Book Review: Desire After Dark, by Amanda Ashley

Desire After Dark
(Vampire Trilogy, #3)
Amanda Ashley
Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
February 1, 2006
Zebra Books
(Kensington Publishing Corp.)
Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased from used books bookstore

Book Synopsis:  

Vicki Cavendish knows she should be careful. After all, there's a killer loose in town—one who drains women of blood, women with red hair and green eyes just like her. She knows she should tell police about the dark, gorgeous man who comes into the diner every night, the one who makes her feel a longing she's never felt before. The last thing she should do is invite the beautiful stranger into her house.

Cursed to an eternity of darkness, Antonio Battista has wandered the earth, satisfying his hunger with countless women, letting none find a place in his heart. But Victoria Cavendish is different. Finally, he has found a woman to love, a woman who accepts him for what he is—a woman who wants him as much as he wants her...which is why he should leave. But Antonio is a vampire, not a saint. What is his, he'll fight to keep and protect. And Victoria Cavendish needs protecting...from the remorseless enemy who would make her his prey...and from Antonio's own uncontrollable hunger.

I had high expectations when I started this novel. After all, I've already read several Ashley novels, which I have really enjoyed. I have to honestly say that I didn't like this one as much as some of her other paranormal novels.

The beginning of the book did draw me in, although it was a bit predictable. A mysterious-looking guy enters a restaurant in which an attractive red-headed waitress works, and immediately catches her eye. He, too, seems to be very interested in her. She's excited about their mutual chemistry, until the strange murders begin, and she remembers him walking out of the restaurant with a red-headed female customer one night... 

Antonio Battista is a rather intriguing character, in spite of Vicky's suspicions. He seems genuinely very much taken with her, and she keeps allowing him to get closer, even as she wonders if she should. She can't seem to help it, as Antonio simply exudes sex appeal; in fact, he makes his first move on her not long after their first meeting, and she totally melts....

Vicky, or Victoria, as Antonio prefers to call her, is not a very interesting heroine. First of all, she's a waitress. Not that I have anything against waitresses, or servers, as  they're now called, but this particular occupation doesn't lend itself to creating an interesting character. Now, if Vicky had been a graduate student working on her Master's thesis in Criminal Psychology, or an artist getting ready for her first solo show, while waiting tables to support herself, that would certainly have gotten my interest right away! But no, she's just a waitress. At 22, she certainly could have been  a graduate student, and I was very disappointed to see that she wasn't.

What bothers me the most about her, though, is that she doesn't seem to be too quick on the uptake.

There's a point in the book where Vicky acts in a very decisive, even brave, manner, but then she once again lapses into her usual uninteresting self. This part of the novel was just too contrived, as well. 

As for Antonio, he's very charming and sweet, as well as totally devoted to Vicky. Still, he's not a very complex character, but a rather hackneyed one -- he has been a very lonely vampire for centuries, since he's never found a woman  he can truly love, until he meets Vicky. He's a very wealthy guy, of course, with several homes scattered in different countries, one of them being a haunted castle in Maine. Since he's Italian, he's got Old World manners, which I find very romantic.

The first part of the book builds up suspense very nicely, and I found myself frantically turning pages, wondering who the villain could possibly be. It wasn't obvious right away, and I found myself hoping it wouldn't be Antonio, as I had really begun to like the guy. 

I found the villain to be very realistically drawn. Some readers might disagree, saying that he's a cardboard character, but I still remember  Ted Bundy, and the way he could worm himself into a woman's confidence. The villain in this novel is just as sick as Bundy was, and worse, he's a  vampire....

Halfway through the novel, I found the plot starting to take some rather illogical, totally unreal twists. I want to avoid too many spoilers, so I will simply say that these plot twists seriously damaged my suspension of disbelief, and I began  to lose interest. Still, I managed to finish the book, because, in spite of every improbable event I came across, I did want to  get to the happy ending.

Another aspect of the book that bothered me was the plot centering on the secondary characters -- Tom Duncan, a very wimpy vampire hunter, and Bobbie Sue, a friend and co-worker of Vicky's. These two were nothing more than the requisite secondary romantic couple, and I found their relationship totally forced. Besides, it was totally impossible for me to take Duncan seriously; instead, he seemed to be the comic relief in the novel, although it seemed this was unintentional on the author's part, which is not good.

One character that I did enjoy greatly was Lady Kathryn, the resident ghost in Antonio's castle. She was just wonderful, with her funny remarks and easygoing manner. She immediately set Vicky at ease, and indeed, was more lively than  some of the living characters.

