American Vampire

Jun 19, 2012 Buggy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: vampalicious, urb-fantasy, shelf-12, lmao, monsters, lickworthy-cover

Graf McDonald is just your average American vampire, and that’s part of why I liked this book so much. Well that and the cover, which for some reason kept catching my eye. Anyways, he doesn’t ooze raw sexuality or have any OTT cool vampire skills (other than the obvious), he isn’t self-loathing or sparkly or even particularly sexy. In fact he’s pretty useless, just a vampire with a bad sense of direction and a wickedly sarcastic sense of humour who happens to find himself trapped in the small in...more Graf McDonald is just your average American vampire, and that’s part of why I liked this book so much. Well that and the cover, which for some reason kept catching my eye. Anyways, he doesn’t ooze raw sexuality or have any OTT cool vampire skills (other than the obvious), he isn’t self-loathing or sparkly or even particularly sexy. In fact he’s pretty useless, just a vampire with a bad sense of direction and a wickedly sarcastic sense of humour who happens to find himself trapped in the small inert town of Penance Ohio running from a monster named “It” and trying to either bed or drain the girl –he hasn’t decided which yet.

This really was LOL funny in places; Graf’s running internal dialogue and snarky observations of small town life had me marking and reading passages out loud. I also appreciated the uniqueness of this story; in a market saturated with vampire romances it’s rare to find something new. I couldn’t classify this as a paranormal romance -while there is romance it plays more to Urban fantasy with a slight Stephen Kingish feel especially when it comes to the monster. (Which Armintrout leaves purposely vague so we can draw our own conclusions.

Graf is on his way to his Maker Sophia’s legendary July 4th party in DC when he takes a wrong turn and finds himself in small town Ohio. For some reason all roads seem to lead back to the town of Penance –which is getting really frustrating. Plus he’s on a time constraint what with the rising sun and all. Stopping at an abandoned gas station with the hopes of finding a map Graf instead finds Jessa hiding and on the run from “It” Now if scary monsters weren’t enough it turns out that no one has been able to get in or out of this town since “It” showed up five years ago. Why? Good question.

Completely cut off from the outside world the residents have all gone a bit nuts in their isolation. With limited supplies, short tempers and an overabundance of suspicion and fear they have resorting to burning suspected witches at the stake and other forms of corrupt justice. They definitely do not trust strangers much less a vampire. Jessa meanwhile has been branded the town tramp due to her continued relationship with a possessive but now married x boyfriend. She knows what it feels like to be an outsider and the two enter into an odd sort of alliance. Graf of course just wants out. “Oh for Christ’s sake, I had to get trapped in a lifetime original movie didn’t I?”

"He made a list of all the problems facing him, and it looked something like this in his head.
Trapped in Deliverance.
Missing Sophia’s birthday party /possible sex with Sophia.
It.
Need blood.
Obnoxious baggage."

Cheers!

296jb3.5

(less)

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Jan 12, 2011 Jess the Romanceaholic rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: small-town, vampires, netgalley, arc, paranormal-romance, promiscuous-heroine, angels-and-or-demons, cruel-hero, 2011-read, adultery-or-infidelity, magick, wickedly-funny

Our vampire hero, Graf, is on his way to Washington, D.C. for a party with his sire, Sophia, when he pauses for a late night snack at an abandoned gas station in a small town. The only problem is his "snack", a Penance, Ohio resident named Jessa, is also being chased by a giant monster possum. Or something. Graf isn't sure exactly what "It" is, but he knows it's bigger, stronger, and much, much smellier than he is, and proceeds to high-tail it out of Penance. At least, that was the plan.

Unfortun...more Our vampire hero, Graf, is on his way to Washington, D.C. for a party with his sire, Sophia, when he pauses for a late night snack at an abandoned gas station in a small town. The only problem is his "snack", a Penance, Ohio resident named Jessa, is also being chased by a giant monster possum. Or something. Graf isn't sure exactly what "It" is, but he knows it's bigger, stronger, and much, much smellier than he is, and proceeds to high-tail it out of Penance. At least, that was the plan.

Unfortunately for Graf, all of the residents of Penance have been trapped for five years with no contact to the outside world. Travelers can pass right through, but they never stop, and only a few whispered rumors indicate that anyone from Penance has ever been able to leave. And now, they can add a vampire to their numbers.

What worked for me:
* This book was hysterical. Graf wasn't a nice guy when he first arrived into town, and as such initially viewed Jessa and everyone else of Penance as a simple food supply. It wasn't until later when he began to see her as a woman rather than cattle, and during the transition there was quite a bit of hilarity to his thoughts. He once mentioned how awkward it was to offer her solace while she was upset because it was rather like "comforting an ice cream cone".

