Customer Reviews

Love at First Bite: WITH "Until Death Do Us Part" AND "Ride the Night

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This could quite possibly be Sherrilyn Kenyon's worst story about the Dark Hunters. 500 years ago Velkan and Esperetta lived and died like Romeo and Juliet: Esperetta drank a potion that would mimic death so that she and her beloved Velkan could be together away from their warring families. When Esperetta's father sees her "dead body" he kills her and tortures and kills Velkan. At his moment of death, Velkan's suffering and heartbreak is enought to summon Artemis and he becomes an immoral Dark Hunter. And because he had used some sort of magic to bind his sould to Esperetta's, she also became immortal. When she wakes, she sees Velkan kill her father and rejects him in fear and anger. This Big Misunderstanding is dragged out for the next 500 hundred years. When the story starts, Esperetta is tricked into going back home and this Big Misunderstanding is cleared up in a few short pages.

So what's the problem? The entire premise of this book, basically. Why did the misunderstanding take 500 years to clear up? It really shouldn't have. It's just a thin plot device that didn't do anything to add depth to the characters or the romance. What else is wrong? Well, the characters are pretty weak and the chemistry is almost nonexistent. This story may have benefitted from a longer length, more fully developed characters and some major revisions. As it was, though, it was pretty painful. I'm just glad I borrowed it rather than spending my money.

First let me say each story is set in a world that belongs to each author.

In Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter world we have a story that sounds much like Romeo and Juliet. Retta and Velkin used sorcery to join their souls when they married, so when Velkin was raised a Dark Hunter, Retta was also raised. She is raised in time to see Velkin kill her father. Unknown to her, her father had stabbed her in the heart and tortured velkin to death. I must say it is not one of her better stories.

L.A.Banks story was the one I had the most trouble understanding. I think she thought I would have already read some of her novels. Anyway the dreams of Jose and Juanita were the same and I liked it when they found each other and were saved by his Indian relatives. I didn't understand why they forgot each other for 20 yrs and then I got lost. Somehow she comes back as his brother's woman and now they are allowed to remember. Don't ask me what happened cause I don't know. But talk about loose ends. Sheesh!!!!!!!!!!

Susan Squires story was set in the 1800's with England fighting off an army of Vampires. Major Davis Ware agrees to go back to North Africa and help Rufford fight vampires. He leaves his lady behind. She decides to go after him and shortly after she arrives he becomes a vampire. When she forces him to make her one too, they are outnumbered and expect to die but then a bunch of Vamps from some sort of Ruling Council come to their aid. I think Susan Squires has a series based on this Council and one of her books is about Rufford and the Vampire Countess who made him.

Ronda Thompson has a series about the Wulf's of London and this is a short story about a son born on the wrong side of the blanket. He is stable master for some aristocrats who have a niece. If you have read any of her books you will understand the story. For those of you who haven't, try to read between the lines. Falling in love brings on the Curse, and somehow she saves him by getting him to agree to marry her. (I think).

All in all, if you have read any of these authors novels you will better understand what is going on.

I am not the biggest fan of anthologies, but I usually enjoy the work of Kenyon and Thompson. I have to say that Thompson's entry was the one bright spot in an otherwise painful read. I hate to say it but Kenyon seems to be just marketing on her popularity. She didn't even seem to try on this one. The characters completely lacked any form of depth. I couldn't force myself to care what happened to either the protagonists or the bad guys. The only character that was even remotely entertaining was Esperetta's friend.
Even worse than Kenyon's half hearted attempt was Bank's ride the wind. Her attempts to use slang came out stilted and awkward. And I agree with the other reviewers that the ending left me completely confused and disappointed. I know anthologies tie in to other series generally, but at least try and give some kind of explanation of what happened. The author just jumps ahead 2 decades leaving the reader scratching their head. Instead of inspiring me to read more of Banks work, this story ensured that I won;t be reading any of the author's work any time soon.

This story wasn't worth the money or the gas to drive to the book store to get it! This has got to be the worst Dark-Hunter story yet. I love this series but SK is just drowning for stories anymore. How do you clear up 500 years of misunderstanding in 70 pages??

The story was not believable in the least, neither character was fleshed out or likeable and the setting was dismal. SK used the history of the Turks/Romanians and Shakepeare's Romeo and Juliet in an attempt to flesh out the background of this story in order to fit it into 70 pages.

Not worth the money or the time to read it.

I'm not a big fan of anthologies, but when I saw Sherrilyn Kenyon's name, I thought I'd buy the book - what a mistake. While SK's story (the first one) was not the worst of the bunch, it was one of the poorest she's ever written. If I had read this book before being a fan of Ms. Kenyon's, I'd never buy another thing written by her. This does hold true for the other 3 authors whom I've never read before and hopefully, never will again. The anthologies got progressively worse & I must admit, I couldn't even bear to finish the 2nd & 3rd ones & skipped rapidly through the 4th one to the end. Just believe me when I tell you - DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS POORLY WRITTEN TRASH. The authors should be ashamed of themselves for collecting any monies from it.

