Series: NEW ORLEANS VAMPIRES (SMR)
Ratings: V2-3; S5; H2 (Book 5: H4)
Publisher and Titles:
Any Way You Want It (2007)
I Want You to Want Me (2008)
Demon Can’t Help It (2009)
What a Demon Wants (2010)
Truth Or Demon (2011)
Are you in the mood for a good, old-fashioned, erotic soul-mate romance series? If so, then this is the one. In this world, vampires and demons exist but are unknown to mortals. When three beautiful human twenty-somethings take a vacation in post-Katrina New Orleans, they set off the events that put the series in motion.
When they meet in a Bourban Street bar at the beginning of Any Way You Want It, Maggie and Ren are instantly attracted to one another. Maggie researches and authenticates classical music in Washington, D.C., and she is on the rebound from a failed relationship in which she was left at the altar on her wedding day. Ren is the lead singer and pianist for a bar band, and he is also a vampire, actually a lampir, who feeds off energy rather than blood. Maggie first notices Ren when he plays a song that she recognizes as being written by an obscure European composer back in the 19th century. Guess who that composer was? They try not to fall in lust, but do it anyway. The plot centers on the ups and downs of their romance.
In I Want You to Want Me, Ren’s brother, Vittorio, falls for Maggie’s BFF, Erika. Vittorio has spent his life roaming the globe, trying to stay away from his crazy mother, Orabella, who has a love for him that is anything but motherly. By now, Erika has moved to New Orleans to work on her art; she is a sculptor and is preparing for a show. Erika is living in a courtyard apartment complex owned by Ren. Vittorio is also staying there. Mom has followed Vittorio to New Orleans with her demon lover in tow, and she wants Vittorio, no matter who stands in her way. In this case, that would be Erika. The plot follows the blossoming romance between Vittorio and Erika and the dastardly plotting of Orabella—all the way up to the demonic climax. Oh yes, all of Vittorio’s former flames have mysteriously turned up dead. Could Mom be involved somehow? I wonder. This book is the most violent one.
In Demon Can’t Help It, Maksim, the demon from the previous book, falls for the third of the original trio, Josephine (Jo). Maksim is searching for his missing sister, and his search has led him to New Orleans. In the previous book, Maksim was Orabella’s lover, but he was only with her because he suspected that she knew where his sister was. In the end, Maksim helped to save Erika’s life, so the group has accepted him. Jo has moved to New Orleans to take a job as the head of a community center after a love affair with a married man has left her life in shambles. Maksim and Jo keep trying to avoid their mutual attraction, but you can imagine how well that goes. This book has the most convoluted plot of the series. The drowned-ghost-sister plot thread is pointless, and it fizzles out without even a tiny pop. The missing-sister plot thread is also without much purpose, and its resolution is a bit silly. As to what has Jo's life in such a mess—that is predictable from the very beginning.
In What a Demon Wants, Maksim’s sister, Ellini, is a half demon as well as being the author of a popular paranormal fiction series about a demon hunter. Unfortunately, Ellini uses authentic spells in her books, and the villain of the story wants revenge on Ellini for a spell gone wrong. Ellini's other major problem is that she turns into her scaly, red demonic self whenever she is aroused, so she stays away from men who turn her on. (Ellini is the only virgin in the series—but not for long.) When Maksim hires a bodyguard to ensure Ellini's safety, he turns out to be a sexy paranormal half-breed who pushes all of Ellini's buttons. Jude is a mercenary who has led a hard life battling both human and supernatural villains. Jude has his eye on the future: saving his money so that he can eventually find some peace and normality. As you probably suspect, Jude and Ellini fall in love after stumbling through the obligatory angst-ridden missteps. In one of the subplots, a small continuity error occurs when Maksim and Erika's new baby is a boy. In the previous book, the baby's gender was confirmed as being female.
In Truth Or Demon, three teenage girls read one of Ellini's books and use one of her authentic summoning spells to call forth the demon Killian. They command him to find a boyfriend for one girl’s older sister, Poppy. As you can imagine, Killian and Poppy fall in love after stumbling through a series of scenes made humorous by the fact that while Jude must keep trying to find Poppy a husband in order to meet the conditions set by his summoners, Poppy keeps taking Jude to places where he can meet attractive women, because she is under the misapprehension that Jude is wife hunting. This is the funniest of the books—almost a chick lit adventure—as the teens make up story after story to explain where Killian came from.
Both the plots and the love scenes are predictable, but if you like romantic paranormal fiction with lots of sex and plenty of angst, you’ll probably enjoy reading these books. The only book in which there is any violence is book 2, but the author doesn’t include too many graphic details.
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