* I like that the vampire's bite wasn't all sexy. It was gruesome and painful and there was nothing attractive about it. This is a nice change from a lot of paranormal romance novels which indicate a type of euphoria that the victim receives from the bite.

* I really liked the small-town mentality. Having grown up in a small town, I recognized a lot of the attitudes that would only have been amplified by forced isolation. Bullies, mob mentalities, and prejudices abounded, which made things feel much more "real".

* I really liked that Graf wasn't preternaturally cunning or intelligent, nor did he instantly "have all the answers". Numerous paranormal romances (honestly, romances in general) have the hero always know exactly what needs to be done and rarely making mistakes. Graf doesn't have any big plan -- he's totally winging it through the whole situation and really shouldn't be depended upon to "fix" things or to get himself and Jessa out of any sticky situations.

What din't work for me:

* I didn't care for the fact that Jessa was an adulteress. Somehow I just don't find it endearing to have a heroine knowingly sleeping with a married man, no matter what their history together.

* I wish they'd had a better name for the creature other than "It". I kept getting Tim Curry flashbacks every time I read the name, which took away from the story quite a bit.

Overall, I really liked this book. Watching Graf go from top-of-the-food-chain, arrogant and cold to a man in love was gradual enough to be gratifying without making the reader feel as though things were dragging. While I didn't care for the main conflict between Jessa and her redneck mostly-ex-boyfriend, I did like the way the story played out in the end, and would love to read more about these characters in the future.

A very solid 4/5 stars.(less)

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Dec 28, 2010 Kt from A Book Obsession.. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: received-for-review

On his way to have a good time, the vampire Graf gets stuck in his worst nightmare. He stumbles into a town that has had no one enter nor leave for five years. If that wasn't creepy enough, then add in a terrible monster that preys on the townspeople. He winds up having to rely on the first person he meets in town, Jessa, a gruff and angry woman. Even though she hates his guts, she knows his stuff will help her if she can trade it for supplies so she can survive. It becomes an uneasy alliance as...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Holjo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Rated 3.5/5

Summary: Graf McDonald may be a deadly vampire, but he still has the annoying human flaw of being terrible with directions. As a result, he finds himself lost while on a roadtrip from Detroit to Washington DC for a party at his sire's home. When he pulls over to acquire a map in the small town of Penance, Ohio, he quickly discovers that there are more terrifying creatures in the world than vampires. Moments after entering a deserted gas station, Graf finds himself in the company of a...more Rated 3.5/5

Summary: Graf McDonald may be a deadly vampire, but he still has the annoying human flaw of being terrible with directions. As a result, he finds himself lost while on a roadtrip from Detroit to Washington DC for a party at his sire's home. When he pulls over to acquire a map in the small town of Penance, Ohio, he quickly discovers that there are more terrifying creatures in the world than vampires. Moments after entering a deserted gas station, Graf finds himself in the company of a local woman named Jessa Gallagher, and they are running for their lives from a hideous demon-like creature.

Graf eventually discovers that Penance has been in a magical prison of some sort; no one has entered or left the country town in 5 years. Graf is the first new visitor in all that time, and now that he is within the town limits, he is stuck in limbo also. Although he originally plans to kill Jessa as food, he finds that he needs her to help him navigate through this twilight-zone experience. The townspeople don't trust him, and supplies have run dangerously low for everyone, so simply finding a place to stay safely out of sunlight is impossible without Jessa's help. To make matters worse, the creature who attacked them on his first night in town is still hunting them.

Jessa is a bit of an outcast in Penance. She had been quite popular in her younger years, but after her family was killed, her life spiraled downhill fast. She pushed away her high school boyfriend, Derek, and he eventually found comfort in the arms of Jessa's best friend Becky. Although Derek and Becky are now married and have a family, Derek continues to aggressively pursue Jessa, resulting in a messy affair and Jessa's bad reputation in the town. The last thing Jessa needs is another man complicating her life further, but Graf refuses to be turned away.

Eventually, Graf's appearance in town sets events in motion toward a conclusion to the curse. But, it isn't long before the townspeople - in desperate need to have someone to blame for their misfortune - go on a witch hunt. Graf and Jessa have to fight for their lives as they become the target of both an angry mob and the demon creature. In the midst of all the chaos, they find trust and loyalty only with each other.

Review: I always wonder what the thought process is behind giving a book a title that means absolutely nothing to the storyline. Anybody know? I have no idea where this title came from, but it gives no indication of what is inside the book. I can't decide if it was totally random or just generic...??

