Review: Bound by Flames (Night Prince #3) by Jeaniene Frost

Bound by Flames (Night Prince #3) by Jeaniene Frost
Published on January 27th, 2015 by Avon 

Play with fire, pay the price.

Leila’s years on the carnie circuit were certainly an education. What she didn’t learn: how to be a vampire, or how to be married to the most famous vampire of them all. Adjusting to both has Leila teetering on a knife edge between passion and peril, and now the real danger is about to begin…

Vlad must battle with a centuries-old enemy whose reach stretches across continents and whose strength equals his own. It isn’t like Vlad to feel fear, but he does…for Leila, because his enemy knows she is Vlad’s greatest weakness. As friend and foe alike align against him—and his overprotectiveness drives Leila away—Vlad’s love for his new bride could be the very thing that dooms them both…

Crystal's Thoughts:
I have been a longtime fan of Ms.Frost and I have always loved Vlad, but this installment left me wondering if I have outgrown this series.

It's been awhile since I read the previous book, Twice Tempted, but I am pretty sure this one takes off where that one ended.  Leila is now a vampire and is married to Vlad.  They are looking for Vlad's worst enemy and as you can guess things go terribly wrong just when you think they have the upper hand.  Leila is captured and this is where my interest started waving.

The whole capture scene was icky.  I have a lot of things and I am not icked out normally, but there is a scene with duck tape and well I just went ICK!  Add that to regurgitated blood and I'm out folks.  It was all just a little too much for me.  Thankfully this whole mess didn't last that long, but honestly the story kinda dragged after that.  Yes there was a lot of running and evading, but nothing we haven't seen before.

The ending left me going meh as well.  There was so much build up and while I did like Vlad's secret the ending just felt like a let down.  I expected a way bigger showdown than what I read.

My biggest problem with this series is Vlad.  Where is the funny self assured vampire I met in the Cat & Bones series?  In this he is brooding, emotionally closed off, and just boring.  He was so moody!  The reason why I loved this series was because he was so funny and always made incredible one liners.  In this one he barely even talks!  Plus he was so closed off to Leila that I got frustrated for her.  She shouldn't have had to deal with that on top of everything else. She was the one tortured!   Vlad should have been there for her.  Honestly my favorite part was when Vlad was talking to Cat & Bones. 

I just felt really let down with this one.  The story was ho hum, the characters not up to the standards I am used to reading from Ms.Frost, and the fun was just lost.  Will I read the next one, yes because everybody has an off book and I am just going to throw this story out of my brain and replace it with the next one.

2.5 Suns

Arlene's Thoughts:
I’m a huge fan of Jeaniene Frost, especially her Night Huntress series. So whenever she adds a new book to her paranormal bookshelf, I’m all reading eyes. Night Prince is no exception. The first two books were absolutely explosive, so I’m not sure what happened in this third installment.

In Bound by Flames, we take off on a high adventure with Vlad and Leila as they track down Vlad’s life long enemy Szilagy. There’s no lack of action in this book as both sides target each other through destruction and torture. However, the measures Vlad employs to protect Leila can eventually prove to be a liability when she’s captured and tortured.

I feel comfortable admitting that Bound by Flames is definitely not as good as the first two installments. Where Frost flexes her style best is with action and drama, and she proved it in this book. However, I would have like to have seen a bit more romance and emotional connection coming from Vlad. Every time he closed himself off from Leila I tuned out. There seemed to be a character piece missing in Vlad, which I missed.

However, I did enjoy Vlad’s confession at the end of the book where he shared how his Dracula legend was revealed. The story and the reaction was classic. Small moment that reminded me Vlad has humor and character beneath all that flame.

Since there's only one book left, I'll definitely finish this series out. I hope it ends on a high note.

3 Suns

Waves of Fiction 2015 Reading Challenge 

-A third book in a series

Review: Love Your Entity by Cat Devon

Love Your Entity (Entity #3) by Cat Devons
Published on December 31st, 2013 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Purchase: Amazon

About the book
Sierra Brennan can inherit her great-uncle’s historic Chicago townhouse under one condition: She must live there for thirty consecutive days. What could possibly go wrong? As a writer and a ghost whisperer, Sierra has a vast imagination and a brave spirit. But not even she is prepared for the gorgeous—and naked—vampire who greets her at the door.