Ashley's writing flowed smoothly, but there were  a few bumps along the way. If she had smoothed these out, the novel would have been more believable, and  the final outcome would have carried more of a punch.

In short, this one had potential, but it just didn't fulfill that, or my expectations. As vampire romances go, Desire After Dark really fell flat for me, for the most part. Ashley is really capable of so much better!

In spite of all of the above,  I will continue to read Ms. Ashley's work, because she uses little to no profanity, and her sex scenes are not overly graphic, being  instead more on the sweet, romantic side. Besides, she has much better characterizations and plots in other novels of hers I've read in the past. It's really too bad that this particular one did not measure up....

MY RATING:

The Book Lover's Den #9: Charlotte Bronte's Inluence on PNR Author Amanda Ashley

Welcome to my Friday feature!

In each weekly post, I explore 

my thoughts on several 

book-related topics.

I am continuing with the topic of Gothic Fiction's spawned 'children', or, to use TV terminology, 'spinoffs'. 

When I first began to read paranormal romance, I was immediately attracted to one specific type -- vampire romance. The reason for this attraction is that many of these novels contain a very interesting metaphor; the male vampires in them strive to protect the human women they love.....from themselves. This relates to some real-life relationships, in which a man consciously strives to protect a woman from his own  dark side. This analysis is not mine; I came across an online article dealing with the topic some time ago. The author's name is Michael De Groote; he is a staff writer for "Deseret News". You can access that article HERE.

There are several books on Amazon dealing with the evolution of the vampire in popular fiction -- from evil monster to tortured romantic hero. Dracula and Nosferatu are obviously depraved, evil creatures. Edward Cullen and his family, on the other hand, conscientiously avoid killing humans. Instead, they hunt animals. 

Not all vampire romance novels explore the theme of the vampire as tortured hero, but I prefer to read those that do. My introduction to such books was through the author Amanda Ashley. This is a pen name for author Madeline Baker, who writes historical romance novels under her real name, and paranormal ones under her pen name.

The first Ashley novel I read was Embrace the Night, which was first published in 1995, and has since been re-issued. The hero, Gabriel, becomes the guardian for Sarah, a young girl who is the incarnation of Sara, a woman he loved centuries before. I read this book several years ago, and loved it, although in a more recent re-reading, I found it a bit too melodramatic. I'll have to read it a third time, though, so that I can write a review for this blog.

There are two other Ashley novels that captivated me after that first one: A Darker Dream, and Midnight Embrace. In the first one, the hero, Rayven, rescues a young girl, Rhianna, who was being sold into white slavery by her own father, in 1843 England. In the second, the mysterious hero, Lord Alesandro de Avalone, becomes the benefactor of Analisa, a young orphan, whom he invites for an extended stay at his mansion, Blackbriar Hall.

Fans of the great romantic classic, Jane Eyre, will notice the influence of Charlotte Bronte in these novels, especially the third one. In fact, one of the characters in Midnight Embrace is even named "Mrs. Thornfield". This is a clear reference to Thornfield Hall, the mansion featured in Jane Eyre.

When I first read these novels, I was totally enthralled by all the Gothic trappings, the tender, caring heroes, the way everything worked out so perfectly for the lovers. Looking back now, however, I do have to say that all three heroines -- especially Rhianna and Analisa -- are much too passive for my liking. This is in marked contrast to Jane Eyre, who is a passionate, intelligent, and very resourceful character. Orphaned at a very young age, she knows how to fend  for herself. She does not expect to be rescued by a handsome, wealthy, overprotective hero. The fact that she does fall in love with  such a hero (except that he's not handsome) is purely coincidental. The novel focuses heavily on her strong moral character. Although Bronte does include several romantic interactions between Jane and her hero, Edward Rochester, these do not override the emphasis on Jane as a powerful female character who is very much her own woman.

The three heroines named above are like Jane mostly in the fact that they are orphans with no relatives or friends. To be fair, Sarah does have a burning ambition -- to become a world-class ballerina. She's crippled, though, so she doesn't see any chance of that happening. Gabriel helps her to achieve her dream by curing her, and then sending her off to ballet school, in Paris. As for Rhianna and Analisa, they don't seem to have ambitions in lilfe. In spite of my misgivings, I did enjoy their interactions with their heroes; their foremost personality trait was that of compassion, something they share with Jane Eyre. Still, they did not really have lives of their own; their whole world revolved around their vampire lovers. Thus, these characters were not entirely satisfactory.

