The Vampire Shrink (Kismet Knight, Ph.D., Vampire Psychologist, #1)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Vampire Shrink (Kismet Knight, Ph.D., Vampire Psychologist #1)

by Lynda Hilburn (Goodreads Author)

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 1,523 ratings · 271 reviews

The 2007 version is out of print. I hope you'll read the rewritten/expanded version of The Vampire Shrink (UK version), released by Quercus Books, September, 2011. Or the brand new USA version (rewritten/expanded) coming from Sterling Publishing/Silver Oak on April 3, 2012.

Kismet Knight, PhD, doesn't believe in the paranormal. She especially doesn't believe in vampires, bu...more

Paperback, 1st Edition, 392 pages

Published October 1st 2007 by Medallion Press

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Best Adult Vampire Romance Books

277th out of 685 books — 2,096 voters

Hottest Guy on a Cover

220th out of 755 books — 1,046 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Oct 22, 2011 Buggy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: shelf-09, paranormal-rom, lmao, vampalicious

Opening Line: " My involvement with vampires began innocently enough."

Dr. Kismit Knight is a respected Denver Psychologist who doesn't believe in the paranormal. She especially doesn't believe in Vampires. Kismit's character has been written like a real person, not your average romance heroine, she could be you or me and that's what makes it so great when she stumbles into the Vampire world. It could also be you or me.

The story begins with Dr. Knight taking on a patient with a Vampire fetish. T...more Opening Line: " My involvement with vampires began innocently enough."

Dr. Kismit Knight is a respected Denver Psychologist who doesn't believe in the paranormal. She especially doesn't believe in Vampires. Kismit's character has been written like a real person, not your average romance heroine, she could be you or me and that's what makes it so great when she stumbles into the Vampire world. It could also be you or me.

The story begins with Dr. Knight taking on a patient with a Vampire fetish. The girl frequents a Goth club and has a crush on the owner, who she claims is a Vampire. She in fact wants to become one of the undead. Kismit of course thinks she's crazy but decides that this Vampire culture would be a great idea for a book. Kismit puts an ad in the newspaper promoting herself as the "Vampire Shrink" hoping to gain valuable research material. What she doesn't count on is meeting Devereux. The 800 year old, wealthy and extremely gorgeous club owner. After a two year drought in her sex life Kismit finds herself inexplicably drawn to him even though she thinks he's delusional for indeed claiming to be a Vampire. Through a series of misadventures and blood drained bodies she also finds herself spending time with FBI profiler Alan Stevens. Enter the love triangle.

Throughout this story we get to hear Dr. Knights running internal dialogue and it's awesome, especially after she learns that Devereux can read her mind. "Yes I desire you as well" he whispered into my mind.

The climax takes place at a Vampire ball on Halloween night. With a gruesome multiple-personality antagonist named Lucifer out to kill Devereux and drain Dr. Knights blood. It also finds FBI man Alan dressed as Gary Oldman from the movie Dracula. This is a hilarious book, full of sassy sarcasm and cool wit. It is also quite sexy. With both love interests more than suitable as romance material.

Highly recommended for fans of sexy Vampires, sexy FBI men, sarcastic wit, paranormal romance and an all around good read. I'm looking forward to reading Dark Harvest next to see where the series takes us.

Excerpt from the Vampire Shrink:
"I choose fictional creatures for 500$ Alex."
Propping my feet up on the chair that'd been recently vacated by the firm hindquarters of the cutest FBI agent I'd ever seen, I raised my coffee cup in a solitary toast to the memory of his tight jeans exiting my kitchen and loudly vocalized the theme song from the TV game show Jeopardy.
I put on my best Alex Trebek voice. "These bloodsucking undead denizens of the night have taken over the rational minds of the populace of Denver" I pretended to push an invisible button on the table.
"What are vampires?" imitating Alex again "Yes our new winner is Dr Kismit Knight formally a respected psychologist now a permanent resident of Denver Psychiatric Hospital" I sang the theme song again, applauded myself and heaved a huge sigh. I definitely didn't get enough sleep." (less)

14 likes · like · see review

May 26, 2008 Rebecca rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: vapire readers

Recommended to Rebecca by: Romantic Times Book Review magazine

As a woman who has read a gazillion of vampire stories...this one is the best. A new twist to an old story line and none of the cheesiness that seems to be popular these days. It is romantic, sensual, and totally engrossing...and I'm not even done with it yet!