I thought this story was unique, and I always enjoy being surprised by something new in the vampire romance genre. I also really liked that the two primary characters were so imperfect. Jessa is an adept liar (which she admits to), and at the beginning of the book, she also "the other woman" in a completely toxic relationship. Graf is incredibly shallow, totally selfish, and he has zero regard for human life. Neither character is someone you might call "likeable", yet I found myself solidly on their side throughout the book. It helped that they seemed to bring out each other's better qualities as the story progressed. The fact that the other people in the town were severely disturbed horror-movie material also made it easier to favor Jessa and Graf. But to be honest, I mostly liked them because they were so different from the seemingly perfect characters in other vampire books/series.

A small thorn in my side was that I wasn't crazy about the evil demon being named "It". The word "it" became a little overused thanks to being both a common noun and a proper name in the book. It was also a rather generic element to an otherwise creative storyline.

At the beginning of this book, I completely bought into the back story that this community had been magically locked away from the rest of the world for five years. However, as the mysteries of the It demon began to unfold, I bought into the original premiss less and less. When we finally discover the secret to stopping "It", I could not comprehend why it took five years to end the imprisonment - or why people hadn't already figured out how to escape. I can't really explain this without giving away any spoilers, but you will definitely understand this point if you read the book. Someone could have easily put an end to this fiasco years earlier.

Overall, I did like this book and would recommend it to paranormal fans. However, it is a little difficult to say exactly which audience it will appeal to. The small-town redneck setting and characters may repel some UF fans, and the fact that the romance is mostly shelved until the very end of the book might be a disappointment to some PR fans. I also know from past experience that some of my readers will be turned off by Jessa's "other-woman" status at the start of the book. But, if you happen to be in the mood to read a vampire story that you haven't read dozens of times before, then this might be the book for you.(less)

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Aug 08, 2011 jD rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1_own-book, 7_stand-alone, vamps-non-series, vamps-funny, 2011-read

"American Vampire" became a must read because of Jennifer Armintrout. I loved the Blood Ties series and had always hoped for more books in that franchise. Ms. Armintrout won me over with her first book of Blood Ties, "The Turning". Very dark. Strong Urban Fantasy elements. There were some nasty characters that were very dark. Tortured souls trying to survive the best way they can. It was all there so it never occured to me that Ms. Armintrout could write a vampire novel that left me scratching m...more "American Vampire" became a must read because of Jennifer Armintrout. I loved the Blood Ties series and had always hoped for more books in that franchise. Ms. Armintrout won me over with her first book of Blood Ties, "The Turning". Very dark. Strong Urban Fantasy elements. There were some nasty characters that were very dark. Tortured souls trying to survive the best way they can. It was all there so it never occured to me that Ms. Armintrout could write a vampire novel that left me scratching my head.

"American Vampire" was not what I expected in any way. It's not connected to the Blood Ties series but the vampire has the same characteristics -- no direct sunlight, need blood, drinking blood is painful for victim, and he is the strong/fast combo. He can't read minds or manipulate another's will which I happen to like in general with my vamps. The book would have had another avenue for humor if the smart mouthed Graf could have manipulated minds or read thoughts.

The plot is reminicent of one of my favorite Kevin Bacon movies -- "Tremers". We have the requisite group of people stranded in a small town with a monster on the loose. They have been trapped for five years when the vampire somehow got through the monster's magic to enter the town. The main characters -- vamp Graf and human Jessa don't get off on the right foot. Their banter is quite funny as a matter of fact. That was the best part of the book. The other characters were not fleshed out enough for me to formulate their real value to the entertainment end of the book.

The plot movement was choppy. It all felt too forced. It was more like a screen play than a book. I felt the supporting characters were actors that ran in and out of scenes but didn't really leave anything of themselves behind on the page. They have no originality. What's really strange for me is the fact that I don't believe Ms. Armintrout made a mistake in how she told the story. I think she had some fun writing the story as an imaginative excursion. That's the only way I could ever accept this as a representative of her work. If anyone else had written it, I would be chucking it in the backyard firepit. I am a fan of her previous work and believe this odd offering is just that -- an imaginative outlet. So three stars for the Graf's wit and sass alone.(less)

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Apr 11, 2011 aobibliophile™ rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found. - Author Unknown

Graf, a vampire, is on his way to Washington D.C. to party with his maker Sophia and the rest of his fanged friends when he gets lost. trying to find his bearings, he sees a gas station and stops only to find a woman inside hiding and cowering in fear. suddenly, the building is viciously attacked by It - a monster from hell. he rescues Jessa, drives away and leaves her by the side of the road. continuing his journey,...more If you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found. - Author Unknown

