Friday, 27 March 2015

Nighlife; New York by Travis W Luedke


Synopsis     

The Nightlife Series is violent, sexy, and occasionally violently sexy.

Vampires, strippers, escorts, night clubs, pimps and dirty cops – the Nightlife New York is never boring.


Aaron Pilan’s life is forever changed when he’s shot trying to rescue a drop-dead gorgeous woman on the streets of New York. Aaron is thrust into the shocking world of vampiric slavery when Michelle shares her blood to save his life.

Michelle's existence as a solitary vampire is also altered when she accepts this naive young man into her life. Bound by her blood, Aaron is subject to her authority. He walks a tightrope of strictly controlled feeding regiments and intense sexual adventures while catering to the neurotic control-freak tendencies of his new master. She vows to eliminate him if he proves too difficult to control.

This story is bold and evocative, infusing blood, sex, love and turmoil in an urban drama about two vampires battling evil outside and within themselves.

Review

Aaron is a quiet 22 year old who works in an Italian Restaurant, and at the end of a long shift he clocks of at midnight, intending to pick up a case of beer and head home. That is until he sees a drop dead gorgeous woman in the street, who has been stopped by a couple of corrupt cops for soliciting. As they try to arrest her, Aron goes to intervene and ends up being shot by one of the police men, leaving the woman with a decision that could change both their lives.

The drop dead gorgeous women turns out to be a vampire called Michelle, it is so refreshing to have a female vampire as the lead character instead of the traditional male. It adds a whole new angle to a book about vampires, but just as the male vampires in modern times are totally hot with a body to die for, Michelle is the female equivalent, being 5 foot with all the right curves in all the right places. Michelle turns Aaron into a vampire, and I really enjoyed watching his progression from a new vampire into a strong, self-assured male equivalent to her.

The book is full of characters who frequent the dirtier side of night life in New York, you have the pimp who is held to ransom by dirty cops along with strippers, hookers and the ‘escorts services’ all of whom provide the perfect backdrop for a vampire to feed, the author brings to life the seedier side of life in a city that never sleeps. His way of writing is concise, clear and original, he doesn’t need lots of twists and turns to keep the reader engaged, the burgeoning relationship between Michelle and Aaron does that for you.  Travis presents his readers with a well thought out novel in which he has a knack for blending erotica and violence with romance and action to keep me reading the book

Although there are erotic parts to the book, it isn’t gratuitous and it is appropriate to the story line, adding depth to the book. I also liked the idea of a living vampire who ages extremely slowly, but retains the superior strength, the feeding and the mind controlling stare of the more traditional undead and don’t forget the sleeping all day! I also liked the idea of short timed feeding from the cattle aka humans and the way they feed in public on nightclub dance floors adding to the underlying dangerous nature of a vampire.

I enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to others, especially if you want an easy read, that doesn’t depend on you having to concentrate hard to keep track of the characters and all the twists and turns you find in other books. The best recommendation I can give, is that I’ve just started reading the second book in the series Nightlife; Las Vegas, as I enjoyed the first so much.

I rate this book

 

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Why do women like vampires in the books they read?

I personally love books with vampires in them, they are charming, sexy and deadly, and mix that with the bad boy image many women love, they’ve got us hook line and sinker. Look at Eric Northman in the True Blood series by Charlaine Harris or Jean Claude in the Anita Blake series by L K Hamilton, they definitely get my vote.