UPDATE: Ok, now that I'm done. Here is a shocker...this story is so well written and so engaging, and I'm a long time Laurell Hamilton fan, that I have closed my Hamilton collection down to make room for this fabulous new series. The charac...more

14 likes · like · see review

May 31, 2009 Ladiibbug rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: All Paranormal Fans!

#1 Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist series

6/1/09: Reread - At the top of The Best of The Best ... one of the most enjoyable, unique and entertaining paranormals I've read ... and I've read lots of them.

Simply outstanding, a *gem* - definitely on my Top Reads of 2008! One of those "Oooo, why didn't I read this sooner?!" books :-)

Lynda Hilburn's unique tale features Kismet Knight, a sensible professional psychologist who does not believe in the paranormal, vampires, etc. counseling people whom...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jun 29, 2010 Bookwatcher ~Mary MooCow~ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: vampires, cover-is-hot, urban-fantasy

It's so hard to say something about this book

but I'll try.

First thing... for 80 pages this book was sooooo boring

, but I insist... and I glad I go on and finished.

Devereux (the main male character) is really interesting... you will discover a little about him (and when I said "a little" I'm saying, "almost nothing". Lynda Hilburn let a lot to be told).
Kismet (the main female character) is so annoying! She is a shrink (oh yes, the title has a meaning) and everything she saw she try to analyze...more

7 likes · like · see review

Aug 26, 2012 Carolyn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy_paranormal, romance

Not very good, maybe 1.5 stars. Definitely a different kind of vampire culture than I've seen before, but not good enough to redeem the book. The main character was very cold blooded except when facing the "overwhelming" arousal of being near any hot male, which got pretty tiresome after a while. However, much of the book was tell tell tell with very little show so it's really hard to get engaged with it. Having a clinical psychologist as your main character who basically seems disassociated fro...more

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 08, 2012 VampireNovelFan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: vampires, urban-fantasy, paranormal-romance, love-triangle

Kismet Knight’s in for a new world

I’d say The Vampire Shrink (Book 1 in the Vampire Psychologist Series) by Lynda Hilburn was pretty entertaining. The main character, Kismet Knight, is a young clinical psychologist who specializes in helping those that believe in all things paranormal. She recently decided to take on a client who believes in vampires. Of course, like anyone else, Kismet herself doesn’t believe in these things, and she often struggles between maintaining her professionalism to a...more Kismet Knight’s in for a new world

I’d say The Vampire Shrink (Book 1 in the Vampire Psychologist Series) by Lynda Hilburn was pretty entertaining. The main character, Kismet Knight, is a young clinical psychologist who specializes in helping those that believe in all things paranormal. She recently decided to take on a client who believes in vampires. Of course, like anyone else, Kismet herself doesn’t believe in these things, and she often struggles between maintaining her professionalism to analyze their situations scientifically and her internal natural thought process that just wants to knock sense into these people. That is, until she’s thrust into this world herself.

A good deal of the book is spent with Kismet denying that vampire exist, even though all of the strange events add up to it. I guess that could be a realistic response, but it was a little irksome. Though she is a psychiatrist there are times what her inner monologue doesn’t sound very sophisticated at all, especially when it comes to men. That could be intentional due to her lack of experience with many men, or maybe it’s due to her age. She is unusually young for a shrink. It’s also a little hard to believe that she doesn’t get attention for being attractive. She is described as looking like Megan Fox yet when good looking men flirt with her she literally says that this doesn’t happen very often.

We meet some really cool vampires. I like their powers. I’m happy they don’t sparkle. I’m even happier that they have fangs…and boy are they used… Deveraux is sophisticated and enigmatic.