Graf, a vampire, is on his way to Washington D.C. to party with his maker Sophia and the rest of his fanged friends when he gets lost. trying to find his bearings, he sees a gas station and stops only to find a woman inside hiding and cowering in fear. suddenly, the building is viciously attacked by It - a monster from hell. he rescues Jessa, drives away and leaves her by the side of the road. continuing his journey, he realizes that he is going around in circles. with daylight coming, he sees no other alternative but to go back to Jessa. reluctantly, she allows him to spend the night at her place. Graf's stay, however, stretches into days as he gets stuck in a town filled with secrets he wished he never knew or wanted to be a part of.
Jennifer Armintrout's unique approach to vampires and monsters is brilliant and plausible. her fans will surely devour this book with gusto. the setting, plot and characters are perfectly blended to create an engrossing story.
i advise you then to take some time off should you decide to keep Graf, Jessa, Derek and the folks at Penance company. questions, surprises and twists will keep you hanging on every page. as you get comfortable and settle down to read, have your choice drink and snack at hand.
American Vampire was definitely an enjoyable read for me. i just pray and hope though that i would never get the chance to visit a town similar to Penance. not now. not ever. read the book if you want to find out why.

Disclosure of Material Connection: i received a galley from Harlequin through NetGalley.com i did not receive any payment in exchange for this review nor was i obligated to write a positive one. all opinions expressed here are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, the book's publisher and publicist or the readers of this review. this disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.(less)

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Feb 23, 2011 Julia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Reviewed by Mona at RexRobotReviews.com

American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout is a twisted tale of romance and horror. It pulled me in with the GPS dysfunctional vampire that I actually found very likeable, with his penchant for leather and great taste in vintage cars. But the interaction between the main characters left me dragging. I loved the snarky comments and dialogue between them at times, but the overall connection was very slow in the making.

At first I felt sorry for the town being tra...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Lillie Roberts rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jessa Gallagher was stuck, and sick of being stuck. No one in the small town of Penance, Ohio has moved in the last five years. No, I mean, no one has move at all, unable to escape the boundaries of the town in five long lonely years.

There's a monster in the town, a real honest-to-Gawd monster, and it's hunting something. It'll do whatever it needs to fulfill it's own crude needs. It's like time has passed the town by, and the outside world no longer knows of their existence, and certainly, no o...more Jessa Gallagher was stuck, and sick of being stuck. No one in the small town of Penance, Ohio has moved in the last five years. No, I mean, no one has move at all, unable to escape the boundaries of the town in five long lonely years.

There's a monster in the town, a real honest-to-Gawd monster, and it's hunting something. It'll do whatever it needs to fulfill it's own crude needs. It's like time has passed the town by, and the outside world no longer knows of their existence, and certainly, no one knows about the monster terrorizing Penance. Until a wayward vampire stumbles into the mist of the battle, who knew vampires could get lost?

Graf MacDonald is the vampire lost in the middle of no where, who stumbles into a fight not his own. It becomes his battle when he discovers he's as stuck as everyone else is in the small town. But, he needs to find a place to sleep away from the sun, and someone to eat because he's starving too.

When Graf finds Jessa hiding from the beast, he doesn't know if he should eat her or lose her.... She seems slightly crazy and snotty to boot. But she has lost her entire family, maybe there's a reason for her short temper.

American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout is an urban fantasy that ends up being a vampire romance, one of my favorite genres. I have to admit, at first I didn't like either of the main characters, Jessa or Graf. Jessa because she was whiny, sleeping with her loser ex-boyfriend who married her best friend rather than support her after her entire family is wiped out. Graf, because he was a heartless bastard who wants help but it unwilling to give it, in a hurry to leave Penance and their monster with no intention of helping them. In fact, he throws Jessa out of his car when he thinks she's gone around the bend, granted, he also doesn't know Jessa either, and vampires are not indestructible. But, as I got further into the story, Jessa learned to be less dependent of her loser ex-boyfriend, who is worse than anything she can imagine, including the monster terrorizing the town. Graf, by being stranded with no escape from Penance, finally learns what it means to need another person for something besides a meal or a place to hide from the blistering sun. Though, he still cares little for the humans surrounding him in the town, and with good reason... they aren't any more likable at the beginning of the story than by the end, but then again, I didn't get to glimpse the town before the monster started terrorizing it, and they've all been trapped for five years, they've got plenty of reason to be pissed, but they've lost part of their humanity in the process, becoming monsters themselves. I did like the ending where Graf saves Jessa in the only way he can.

American Vampire is an interesting story, and from my above comments, you may think I didn't enjoy the story. You'd be wrong, it was an intense page turner that grabbed my interest from the start, I read this book in a single day. After getting to know Jessa, and watching her grow up at long last, accepting her family's death, she turned out to be a self-sacrificing character, and Graf turned out to be the strong vampire hero everyone needed him to be. As the townspeople have lost part of their humanity, Graf gains a little of his back. At first, I thought Graf was going to be a vampire savior, but he really is just an ordinary guy who happens to be a vampire. He's not super human strong, very much susceptible to sunlight, his emotions have become lost with the change to vampire, but he is super quick and learns to mock human behavior pretending so well to be human, he almost fools Jessa, almost. Even though he is relatively new to vampirism, only being turned in 1967, he understands the lost of humanity. It seems with Ms. Armintrout's version of vampirism, as soon as one becomes a vampire, humanity is lost; no breathing, no blinking, an imitation of human existence. This is another new twist to the vampire genre, which only helps keep the genre fresh and interesting. Urban fantasy lovers may want to give this one a try, and paranormal romance lovers, there's some lovin in here for you too. At the heart of this story is a monster, the question is who let the monster out to play and how can it be killed?

