Customer Reviews

After Sundown

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this latest story by Amanda Ashley, Edward Ramsey, a former Vampyre hunter, is brought over by Grigori Chiavari after Ramsey almost dies killing one of Chiavari's enemies. Ramsey hates being one of the things that he devoted his mortal life destroying. He rescues Kelly, beautiful woman whom he eventually falls in love with and she helps him to accept his new life. Then Khira comes to town and she is determined to destroy the vampires and humans alike in Los Angeles.

Critique: I love Vampire stories. There is usually nothing more exotic and sensual as a vampire, but this story lacked quite a bit. The story line did not move smoothly. I felt that a lot of dialogue and scenes were reused over and over and over. The character development was practically non-existent. You would think the story will be more about Kelly and Ramsey, but you find out more about Chiavari and his wife Marisa. I did not feel anything for these characters and had to force myself to finish the book. When I finally read the last word I sighed...not with satisfaction, but with relief. If you are an Amanda Ashley fan, maybe you will adore this novel, but others...beware!

I read this book not knowing it was the sequel to 'Shades of Grey', yet it isn't marketed as such. So if you haven't read 'Shades..', do that before reading this since the main characters do not take up many pages in the book, but the main characters from Shades do. In other words, this book should've been advertized as the continuence of Grigori and Marisa's life, not the emergence of a new vampire he'd made named Edward Ramsey.
Edward was supposed to be the main character and driving force in the book and possibly a little scarier than Grigori, but nope, I wasn't convinced. Edward was too whiny and selfish to be a hero.
His being a former Hunter of Vampires and coming from a great line of Hunters I was hoping for something very impressive, but what we got was complaining and him feeling sorry for himself. Grigori saved his life in the pervious novel, thus making him what he is now and all he does is blame the vampire and lash out at him almost the entire book.
Edward's obsession with Marisa is kinda weird and after awhile we the reader start to wonder why Grigori saved him afterall. The love interest Edward is supposed to be going for is a broken woman named Kelly who tries to kill herself and he saves her. In return she stays at his house and keeps an eye out for him while he sleeps.
I liked Kelly and thought she deserved a better hero. Edward was too selfish for her and tended to grate on my nerves. Thankfully the author started out with him in almost all the chapters, then moved away from him and Kelly and went on to put the light on Grigori and Marisa for the rest of the book. Which was a great deal. We get to see what happens to them and their new relationship.
A very good book, very well written and with lots of action. My only complaint was the main characters Edward and Kelly; could've done without them.

Edward Ramsey spent his life hunting the very thing that he has become. His conscience is screaming for him to end it all, but somehow he doesn't have the will. Things start to change when a desperate woman tries to end her life and Edward must save her.
Kelly gives him reason to live on, even as a monster. He needs her love and kind heart, but she's been hurt and trampled on too many times.
An ancient evil is in town too. A merciless, yet stunning creature named Khira. She is seeking supremacy in L.A and wants her former lover back...Grigori. Edward must join forces with his sire and enemy Grigori to take down the oldest evil known, but will it be too late? Will she devour Los Angeles?

Tracy Talley~@

The dark gift had been bestowed upon him . . .

Edward Ramsey was confused by his existence. Once a well-known vampire hunter, he now found himself one of the undead, that which he once hunted. On one of his nightly outings, he happened upon a young woman intent on ending her life. He made the decision to interfere with her plans and keep in her the world of the living. By doing so, how will it affect his life?

He saved her from certain death . . .

Kelly Anderson stood on the far edge of the pier, staring down into the still black water below. It looked cold enough to numb her pain. She was convinced that she had nothing to live for. As she jumped in the bottomless pool, she was unprepared to be saved by a guardian angel. When she awoke, she discovered that the man who had saved her was far from an Angel.

Amanda Ashley has created an exceptional sequel to accommodate her book Shade of Gray. Edward Ramsey has all the elements that make for an irresistible read. The dark shadows that surround his existence are very appealing. I feel this is one of Ashley's most compelling novels I have read. The talent that she so effortlessly exhibits is why she is one of the most sought after authors in the business. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

After teaming up with his enemy, Grigori Chiavari to kill a rogue vampire, hunter Edward Ramsey is now one of the undead complements of his former ally for saving his life. Ramseys for centuries have hunted vampires so Edward has deep psychological problems with the change and prefers death. Still, he saves the life of a mortal, Kelly Anderson who jumped into the river because she has nothing to live for.