Like many paranormal romances, there is a love triangle. Kismet’s torn between an FBI agent and the vampire Devereux, who takes her as his mate. I’m sure it’s not difficult to determine who I rooted for the whole time, haha.

Normally with these kinds of series I usually don’t like when the main character falls in love with the guy in 10 pages. I don’t connect with that whatsoever as a reader which is why I generally am selective about my paranormal romances. But for some reason, I didn’t mind it in this book. That is probably because there is something special about Kismet and their union was foreshadowed.

The villains are evil and beautiful, evil and ugly, and evil and crazy. I was seriously creeped out in a couple of scenes, but they were well done. Hilburn doesn’t mind exposing the reader to disturbing situations.

This was rewrite but I actually did not notice any major differences aside from newer pop culture references over the past 5 years, so my opinion did not change much from the previous edition (which I also read). Towards the end it really picks up and gets very intense and engaging so I hope to see more of that in future novels all throughout. I’m not quite sure whether or not I’d consider the ending that much of a cliffhanger or not. At least it helps that you can easily move onto the next book and see what happens next. I know I will.

*ARC provided by the author/publisher*(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 04, 2008 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book had real potential. It's a new premise after all on the old and abused vampire/human love.
However it read like fanfiction. The author used the word ORBS to describe eyes. That is unforgivable. Beyond that it's just cheesy. The erotic scenes are borderline tasteless and crude. Dev says things like "You have the nicest breasts I have seen in 800 years." Puuuhlease. I think the next book will be better but this one is on my black list for it's fanfiction faux pas.

10 likes · like · see review

Feb 13, 2012 Esme rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-fantasy-scifi

Kismet Knight ist Psychologin. Abwechslung in ihren beruflichen Alltag bringt Midnight, ein Mädchen, das sich für einen Vampir hält. Sie glaubt, eine neue psychische Störung entdeckt zu haben und sucht weitere Jugendliche mit denselben Symptomen. Und wird fündig, wenn auch anders als erwartet.

Bei diesem Ansatz glaubte ich noch ganz optimistisch, es mit etwas Neuem und Anderem zu tun zu haben, obwohl ich es doch inzwischen hätte besser wissen müssen. Sobald der Vampir Deveraux auftaucht, sind auc...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 05, 2013 Willowfaerie added it · review of another edition

It wasn’t only that they’d invaded my privacy, or that they appeared dangerous, or even that they could assault me at any moment. It was something else, some basic preverbal fear that caused the hairs on my arms to stand up and the warning system in my head to fire a red alert. I kept having the strange, less, than-comforting intuition that death was in the room, and my usually manageable radar was picking up so much fearful information that it plunged into overload and threatened to shut down....more

13 likes · like · see review

Feb 21, 2013 Haley ~ YA-Aholic rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

2013 has only just started and yet I have already found a book that I believe will make my top reads of 2013! The Vampire Shrink was flat out amazing! I enjoyed this so much and I am so happy to report that! Lately the paranormal (urban fantasy) genre has been..meh for me, it's just a genre I can't get myself into lately, but Vampire Shrink completely flipped that around! If you're someone that loves vampires, a steamy romance, hot men, hilarious dialogue, and action then this is a book you need...more 2013 has only just started and yet I have already found a book that I believe will make my top reads of 2013! The Vampire Shrink was flat out amazing! I enjoyed this so much and I am so happy to report that! Lately the paranormal (urban fantasy) genre has been..meh for me, it's just a genre I can't get myself into lately, but Vampire Shrink completely flipped that around! If you're someone that loves vampires, a steamy romance, hot men, hilarious dialogue, and action then this is a book you need to pick up!

Lets start off with the characters...I freakin loved each and every one of them! Very often when I read a book the characters will come off as sharing way too many personality traits, but not with Vampire Shrink! Everyone has their very own distinct personality, and I loved each of them! Even the bad guys in this novel I found myself liking just because their personalities differed SO much from everyone elses.(They were CRAZY!!)