I received this ebook for review from Net Galley and Harlequin. All opinions expressed are my own. (less)

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Feb 19, 2011 ~Tina~ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, netgalley-e-galley, urban_fantasy, bite-me, read-2011

On the way to meet his sire at a party, in DC, Vamp Graf gets lost and thought it would be a good idea to stop at a near by gas station. Steal a map and get a snack maybe. When he sees a frightened women crawling around in the dark and hears a rumble outside he realizes he's not alone and that some kind of monster is out there. Wanting to get the hell out of this town, he drives off, dumping the girl he rescued while he's at it, only he can't get out, in fact, no one's been able to get in or out...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, advanced-review-copy

4 1/2 stars. A funny, scary, at times tragic urban fantasy.

Graf, the (anti) hero is kind of half-heartedly evil (think Spike after he had the chip put in his head). Jessa... has issues of her own. They meet in a run-down gas station convenience store in very rural Ohio, where she's hiding from a demon. After he accidentally rescues her, he dumps her by the side of the road and tries to get back to civilization -- only to find himself trapped there with her and the few other people who are still...more

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Jan 28, 2011 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal

The title is a bit misleading-instead of “American Vampire” it should be, “American Vampire-gets-stuck-in-a-small-town”. The story starts out with Graf, a refreshingly-un-angsty vampire on his way to party. He gets literally stuck in an off-the beaten path town when he tries to snag a snack in Jessa, a young woman being chased by “it.” It is apparently a monster who roams around the small town and won’t let them leave.

I like how Armintrout develops the relationship between Graf and Jessa as wel...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3-stars, paranormal-and-supernatural, fiction

I enjoyed Jennifer Armintrout's previous vampire series, Blood Ties, for being unique and multi-faceted and capturing quite an epic scope in just four books, and I was glad to see she was back to writing vamps. When it comes to paranormal writers, no one's as enjoyably imaginative as Armintrout, and with American Vampire, she delivered a fun, dark read.

Graf's a vampire (of the unrepentant but Lady Gaga-listening variety) who ends up stuck in the isolated small town of Penance, Ohio. The thing ab...more I enjoyed Jennifer Armintrout's previous vampire series, Blood Ties, for being unique and multi-faceted and capturing quite an epic scope in just four books, and I was glad to see she was back to writing vamps. When it comes to paranormal writers, no one's as enjoyably imaginative as Armintrout, and with American Vampire, she delivered a fun, dark read.

Graf's a vampire (of the unrepentant but Lady Gaga-listening variety) who ends up stuck in the isolated small town of Penance, Ohio. The thing about Penance is that for five years, no one's gotten out, and until Graf's arrival, no one's gotten in, either. The townspeople can't explain the magical forces binding them to their town, and while Graf is determined to get himself out, he also becomes entangled in the life of Jessa, a young woman who, though a native of the town, is treated as much of an outsider as he is.

The magical isolation part combined with a vampire was what initially excited me about this book. A vampire's got to feed, right? Hiding that blood habit while being a newcomer in a small town seems like a daunting prospect, and yes, that's covered in this book. I did enjoy the worldbuilding, both the paranormal and the "ordinary" aspects, and in particular, I thought Jessa's small-town life and experience rang really, really true, sadly enough. You don't escape your past in a small town, and when you can't escape that small town, either, life isn't going to be easy. I did, however, find the "backward hick townfolk" trope tiresome, and I can see readers not caring for that relentless and sometimes stereotypical portrayal.

I enjoyed the plot. My feelings on the characters and the romance vacillated. I liked Graf and Jessa SO much better when they were reluctant allies and still antagonistic, not when they were in love, but knowing the personalities of the two of them, I can easily see that post-love, they can still going to be antagonistic--which, hey, that's fun to read. While I know the ending worked for the book, it didn't quite work for me as a reader, because when something THAT major happens (I'm trying not to spoil), I want to read a consideration of the various sides of the various consequences, and I want more mixed emotions. But the loose ends are wrapped up, and while this book works as a standalone, but the characters are big enough to carry a series.

