When hot-ticket singer Temptation McCoy sweeps into town for a major concert, Candace is tapped for security. But after meeting Temptation, Candace feels the cold, tingling sensation that can mean only one thing: There's a vampire in the diva's entourage. To complicate matters, Ash suddenly appears in Sin City, vowing to do anything and everything to draw Candace back into his arms. Overwhelmed by desire and suspicion, she lets down her guard . . . a move that could cost Candace her life.
Comment: Once more I have added some books to my monthly list that have been in the pile for a long time. This is one of those, something around since 2010, a few months after my PNR discovery. I've come to really like the genre and I confess I've got several titles, usually first books in a series, to pile up and leisurely enjoy as time went by and series were finished. For months in a row I would get one or two or three books that I thought I would probably enjoy just by the blurb and my tastes at the time.
However, time goes by and we all change, even if at that precise moment we think we won't. I still like PNR but I tend to stick to certain series and very specific styles nowadays so many other books no longer catch my attention nor do I enjoy them as I probably would have years ago. It's life but I can't help feeling a little bit unfair towards these not-so-great-books. At the same time, if they were really amazing for me, it's not time that makes them bad...
Ok, little sharing moment, over, this book is focused on Candace Steele, a woman we meet working at a casino in Las Vegas but we quickly realize she is a vampire hunter in disguise. Candace doesn't have a great history with the acceptance of vampire existence so she does what she can to help them disappear but there's this man from her past who can't seem to let her move on...
Candace has a job at the casino so when a superstar comes to perform and brings her entourage, Candace, as part of the security team, meets everyone and surprisingly one of the elements is a vampire. Candace tries her best to investigate, to help the superstar somehow but then her past and her present meet and she will have to make a choice.
This ended up not being a great book to me. Although it's not a complete deal breaker, books with first person narrator aren't my favorites. I just think that, as happened with this story, we loose a lot from only having one POV. Now, if the narrator were someone incredibly interesting, that would be good enough but I didn't really like Candace that much. I can understand her attitude and fears and some of her actions but the settings described, the way things develop looking through her eyes just didn't seem that interesting.
The plot wasn't terribly addictive. In this world vampires can be bad or not too bad and they can control humans in a robotic manner which makes them less appealing than average but only the strong ones do. I never got the notion why vampires exist or why does it matter to the world and why was Candace special for one of them. I got the idea that vampires and humans never mix except in specific situations like when vampires obviously want to feed and of there is attraction between them. If there isn't a well structured society then it's no longer appealing to me to read about bad and good vampires in the old school style. It just doesn't interest me anymore.
The narrative wasn't boring per se but I also didn't feel eager to keep reading. I skipped the sex scenes and I got really annoyed at the incredible amount of chapters going back and forth with past and present situations about the protagonist's relationship.
In terms of plot, there's a twist at the end, it wasn't so bad but the whole execution sucked and honestly, because we only got Candace's POV it didn't feel that interesting and I wonder why the author bothered when she could have simply kept the focus on the romance.
The romance was weird. Candace was in love with a vampire, then she hated him for something, now she is dating a cop, but she stills think about the vampire, she also still hates what he is, she is bent in killing as many vampires as she can but when she is in trouble, there comes the vampire she hates to help her, then she changes her mind but still fears afraid and goes back to hate him. It's tiring to read about indecisions and things like this without any real conclusion. I see there two more books, i might read the next one one day but I'm not feeling the urge that much, to be honest.
I didn't see much point in Candace's actions overall, and not in the plot as a whole. There are some erotic scenes to...give atmosphere? Who knows, but I bet I will easily forget about this book. Years ago it might have been good but now I can't go past what annoys me.
Grade: 4/10
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