I don't even know if I should start on the romance...it was perfect. You have Alan who is the sweet, sexy, funny, FBI agent...then you have Devereux who is the old school, sexy, mysterious vampire that believes Kismet and him are soul mates. I just loved every second of the romance in this book, it had the perfect amount of everything, there weren't too many steamy scenes, there weren't too many over lovey scenes, everything just flowed so smoothly with the romance and I can definitely understand why Kismet is confused!

Last but certainly not least I have to talk about the authors writing, it was another thing among many things that I loved. I flew through this book within (less than) 24 hours, anytime I could find a spare minute I was reading this book. Last night I was literally sitting in a Burger King drive threw with my car light on reading while I waiting for my food...seriously any minute I found to read more of the Vampire Shrink, I took! I did not want to put it down, I was so curious about what was going to happen and what was going on! The author wrote amazing characters, an amazing romance, and made the mystery very suspenseful! This is a book I really believe people will have a hard time putting down!

Overall the Vampire Shrink is a book that any paranormal/urban fantasy lover should pick up! I have nothing bad to say about this book and I really just loved it, Lynda Hilburn has officially gained a new forever fan!(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 15, 2011 Ally rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I must start by saying that I only got half way through the book before throwing it aside in disgust. Admittedly part of my negative review is duet to the fact that I was expecting so much more from a book with an original plot idea with potential for some great character development. As someone that is a fan of the vampire genre and a psychology student, I saw the potential for some really interesting plot twists. Yet instead of getting a horror novel with a bit of romance, or even a psycho-sex...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 10, 2012 Kathryn Tucker rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book has a really interesting premise, but is otherwise terrible. As one who has a psych degree and enjoys vampire fiction, I saw the blurb on this book and had to pick it up. I made it all the way through, but I'm not entirely proud that I did.

I had hoped for something new from this one, but it falls into so many cliches. Kismet (our psychologist heroine) is just another clueless "oh my, why me, I can't believe it" woman with big boobs who is dragged around by the many drop-dead gorgeous m...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 05, 2012 Frishawn Rasheed rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kismet is defined as "fate or destiny" and after having read Lynda Hilburn's "The Vampire Shrink," this reviewer is quite convinced that that is a story that readers are destined to love.

As it happens, Kismet Knight PhD, is also the unlikely heroine of our little tale. In Kismet readers will find a woman who should have the world on a string...beautiful, talented, brilliant...empathic.
Yep, that's right!
Look out Sookie Stackhouse, our girl Kismet's got skills.
The thing is she's afraid to use them...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 24, 2011 Kara-karina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Before I start on the review, here is my heartfelt plea to Quercus!

Guys, honestly, the cover is atrocious - fake blood and peroxide-burnt hair? What were you thinking?!! It hurt my eyes. This is how you imagined delicious Devereux with his lustrous long hair the colour of moonlight? Like Curt Cobain-wannabe?

Now getting back to my review. This is a revised and extended version of the original story which I read in 2007. Of course, when Lynda HIlburn contacted me, I was very curious to see how the...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 08, 2012 VampireNovelFan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal-romance, vampires, arc, review-request, love-triangle

Kismet Knight’s in for a new world (The link is for the review of the 2012 re-write; below is the review for the 2007 version)

I'd say this book was a solid start to this series. The main character, Kismet Knight, is a young clinical psychologist who specializes in helping those that believe in all things paranormal. She recently decided to take on a client who believes in vampires. Of course, like anyone else, Kismet herself doesn't believe in these things, and she often struggles between maint...more Kismet Knight’s in for a new world (The link is for the review of the 2012 re-write; below is the review for the 2007 version)

I'd say this book was a solid start to this series. The main character, Kismet Knight, is a young clinical psychologist who specializes in helping those that believe in all things paranormal. She recently decided to take on a client who believes in vampires. Of course, like anyone else, Kismet herself doesn't believe in these things, and she often struggles between maintaining her professionalism to analyze their situations scientifically and her internal natural thought process that just wants to knock sense into these people. That is, until she's thrust into this world herself.

We spend quite a good deal of the book with Kismet denying that vampire exist, even though all of the strange happenings add up to it. I guess that's a realistic response, but that did annoy me ever so slightly. We meet some really cool vampires. I like their powers. I'm happy they don't sparkle. I'm even happier that they have fangs...and boy are they used...