Note: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley.(less)

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Dec 27, 2010 Jamie Kline rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: net-galley

My opinion: When the book starts, we meet Graf. He's a vampire and he's on his way to another elaborate party thrown by his sire, the vampire that turned him. He is horrible with directions and he ends up wandering into a podunk little town. He spots a ransacked gas station, but seeing a flashlight inside decides that maybe he can get a map...and a little supper. He goes in and runs into a woman named Jessa. She's beyond frightened, claiming there's a monster after her and they need to hide! At...more My opinion: When the book starts, we meet Graf. He's a vampire and he's on his way to another elaborate party thrown by his sire, the vampire that turned him. He is horrible with directions and he ends up wandering into a podunk little town. He spots a ransacked gas station, but seeing a flashlight inside decides that maybe he can get a map...and a little supper. He goes in and runs into a woman named Jessa. She's beyond frightened, claiming there's a monster after her and they need to hide! At first he scoffs at the notion, but then as the gas station falls down around them he realizes that maybe he's not the only monster around. They escape the monster, simply called "It", and Graf knows he needs to find shelter before sunrise. He talks Jessa into letting him stay the night and she makes him stay in the basement. He definitely contemplates eating her numerous times, especially since all she did was annoy him. Apparently, the people in this small down of Penance have been stuck there for 5 years, unable to leave and no people have been able to come in...until Graf. That automatically makes people suspicious, why was he the first person to be able to come into town? Graf tries to escape at one point, thinking that maybe his car is the ticket to getting out, so he insults Jessa and tries to flee. Of course this doesn't work, so he has to come crawling back and beg for her to let him back in because he has nowhere else to go. She takes him into town to see if anyone else will give him a place to stay, but after a mishap with one of the other locals no one volunteers. After this, Graf knows he can't make a snack out of her, since everyone knows he's staying with her and it would make everyone very suspicious. And then after some time, he doesn't want to because he develops feelings for her, whether he likes it or not. And despite her best efforts, she finds herself depending on him and falling for him as well. But she's still stuck on her ex-boyfriend Derek, who left her for another woman; they still get together every once in a while, and she finds it impossible to let him go. Graf wholly intends to return to his old life, even though he is falling in love with Jessa. Will they find a way to get rid of the monster and free the town or will they all be trapped there for eternity?

I loved this book! Graf and Jessa were so funny, some of the dialogue actually made me laugh out loud. Graf starts out as being a big insensitive jerk, but as the story progresses it's nice to see another side of him come out. Jessa is basically a big doormat; whatever her ex-boyfriend Derek does to her, she just brushes it off and keeps letting him come back. It's so frustrating, but I know people go through this all of the time. Sometimes, no matter how badly they treat you, it's hard to let go of the good times. I definitely did not expect the monster, it was different than any book I've read before and that was great. Especially since vampires are usually the most feared thing in the book, and here even the vampire was afraid (at times) of It. There were plenty of twists and turns in this book to keep it very interesting, and it all flowed very nicely. I literally could not put it down and read it in one sitting. I absolutely can not wait to read more from this author!!!

My rating: 5/5 stars(less)

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Nov 21, 2012 Joan{missing the vampire bunny slippers!} rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks-i-have

It really pisses me off when my connection fails while I'm trying to save a review!!! :(
So for those of you who haven't guessed that already, my review is gone! Too bad 'cause I thought it was a good one. :P
I am not in the mood to rewrite it right now so I might come back later and do it, but maybe I 'll forget so here goes the gist of it all!
The book was good, it went down easily, but it wasn't all that.
Jessa really got on my nerves, especially when she let her pig of an ex treat her like crap!...more

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May 07, 2011 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Graf is a vampire and on his way to a party when he gets lost, hes pulls into an unused petrol station after seeing a light and thinking they may have some maps lying around only to be grabbed by a terrified woman who is hiding from IT. Thinking shes crazy he kicks her out of the car and drives off to leave town, only he cant ! Apparently the woman isnt so crazy and she was telling the truth when she told him the town of Penance is cursed and has been for 5 years, tortured by a beast named IT go...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Cindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a town I wouldn't even want to drive AROUND! After a curse gone awry traps all who live in a small town, the denizens are so stir crazy they LOOK for the bad in people just to vent 5 years of incarceration through out the community. People are afraid of a Demon who kills seemingly indiscriminately...when: SURPRISE...another monster winds up trapped in this Hell called Penance. Our Hero is a Vampire on his way to a HUGE 4th of July Party when he makes a wrong turn. While trying to find a...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Bron rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: vampire

A vampire who breaks his Tomtom
A town stuck within its boundaries
A girl chased by a demon she calls "It"
A washed up highschool football player...

Those are the pieces, now how do they fit together.

This original paranormal romance story features quite a bit of mystery and danger, however, I couldn't actually feel the romance of the book. It was there, it was happening, but the reader wasn't given a share in it. I don't even think I liked any of the characters very much. There was Jessa, who was a...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Crystal rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People over 18

American Vampire
By Jennifer Armintrout

Thank you netGalley and Harlequin for the book.

