Customer Reviews

Lady & the Vamp

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

STORY BRIEF:
Quinn used to be a vampire hunter. Two months ago he was turned into a vampire. Having seen both sides, he becomes sensitive and no longer wants to kill anyone, human or vampire. He doesn't want to drink blood and nearly dies from starvation. The Boss is a powerful mafia-type bad guy who frequently kills those who work for him. Janie is a human mercenary who works for the Boss. She is good at killing by staking vampires and shooting silver bullets at werewolves. Quinn learns there is an artifact called the Eye which will grant one wish to one person every thousand years. The thousand year moment is now. Quinn wants to find the Eye to turn himself back into a human. The Boss has psychic seers who tell him that Quinn is after the Eye. The Boss forces Janie to follow Quinn, take the Eye and then kill Quinn. To make sure she does this, the Boss tells Janie he knows where her long lost sister Angela is. The Boss also says he will kill both Janie and her sister, if Janie doesn't do what he asks. Janie follows Quinn as he follows clues and a treasure map for the Eye. Another bad-guy-vampire Malcolm is also searching for the Eye.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
Janie is not likeable, a coldhearted killer. She holds Quinn's friend hostage and threatens death to Quinn and his friend. Quinn comes off as a wimp. He welcomes death to put him out of his misery. The bad guy Malcolm tries to kill Quinn and Janie more than once. Later, when Quinn has the chance, he won't kill Malcolm. Instead Malcolm continues to be a threat and causes more harm to them and others. Most of the book is Janie and Quinn following clues to find the Eye. The search wasn't that interesting for me. I did not enjoy the characters or the way they interacted. Barkley is Quinn's acquaintance/friend. Barkley is a cowardly werewolf, afraid to fight for his position in the pack and afraid of Angela, the women he was supposed to protect. He actually runs away from her. The intent of the book may have been paranormal romance, but I didn't see enough relationship development. The couple was on a quest, fighting bad guys, and somehow at the end they decide and declare that they love each other.

I was unhappy with the cover picture not matching the story. Quinn has dark blond hair and blue eyes. The guy on the cover has black hair and brown eyes.

CAUTION SPOILER:
The Boss had seers who told him Quinn was on the way to the Eye. The problem is that Malcolm knew more about the Eye than anyone else, and Malcolm got to the Eye first. The seers should have told the Boss about Malcolm, not Quinn. Then the Boss would have sent Janie after Malcolm, not Quinn.

DATA:
Story length: 344 pages. Swearing language: moderate/strong. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 1, 4 pages long. Setting: current day Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada. Genre: paranormal with minimal romance.

Michelle Rowen's written another great light-hearted romp in Janie and Quinn's story, Book #3 in the Immortality Bites series. Quinn's a conflicted vampire and Janie's a mercenary killer, but they both want the same things-The Eye and, eventually, each other. If obtaining the first doesn't get them killed, that is.

Along the way, they spend time with a werewolf who can't stay in form, and tangle with a supposedly long-dead vamp from Quinn's past, which ensures this road to true love will be filled with stakes, as well as bumps.

If you want laughs along with sizzling romance, try Michelle Rowen's Lady and The Vamp. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Michael Quinn, Michelle Rowen's tormented hunter-turned-vampire from "Bitten and Smitten" and "Fanged and Fabulous", is back, returning to the scene with would-be Alpha werewolf Barkley and badass mercenary blonde Janie Parker. Now he's on a quest of his own -- to cute his nocturnal and blood-drinking afflictions with a mystical object known as the Eye. But the Eye is sought after by Parker's Boss, who has his own, unknown, nefarious purposes to contend with.

Quinn and Parker's sagas soon overlap in a hot, desert tale of lust and blood drenched in danger from the start. From the sands and abandoned mining towns of Arizona to the high-rolling glamour of Las Vegas do we follow our fang-crossed protagonists, and never are we let down.

I have never been even close to disappointed by any of Rowen's books before, but I must say -- "Lady and the Vamp" might have to be one of my favorites by this amazing author. I have yet to not love any of her wonderful characters, and her level of development in this novel is, simply put, fantastic. Characters have never felt so three-dimensional, and they're all so damned lovable!

Rowen's fantasy universe, believable and rich all in one, never ceases to amaze. She never manages to forget to answer the natural questions readers ask of her world-building as they go through the story, unlike so many authors who think they can glide by with only hot content and weakly laid-out universe to write in.