Meanwhile the oldest known living vampire Khira arrives in the Los Angeles area seeking her former lover Grigori for the first time in two centuries. When Grigori saw Khira sucking the blood of a child, he left her. Now Khira plans to dominate the region with only Grigori and Edward powerful enough, if they can team up again, to stop her. For stop her they must as Khira plans to eliminate the beloved two mortals that Grigori and Edward now respectively love above their own lives.

The sequel to SHADES OF GRAY is an arousing vampire romance that readers who enjoy a bite in their novels will want to read. Though the story line seems somewhat repetitive with Edward's constant whining that he wants to die, he is a powerful character struggling between his heritage and his dark future until he realizes how much he love Kelly. Grigori and his wife Marisa retain their cherished relationship that is being challenged by the villainess Khira while the audience wonders will she or will she not. Amanda Ashley provides an enjoyable supernatural romance that those who enjoy the AFTER SUNDOWN nightlife will want to peruse.

Harriet Klausner

[Let me make this clear - I do not generally enjoy romance novels. So take that into consideration when you read this review.] The cover should have told me this was a "chick flick" novel. A gorgeous stud reaching out to a woman silhouetted against a moon . . . what else could it be? But all I saw was that it was about vampires, so I quickly bought it thinking I'd found another great horror novel with a hot vampire on the prowl. Well . . . I almost found it. But not quite.

Edward Ramsey is, or more appropriately was, a vampire hunter. He was turned into a vampire by one of the undead he had previously been hunting. I won't go into all the specifics, as it's kind of detailed (read the book to find out more). Needless to say, Edward is not happy about the transformation, and the fact that he's now hunting and feeding upon the humans he used to protect. Ultimately, he falls for one of those victims, which only makes life (or death) even harder for him. Soon Edward, his lover, the vampire who turned Edward, and a few others join forces to fight one of the oldest and most evil vampires known to man.

The book is well-written. It is a love story, with all the emotions that go along with it, and was probably geared more toward an audience that includes my sisters instead of me. The characters are written from an emotional standpoint. Women with long, flowing hair, great bodies, and just enough weakness to submit to their men. Men who are strong, handsome, and filled with hot passion and love for their women. Passion that is mysterious but overwhelming. If you're looking for a story of love that has a dark edge to it, and seems impossible but still manages to survive despite impossible odds, then this is a story for you. But if you're looking for a novel about vampires, with perhaps a hint of love and/or lust, then you'd better go somewhere else.

Edward Ramsey is one of the best vampire hunters around. He has now become one of the hunted and is determined to end his existence as a vampire until he meets up with Kelly Anderson on the night she decided to commit suicide. He saves her life and they become roommates and much more. She replaces the love he thought he would always have for another.

Khira, the queen of vampires, leaves Italy and unexpectedly shows up in LA looking for her handsome vampire, ex-lover Grigori wanting to rekindle the flame. She finds him happily married to a mere mortal and begins to destroy all other undead in her territory. Edward has no choice but to team up with Grigori, the 200-year-old vampire he should be hunting but once teamed up with to kill the evil vampire Alexi, the one who stole Marisas love from him and the one who bestowed the Dark Gift to him unawares. Insert Tom Duncan a vampire hunter who was once Edwards best friend/hunting partner who also shows up in LA with all the tools of the trade to hunt and kill Grigori.

It was an excellent idea for Ms. Amanda Ashley aka Madeline Baker to write this story. It was great to read more about Grigori and Marisa whose story begins in Shades of Gray which was the first vampire romance I ever read, one of the best and began my hunt for more of this genre.

I read lots of books and the genre ranges, so many times when authors decide to do a series a year (5 in this case) later I have to go back and skim through the preceding story in order to follow the subsequent story. After Sundown does not fall in that category, it stands alone because it gives you enough info from the first book to prevent confusion without taking away from this one. I can now add After Sundown to my ever-growing list of the best vampire romances to read and re-read.

