Customer Reviews

Everlasting Kiss

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

How do I begin? I am not trying to be cruel but I just couldn't believe the 5-star reviews and felt I had to chime in after barely being able to finish this book.

So... we have a paranormal world where vampires exist. Got it. And where humans hunt them for death (hunters) or to sell their blood (thieves). OK? Did I miss any of the deep world building elements? What I couldn't quite get where how any of the characters (including the main characters) were at ALL sympathetic. Particularly the heroine's family. They steal blood for money. Really? That is an "honorable" profession. Doesn't that seem akin to drug dealing? I had no sympathy for them as they willingly put themselves in danger to get blood from a sleeping vampire... was it just me? It felt about like how I imagine I would feel if I heard of people hunting a tiger for "fun" with just their bare hands and then they are SURPRISED one of those tigers defends itself... and I am supposed to be mad at the tiger or feel for the hunter? Not likely... and if any of the characters were remotely heartfelt it seemed only Erik, was at all honorable in his dealings with the humans (Daisy and her family get MORE help than they deserve from him throughout the story). Although for being so old he really does some stupid things. That is what frustrated me about the book. The tension is created cheaply and the plot twists are all terribly contrived. I give it a two stars only because it picked up a bit at the end. All in all not a series I would sink my teeth into again.

Daisey are heroine comes from a family of killers who believe it is right and justified because the group (vampires) they are killing have no rights. She breaks and enter into places to steal their blood, because she has a little problem with doing the actual killing. That is how she earns her living,selling vampire blood. Daisey and her family are not doing it for a good cause, but for money. When she falls in love with a the vampire Eric she starts thinking maybe they are not all the same and maybe they do not have the right to decide life or death for them, but she keeps going with the family and helps them continue to murder the sleeping vampires. Then when one of her brothers gets killed when a vampire wakes up and kills him before the others can stake the vampire, she wants nothing to do with Eric, since his kind killed her brother. After all they are suppose to just lay there and get staked. The book gets a little better after that, but I am sorry I wasted money on it and I usually enjoy Amanda Asleys' books.

I have read alot of reviews for this author on other books she has written. There are alot of mixed reviews where her writing is concerned. this book is the first book I've read written by her. The beginning starts out okay, but it does keep you interested enough to wonder what is going to happen. The relationship with erik and Daisey, starts out pretty good but then it seems too... lack of a better word, "simple". I like her brother Alex. He's a very irritating but loveable character. Anyone who has a brother knows what I mean. The depth in her relationships with her parents and other brother just seemed too much on the surface for me to really care or even see this family that is suppose to be so close. Just like her relationship with erik. no depth. The love scenes sucked. I feel like if ur gonna drag out the sexual tension like it was done in this book, then when she finally gives herself to erik for the 1st time and after that, it should be something that does not appear to be rushed through. No emotion or passion @ all. And if you are gonna write about a love scene, then "write about the love scene" don't cause the moment to pass before it has a chance to even start. And all of the major trouble in this book seemed like it was all cleaned up and worked out way too easily.

Needless to say, I will not be reading anymore of her books.. No, I take that back. I may try the one coming in Oct 2010 about Rhys. I read the sneak peak to that one hopefully his story is worth reading. His character in this book was easy to over look although he was suppose to be the most feared. But me reading this book is a BIG maybe.

I guess it's possible some might think this review contains spoilers. I don't really think so but be warned. Amanda Ashley typically writes old school vamp romances. The hero is usually angsty. The heroine is generally sweet and innocent. She normally is horrified by the idea of falling for a vampire and there's a whole lot of "Vampire!" echoing through minds. But love wins out over prejudice and they end up living happily-ever(and I DO mean EVER)-after. I find I enjoy these sorts of stories occasionally. They're light and easy and fun. But this one was totally off the charts. The heroine and her family were some of THE stupidest characters I've read. Daisy is a blood thief. She was raised in a family of hunters and trained by her father who was supposedly one of the best. She meets Erik in a bar called The Crypt. Dark, intense, gorgeous. Can clearly read her mind. Drinks the "house special" but Daisy never suspects he's a vampire. Great instincts there, Daisy. When she discovers the truth by accident and is held prisoner in his home (a perfectly reasonable thing for him to do as far as I can see) she decides to have some breakfast before worrying about his plans for her or trying to escape. What kind of idiot does this???? Later Erik saves her brother's life after he tries to kill Erik's best friend who is the head vampire on the west coast. Erik then saves the brother AND the father when they are caught by the master of the east coast trying to stake him while he's at rest. And what do these rocket scientists do the very next day? Why use Daisy's compass to go hunting vampires again of course. Just as a last hurrah since Daisy's little brother is quitting the business. Little family outing for old times sake. Daisy does this despite Erik telling her over and over to stay inside and saving her idiot relatives every time he turns around. Frankly the whole damned family was too stupid to live. They made the chick that goes upstairs in the dark house by herself in slasher movies seem like a Nobel Prize candidate. The book was incredibly hard to finish because I just kept muttering "Who the hell is this dumb???"

