This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
About The Book
He’s dying to have her…
She always knew Fate was cruel…
The last person Olivia Hollingsworth expected to see at her Greenwich Village vampire club was her one true love, Doug Paxton—whom she believed to be dead for centuries. Olivia thought she had moved on, but when Doug reappears, her heart knows she’d rather die than lose him again.
But this is beyond the pale…
Ever since Doug can remember, a red-haired siren has haunted his dreams. He never thought she could be real until he goes to investigate a murder at Olivia’s night club. However, as the bodies keep piling up at her feet, he must fight to prove her innocence—even if it costs him his life…
My Review
First Impressions
Tall Dark and Vampire is an interesting read and I was quite curious to see what this author would do here. I do know that this series and the Amoveo series are loosely connected. I have had this one on my kindle for quite a long while, but I really was in the mood for a paranormal and it’s been a while since I have indulged in a vampire romance. And unfortunately, this one didn’t quite work out for me as many of this authors’ books have. So I was disappointed in this reading. I had such higher expectations than what I received in this book here. I will say that the first half of the story is solid, I went into this book really enjoying it but the middle of the story just fell flat, and not until the end did it wrap up nicely. So while I will always recommend this author and even this series (I read book 3 in the series a while ago and it was a five star read for me) so I think it just wasn’t a fully consistent read in what I expected but a solid story was delivered here.
Summary
The story sets off with our heroine, Olivia Hollingsworth, who has been having dreams for the past twenty years of a man she once knew, the love of her life who was killed when she was turned into a vampire. But now its been three hundred years and vampires shouldn’t have dreams, but she is experiencing them with more intensity. Olivia is head of her coven, but when there is a human that is killed and one of her vampires in her coven is the prime suspect she comes face to face with a cop and the man she has been dreaming of, who is the spitting image of her long lost love….Doug Paxton. Doug is human and is a police officer and detective, and he is determined to find out who is brutally killing humans, but there is an intense connection that he feels for Olivia and while he suspects she knows more than she is letting on, he also can’t deny what he is feeling for her. But when they are attacked and his partner is murdered and he has almost killed himself, Olivia saves his life but it comes at a cost, he is now a vampire and he is full of feelings of anger and hurt towards Olivia. Even if he doesn’t understand this new world he is living in, he also can’t deny the feelings he has for this vibrant woman that seems to know him more than anyone else ever has. But as Olivia and Doug work together to find out why there are so many rogue vampires being made, they also could be in more trouble than they realize…..
What I Loved
There were quite a few elements to this story that I actually really enjoyed here, and I was so drawn to this story here. I especially drawn to the reincarnation aspect of the story. My heart just broke for our heroine, who just has so much depth of love for Doug and he has no memory of her. She also is experiencing evidence of being a bloodmate to Doug which certain leadership of the vampire league find threatening because if you have a blooded mate, you can walk in the sun. I really was so interested by the set up of this story and seeing the way that the author built up the certain vampire plot device that was developed in the story. I did have a fun time with Olvia’s coven and the vampires that she is over. She definitely has her hands full with some of them. But she was such a wonderful heroine, in how she is a true leader and balances out firmness with love and affection. And she always has faith in her love to Doug. Even when he has anger towards her, she is so gracious with him and I truly admired her as the heroine of the story. There are aspects of the hero that I did enjoy. I admired that he was always willing to do that right thing and even be willing to sacrifice himself if need be. He is a fighter and I did like how well he takes to being a vampire once he gets over his anger.
What I Struggled With
There was only one aspect of the story that I truly struggled with here and that is the hero.. I struggled with his character so much. Once he gets turned he gets so angry and bitter towards Olivia and I just couldn’t understand it especially when she saved his life. He just puts all the blame on her shoulders and I could understand at first being angry or hurt at losing yourself, but to be honest, I struggled with his character at times for much of the book and when he turns against Olivia I just couldn’t reconcile enjoying his character enough as it took much enjoyment from the story.
Overall View
Tall Dark and Vampire is a sexy, heart-filled paranormal romance that sets up the series in a thrilling tale of vampire lore, a fated love, and a second chance story to deliver a satisfying turnout.
Title: Tall Dark and Vampire
Author: Sara Humphreys
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Length: 289 Pages
Book Links
Amazon| Barnes and Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club
Book Evaluation
Storytelling Quality: 4
Story Itself: 3.5
Character Development: 3
Writing Style: 3.5
World Building 4
Feels + The Romantic Heart 3
Pacing 4
Plot 4
Cover Art 3
Ending 4.25
Book Ratings
Overall Rating of the Book
Steam Level
Simmering—soft warm touches and light intimacy
Warm- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.
Steamin’ up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.
Series Order
Dead in the City
Tall Dark and Vampire- Pub 2013 #1 in the Series
Vampire Trouble- Pub 2014 #2 in the Series
Vampires Never Cry Wolf- Pub 2015 #3 in the Series
The Good, The Bad, and the Vampire- Pub 2016 #4 in the Series
About The Author
Sara Humphreys is the award winning author of the Amoveo Legend series. The third book in the series, UNTAMED, won two PRISM awards–Dark Paranormal and Best of the Best. The first two novels from her Dead in the City series have been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award. Sara was also a professional actress. Some of her television credits include, A&E Biography, Guiding Light, Another World, As the World Turns and Rescue Me.
She loves writing hot heroes and heroines with moxie but above all, Sara adores a satisfying happily-ever-after. She lives in New York with Mr. H., their four amazing sons, and two adorable pups. When she’s not writing or hanging out with the men in her life, she can be found working out with Shaun T in her living room or chatting with readers on Facebook.
I have quite a few books written by this author hiding out in my Kindle. This sounds like it was an entertaining read that I would probably enjoy.
I hate when books disappoint me,especially if I have enjoyed previous works by this author.
I read this one a couple years ago and enjoyed it. I read the second book as well, but have not gone any further in the series.
Thank you for sharing your reviews of my work.