I came to this book as a big fan of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series, but I hadn't read any of the other authors. I usually love collections like this, because I can read a shorter story by authors I'm not familiar with and can decide if I want to try a full-length novel. But too often lately, authors are starting to use anthologies as nothing more than "backstory" for their own series (L.A. Banks even says as much in the author's note to her story here), and don't strive to entertain those who aren't already familiar with their work, which leaves a large portion of the readership feeling left out of the joke.

I was so looking forward to Sherrilyn Kenyon's story. Working in the legal field, I was interested to see what Esperetta would be like as a vengeful attorney. Instead I got one whole mention of her career, and a throwaway line about "clients." The Big Misunderstanding (as another reviewer put it) was thin and pointless, and easily cleared up once the characters were in the same room for five minutes. I love the Dark-Hunter world, and Kenyon was nothing but charming at a booksigning so I'll continue to buy and read, but her writing gets sloppier with each new offering.

I loved the L.A. Banks story, even though the end was simply awful. I'm not familiar with her series, and while she did a great job of building up the characters and their story, she cheated the readers out of any kind of resolution, relying on them all to have read her other works. I would have been much more willing to pick up some of her stuff if she'd made it feel accessible, instead of skipping to the end the way she did. Simply put, if you're not already a fan of her work, the last 5-10 pages of her story made no sense whatsoever.

The other two stories were similarly "extras" from established series, but in my mind did a good job of being complete works on their own. I was able to enjoy them as stories in their own right without feeling like I was missing something.

When you get a DVD you really like, the special features enhance your experience. But you wouldn't watch the deleted scenes first, or listen to a commentary with no idea of the main story iteslf. Which is why I don't recommend this book unless you've already read works by the contributing authors.

Until Death Do We Part by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Esperetta, daughter of Vlad Tepes, was on her way home when her escort was attacked by the Turks. Her savior, Velkan Danesti, took her to his home to care for her and while she was there, they fell in love and married. Esperetta's father had vowed to see Velkan dead. Velkan's family has disowned him because of his marriage to their enemy's daughter. Esperetta and Velkan devised a plan to fake their deaths so that they could leave the country and live in happiness. Their plans go awry and both end up dead. Artemis revived Velkan after he agreed to become one of her Dark Hunters and because the souls of both Velkan and Esperetta were joined in magic, Esperetta lived (after a fashion) with him. Because of seriously misunderstanding a few events, Esperetta and Velkan separated, hating each other. Five hundred years later, they meet again, both still hating the other. Can they get past their anger to once again find a love meant to last forever?

Although Until Death Do We Part is a good story, the five hundred year separation of Velkan and Retta really didn't seem all that believable, especially when Retta's companion, Francesca, was added. I simply couldn't see Francesca completely giving up seeing her family and all hope of finding a mate for that amount of time.

Ride The Night Wind by L.A.Banks

Jose has found a way of staying out of the gangs in East L.A. without being killed for not wanting to join. Jose is a very talented artist that does any artwork that the gangs want and they pay for it. Jose's mother hates the fact that he's both an artist and that he does jobs for the gangs. Juanita has finished high school, but has given up her dream of going to business school to help out her family by working in a pharmacy and taking care of her home, as well as raising her little brother. She resents that her mother loves her drug dealing big brother without reservation, but treats her like a servant that she doesn't even like. Jose and Juanita meet after being attacked by something evil. Can two people, although very much attracted to one another, stay together with so many things against them?

Ride The Night Wind is the first story that I've read of the Neturu Guardians, and I can tell you that it certainly won't be the last! Jose and Juanita have so many things fighting to keep them apart, although because of their separate destinies, it does take a while to get together. I absolutely loved Ride The Night Wind with its action, danger, love and passion all woven into a wonderful paranormal story. All of the characters feel so real that I felt like I could reach out and touch them.

The Gift by Susan Squires

London, March, 1820

When Major Vernon Davis Were was in El Golea, his embassy was attacked by a horde of vampires. Everyone was killed, all but him. When Asharti decided that she wanted Rufford, Davie was finally released from his slavery to go back to England to summon Rufford back to North Africa. Rufford went back to Asharti and killed her, now he's asked Davie to come back to help in the fight to destroy the vampire army that Asharti has left. He doesn't want to go back for several reasons, among them, he wants to stay well away from the place that, for him, was a living hell, plus he's about to ask Lady Emma Fairfield to be his wife. Feeling guilty that he was the one to send Rufford back to the hell that is North Africa, Davie leaves England and Emma to join the battle against the vampires. Little does he know that Emma refuses to give up the man she loves and follows him. Now both Emma and Davie are in danger of losing their lives.

I love how Ms. Squires has created her vampires. The Companion is a unique way to explain their vampirism. I adore Emma, Rufford, Fedeyah and Davie. The Gift is a fascinating story that I enjoyed greatly and I will be searching for more of Ms. Squires' vampire tales.