"Lady and the Vamp", like Rowen's other books, stands alone well enough, though naturally it's a great deal richer when "Bitten and Smitten" and "Fanged and Fabulous" are read first. On the other hand, it doesn't give gobs of the other two away, so if you start with "Lady and the Vamp", you're still in fairly good shape.

I was, fan of Michelle Rowen's writing that I am, delightedly pleased to see the small but undeniable tie to her solo-standing (non-vampire) fantasy novel, "Angel With Attitude". It's fun to see that, indeed, the events in both novel-lines are in the same universe, and unlike so many authors who bog their worlds down in far-spreading minutiae of paranormal society within the first five pages of Book One, Rowen is a thousand times more focused, taking time to introduce her various preternatural breeds. Thusly, instead of being an information overload and headache, the wide-spreading cosmos is appreciated. And now, perhaps we can hope for cameos from "Angel With Attitude" characters...

I was also surprised -- though certainly not dismayed -- to see how hot "Lady and the Vamp" is! Fans of the heavier romance who may have shied away from the first two books for their lack of heavy "mature" content, will love this book -- along with those who still love the author's flare for well-driven plot.

This book bites you, hangs on, and you never want it to let go. I whole-heartedly recommend it to any fan of modern fantasy.

10/10

Love Michelle Rowan's books. Characters are hilarious yet personable. Love any books with sense of humor and story line revolves around the paranormal. Great read. Two thumbs up.

This is the 3rd book in the series & is less about Sarah & Thierry and more about Quinn (a less than thrilled Vamp who is an ex-Vamp Hunter) & Janie who is a gun for hire. Unwittingly, these two have history & Janie has had a crush on Quinn for sometime ... silly Teen crushes don't mean anything or so Janie seems to think. That is until she finds she can't seem to put Quinn and all the fun & naughty things they could do together out of her mind. Will she keep her mind in the game & her eye on the prize or will she risk it all for Quinn?

A good book that is just as fun as the others & Sarah & Thierry end up in the book for a bit eventually!

Janie Parker is a supernatural assassin, tied to working for The Boss against her better instincts but unable to escape her contract except by death. When The Boss sends her to collect a supernatural artefact called The Eye, Janie soon runs into Michael Quinn, a former vampire hunter and the man that was her childhood crush. Quinn has recently been turned into a vampire and is struggling with his thoughts and feelings about this, thinking he should be dead but not quite able to commit suicide. Quinn has learned that The Eye grants one wish to a supernatural person and he hopes to find it in order to be returned to a human.

Quinn and Janie find themselves travelling together to find the eye, neither trusting the other. They run into various problems including another vampire who is after The Eye. Can they follow the treasure map to the Eye, keep it from the baddies, and can Janie overcome the hold that The Boss has over her.

This was a fun read which was never boring and had some amusing moments. The story had good pacing and the characters were interesting as they learned about each other, particularly Quinn's doubts about his new status as vampire. The denouement at the end felt a little rushed and there felt like there was also some repetition in the writing style but apart from these small niggles it was a good read.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2008

I really hate whiners and all the main characters do in this book is whine and/or doubt themselves. The plot is okay, but I just couldn't get past this. The only reason I finished the book is because I paid for it.

Lady & the Vamp is the third book of Michelle Rowen's vampire series. You could read this book stand alone but you would miss a lot of history on the main characters in this story. Both of the main characters in Lady & the Vamp are secondary characters in the earlier books. This is such a fun and entertaining series, I highly recommend you take the time to read the first two books, Bitten & Smitten and Fanged & Fabulous before reading this story.

Michael Quinn, a former vampire hunter turned vampire, is determined to become human again. And all he has to do is find some artifact called The Eye and wish on it, right? Janie Parker has to find The Eye and turn it over to her boss or lose her head literally-and her boss has threatened to kill her sister too, just for fun.

Janie and Michael have a history together. Growing up, Michael was Janie's brother's best friend, and her first crush. The last time they met however, Janie shot him with a garlic dart, and then left him. It is an understatement to say that the chance of these two getting along is slim. But chemistry does strange things to people, and the one thing this couple has in their favor is chemistry. Can Michael and Janie get over their past and work together to get what they both need? Or will one of them kill the other for The Eye?

