Customer Reviews

Over My Dead Body (Broken Heart Vampires)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Single mother Simone Sweet is doing her best to overcome a brutal and troubled past, all the while trying to raise her six year old daughter, Glory, who is suffering from experiences so traumatic that she has retreated into herself and refuses to speak to anyone. Escaping to Broken Heart to live with her deceased husband's grandmother, Simone is trying her best to live a life that will help heal both she and Glory's painful emotional wounds. But little did Simone expect to be turned into a vampire when she arrived in Oklahoma, although this did have the added benefit to help Simone to seemingly "disappear" in the real world. With an affinity for all things mechanical, Simone settles in as Broken Heart's resident mechanic and begins to help the Consortium create a special shield that will, in effect, make the paranormal community invisible to the outside world. While working on this special project, Simone comes into frequent contact with the sexy human, Brady.

Tall, brooding, and sexy as hell, Braddock "Brady" Hayes is a PRIS (Paranormal Research and Investigative Services) Operative who has always seemed very quiet and standoffish, so Simone can't help but be surprised when he seems to take a sudden and unexpected personal interest in her. But Brady also has a dark secret -- one he isn't proud of. After Brady experiences tragedies of his own as a young man, he suddenly decided to join the military and ends up volunteering for a special assignment -- ETAC is a covert government operation whose sole purpose is to remove any domestic threats -- including any of the paranormal variety. Spending several years doing their bidding despite knowing it's wrong, Brady finally manages to escape the long arm of the government and ends up helping those he once hunted.

As a growing sanctuary for all paranormals, Broken Heart is fast becoming the place for all paranormals to live without the worry of hiding themselves. But with a serial killer on the loose all eyes are turned to Simone and the secret she has worked so hard to keep hidden.

With a wonderful blend of humor, romance, and mystery, readers will not be disappointed with best-selling author Michele Bardsley's fifth installment of her Broken Heart series. A fast-paced story filled with a touch of bedlam, Over My Dead Body was a page-turner that had no problem keeping me fully entertained from beginning to end. I particular enjoyed the chemistry between Simone and Brady -- two broken souls who are both hiding secrets of their own yet are trying to move on from their mysterious and troubled pasts.

As an added bonus to Over My Dead Body, Bardsley provides a Glossary, A Brief History of the Consortium, and several other references pertaining to Broken Heart that will no doubt be appreciated by both newcomers and long-time fans of the series.

*Note: I'd give this 4.5 stars if the rating system would let me*

Reviewed by Mippy Carlson

Normally I don't like it when an author starts out a story with a key scene out of context and then backs up and tells us how the characters got to that point, but for some reason this time it really worked for me. And as we meet vampire single-mom-with-a-dark-secret Simone and watch as she interacts with former military special ops soldier Brody, I just couldn't help but feel that he had to be the leading man - he's gorgeous, insightful patient, good with kids and did I mention gorgeous? - and I just couldn't imagine how Simone, even with her history, could possibly get to the point of killing him. And the whole sense of impending doom, and secrets from the past ended up heightening the tension for me, making this my favorite book in this series so far.

One of the other things that made this book better for me is that even though these books are still on the short side and contain a fair amount of padding material - this time the history of the consortium, the who's who of the turnbloods and a dictionary - all of this is at the end of book instead of being interleaved side trips (like that history of all the vampire clans) in the previous books, so it doesn't break up the action and thankfully Ruadan's story is greatly abbreviated this time - because let's face it new readers will have a bigger problem with the large established cast than with not knowing the exact details of how vampires came to be in the first place.

If you are new to Brokenheart Arizona, don't start here. I made that mistake on the previous book, Wait Till Your Vampire Gets Home (Broken Heart, Oklahoma, Book 4) and then went back and read the ones that came before, so I can tell you that this series is definitely more fun if you know who's who.

A personal favorite of mine is "funny" vampire books. This is one of those series. There is plenty of laughs, plenty of romance, and plenty of paranormal activity. Really... Each book goes into particular couples (very popular now). Therefore, we will delve into this books main focus.

This particular book goes into the new undead life of Simone Sweet. Simone Sweet is one of the original "turn bloods" from the series. The turn bloods are vampires that were infected by a vampire (Lorcan). This vampire was infected with a blood disease called the taint. This all took place in a town called Broken Heart, Oklahoma. That's a very, very short background on how it all started.

Simone Sweet is the resident mechanic of Broken Heart. She has been single since her husband died year before. and has a daughter named Glory. They are currently living with Glory's great-grandmother. The prologue to the book is Simone stating how she killed Braddock Hayes. Towards the end of the prologue, one of the guardians asks her why. She simply states to herself, "Strangely enough, I had killed Brady and Jacob for the same reason. Freedom."

After the shocking introduction, we start at the beginning. We get reacquainted with Simone's immense talents with metal and anything mechanical. Because of this, she is helping the consortium (think sheriff, deputy, head vampires) create an invisi-shield to take Broken Heart off the map. During this time, she sees a lot of Braddock (or we'll say Brady) Hayes. Allow me to describe him really quickly for you... hot, hunky, human. He comes by every night at 9 pm to play Candyland with Simone's daughter who hasn't spoken since her dad died (Say it with me: "Aw!"). While out working on the posts for the shield, a local werewolf is getting under her skin and Brady says they have a date.

