrounding the romance. It also had MacAllister’s usual humor.

I enjoy this series, but this one just had a few parts that dragged on a little bit. Still very humorous, which I like.