OF LIFE AND UN-DEATH

Ronan McCoy has spent the past century waiting to come home…to this house. The presence of the beautiful, brazen Sierra is one complication he doesn’t expect. The other is Hal, a dangerous ghost and original member of Al Capone’s gang who’s dead-set on revenge. What is a formerly indentured vampire supposed to do to get a moment’s peace? All he knows for sure is that he must protect Sierra from Hal. But once he has her in his arms, can he ever let her go? Life—and love—is becoming stranger than fiction for Sierra…and more delicious than she and Ronan could have ever imagined... in Love Your Entity. 

My Thoughts:
Okay I'm going to be honest Love Your Entity was fluff, but it was really really good fluff.  I haven't read a book like this in awhile and it really brought me back to when I used to read these types of books exclusively.  I guess I will always have a soft spot for vampires and this book made me wish I had one of my own again.

Sierra is an author which I loved of course.  She writes ghost hunter stories staring a kickass heroine named Nikki. When she inherits a distant relatives house she jumps on the opportunity to put down roots.  One big condition though is that she has to live in this house for 30 days straight and well two other previous relatives have tried to live in it and failed.  This isn't a concern of Sierra's though because unlike her other relatives she can see ghosts so whatever is living in that house will just have to move out, Sierra is moving in and staying put.

All that goes out the window when she walks in a sees a naked man standing in her living room.  And of course he is handsome and drop dead sexy, but Sierra isn't even going to let this mans claim on her house stop her.  Little does she know that this gorgeous man is actually a vampire and well nothing will be easy from here on out.

When I read these types of books I know the story is going to be corny and this was didn't disappoint.  There is even a bond type thing that can only be broken by the two who are bonded having sex...yep by having sex ha!  See fun fluff!  There are a lot of these little situations through out that made the story fun.  Even the ghosts that were supposed to be scary really weren't that scary and in the end were pretty easy to vanquish.  I liked that though.  It was minimal drama and action that left room for the steamy scenes and hot vampire molting stares of desire.  Sometimes we as readers need these kind of stories to cleanse our pallet.

What really sold this for me were the characters.  I really liked Sierra and Ronan.  They are a fun couple that had a lot of obstacles to work out, but  in the end they did what they had to do for each other and things work out for them.  I am not saying how they work out though you will have to read the book to figure that one out.

The cast of characters rounds out nicely with a few witches, more vampires, and even a demon hunter.  I mean really what more do you need? Each character brought something to the table and I might even read the other stories in this series to see how each couple ended up together.

Does this story have problems, yes it does but you know what I am not going to dwell on those problems.  For once I think I am going to just enjoy the story for what it was and let all those little problems go. This was fun and I am sticking with that!

3 suns

Review: Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost
Published June 26, 2012 by Avon
Purchase: Amazon

About the book
She's a mortal with dark powers...

After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person's darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude...until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world's most infamous vampire...

He's the Prince of Night...

Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all—but whatever you do, don't call him Dracula. Vlad's ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him—a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.

My Thoughts
Oh Vlad,
how I squee for thee,
let me count the ways...

Yes that was chessy but I had to do it because I have not stopped squeeing since I finished this book! I knew I would love this because Vlad is one of my favorite characters in The Night Huntress series and I was so ready to see more of this delicious vampire. What I didn't expect was for Vlad to almost dethrone Bones as my favorite vampire of all time! It is a very VERY close race between the two and I am not sure who will wind up on top after all the books are said and done.

I thought Once Burned was going to be told from Vlad's POV so imagine my shock when I read the first few paragraphs and realized this was from Leila's POV! Don't get me wrong I loved her voice it just took me a minute to adjust my thinking. So anyway the book is about Leila and her uncanny abilities to 1.Give somebody the electrical shock of their life and 2.to tell somebody's past, present, and future from just a touch from an object. She is definitely not your typical woman and that turns out to be just what Vlad needs. These 2 meet when Leila is kidnapped, she is ordered to find Vlad using her abilities or else face well her death. When she finds him she realizes that he is probably the lesser of the two evils at this point and strikes a deal to save her own life. You can imagine what happens next, angst, heat, spice, awesome dialogue, a cameo from Bones who is as hilarious as ever, and a very dramatic ending. I loved EVER SINGLE page of this book. Vlad and Leila had an awesome connection and it was really lovely to see her grow stronger while he let a little bit of his guard down to let her in.

I do not want to wait until next year for my Night Huntress world fix. I still have one book left and I am going to be greedy and read it soon and I know I will go into withdrawals right after I finish it. Frost has done it again with this series and I cannot wait to see what Vlad and Leila get into next.

 5 Suns