'Everlasting Kiss' was a pleasant enough story - a love story crammed into the crowded vampire genre. Written in a surprisingly simple style and without much depth, it is neverless a reasonable read.

When vampire Erik Delacourt meets mortal Daisy O'Donnell he finds himself drawn to her. Unfortunately Daisy is from a family of vampire hunters and has staked one of Erik's friends. When he finds himself protecting her, he may well be putting himself into danger with the Master of the East Coast vampires. But somehow Daisy is able to bring both vampires and hunters together to deal with a threat to both of them.

There were some problems with this book, such as the central romance (why did each fall for the other so hard?) and I found it hard to believe that vampires and hunters could work together so quickly. But this was necessary for the plot and the story was interesting enough to carry me along. There's nothing special in this book - this story has been told many times before - but it is OK for light holiday reading.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2010

The dialogue is stilted and doesn't sound natural. The characters are given no reason to be lovable or people readers can relate to. There is no reason for the vampire's feeling for the main character. She simply appears one day and he loves her and is willing to go to lengths that surprise even him (to the degree that it is unbelievable that he'd do so much to hold on to a woman he has danced with three times but never had much of a conversation with). A twist in the story takes place for NO reason (isn't even justifiable in terms of plot structure) to drive the two apart. I trudged through this hoping that I'd get to some kind of action, or that at least the sexual teasing that had taken place the whole book actually culminated in some kind of fantastic bonding (I can forgive a lot if at least the chemistry is good between characters), but ended up skimming the last 30 pages because it hadn't gotten better. I can't believe I wasted an evening hoping this would improve.

I'm sorry Amanda Ashley. I have read some of your other books and thought they were good. This one isn't. This book plods forward so agonizingly slowly that I started hating the 2 main characters because they were so boring. We all understand and expect that this fictional world isn't totally believable...your readers get that. But it should be exciting, erotic, interesting or at the very least entertaining. Pass on this one folks, and save your money.

I've read the other poor reviews and found that I really agree with them. I hardly ever write reviews but just had to for this one. It was not good. One thing that others left out of their reviews though is that about half way through the book, the heroine's brother kills a vampire (no surprise since he's a hunter) but he also kills her human, normal boyfriend as well. For what? I guess just being with the vampire warranted his murder? Setting aside the whole right/wrong of killing a vampire in the story, somehow no one ever mentions the fact that he murdered another human being in cold blood. And the heroine, Daisy, just sort of glosses right over the issue of her brother murdering that man. Did we all just go to crazy town?

This book was a little slow and "young" for me. It was so bland, it could have been marketed for the young/teen set. I didn't find the story exciting, nor did I find Daisy and Erik's supposed attraction to be believable. To say the sex scenes were lackluster, is being VERY generous. There was just no spark, no adventure, and nothing to really hold my attention. I was VERY disappointed in this book While Rhys was interesting, I don't know if I'll be purchasing his book when it comes out later this year.

In a world in which everyone knows vampires exist with no legal rights and judicial recourse, human hunters kill them as sport. The O'Donnell family have been vampire hunters for generations, but whether the blood has thinned or the next generation does not have the heat to kill, the current brood only has two killers of the undead; the patriarch and his oldest son Alex. The daughter Daisy and the youngest son use a magic compass to find the bloodsuckers' lairs in order to steal the pure blood that they sell for its medical properties.

Daisy believes adult vampires are evil until she meets Erik Delacourt at popular Los Angeles vampire nightclub the Crypt. She has taken blood from a vampire she is forced to kill because he came after her. The West Coast master vampire Rhys wants the thief dead, but Erik vows to protect Daisy from even his best friend because he loves her and will die for her. Alex arrives in Los Angeles vowing to keep his siblings safe from the undead whether it be Rhys, Erik or some other vamp. In love with Erik, Daisy must choose between her family and her soulmate.

Everlasting Kiss feels like a vampire West Side Story as Amanda Ashley adds to her wonderful take on the vampire mythos as humans and the undead are natural enemies yet the O'Donnell brood and Rhys and Erik will need to find a compromise to save their lives. Fans will appreciate the vulnerable Romeo and Juliet lead couple as the Blood Thief and the vampire learn that love supersedes everything else.

Harriet Klausner