This is all news to Simone. However, she is not opposed one bit. She allows him to drive her home and the whirlwind romance begins. It's not going to be all roses and cupcakes, not in Broken Heart. This is where the plot thickens. I don't like to go too in depth with the plot because I feel I'll ruin the book for potential readers. Here's my highly abbreviated *no spoilers* version. During the course of the book, there are intermittent chapters as Brady recalls his years in a anit-paraterrorist branch of the military. Said branch shows back up with a ghost from the past and reeks havoc on poor Simone, Brady, Glory, and all of Broken Heart! During these trials, we find out what we would do for our children, for love, and for freedom.

This book was slightly more serious than the rest of the series. A lot of that has to do with Simone's abusive past and Brady's life in a bad branch of the military. I still love this series for the simple fact that I'm a major fan of light hearted vampire romance. Also, stories about abuse (spousal, child, or otherwise) simply tug at my heart strings. This made me get even more involved with Simone's character which is a big plus. HOWEVER, I don't recommend trying to start with this book. You can tell from my very abbreviated summation at the top that you might get a little lost. Go pick up I'm the Vampire That's Why which is the first book in the series.

Check Out www.squidoo.com/vampwolfbar for more upcoming reviews.

I'm not sure what I was expecting - but Over My Dead Body wasn't the typical vampire book that I read. First off this story takes place in Oklahoma, but in a purely paranormal community. On top of that Simone, our heroine, has only just become a vampire and has dark dark secrets. There is a glossary and index of creatures (you may want to read up on these before you start the book). This was a cross between Lord of The Rings and vampire romance novels. Simone is the towns mechanic and while trying to create a shield so that the rest of the world can't find their little town she falls in love, has a run in with her past, has to save her daughter and is forced to grow into the woman that she has always known was inside.

"Over My Dead Body" is book five from Michele Bardsley's hilarious 'Broken Heart Vampires' contemporary series about a small city in Oklahoma that becomes a protected haven for 'good guy' vampires. In the first book, several citizens are bitten by accident and those are the ones allowed to stay...the others are paid and 'enchanted' to leave to live successful lives elsewhere. So basically, we have here an entire city of otherworldly creatures...but many of them were just plain, ordinary people and the titles of Bardsley's books reinforce that: "I'm the Vampire, That's Why"; "Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire"; "Because Your Vampire Said So"; and "Wait Till Your Vampire Gets Home". Funny? Oh yeah. Good reading? Definitely.

Simone moves to Broken Heart with her daughter for sanctuary. Since the night Simone's abusive husband tried to kill her, her daughter hasn't spoken and Broken Heart just SOUNDS like a good place to be. Until even stranger things happen...like becoming a vampire, falling in love with a ?human?, developing weird powers, oh and let's not forget another attack by her now undead hubby.

You could read "Over My Dead Body" without reading the previous books...but to get the full enjoyment, I'd still recommend looking up the backlist. This series does a wonderful job of combining humor, action, magic (we're not just talking about vampires!), romance, and a continuing storyline that moves along with each book without leaving the reader hanging. Not an easy task, but Michele Bardsley manages with zippy dialogue, steamy love scenes, and just the right amount of written slapstick. If you enjoy laughter, magic, and mommyhood with challenges...check out this series.

This is a continuing series and if you read this book without reading the previous books you will definitely be lost. I have read all the books in the series and I still had to stop and think about who was who. The author had so many characters in this little book that it was like reading a book of names. I think that she did not focus on the relationship enough, that the big blow up was anticlimactic, and that not enough development was given to the new characters and threads she introduced. The book was easy to read, the dialogue was good, but the storyline was all over the place and by the end I didn't know if I really cared about what happened to Broken Heart. It would be nice if the author would return to writing about the romance between the characters rather than the town being under attack.

Really good book. This is a great story and had you on your toes from the first chapter! Brady and Simone are great today had such a great ending...

This story line is one of my favorites in recent years. I have gotten the books as soon as possible and read them within a day of receiving them. I love them. I love that each book shows us more characters from this sleepy little town. Id love to live there, the occupants make me laugh. This series is not smutty and doesn't do blood or gore. It would be appropriate for a younger audience. I love it. Thanks.

Publisher: Signet
Purchased: Bought from Borders

What I Loved: The furthering of the story of the community of Broken Heart OK. I am really loving how the elements are coming together and the community is really bonding together. The "wish" was probably my favorite moment in the book because it really was funny but I think great for the town.

What I Liked: Simone and Braddock had a really sweet story. I think they both felt a little bit like they didn't belong but it was fun to watch how they ended up belonging like everyone else.

Complaints: None really! This wasn't my favorite book in the series but it was still a really fun read.

Why I gave it a 3: This book was a great continuation of the story of Broken Heart but it just wasn't my favorite. That being said, do not skip it--Simone and Braddock are a really good couple and you will miss some "plot" forwards. Well worth the time it took to read!

Who I would recommend it too: PNR readers who have read the rest of the series. It really is one of those fun series that just make you smile!

[...]

Really cute and fun read. You will love to get to know all the people in Broken Heart. Check your Library system to see if they have copies of any in the series. Mine had three of them.