So what is that attracts us women
Vampires tend to be loners, they have no family or friends to worry about no work commitments to drag them away, and their sole interest in life is where their next meal is coming from. Is it that dark brooding image that attracts us ladies, or a tryst with no strings attached, that is if you leave alive! They can also live in groups with a hierarchy dependent on their strength and abilities, many books use this format for example, the True blood series or the Anita Blake series of books. In the Anita Blake books Jean Claude is the master of the city and he oozes power and sexual attraction, which he uses to draw in Anita Blake (and the readers) to him. If you capture the heart of a vampire, you know they will love you forever, and they will let everyone know you are theirs and theirs only, think about Bill Compton in True Blood, he left it in no doubt that Sookie belonged to him. Secretly some women love the idea of being loved, cared for and made to feel special by a strong man who caters to her every needs and leaves others in no doubt you belong to them. In their fantasy world women can have as much unbridled emotion, sexuality and sensuality as they like. He doesn’t want you just for sex, he tends to want to look after you completely, and a relationship with them doesn’t leave you feeling suffocated by their demands, you have all the day light hours to yourself. In a woman’s unconscious quest for love and forbidden pleasures, maybe some women are attracted to vampires who embody what we are missing in our lives, a life where she may be taken for granted, looks after the kids, works etc., and hey it’s nice to fantasise about a different life brought to you in a great vampire novel.

They have no need to rely on gadgets or to follow current trends, although in many books they use their wealth to increase their power base, whereas in others they tend to be minimalist needing little giving them the ability to move swiftly with little encumbrance. They are slick and have a very cool image, they have style wearing colours and clothes that never go out of fashion, think long black leather duster coat and sunglasses. You can imagine them wanting to spend their wealth on making you happy, whilst they can fulfil your dream of a life beyond what you currently have. They have a power and sophistication beyond your wildest dreams, and if anyone is bothering or hurting you they will take care of them for you, and we do like our men to know what they want and know how to get it. Having the ability to hold a conversation doesn’t hurt either,

One of the main fascinating things they have is their fangs, always hidden, only revealed when they move in for the bite. Lost in the vampire world in books, surely I’m not the only one imagining what it would be like to be seduced and bitten by a vampire, obviously in a good way not deadly. Let us not forget that the new wave of vampire novels portray them as very hot & sexy in a very steamy let’s get into the shower together way and so not like the Count Dracula portrayals of the past played by actors such as Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi. Also centuries of practice, make vampires experts in the bedroom, and they know exactly how to please a woman. Along with their burning desire for you it’s no wonder ladies don’t mind being bitten, especially knowing what the old vampire bite can lead to. Sex and vampires are synonymous, and because they appeal to our innermost animalistic desires maybe this is why women readers are so drawn to the vampires they read about.

Fear can produce chemicals in the brain which can change into excitement, and sex mixed with danger can make for a heady cocktail, in a vampire romance. When vampires made their appearance in literature, think Bram Stockers Count Dracula, vampires were considered cold-blooded monsters. It isn’t until more recent times that they’ve evolved through books and film into the hot sexy vamps we have come to love, portraying them to look and feel more human and that they too can experience suffering and love like us. Also their inner fight of good versus evil make them the perfect candidates for many women who seek out partners who need fixing and secretly would love to be “the one” to save and tame the ultimate bad boy

The modern day vampires portrayed in books all have one underlying trait that catches women all the time, they are gorgeous, and the vampires you read about or see on the big screen and TV are always the embodiment of the perfect male, tall, strong with a physique to die for, think about Edward Cullen from The Twilight series, Eric Northman from True Blood or Jean Claude from the Anita Blake series of books. They will always stay fit and young for ever with the stamina to go with it, an option practically every woman would love to have.

The final fantasy for women readers is the vampire’s ability make you immortal and beautiful for ever with just a bite and the chance to live the dream forever! Who wouldn’t love to be an immortal stunning vampire!


 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

What I'm reading now

Synopsis 

Aaron Pilan’s life is forever changed when he’s shot trying to rescue a drop-dead gorgeous woman on the streets of New York. Aaron is thrust into the shocking world of vampiric slavery when Michelle shares her blood to save his life.

Michelle's existence as a solitary vampire is also altered when she accepts this naive young man into her life. Bound by her blood, Aaron is subject to her authority. He walks a tightrope of strictly controlled feeding regiments and intense sexual adventures while catering to the neurotic control-freak tendencies of his new master. She vows to eliminate him if he proves too difficult to control.

This story is bold and evocative, infusing blood, sex, love and turmoil in an urban drama about two vampires battling evil outside and within themselves