Taming the Beast Within

Fourth post in and I'm already off schedule.  I am going to blame Canada Day in this instance, as I spent most of my week prior making sure my desk was up to date for the extra long weekend I was taking.  The most disappointing part is I had my review written by hand the day before I was going to post it, and now it's gone missing, so let's see what I can remember (since the book has already gone back to the library).

Forbidden Nights with a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks is another in a long line of current popular fiction that plays with the classic vampire/werewolf mythology to suit it's own needs.  It's entertaining if you enjoy the genre (which I do), with lots of sex, violence and romance.  I picked this one up at the library at random off the shelves, without realizing that it is midway through a series. 

This story deals with Vanda Barkowski, vampire owner of an exotic dance club, and Phil Jones, an old friend who becomes her anger management sponsor, guard, and love interest. Sparks tells their story while introducing characters from her previous and future novels, giving a bit too much back story for every character, as though she doesn't trust us to have read the other novels.

I found that Sparks told us details rather than showing us.  Phil has a psychology degree, and he references his education repeatedly, as in "as a psychology major, I think..." and "in my psych courses we learned...," even in his own internal thoughts, as he diagnoses Vanda's anger problems and fear of intimacy.  He tries to help Vanda keep her cool and control her anger, without revealing his own secrets or inner beast.

Several times throughout the reading of the novel I thought, "wow, this is bad dialogue," or something to that effect, yet I still read the novel in one sitting.  The plot, including a fight between the "good" mainstreaming vampires who drink synthetic blood and the "evil" vampires who enjoy drinking from humans and wreaking havoc, a sub-plot involving displaced teen aged werewolves, and just a sprinkling of Nazi's, drew me in. 

If I see more books by Sparks at the library, I'd probably grab them for a quick entertaining read.  The budding romance was well played out (as far as romances go), and the community Sparks has created has caught my attention, so I might just go request How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire, Sparks first novel, from my local library to see if I get more hooked by starting from the beginning. 

Rating: 3/5