Dancing with the Devil (Nikki & Michael, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

May 11, 2010 Steph rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: author-웃, series-ended, series-completed, series-book1, year-read-2010, author-favorite

I have to say that although I didn't bathe this book in stars, Keri Arthur's early writing style (and sometimes cheesy lines) throughout didn't stop me from getting attached to Nikki & Michael. The ending left me wanting more and more I shall have! I will definitely be reading book 2, Hearts in Darkness and probably the rest of the series.

Dancing with the Devil introduces us to Nikki & Michael.

Nikki James is a Private Investigator with strong psychic abilities. Her abilities include psychom ...more

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Jan 10, 2010 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-author, arc-are, netgalley-reviews

Keri Arthur's Nikki and Michael four book series was first published about a decade ago and is being re released by Dell this year (2013) at the rate of one book every three months. As I am a fan of the author's more recent work, particularly her Riley Jensen series, I was eager to sample her first effort.

Dancing With the Devil introduces psychically gifted private investigator Nikki James and 300 year old vampire Michael Kelly. Strangers to each other, they become entangled on a case involving
Keri Arthur's Nikki and Michael four book series was first published about a decade ago and is being re released by Dell this year (2013) at the rate of one book every three months. As I am a fan of the author's more recent work, particularly her Riley Jensen series, I was eager to sample her first effort.

Dancing With the Devil introduces psychically gifted private investigator Nikki James and 300 year old vampire Michael Kelly. Strangers to each other, they become entangled on a case involving a rebellious, runaway teenager and an evil entity with the power to infiltrate minds and raise the dead.

As Nikki persists in chasing Monica, she makes herself vulnerable to Jasper who uses her as a pawn in the centuries old vendetta between Michael and the murderous vampire. There is plenty of action with both psychic and physical battles of wills taking place, zombies roaming the town at the direction of their master and a ravenous newborn vampire feasting on whomever crosses her path.
Jasper is evil incarnate - he preys on vulnerable young women and craves power. As the daughter of a wealthy business man, Monica is a prize he can't resist as she offers him access to money His ability to manipulate perception and crazed blood lust makes him a worthy foe for Nikki and Michael.

Nikki is feisty and determined but loaded with misplaced guilt and almost stubborn to a fault. I was interested in her abilities which seem to include psychometry as well as some talent for telekinesis and telepathy and I look forward to learning more about them.
Michael was, as I expected, a broody, tortured vampire who agonises over his nature and doesn't believe he deserves happiness.

The romance between Nikki and Michael is complicated by their pasts, both have trust issues and therefore there is a lot of push and pull as they fight their desire for one another. The 'love me, love me not' trope is not my favourite but the psychic tie created between the couple does give it a slightly different twist.

At the time of initial publication I imagine Dancing With The Devil pushed the boundary between paranormal romance and urban fantasy, as with the story to be continued, there is no happy ever after. I did enjoy this introduction to the series but I wasn't really excited by it. Hopefully it will hook me as I continue with it.

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Oct 15, 2013 Christina T rated it liked it · review of another edition

While the concept of this book was actually to my liking, a psychically gifted PI being caught in the sights of an evil vampire and a vampire hero comes to her rescue, I found the execution was a bit off. Finding the positives to point out has been difficult for me because every instance had both pro and con to it.

What Worked: Our heroine, Nikki, is both determined and strong....yet flawed. This will allow for future character development....and believe me, this character needs some because alth While the concept of this book was actually to my liking, a psychically gifted PI being caught in the sights of an evil vampire and a vampire hero comes to her rescue, I found the execution was a bit off. Finding the positives to point out has been difficult for me because every instance had both pro and con to it.

What Worked: Our heroine, Nikki, is both determined and strong....yet flawed. This will allow for future character development....and believe me, this character needs some because although I've listed Nikki as a plus she was also the biggest disappointment I had in this book. (more on that later)

In addition to the character of Nikki, her boss, Jake, although completely human with no special abilities is actually the glue that holds Nikki together and essentially the book itself. He lent a calmness and logic to the story that it truly needed it as Nikki seemed to go off half cocked most of the time.

What Didn't Work: The World Building. The addition of the Damask Circle was woefully under-explained. If not for Michael mentioning a few times that he worked for them I'd never know it existed. This was just one example of the lack of world building. Arthur has also failed to provide rules to her world. Nikki has telekinesis but apparently also has psychometry and precognitive skills too. I've never read a book where one person had so many different types of psychic skills. Usually a person is only gifted with one. In addition it is mentioned so many times that while battling vampires or the zombies Nikki had depleted her psychic gift yet a moment later she is pooling more energy to attack or defend again. It is not explained where her reserve is coming from two, sometimes three times after it's mentioned she's essentially empty of her gifts. In addition to this it appears Arthur's vampires have even greater psychic gifts than Nikki as they have telepathy and can control anyone with their minds in addition to having telekinesis. They also can raise the dead and become invisible by blending into the shadows. And can someone tell me how a vampire 1/3 of the age of our hero could be continually best our hero? In every vampire romance I've read, the older the vampire the greater the strength and the speed and the everything....not so much in Dancing With the Devil.

The romance between Nikki and Michael didn't work either as it rang false by basing itself on a psychic connection that readers had to believe in without any actual romantic gestures from either character. When all was said and done I was still wondering how the characters fancied themselves in love.

The biggest flaw of the book would have to be Nikki herself. She came across angry with the world and self sacrificing to the point I really was rooting for the bad guy to kill her and get it over with. I have a hard time liking a character who completely ignores all of her own instincts, runs headlong into danger every other page knowing it was probably not a good idea and practically gift wraps herself for the bad guy to kidnap her (after already having been kidnapped by him once.) She was BTSTL (Beyond Too Stupid to Live!)

In a Nutshell: Despite the numerous negatives I did give this book 3 stars because it has potential and room to grow. Jake was a very interesting secondary character and I'm interested in seeing what the Damask Circle is all about. ...more

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