The three heroes mentioned above also can't quite compare when contrasted with Edward Rochester, who, far from attempting to spare Jane the effects of his rather abrasive, arrogant character, instead inflicts them upon her, albeit unintentionally. He's still a tortured hero in spite of this, paradoxically enough; he longs for true love and happiness, but is burdened with a terrible secret that makes this goal impossible for him to achieve. His love for Jane makes him a sympathetic, fascinating hero, but he needs to overcome his character flaws.

Ashley's heroes, in contrast, are all too aware of their own character flaws; they are vampires, after all, so they regard themselves as monsters. In contrast to Rochester, they are always attempting to 'atone' for their own inescapable vampire instincts. Like Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga, they regard themselves with self-loathing, no matter how successful they are at controlling their thirst for blood.

As for the Gothic settings, these have become standard in some vampire fiction -- the dark, mysterious mansion, the young girl exploring its secrets, the equally dark and mysterious hero, the overwhelmingly gloomy, oppressive atmosphere, frequently full of stormy weather and evil forebodings. Although I dislike the Horror genre, these  Gothic elements do fascinate me, especially since one would not expect to encounter any goodness and light right along with them. It's the tension between such elements and the unending quest of the vampire heroes to attain redemption that is so incredibly fascinating to me. It's the eternal struggle between good and evil.  

It's interesting how a reader's tastes evolve and change as they go along. Books once loved become books that are merely liked, while books once hated become books that, while not loved, can be valued on their own terms.

This has been the case for me with Ashley's novels. I can always see the clear influence of Charlotte Bronte in Ashley's settings and characters. As regards the latter, though, Bronte's characters  are more fleshed-out, more realistic, while Ashley's seem somewhat bland at times. In Jane Eyre, Bronte endows her characters with flaws as well as virtues, and they undergo emotional and spiritual growth as the novel progresses. While this is also true of the characters in the three Ashley novels I've mentioned, it is so to a much lesser degree. Her heroes are overwhelmingly good, while her heroines are overwhelmingly compassionate and understanding.

Of course, the comparisons I'm making here make it obvious that literary fiction  is much superior to popular fiction, in the sense that it requires deeper thought and analysis. However, popular fiction  can still delight a reader looking for escape from a frequently intolerably, dull, routine, reality, which can at times include incomprehensible tragedies. Besides, popular fiction sometimes manages to straddle the divide between it and literary fiction; this is the case, for example, with Tolkien, whose towering masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, is at once a prime example of literary fiction, as well as popular fiction.

I would definitely like to re-read these three novels to see whether I can attain a satisfactory compromise between loving them  wholeheartedly, which I no longer do, and hating them  outright, which I feel is not fair to the author, as they are romantic works that do fulfill the function of entertaining and delighting the reader. I do remember getting lost in them, completely forgetting the so-called 'real' world around me.

In March of 2011, I published a 'literary musing', regarding the vampire as metaphor, on this blog. You can access that post HERE.

What do you think of my views?

Please leave me a comment 

and let me know!

Stacking The Shelves #34: These Broken Stars, The Bone Season, The Looking Glass Wars, Seeing Redd, Awakened, Raven's Blood, Lost In Time, The White Queen

Welcome to

Stacking The Shelves!!

This is a weekly event hosted by Jennifer, Lili,

Stephanie, Helen, and Tynga @ Tynga's Reviews!

As the title implies, this is all about

sharing the books you're adding

to your shelves, be they physical or virtual.

For the complete rules, and to sign up,

just click on the link above.

Here's this week's haul!!  

Books For Review

Click on each cover picture for the 

Goodreads or Amazon page about each book.

I received this review copy from the author,

Cassandra Lawson!!

She signed it and wrote a great message, 

too, which was so sweet of her!

I know this is going to be a great

vampire romance!!

I recently interviewed her for this blog.

Purchased

My husband bought me this one!!

He knew I wanted it, and

surprised me with it this week!!!

Of course, he got a lot of hugs & kisses!!!

This one caught my eye when I was 

shopping at Marshall's one day.

(This is a store in Miami, Florida, USA.)

The price was right, so I snapped it up!!

This novel is based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking 

Glass, by Lewis Carroll.  Since I love

fairy tale retellings, this was a must-have!!

This is the sequel to the book above.

There's another book after this one, as 

well as several more on the 

theme of Wonderland.

