Sheep Book Review: Twice Tempted by Jeaniene Frost

Twice Tempted by Jeaniene Frost is the second novel in her PNR series Night Prince. After the mixed emotions of book 1, Once Burned, I've found myself back in the game and loving every minute of Vlad and all his impaling tendencies!

Plot:

Dating the Prince of Darkness has its challenges . . . 

Leila's psychic abilities have been failing her, and now she isn't sure what the future holds. If that weren't enough, her lover Vlad has been acting distant. Though Leila is a mere mortal, she's also a modern woman who refuses to accept the cold shoulder treatment forever--especially from the darkly handsome vampire who still won't admit that he loves her . . . 

Like choosing between eternal love and a loveless eternity . . .

Soon circumstances send Leila back to the carnival circuit, where tragedy strikes. And when she finds herself in the crosshairs of a killer who may be closer than she realizes, Leila must decide who to trust-- the fiery vampire who arouses her passions like no other or the tortured knight who longs to be more than a friend? With danger stalking her every step of the way, all it takes is one wrong move to damn her for eternity . . .

As the plot says "Dating the Prince of Darkness has its challenges . . ." and that my dear friends is no lie! We gals have a tendency to look past all the darkness within our loved ones. Find the good and hang on tight. But Vlad makes it abundantly clear, this is me. I AM the darkness and if you're looking for that white knight, keep truckin sister! He's in your face with alpha high handedness and if you think to tame the beast, think again. He is who he is, and you either love the whole package or none at all. This, I love about the man. He will not shy away from what he is, a true and utter acceptance and willingness to be anyway he wants is refreshing. He's a dark dude and he likes it. 

In the first edition to this saga we had Leila Dalton, (Um, love her last name btw!) the freak show performing woman who's trying to make her way in life. Failing at times, but doing the best she can. I hated, with every undead bone in my body, that this young woman thought she could match up with Vlad. Certainly not the first time around she couldn't. This girl needed to grow up, get some balls and play with the big dogs. In book 2, she has and she does. Leila is winning me over, slow though it may be I am getting on board with her changes and growth as a woman. 

With evil folks out to kill her, yet again, and Vlad coming to terms with matters of the heart, we had everything that could be wanted emotionally in this story. I'm used to a bit more action in the tales from Frost and while that area lacked a bit, we do get some positive story flow that will lead us into the next edition. 

Cat and Bones make an appearance but it's never to overshadow the main characters of this story. It's always nice when characters from previous books pop in and out. 

From beginning to end I was overall pleased with this one, if you've yet to check Frost out now is the time! Heads will roll and bodies are sure to hit the floor, but it's all in good vampy fun. Combine all this with Dracula himself and you've got one enjoyable story!

Getting 4 'I brought my own pole' Sheep 

KD

Sheep Book Review: Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

Once Burned, by Jeaniene Frost, is the first edition in her new PNR Night Prince saga. Vlad's book was highly anticipated and I for one was waiting on pins and needles to dive right into this newest edition. While Once Burned turned out leaving me a little disappointed I'm not by any means losing faith in Frost.

Plot

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...

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.

How hard it must be for a vampire like Vlad to have any even remotely meaningful relationship with the ladies. They either want to ride the pony for his riches, power, or fame. It would be a nice notch on the belt to say you boinked Dracula, plus he's a Prince! (not the artist formally known as Prince either) Vlad lost a bit of that spunky nature I liked about him, but that being said he's still fun to read! So when Leila steps into the picture with her bag of circus tricks I wanted to fully believe that this could end up being a match made in undead heaven. Sadly that didn't really pan out for me.

Here's what I DID like about Leila: she stands up to a vampire who could kill her at any moment, she's got a kickass last name (Dalton! Woot Woot!), she's physically and emotionally scarred, has electric power, she's flawed and makes mistakes. But what I didn't enjoy was the constant babysitting this chick required AND the fact that she keeps getting people either wounded or killed just because they knew her. Plus she does the typical girl thing and falls for a man that tells her point blank "I can never love you". *shakes head* Um, honey he just told you! I wanted to slap some sense into her at times but alas she is a fictional character. Note to self: Stop slapping book pages.

The book pace was fairly well laid out, but there were a few little lag spots here and there before action or major dialog picked up. In addition, a new bad guy steps into the picture which should help carry this saga along for at least another book. While the story itself didn't hit any emotional bones in me. Frost is a fantastic writer and delivers a good story but when you've read "great" books by her you get a little disappointed. The romance between our lead two was average but yet again nothing that really sparked to life on the pages for me.

For those that have yet to find the amazing Night Huntress Series, the series from which this book is a spin-off, you should absolutely read that at the first opportunity. That's the series that sucked me in and got me hooked on Vlad, Bones, Spade and company. Great stuff! I'm sticking with Frost and hoping for more heat, action and catchier dialog in the next edition due out in 2013.

Getting 3 and 1/2 Sheep

KD