Like many paranormal romances, we get a love triangle. Kismet's somewhat torn between an FBI agent and the vampire Devereux, who takes her as his mate of sorts. I'm sure it's not difficult to determine who I rooted for the whole time, haha.

I gotta say. Normally with these kinds of series I usually can't stand it when the main character falls in love with the guy in 10 pages. I don't connect with that whatsoever as a reader which is why I generally am selective about my paranormal romances. But for some reason, I didn't mind it in this book. That is probably because there is something special about Kismet. She's not some ordinary woman that an 800-year-old falls in love with, something I cannot STAND in many series. I just for the life of me don't grasp how something that old can become so enamored considering they've probably seen that same personality trait time and time again throughout the centuries. But I digress...

The villains are evil and beautiful, evil and ugly, and evil and crazy. I was seriously creeped out in a couple of scenes and scared for Kismet. This author definitely doesn't mind exposing the reader to disturbing situations.

I'm not quite sure whether or not I'd consider the ending that much of a cliffhanger or not. At least it helps that you can easily move onto the next book and see what happens next. I know I will.

*Review also posted to Amazon (less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 20, 2010 Laurie (Bitten by Paranormal Romance) rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like a mix of PNR and UF

Shelves: paranormal-romance, keepers, urban-fantasy, vampire

I love this book. it’s a mix between PNR and UF, so you get a little of both worlds. There is no HEA in this one. If you like a book where a woman is torn between two loves and you like to read about vampires fighting with fangs out and blood everywhere, teleporting in on you when your not expecting it, abilities to telepathy, an air of danger around them.

Kismet is a PH.D , A vampire shrink, to those who believe to be vampires, but are they really? Kismet thinks not. So one of her clients tells...more
I love this book. it’s a mix between PNR and UF, so you get a little of both worlds. There is no HEA in this one. If you like a book where a woman is torn between two loves and you like to read about vampires fighting with fangs out and blood everywhere, teleporting in on you when your not expecting it, abilities to telepathy, an air of danger around them.

Kismet is a PH.D , A vampire shrink, to those who believe to be vampires, but are they really? Kismet thinks not. So one of her clients tells her that Dev (Devereux) the leader of the vampires wants to met with her after hours, of course, Kismet agrees. Well little did she know what she was getting herself in to. As soon as she sees him she has feelings for him of lust etc, but what she dosen’t know is Dev has known her for way over hundreds years. Dev will take all the action necessary to keep Kismet, so be prepared he is sneaky.

Devereux is a vampire I like to read about. he is kind, but he has the ability’s as in top paragraph plus some and is not afraid to use them to get what he wants. Plus he is top vampire, so he has a bad guy side, its yummy!

The downside to this book is Kismet is very stubborn and at times it really got on my nerves.

***Spoiler***
Here is a chopped up passage form the book its my favorite.
Imaging if you would, you meet a dangerous vampire and you go to his club he takes you to look around where he stays, you see his is an excellent painter, he has one of his mother you can see they resemble quite a bit, then he starts telling you about his life before he became vampire, he tells you he was schooled in magic and art, that his family comes for a line of wizards and witches and he has talents and he became a seer. Then he goes to a cabinet and opens it and pulls our a canvas of a painting of you. And you say “ when did you have time to paint this?” then you notice something in the painting, your wearing the same items at that moment and he has never seen them. Then he tells you, “this woman in the portrait haunted me, she filled my dreams for years until I would surely go mad and she spoke in to my mind a repeated word” “Kismet” So I thought this painting was my fate, my destiny I have waited patiently for her to find me, after years I put the painting away. And its been locked away until now. And all you can say is “Are you saying this painting is not recent?” “when was it painted?” then the vampire says, “Over 800 years ago!”

