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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A thoroughly enjoyable read, November 19, 2007
This review is from: The Vampire Shrink (Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist series) (Paperback)
When Dr. Kismet Knight meets the vampire of her dreams, she has a hard time believeing she's not in a neverending nightmare.
Kismet is a wonderful character, with the unique ability to have the open mind a practicing psychologist needs and yet the practical, "let's be real" attitude of a woman in the twenty-first century. She doesn't believe in boogey men or vampires or anything like them until she meets them in a series of escalating adventures that challenge our heroine to survive. The fact that an 800-year-old wealthy, powerful, stunner of a vampire has fallen hard for her goes far in convincing her that vampires, maybe, just might exist. Maybe.
This is an involving, fun read, and I loved the author's sassy voice and her insights into psychotherapy, insights made more realistic by the author's own background in the field. Kismet provides a running internal commentary much as our own might be while counseling her patients. For example, she struggles between the objective desire to unjudgmentally advise a teenage wanna-be vampire patient about her blood-drinking practices and unsafe sex, and wondering if her license would be taken away if she locked her client in a closet until the girl grows out of this phase. Kismet is sympathetic and yet strong, tolerant and yet with definite lines she will not cross. She's a wonderfully complex character and more than a match for the two suitors--one vampire, the other an FBI agent--who want to call her their own.
I'm not a huge fan of the vampire genre, but I'm glad I read this one. Whether one is or is not a fan of the genre, every reader will find something to like here. If you like hot triangle romances, chick-lit vampire, or psychological thrillers with some of the scariest bad guys imaginable, The Vampire Shrink is for you.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not What I Expected, January 7, 2008
This review is from: The Vampire Shrink (Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist series) (Paperback)
Despite initial misgivings, I really enjoyed this book. Although I like paranormal romance, I often find myself gagging at all the wrong times. Not so with this book. I felt a strong kinship with the Vampire Shrink, Dr. Kismet Knight. An unusual name, but it doesn't get in the way of the story. Told from Dr. Knight's point of view, the reader only knows what she knows -- which isn't much. As the title suggests, the book is about Dr. Knight's journey and not necessarily about vampires. Don't get me wrong, vampires are a very large part of that journey. However, I could just imagine how I would react if someone showed up in my office professing to be a vampire. I'd laugh, loudly, and then go in search of the hidden camera. From the initial revelations to the final showdown, the story makes a logical progression that felt true to the characters involved. I can't imagine it was easy for the author to maintain that integrity, but it pays off in a tightly written narrative. I won't go into all the story details since I think that other reviewers have done a nice job. I will say that Dr. Knight isn't a superhero, she's a woman who finds herself thrust into some interesting, and terrifying, situations and has to find out the truth for herself. Of course no woman is an island, and she has help from a super-sexy FBI agent, a surprising police detective, as well as compelling vampire coven leader, Devereaux. Along the way there's some sizzling sexual tension, interesting therapy sessions with actual vampires, and a very, very nasty villain. I enjoyed this book. It's romantic fantasy without going way out over the rainbow. I hope that there will be more to come.
One reviewer unfavorably compared this book to those of J.R. Ward and Kresley Cole, but I don't think that's a fair comparison. Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series is a favorite of mine, and I also enjoy the Black Dagger Brotherhood. However, I would be more likely to compare The Vampire Shrink with Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld Series, especially Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1).
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46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Vampires for mums!, September 13, 2011
Kismet Knight,PhD , is a rational scientist who doesn't believe in the paranormal. She especially doesn't believe in vampires, so when she begins counselling Midnight a young girl who seems to be obsessed with vampires, Kismet just presumes it is some strange fantasy the girl has made up to cover up other problems in her life, however Kismet soon begins to wise up when she is introduced to a handsome (drop dead gorgeous, pardon the pun!) man named Devereux who claims to be 800 years old! Kismet doesn't buy into his vampire story, but she then also can't quite explain why she has such odd reactions and strange powerful feelings when he is near to her. Then another client introduced to Kismet by Midnight turns up almost completely drained of blood staggers into her waiting room and then two angry men force their way into her office, causing her to consider the possibility that she really has run afoul of a vampire mafia style underworld. Next to enter this ever increasingly strange reality is the handsome FBI profiler Alan Stevens, who warns her that vampires are indeed very real, and one is a murderer,......a murderer who is after her!
I love, love, loved this book, I cannot recommend it enough, its vampires but not in the usual glittering, sugar coated teen way. This is Vampires for the mums! I truly would put this book as better than the Vampire Diaries and The True Blood Series. Part of me would love to see the book made into a tv programme, though I would want it to be totally accurate to the book, unlike some tv adaptations I could mention. Kismet is no young stupid girl, she's a common sense approach kind of woman who finds herself wandering deeper and deeper into this dark vampire underworld. Kismet ends up in a kind of love triangle, at the beginning of the book she has no male interest in her at all, then she ends up with the gorgeous, immortal, strong, magical Devereux (phwoooaaar) and the vampire obsessed FBI agent, Alan who isn't lacking in the looks department either (Hmmmmm). Kismet also has magical/spiritual gifts of her own that we only briefly explore maybe we will explore them more later in the series. YES there's more in this series.....I can hardly wait. The book is brilliantly written, the descriptions of the emotions so good you can almost feel what the characters are feeling. I would point out there are very mild sexual references in this book (probably no more than they will see on tv). I feel there is plenty of scope for more adventures for Kismet, Devereux and Alan. So to some up......go buy it/order it now!
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