High Stakes (Vegas Vampires, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Apr 05, 2010 Kristen rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal-romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This cracked me up! The characters were fun. It's not often I think of that when I pick something out of the trash... I mean romance section... but I was laughing so often when reading this! And, Alexis is a girl after my own heart. When I read the line "sang dan mahk ki" I literally said out loud "yes!" And every time I read the word "ki hap" I was excited. Clearly Ms. McCarthy knows a little something about Korean Martial Arts.

It was totally refreshing to read something that wasn't this epic This cracked me up! The characters were fun. It's not often I think of that when I pick something out of the trash... I mean romance section... but I was laughing so often when reading this! And, Alexis is a girl after my own heart. When I read the line "sang dan mahk ki" I literally said out loud "yes!" And every time I read the word "ki hap" I was excited. Clearly Ms. McCarthy knows a little something about Korean Martial Arts.

It was totally refreshing to read something that wasn't this epic battle for good vs. evil in this genre. Paranormal romance is all essentially the same story - over and over again with different names (although I can't tell you how many versions of the name "wrath" or "wraith" I have seen, and are they really all that different?) for the good guys and different names for the organization of baddies. To totally be a political story line - President of all the undead registered voters with his enemy being the other candidate... what a nice refreshing change. Of course, it is a little more then that - since how often do candidates try to bump each other off - or at least scare each other that much by attempting? And that's part of what made it funny. Plus, there was just enough tension between Alexis and Carrick that I thoroughly enjoyed the love story too.

I had 2 complaints. First, there were so many open questions still at the end that sort of just got ignored for the wedding. I mean it was like things skipped 2 weeks forward and the author forgot to tell us what happened in those two weeks. I am hoping that we get the filler in the next book. Also, the whopper in the last chapter - who is Gwen (I get that she's Carrick's sister, but there seems to be more to it then that) and what will we see from her next?! But I am excited to get my hands on the next book to find out.

Second complaint - the love scenes were just ok. When I pull a book from this section of the book store, I am looking for a little fantasy. And here, they didn't leave me breathless and with pink cheeks, the way I like to be left after reading these books. But again, maybe we'll see better in the next ones. If JR Ward is the standard for the steaminess, these fall way short. But if JR Ward is the standard for plot - I think these just edged her out, if for no other reason then having an original take on a vampire romance plot. ...more

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Oct 09, 2009 Steph rated it really liked it

Shelves: year-read-2009, author-웃, series-book1

I had been putting off reading this book for no specific reason and chose it for a monthly reading challenge. I'm glad I did b/c it was a light, easy, sometimes funny read. Good vamp fluff to break up the "tougher" reads. I'll definitely check out book 2 at some point. ...more

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Dec 10, 2009 Valorie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal-romance

I loved this book!! A sexy romance with a hilarious and witty story! I can't wait to read the next book in the series!! ...more

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Sep 09, 2009 Jackie M rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2010

I really liked this book because it was fast paced and made me laugh out loud.
Alexis is a feisty woman who gets and does what she wants.
Ethan is vampire who is almost a thousand years old and has never fallen in love or met the "one" for him.
This is a fast paced love story that has the couple in love and wed in a matter of weeks. Believable? No... but hey it's a vampire romance book for crying out loud.
I really liked the book and will continue on with the series. ...more

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Aug 28, 2009 FlibBityFLooB rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy-or-paranormal, read-in-2009, zaftig-heroine, vampires, zzauthor-mccarthy-erin

3.5/5 stars
I read this for a goodreads book challenge where I had to read a book that had a bat on the cover. For some reason, there are backwards symbols on the slot machine on this cover. I wonder if it was intentional?

This was a light book, and it was certainly full of steamy scenes. I will read the next in the series, but I wish there was more humor in this book. Maybe next book?

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