Now this is what happened between Kismet and Dev. if you liked that, then you have to try the book.(less)

5 likes · like · see review

May 30, 2010 Wendy (V-Lishous) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pub-2007, melissa-marr, paranormal-scifi-romance, vampire, part-of-a-series, 2010-reads, lent

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · like · see review

Feb 19, 2009 Juliet rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: too-painful-to-finish

I gave this book 273 pages to improve but it never really did lift from its bottom level of cheesiness. Probably the worst vampire book I've ever read. I gave up during the part where she had to go to a "protection ceremony" and then was dressed up by nubile female vampires. Ugh! Don't waste your time.

7 likes · like · see review

Mar 18, 2013 Falina rated it 1 of 5 stars

This novel was okay, and I really like the premise of a psychologist who encounters vampires, but overall I thought the horror possibilities of this book were not sufficiently developed, and that both the psychology and the vampirism in this book were used as mere plot devices instead of becoming the meaningful explorations they could have been.

The heroine is way too narrow-minded to effectively practice psychology (two examples: she bashes psychics and thinks it's impossible to be sexually attr...more This novel was okay, and I really like the premise of a psychologist who encounters vampires, but overall I thought the horror possibilities of this book were not sufficiently developed, and that both the psychology and the vampirism in this book were used as mere plot devices instead of becoming the meaningful explorations they could have been.

The heroine is way too narrow-minded to effectively practice psychology (two examples: she bashes psychics and thinks it's impossible to be sexually attracted to more than one man at a time), and she uses cliched psychological terms like "inner child" more than once in the novel. The hero is well-adjusted and nice instead of brooding and dangerous like I was hoping. The romance was developed too quickly so there was little of that satisfying tension I so love. Beyond all this, however, there was a light-hearted tone to the book that I found disappointing and at times almost offensive.

Certainly The Vampire Shrink discusses dark topics, but the first-person narrative of the heroine is plucky and discordantly chipper considering the things she goes through -- being attacked, harassed in gruesome ways, torn between two men, etc. I just didn't get the dark torture vibe I hoped for, and sometimes the lightness gets almost offensive. For example:

"Playtime's over. Let's go back upstairs."
The woman on the floor had stopped screaming and was clearly dead.
The crowd actually applauded.
Vampires suck. In more ways that one. (365-66)

A woman just died. I know it's fantasy, but is that really an appropriate or plausible response? I know people laugh at funerals and things like that, but this degree of flippancy just seemed stupid to me.

Think of the psychological complexity and darkness of the Thomas Harris novels (e.g. Silence of the Lambs) combined with the best of the paranormal romances (those by J.R. Ward perhaps) or even Anne Rice's novels -- that's what this book could have been, with an idea this exciting. I don't understand why someone would want to write a totally conventional romance novel that just happens to have vampires in it and completely ignore all the amazing emotional/psychological dimensions that the vampire myth can add to a romance. One thing that Anne Rice does brilliantly is bring religious and psychological issues such as guilt, damnation, loneliness, etc. to vampirism, and these really make the myth rich and meaningful. I feel vampires are misused in this book, especially since it uses the field/practice of psychology to distinguish itself. Vampires have so much more to offer than is available in The Vampire Shrink. (less)

like · see review

Nov 29, 2012 Zara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, fiction, paranormal, vampire, erotica

The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn is a story about a rational psychologist named Kismet Knight who, in her practice, meets and counsels a troubled teenager who renames herself, Midnight, in response to her fascination with vampires. While Kismet is a strong skeptic of the supernatural and quickly makes attempts at addressing Midnight’s potential diagnosis based on textbook symptoms, she becomes not only intrigued with the richness of Midnight’s vampire “fantasy,” but also becomes the center of...more

like · see review

Apr 02, 2012 Star (The Bibliophilic Book Blog) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Dr. Kismet Knight seems to be a run-of-the-mill psychologist who has some extra gifts which she’s been suppressing since childhood. One day, a girl who goes by the name Midnight comes into her office for an appointment. Midnight spins a fantastical tale about knowing vampires and wanting to become one herself. At first, Dr. Knight makes the assumption Midnight has just developed an interesting and full fantasy life to cope with the reality of her problems. However, once Dr. Knight meets the capt...more

like · see review

Mar 30, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've always been a huge fan of Vampire fiction and The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn was one of the earliest I read , so when I read that she was doing a new cover , I thought that I would do a review and ignite it to all those readers out there who have yet to discover its awesomeness.
If you love Vampires and Pyschology , then this is for you and if you love the suspense and mystery element then you have that chucked into the mix also. I have a thing for covers and at the time I had the cover...more

like · see review

Jan 14, 2012 Rjsmommy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-vampire-romance