Graf is a vampire that really doesn't care for the human race, he considers them food, on his way to a 4th of July party somehow he gets stuck in a town called Penance, Ohio that's where he meets Jessa. Jessa has been stuck in Penance for five years, she like everyone in town have been trying to survive a monster they call It. Jessa has had a hard time being by herself, specially because the towns people really...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Norma rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was definitely a great book. It was a dark, eerie tale that was interlaced with a dark humor.

Think of it as Janet Evanovich meets Twilight Zone. I absolutely loved it.

First off, you have the hunky egotistical vampire (and no he doesn’t sparkle! Huzzah for that!). Mix in a small town that no one can escape from. And top it off with a spunky woman with a hidden past that she can’t hide from.

Right there, you have the recipe for a great evening. It was a very quick read that was well worth it...more

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Dec 19, 2010 Chibineko rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: awesomeness, netgalley, mira, harlequin

If you're wondering if this is a series, I don't have an answer for you. This story in Armintrout's newest can stand alone by itself, but it can quite easily start off a new series in itself. As far as tying into Armintrout's other vampire series Blood Ties, I can't honestly answer that either. There's not enough detail here to determine whether it's part of that canon, but Armintrout could easily declare that it is if she wanted to. What I can tell you is that this was a blast to read.

Where to...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Mixedbagreader rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-spn-romance

Small town girl and out of town guy join forces against a mysterious creature lurking in the woods and dangerously high-strung townspeople. Except it just so happens that your "out of town guy" is a hungry and rather cranky vampire. Which was definitely the twist that changed this book from 2 stars to 4.

What made this book worth reading to me was the vampire main character's point of view. It is incredibly rare that I get to read a PNR where the vampire feels to me like a real vampire. You know...more

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Feb 18, 2011 Paranormal Haven rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-read-by-stephanie

On his way to his sire's 4th of July party, vampire Graf McDonald finds himself lost and in a town no one has been able to enter or leave for five years. The citizens of Penance, Ohio have no idea why they've been unable to leave or where the monster that hunts them came from. They are suspicious of Graf from the start and the only person he can consider an ally is Jessa.

Jessa has been alone since the beginning of the towns isolation and her personal problems and past make her somewhat of an ou...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Amanda Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first thing that pulled me to this book was the cover. For whatever reason it screams Bret Easton Ellis to me (American Pyscho crossed with Glamorama anyone?). Graf McDonald is no where near Patrick Bateman (it’s ok if you’re not getting these references – just know that Patrick Bateman was a PSYCHOPATH), but he definitely has his quirks. Like his car. And his don’t-give-a-shite attitude. Graf is on his way to a 4th of July celebration of epic proportions when he gets stuck in the town of Pe...more The first thing that pulled me to this book was the cover. For whatever reason it screams Bret Easton Ellis to me (American Pyscho crossed with Glamorama anyone?). Graf McDonald is no where near Patrick Bateman (it’s ok if you’re not getting these references – just know that Patrick Bateman was a PSYCHOPATH), but he definitely has his quirks. Like his car. And his don’t-give-a-shite attitude. Graf is on his way to a 4th of July celebration of epic proportions when he gets stuck in the town of Penance, Ohio. When I say stuck I mean it in the most literal sense of the word. No one can leave. You drive around in circles and always end up where you started. The real kicker, though, is that there is some sort of beast that is tearing the town apart and no one can do anything to stop it. Good thing Graf came along because if anything can stand up against a crazy ass beastie is a vampire.

Enter Jessa – she’s the pretty girl who can’t shake the shadow of her poor decisions. She’s shackled herself to the idea of her ex-boyfriend, who is married to her former best friend. Stir in a bit of small town mentality and you have a recipe for a not-so-secret affaire. Jessa runs smack into Graf while she’s running from It, aka the beastie, and together they manage to escape. Though at each others throats, they opt to team up. And they need each other more than they realize because the residents of Penance are about to go all Salem Witchcraft on their asses and demand retribution for the increase in Beastie activity.

After cooing over the cover I found myself intrigued by the premise of the story. I, for one, have always been a sucker for vampire stories, especially contemporary ones. I’m really, really picky about which ones I read, though, because vampire books are a dime a dozen these days and frankly most are horrible. I’ve been intrigued with vampires since I was a kid – I made the mistake of watching Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula when I was waaaaay too young and it scared the bejeesus out of me. I fixated on it, my childhood brain trying to rationalize the concept of vampires, and thus my vampire fascination was born. My personal expectation of vampires is that they’re supposed to be scary. Yes, they’re dark and charming, but really it’s an attractive slip cover over a ferocious predator THAT WANTS TO EAT YOU. In my mind, a good vampire story should inherently scare you. Sure, they can be sexy, funny, etc. but there should be a factor of them that reminds us they’re the epitome of supernatural.