I loved Lady & the Vamp! Michelle Rowen has again successfully written a funny and highly entertaining vampire story. The characters of Michael and Janie are so flawed to begin with you can't help but hope that things get better, and that they will both survive the situation they are faced with. I loved hating the bad guys and rooting for Michael and Janie to succeed. I enjoyed the antics of their sidekicks, Lenny and Barkley, and I was delighted with the ending the author came up with. She always throws in an interesting twist that leaves something to look forward to in the next book. I can't wait for book four of this series!

Armchair Interviews says: If you like your romance with vampires thrown in, this is for you. Or if you like your vampires, with romance as part of the mix-this is for you.

Nothing too original in the premise behind Lady & the Vamp but still Rowen delivers a lighthearted vamp romance and fans of her series will be happy to have former Vamp-hunter Michael Quinn in the spotlight as we take a break from Sara and Thierry.

Quinn, now a vampire, sees himself as a monster and rails against his fate willing to accept death if he can't regain his humanity. He has one hope left, a magical artifact "The Eye" that will allow him to wish himself human if only he can find it. But he's not the only one searching, and lovely supernatural mercenary Janie Parker really needs the Eye. If Janie fails to deliver it to her boss, who has his own nefarious wish to make, both Janie and her sister will die a brutal death as punishment for Janie's failure -- oh and Janie's supposed to stake Quinn too for good measure. Janie and Quinn have a history, in the past teenage Janie had a major crush on Quinn. Now she's the cold-hearted ruthless killer, or at least Janie keeps on telling herself that but around Quinn she's starting to feel very warm indeed. And with Janie around, Quinn is rethinking wishes and self-loathing, so maybe just maybe with a little help from some friends and some enemies too, Janie and Quinn may be able to save Janie's sister, the world and themselves too.

Okay, I was looking forward to Quinn getting his HEA, because I really liked his gorgeous but messed up vulnerable self in the past two books so I'm a bit biased. I thought that Janie was a good fit for him -- they could've shared a therapist if love hadn't conquered all. Rowen did a good job of exploiting their collective angst, but managed to keep things light by using Quinn's former mentor, a sort of meglomaniac minor vampire villain, and Barkley, a psychic werewolf who has trouble maintaining his human form, as comic relief whenever Quinn's "I'm a monster" shtick started to wear thin. The only problem I had with the book is that I would have liked for Janie to have brought a little more competence in her mercenary role, she was forever getting bested by the minor villain - would somebody just stake him please.

Still this was a fun read, suitable for fans of this lighter vein of vampire romances. Black Dagger Brotherhood it aint' but if you like vamp romances from Lynsay Sands, Kerrelyn Sparks, or Erin McCarthy, you'll enjoy Lady & the Vamp which works just fine as a standalone read.

Other books in Rowen's Immortality Bites Series
Bitten & Smitten (Immortality Bites, Book 1)
Fanged & Fabulous (Immortality Bites, Book 2)
Also by Rowen a fun Angel paranormal romance:
Angel with Attitude (Warner Forever)

Kerrelyn Sparks Love at Stake series:
How To Marry a Millionaire Vampire (Love at Stake, Book 1)
Vamps and the City (Love at Stake, Book 2) (This is my favorite)
Be Still My Vampire Heart (Love at Stake, Book 3)
Sugarplums and Scandal (Contains a connected short you may have missed.)
The Undead Next Door (Love at Stake, Book 4)

Just imagine the nightmare when a vampire hunter becomes a vampire. That is what happened with Michael Quinn, and his only hope for redemption is the discovery of a long lost artifact, which grants a wish every millennia to its possessor.
Janie Parker seems to have run out of luck, because she was tricked into working for a demon. Her newest assignment is to follow Michael in his search for the artifact. Unfortunately she has had a crush on him since she was 12 years old. How can she kill him to get the artifact when he finds it?

When I started this series, Michael Quinn immediately caught my interest and I had high expectations for his story and I have to tell you that I wasn't disappointed. This book is really good.

It's a funny, light hearted story, that will brighten up your day. Michael and Janie aren't flawless characters but very endearing. The story and the characters are so spellbinding that you are completely drawn into the story. Ms. Rowen really knows how to keep her readers glued to the pages with the sudden plot twists that keeps them on their toes. I really recommend that you take your time to read the book in one sitting, because it's so fascinating.

LADY AND THE VAMP is the third book of Ms. Rowen's Immortality Bites series and I highly recommend reading the two previous releases BITTEN & SMITTEN and FANGED AND FABULOUS prior to reading this book, so that you get the whole background information about Michael, plus the books are just fun to read.

So if you are a fan of funny vampire romances, this is the perfect book for you!

[...]