An interesting premise to begin with; a young psychologist (KIsmet) begins advertising herself as the "vampire psychologist" after meeting with a new patient who is a vamp wanna-be and claims she's hanging out with real vampires. Well, of course, Kismet expects to write a book on how she's helped all these "Twilight" created neurotics but ends up becoming involved in a real vampire grudge war. Along the way she meets a long list of strangely interesting characters...both human and non-human beca...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 07, 2011 Jamie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have no idea where to start. I really should have stopped reading it, but some thing intrigued me to keep going ... there fore I finished it and gave it 2 stars.

Here is my analogy on how I feel about the book: It's as if a friend of mine wants to tell me this awesome story and there's all this babble and talk that seems to take away from the focus of the story and then I get to the end and I think - that was a horribly told story and it really wasn't worth listening to. But I'm confused becaus...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 30, 2011 Nikicole rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was not a interesting book. The main character,Kismet knight,at times was so annoying with her struggle to accept vampires as real beings even after she had proof. Her cynicism was just a little to over the top. I know it was meant to give readers insight into her thoughts but all it did was leave me wishing I could say SHUT UP. Overall she was a agreeable character. She was warm smart and a little funny. Devereux was the typical boring vampire. He was beautiful, tall. Strong, smart, charmi...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 18, 2011 Lesley rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book was dumb.

I seriously considered leaving that one sentence as my entire review because it pretty much sums it up. The characters were universally boring and one-dimensional. Only one exciting thing happened, and then that was it. The big fight at the end was lame. The hero was just a sex bomb and a total pansy and got his ass kicked. It's obvious this is a first novel, as the lack of skill made everything just kind of meh. And she is the queen of, extraneous, commas. OMG, it drove me cr...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 01, 2011 Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Kismet Knight, Ph.D., is a relatively successful psychologist leading a relatively average life in Denver. Her practice is strong, even if her love life's been more drought than flood for the past two years. She's a modern woman, self aware and logical, and while she may not be the most open minded of people, she definitely has a sense of personal humor that - when combined with her clinical mind - serve her well in her profession. When a teen-aged client comes into her office, forced into thera...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 12, 2009 Amadei rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: vampire smut lovers!

I was looking for a fun, easy read and I found it with this book. I'm not well versed in the genre I like to call "vampire smut," but as far as that type of novel goes, I'd have to say this one wasn't half bad. I'm only giving it three stars, however, because I didn't really believe in the protagonist, Kismet Knight.

The story, such as it is, centers around Kismet, a psychologist who decides, after her first session with a nineteen-year-old who says she wants to be a vampire, that she is going to...more I was looking for a fun, easy read and I found it with this book. I'm not well versed in the genre I like to call "vampire smut," but as far as that type of novel goes, I'd have to say this one wasn't half bad. I'm only giving it three stars, however, because I didn't really believe in the protagonist, Kismet Knight.

The story, such as it is, centers around Kismet, a psychologist who decides, after her first session with a nineteen-year-old who says she wants to be a vampire, that she is going to specialize in treating those delusional minds who think they’re vampires/want to be vampires/want to shag vampires, etc. Of course, it turns out that vampires are not only real, but the head of the Denver (Denver? Really?) vampire coven (who apparently has an Eastern European accent, but is Frenchly named Devereaux) is in love with her.

Like in every vampire novel ever, there’s an opposing faction of vampires and Kismet persists in her disbelief of vampires in general until almost the very last moment. Hilarity, as you can imagine, thus ensues.