This is not a contemporary romance; it should be labeled paranormal romance instead because even though this story has a present day setting, it is based on vampires. Regardless, its an excellent book that will keep you reading until you turn the last page. I am looking forward to reading Tracy and Dominics story. I have read all of Ms. Ashley vampire romance books but none could hold a candle to Shades of Gray until After Sundown that is.

This is one great vampire novel. Not your run of the mill story. It has love, action, terror and is full of surprises. I like the inclusion of the characters from "Shades of Gray." I thought Edward and Grigori's stories combined to make a really exciting book. Unlike some other reviewers, I thought Edward received enough attention. I liked Kelly and love Marissa and their relationship with the vampires. Khira was an added thrill and Ted brought some humor into a really terrifying situation. Amanda Ashley has really done it this time with both "Shades of Gray" and "After Sundown." Read them in sequence and you are in for a really terrific weekend. Pay no attention to the negative comments. I am a vampire novel fan and have read so many I can't count them. These two novels are at the top of my list for every reason that one reads vampire novels. You will not be disappointed.

Amanda Ashley follows up the action-packed Shades of Gray with 'After Sundown'. I really hoped this would be as good as the prequel, but my hopes were soon dashed. One of the reasons the first novel was so good was because something was always happening and Gregori, the hero, had more on his mind than Ashley's usually character-type who whines constantly and fawns over his virginal sugar-baby of choice.
This books focuses on Edward Ramsey, former vampire hunter turned vampire at the end of the other novel. Ed has only been a vampire for four days, and we are treated to him whining and whining and learning to feed. In fact, most of the book is Ed whining and hunting, alone or with a vampiric pal. Nothing really happens for awhile. Khira, Gregori's creator, comes to town and does villianous things, but it isn't until 2/3rd into the book do the main characters get around to actively opposing her.
Another weak point is the book focuses too much on Gregori and his wife, Marisa. While I like them both, they needed to move over to the side because I've already read their story. Between the tying up of loose ends in their relationship and Ed's whining and hunting, the main couple gets pushed out.
Kelley, Ed's sweetie-pie, is a nice change from the blond sweet angel of purity and brain-sucked innocence, she's still nothing more than a card-board cut out. You see Kelley was dumped by the man in her life. She fell into depression and took drugs and drank alot and she's living in a flop-house and she tried to kill herself. That's as far as her characterization goes. Ed saves her after she tries to comit suicide... and all's better after that. I'm serious. With Ed's help, in less than ten pages, she forgets all about the jerk boyfriend and walks away from her self-destructive lifestyle without a scratch. She's more worldly than the usually heroine, but I couldn't find any reason for her to fall in love with Ed so quickly, or him to get so instantly absorbed in her. In some was she feels dragged into the story, because she has nothing to do with the plot.
'After Sundown' isn't really a bad book, but it's not really a good book. I guess it's good escapist fiction if you can stand the whining and the blood drinking in a continuous cycle, but you'll find a lot of fault with it if you scratch beneath the surface.

I love Amanda Ashley books. I eagerly waited for the release of this particular book, and it left me feeling slightly disappointed. Sure, the book was worth a read and the price. But the plot was not as thick as her previous novels. I felt it was erratic and loose. It was nice to revisit some of the old characters from previous books. But that was about it. I gave the book 3 stars for effort. Not a bad read at all...just not great either.

I'm not going to rehash the story's plot b/c it's been done. Admittedly, I started reading this book without knowing it had a prequel. The back cover was misleading; I thought it was supposed to be about Ed Ramsey and the woman he loved, Kelly. Unfortunately, their love paled in comparison to Grigori and Marisa's relationship. Kelly seemed like a secondary character throughout the novel while Marisa, Gregori and Ramsey were the front-runners.

I enjoyed reading about Ramsey and his trouble adjusting to becoming a new vampire. I also enjoyed all of the parts with Gregori and Marisa. Everything involving Khira (the evil vampire) or the relationship between Ramsey and Kelly fell flat.

Overall, it was a simple vampire romance that didn't require much thought. Unfortunately, when you put this book down you'll easily forget it.