American Vampire didn’t do that for me, at least not with it’s vampire premise. Graf is a hot shot vampire who has no qualms or misgivings about what he is or what he has to do to survive. I didn’t find anything about him remotely terrifying, though Armintrout did a good job of highlighting his supernatural abilities – a vampire with quick reflexes and a profound ability to survive gruesome wounds. What did creep me out was “It,” aka the beast/demon. Armintrout did a fantastic job explaining what It looked like, and it was FASCINATING. Unfortunately, the chill factor lost it’s potency for me about 3/4 of the way through the story, about when we find out who is responsible for the demon’s presence. I can’t really fault the author for that, though, because that edge almost always loses it’s sharpness once that unknown factor is no longer, well, unknown.

All in all, American Vampire was fun but not one I see myself reading again. It’s a quick read, and I didn’t really find myself invested in any of the characters. I was disappointed with the ending – it was a fantastic way to end, but I felt jilted, wishing there had been something more.

What I loved about this book: This would make a great beach book

What I didn’t like: Not a story that’s going to stick with me

Rating: C

Romance: 2/5 Raunch: 2/5(less)

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May 17, 2011 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very strange premise. Small town in Ohio trapped in time and space. Giant monster menaces the population. Enter playboy vampire in fast car. Hyjinks ensue.

This book is kind of the "anti-Twilight". We do have a small town, a beautiful young girl, a rich, vampire in a fancy car and a high-school sweetheart who isn't willing to let her go. But that's where the similarities end. For the last five years, nothing has changed in Penance, OH. No one has come in and no one can get out. Plus, there's a mo...more

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Feb 27, 2011 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

(I actually gave this one a 2.5 but decided to round up)
This one had some bright spots but over all just fell flat for me. The story was not original enough to keep me excited to turn the pages. Penance becoming isolated and keeping its citizens hostage sounds more interesting than it actually was. Adding a vampire to the town could have made for an interesting twist but in this case I don’t think that it did.

I also was not a big fan of the characters. Something is not right when I am rooting fo...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Beverly rated it 4 of 5 stars

My thoughts:
Great read! I love Jennifer Armintrout's books and this one did not disappoint! Certainly a worthy read!!!
The characters are fantastic!
Graf - - the bad guy/good guy that every story needs. He is just a bit selfish too, which gives him a hard edge.
Jessa - - tough girl with an I don't need you/you don't scare me attitude that makes you love her.
The townspeople - all sorts of crazy.
I was torn between wanting Graf to stay in Penance forever and wanting him and Jessa to escape together....more

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Mar 20, 2011 Jennifer | Nerdhuffing rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, paranormal-fiction

This book often made me laugh. You have your reluctant hero in Graf, a city-slicker vampire who's lost his way because his GPS is defunct and he ends up in a creepy, backwoods Ohio town, the likes of which, hasn't seen a moving vehicle in, oh, say five years. You also have a piss-and-vinegar heroine, Jessa, who's in her mid-20s and the "other woman" in her ex-boyfriend, Derek's, marriage.

And then you have It. The demon beast holding the town captive and terrorizing the citizens.

The dialogue be...more

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Jan 28, 2011 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, 2011-favorites, read-in-2011, urban-fantasy

Oh, I had fun reading this book. Graf was not at all the cuddly, non-killing type of vampire that seems to be the norm lately. He kills people. He doesn't have any regrets about it. It is what it is. How refreshing!

Jessa's also not the normal type of heroine. She might possibly have a bit of a reputation. She might possibly completely deserve it. She has attitude. She's downright nasty to Graf after their first run-in and in fact wants nothing to do with him. She's had a crappy five years and it...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars

I liked it I've read her other books so I thought I would pick this one up.

Buried in the Heartland is a town that no one enters or leaves. Graf McDonald somehow becomes its first visitor in more than five years…and he was only looking for a good party. Unfortunately, Penance, Ohio, is not that place. And after having been isolated for so long, they do not like strangers at all.

Jessa's the only one to even remotely trust him, and she's desperate for the kind of protection that only a vampire li...more

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Jan 08, 2011 Lisa Richards rated it 3 of 5 stars

Honestly, I’m still not real sure how I felt about this book. I finished it a couple of weeks back and thought I’d let it simmer for awhile. It wasn’t great but I didn’t dislike it either. I thought the whole idea of being stuck in a town and unable to leave to be a great plot idea but it fell short in the execution of the idea. Reminds me a bit of a Twilight Zone episode. Why the monster (not the vampire) was there and how one of the other town’s people came to have it under his control wasn’t...more

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