+

I found this one while browsing on

Amazon, and just had to get it!!

I love the cover!  The guy is holding

her so very tenderly.......

I saw this one in the bargain section

at my favorite B&N store and

couldn't resist buying it!

(Of course, now I have to get the 

very first book in this series.....)

This was another bargain find at

B&N.  I want to start reading

more historical fiction, and Gregory

is one of the very best!!

What do you think of 

this week's haul?

What awesome books have you

stacked on your shelves?

Book Review: "A Bite to Remember", by Lynsay Sands

A Bite to Remember
(Argeneau #5)
Lynsay Sands
Trade Paperback, 362 pages
Gollancz, January 1, 2011
(first published June 27, 2006)
Humor, Mystery, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy


Book Synopsis:  Rule #1: Never get involved with someone who won't be there for you when the sun comes up.
 
Once bitten, twice shy, and sexy PI Jackie Morrisey wasn't going there again. Vincent Argeneau may be the hottest guy she's ever met, living or undead, but she's here to stop a killer from turning this vampire into dust, not to jump into bed with him.

Rule #2: Never kiss a vampire . . . it can be a pain in the neck.

Okay, so Vincent's had four hundred years to perfect his kissing skills, and he does look rather tempting when he runs around the house shirtless. He's also charming, protective . . . did we mention he can kiss? Jackie needs to be on her guard, or else she'll have to come up with a new rule: If you're going to fall in love with a vampire, make sure it's a bite to remember.

Amazon US/Amazon CA

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

The Book Depository

My Review

The cover of this edition, published by Gollancz, is somewhat misleading; this is by no means a creepy novel, in spite of that unfortunate little trickle of blood running out of the guy's mouth.  I had already read this years ago, and really enjoyed it.  So, I bought this edition (because of the good-looking guy on the cover) and dove in again, with the intention of reviewing the book this time around.

Most people unfamiliar with the paranormal genre would most likely assume that vampires and humor really don't mix at all.  They would be totally wrong.  First of all, there's a difference between the paranormal romance vampire and the vampire of traditional horror stories.  These romance vamps are not bad guys at all.  In the case of Lynsay Sands, they can be funny, as well.  

Sands' vampire world has a very unique origin, too; her characters are descendants of the ancient Atlanteans, who, with their advanced science and technology, created miniature mechanisms known as "nanos".  Their whole function is to keep their host in peak physical and mental condition, totally free from disease and the aging process.  Since these microscopic gadgets live within the bloodstream, they need blood in order to perform their work.  Thus, the vamps in this series are really scientifically-enhanced humans who need to consume blood for the nanos to perform their duties.  However, these vampires are not soulless monsters who suck their victims dry.  In these modern times, they don't bite people at all, unless there's some very rare reason for it.  Instead, they consume their liquid food from bags provided by blood banks.  

In this particular novel, which is the fifth in the series (it was the first one I read, though), the reader again encounters the lovable, easygoing Vincent Argeneau, a four-hundred-year-old actor who decided on his career after meeting Shakespeare at the age of 10.  Currently owner of a play production company, he needs help finding out who is sabotaging his productions, and why.

Vincent first appeared in the previous novel in the series, titled Tall, Dark and Hungry.  A new character, Jackie Morrisey, detective, is introduced in the present novel.  Together with her giant-sized assistant, appropriately named "Tiny", she is hired by Vincent to nab the elusive saboteur.

This is a fun and lighthearted read, in spite of a murder and some other pretty serious criminal events.  The dialogues between the characters are very witty, however.

Vincent and Jackie are perfect together.  Jackie is a very active, independent person, constantly coming up with ideas on how they might find the saboteur, while Vincent is very endearingly sexy, laid-back, and as sweet as can be.  Although he's a very wealthy man, there's not an ounce of arrogance in him; instead, he's very down-to-earth, and his concern for his employees is exemplary.  Jackie slowly warms up to him, as she discovers that not all immortals are as bad as her ex, who totally abused and controlled her.  As determined as she is to stand on her own two feet, she can't help but be enchanted with Vincent, and consequently, some of her long-held emotional armor begins to chip away.  Their romance is full of some totally hilarious twists and turns.

The mystery is developed very well throughout the novel; I was sure at first that I had the right person as  the saboteur, only to be totally surprised in the last few chapters.  Throughout, Sands skillfully maintains the suspense, as well as the increasing sexual tension between the main protagonists.  There are several scenes in which the interaction between Vincent and Jackie is totally adorable, and not "cheesy" at all.