The main problem I had was that it seemed like, in Kismet's eyes, every male character was gorgeous and existed for her to have sex with--even the not-even-characters of the emergency room doctor and Vaughan the Chiropractor (who popped up every once in a while, but never actually made an appearance). Even for a character in a book that was supposed to be sexy, she seemed overly obsessed with sex. My willing suspension of disbelief kept getting thrown off with a loud, "Oh come ON."

Devereaux was believable, in his own way, up until he showed up with chocolate, flowers, and confessed that in his eight hundred years as a vampire, he had never seen fuzzy slippers. Never? In eight hundred years? Again with the COME ON.

I did, however, enjoy the sex scenes themselves; they were absolutely believable in a vampire-and-human-sex kind of way. I was a little disappointed that there was such a focus on the sex lives of vampires from the very beginning--it didn't come to much of a surprise that, well, the vampires were all into orgies, etc. I would have appreciated a little more build up, a little more foreplay, if you will.

This one, I borrowed from the library, which is where I'd suggest you get this one from; I'm not sure it's worth the $15.95 the trade paperback would cost.(less)

like · see review

Jun 06, 2009 Cindy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Extremely good read. An absorbing look at vampires and vampire society through the eyes of a non-believer, a psychologist who keeps trying to help the 'delusional'. As she is sucked [:)] further in she keeps clinging to denial but is finally forced into acceptance. The pace of the book - which includes an XFiles-style FBI agent, multiple murders, mind control, rabid fanatics, magical elements, the rise of Evil, politics played as a blood sport and lots of vampires and those who love/hate/fear th...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 17, 2012 Deirdre rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Up to the point where she was involved in a ceremony where nothing was explained and everybody just kept going "later" to her I liked this story. However, this was a sticking point for me. It's a lazy cliche being used in too many books to bind the heroine to the supernatural creature without actual consent being involved and this is where I have issues with a lot of Urban Fantasy. Without consent this is morally dubious at best and downright issue-laden at worst, and what's worse for me is that...more

1 like · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Out Of The Ordinary: Book #1	1	4	Mar 25, 2013 03:28pm
Beginning, Middle, & Ending	3	22	Aug 20, 2012 08:54am
Sexy Vampire Satire From Lynda Hilburn	14	32	Aug 10, 2012 06:06pm
The U.S. Release Of Lynda Hilburn's THE VAMPIRE SHRINK	4	15	Jun 23, 2012 02:34pm

combine
Other Editions (20)

More editions...

Videos About This Book

The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn BookPeek

Add a comment

Genres

Paranormal > Vampires

119 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

74 users

Romance > Paranormal Romance

56 users

Fantasy > Urban Fantasy

48 users

Romance

43 users

Fantasy

41 users

Horror

14 users

Mystery

12 users

Fantasy > Supernatural

10 users

Adult

10 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Lynda Hilburn

Lynda's books can be classified as urban fantasy/dark fantasy with romance, suspense/mystery, satire, horror, humor and sex.

Lynda Hilburn writes paranormal fiction. More specifically, she writes vampire books. After a childhood filled with invisible friends, sightings of dead relatives and a fascination with the occult, turning to the paranormal was a no-brainer. In her other reality, she makes he...more

More about Lynda Hilburn...

Books by Lynda Hilburn

Dark Harvest (Kismet Knight, Ph.D., Vampire Psychologist, #3)

Blood Therapy (Kismet Knight, Ph.D., Vampire Psychologist, #2)

Until Death Do Us Part (Kismet Knight, #1.5)

Devereux: The Night Before Kismet (Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist #0.5)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Vampire Shrink

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Vampire Shrink

“He downed the last of his coffee, carried his mug over to the pot, poured himself a refill, and returned to the table.
Why, yes, thank you, I'd love some more coffee. Hmmm, Narcisstic Personality Disorder? Attention Deficit Disorder? Or just a typical male?” — 4 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Vampire Shrink
avg rating	preview: The Vampire Shrink Goodreads rating: 3.56 (1523 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1729643.The_Vampire_Shrink?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328838064l/1729643.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1729643.The_Vampire_Shrink?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn[/url]

The Vampire Shrink (Kismet Knight, Ph.D., Vampire Psychologist #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website