The Forgotten One by Ronda Thompson

Having lost her parents through an accident, Lady Anne Baldwin was taken in and raised by her aunt and uncle. Craving the love that she had lost through their parent's deaths, Anne does her best to be no trouble to the couple that never wanted children so that she can earn their love. When Anne meets Merrick, the new stable master, she is completely attracted to him and ends up not acting at all like herself. Anne's one rebellion is her love of horses. Merrick helps to build her self-confidence and in turn Ann falls deeply in love with him. There is no way that a noble heiress can be with a servant...or is there?

The Forgotten One is a tale that stole my heart. Anne is a shy, but strong woman and Merrick is deep down, a caring and sexy hero that is perfect for her. When Merrick changes after the first time they make love, Anne showed both him and me just how strong, stubborn and loving she could be. The Forgotten One is the perfect feel good end for this anthology.

Love At First Bite is a completely wonderful anthology that brings together love, passion and danger with very different, yet complimentary authors and their unique stories. For lovers of paranormal romances, Love At First Bite is one you should not miss!!

Lyonene
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Ok, I'd like to give this book 3 1/2 stars but since that is not possible lets go with 4. I wasn't expecting much from this book. In fact I was expecting so little that I held off on reading it for a month after I bought it. But technichally I got it free through the 4-for-3 deals so I thought what the heck, I'll give it a quick read.

None of these stories are really great stand alone's. If you've never read anything by the author you may be lost!

"Until Death Do Us Part"- I have to disagree with a lot of the opinions I've seen out there on this story. I loved it! It was very old school Dark-Hunter with less flash than the newer books but they definitly tugged at the heart strings. Retta was Dracula's (the historical Vlad Tepish the Impaler)daughter and she ran off and married Velkan the enemy. He tried to save her and sacrifice himself ala Romeo & Juliet ( which this story says was based on these lovers!)only to have Dracula slay his sleeping bride. He had bound their souls together through magic and weeks later when Vlad killed Velkan, Retta rose from the grave just in time to witness Velken's Dark-Hunter vengance against Daddy dearest. Needless to say she ran...for 500 years! Now it may be time to patch things up. I loved this story and it was my favorite of the bunch. This was a much stronger story than Kenyons DH tale in Big Fat Supernatural Wedding.

"Ride the Night Wind"- L.A. Banks also is a well entrenched author and her use of slang and dialect to paint the canvas of a story is very good. But I think unless you are a dedicated reader of her work this story was fairly lost on you. I liked the young lovers getting together but the near ending had me completely lost. It involves demons, latino youths,a shaman, and fighting vampires but it's all a bit vague.

"The Gift"- Susan Squires is an author I've seen many mixed reviews on so I thought this may be a guilt free way to try her out. This story is only going to grab a paranormal lover if they are also ok with reading historical works as well. It's set in both regency London and Casablanca. The bad guys are evil hedonistic vampires. The good guys- and girls- are humans and vampires. The two are coming to a show down in the sands of the desert after the leader of the evil vamps, Ashtari, was killed in one of Ms. Squires books. I gather these are all formerly used characters and I thought it was surprisingly ok. I won't be running feverishly to the book store, but I may keep my eye open for her if I'm bored.

"The Forgotten One"-Ronda Thompson is about to release the third book in this series of a family that was cursed by a whitch. The men all bear the senses of a werewolf which will spring from their body and destroy them unless they are accepted unconditionally by their true love. This story was of an illegitimate fourth son whom I found rugged and interesting. The heroine was a pampered orphan who had always been a good girl and was sick of it. This was my second favorite in this compilation. Not a surprise since, like Sherylon Kenyon, I have already read her previouse works and wasn't lost.

This was the worst excuse for a compilation book that I've seen in years. None of the stories was engaging in the least. Kenyon should have left hers lining her sock drawer or bird cage. Banks' story was the first of hers that I read & I immediately took all of her books OFF my wishlist on Amazon. I like Thompson, and perhaps hers was the best of the group. But that isn't saying much. Squires' story was so forgettable that I had to look at the front cover of the book in the middle of this review to remember it was in there.

This is a collection of rejects that should never have seen the light of day. I wish I had kept my receipt so I could get my money back.

"Until Death Do Us Part" by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I didn't think this was one of Kenyon's best, but I also didn't hate it. I agree that it was rather silly that the misunderstanding between the hero & heroine dragged on for 500 years, all because the heroine was too stubborn to listen and had no faith in the hero. And then after 500 years, Esperetta was like, "oops, sorry!" I thought she needed to do more to make it up to Velkan.

"Ride the Night Wind" by L. A. Banks. Young love between Jose and Juanita, who have been sharing the same dream of each other for years. I thought the beginning and middle of the story were awesome, but the ending totally ruined it. Not only was it confusing and it skipped over a ton of important happenings, but it wasn't really a great happy ending. It was somewhere between bitter and bitter-sweet. I'm all for super-happy endings, and have a very low tolerance for angst.

"The Gift" by Susan Squires. Vampire love. I was a little grossed out by all the explicit flashbacks about the hero's experiences with Asharti, the vampiress rapist. But I was impressed by the courage Emma showed in taking extreme risks to save and stand by her man.

"The Forgotten One" by Ronda Thompson. A decent story about a werewolf and the woman who loves him. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but enjoyable. Based on this, I would read other stories by this author.