I also like the characters Tiny McGraw and Marguerite Argeneau, who is Vincent's aunt.  These two became platonic friends way before the novel's conclusion, and I loved the way they cared for Jackie, giving her emotional support when necessary.  Marguerite, in fact, became like a second mother to Jackie, something I found very endearing.

There were other interesting minor characters as well, such as Christian and Marcus Notte, and their cousins, Dante and Tommaso, who were even taller than Tiny, and loved to scarf down half a pizza each (yes, these vamps eat regular food, too), with the expectation that seconds were on the way. 

The villain was convincingly, if also very sadly, evil.  I never would have thought this person would ever have committed the acts of sabotage described in the novel, nor would I have expected this same person to go as far as to kill someone.  Kudos to Sands for effectively hiding the villain's identity as long as necessary! 

I did think that the end of the novel was a bit drawn out.  The villain engaged in the frequently-used technique -- which I believe is more common in films than novels -- of describing and explaining their previous crimes to the potential victim before they actually proceed to kill them.  This type of thing is a little too overused.  Besides, it's obvious that real criminals would never act this way.

There are a couple of things I dislike about the vampires created by Sands; one of them is their ability to take over the minds of humans in order to control their behavior.  They can also "wipe" the humans' minds, so these unsuspecting folks will entirely lose their memories of certain events the vampires might not want them to remember.  Of course, in the hands of a an evil vamp, these powers would be used to harm humans.  Vincent would never do that, but I'm still uncomfortable with the concept.  I just don't like the whole idea of mind control.  Mind reading, which is another power these characters have, is somehow not as disturbing to me.  The ethical vamps, like the Argeneaus, don't read humans' minds without permission. 

Although this novel kept me engaged all the way through to the end, the above points brought my rating down to four stars.  It was very well-written, though, and was otherwise a very enjoyable read.  

The title of this novel is also a rather witty one; it reminds me of the old Cary Grant film, "An Affair to Remember".

As vampire romance novels go, I would definitely recommend A Bite to Remember, in spite of the negative aspects mentioned above.  Besides being a fun read, it could even be categorized as "a cozy mystery".  Also, there's little to no profanity in it (with NO "F bombs"), and the love scenes are very sweet, instead of raunchy.  This is the type of book for a romance lover to curl up with, on any night of the year! 

  

MY RATING: 

 About the Author

Born in Southern Ontario, Lynsay Sands is the New York Times bestselling author of the Argeneau Vampire series. She has written more than 34 books and anthologies since her first novel was published in 1997. Her romantic comedies span three genres--historical, contemporary, and paranormal--and have made the Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, USA Today, and New York Times bestseller lists. Lynsay's books are read in more than twelve countries and have been translated into at least six languages. She's been a nominee for both the Romantic Times Best Historical Romance Award and the Romantic Times Best Paranormal Romance Award, was nominated and placed three times in the RIO (Reviewers International Organization) Awards of Excellence, and has several books on All About Romance's Favorite Funnies list.

Website/Goodreads/Facebook

Amazon/Twitter

 

Stacking The Shelves #13

This is a weekly event hosted by Jennifer, Lili,

Stephanie, and Tynga @ Tynga's Reviews!

As the title implies, this is all about

sharing the books you're adding

to your shelves, be they physical or virtual.

For the complete rules, and to sign up,

just click on the link above.

This week's haul!!

Giveaway Prize

Thanks to Vera @ Luxury Reading

for the giveaway in which I won

this book that blends

the genres of Steampunk,

paranormal romance, urban fantasy,

and young adult fiction

into one exciting, fascinating story!!

A Conspiracy of Alchemists

Liesel Schwartz

Goodreads 

Amazon US

The Book Depository UK

Fishpond (UK cover)

Books Purchased

I've long wanted to own this book,

which has won several

literary awards, and has been

praised by the likes of Tamora Pierce!

It's the first one in a great

fantasy trilogy!!

The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Rae Carson

Goodreads

Amazon US

The Book Depository UK

Fishpond

I saw this next book for a great price on eBay,

and just couldn't resist!

One of my literary loves is classic

science fiction, and this volume

contains many great stories,

by such masters as Isaac Asimov,

Alfred Bester, George R.R. Martin, and

Frederik Pohl!!

The 1975 Annual World's Best SF

edited by Donald A. Wollheim

Goodreads

Amazon US/Amazon UK