This first book was an intriguing mixed bag for me because I both hated and loved the heroine, Cyn or Cynthia. Her dangerous and pig headed actions made me nervous, but I shouldn't have worried. She's every bit the bad ass she thinks she is by the end, so I look forward to reading more about her and her relationship with Raphael.

The audio version is good, but Traci Odem's performance of Cyn's voice, occasionally bordered on strident. I found myself turning down my iPod because of the sharp pitch of the character's 'voice.'

The main criticism I have though, is that although we've all been trained to accept that the vampire love interest is A. gorgeous, and B. powerful -- aside from a few cliched descriptions -- I really wanted to SEE Raphael in my mind, and I didn't feel that D. B. Reynolds did justice to her character in this book as the physical description is so vague. It was a bit disappointing to realize by the end, that Raphael was never fully fleshed out. That being said, I'm hoping that it will be remedied in the many, many books to come in this series.

It also bugged me that if Cyn had only told Raphael one name, so much of the situation would have been solved. It felt a little silly that she wouldn't have told him -- because she knew he needed to know -- but then, that's the nature of these kinds of books, so whatever.

The action scenes, in particular, are well done. Spare, and easy to envision, there is nothing cliched about them! The villains are interesting and scary, and the resolution was nicely executed. The world is interesting and big enough to make the series worth my time. ( )

Serious spoilers in this brief review. Ye Be Warned!


Well I was going to give this one 4 stars. But right in the middle the heroine sleeps with the hero, flips out, and shoots an innocent. She couldn't have distracted or immobilized him in a different, more SANE way? Granted, he was a security guard working for the vamps, but nevertheless he was a human. And we just had to go through a whole thing about how unfortunate it is for the human guards to be used and wronged by the vampires.

That action turned me off of the book immediately. I can't really respect a character who doesn't look out for innocents or doesn't try to minimize the collateral damage. I can't help but compare this book to other UF books with female protagonists. Kate Daniels, Mercy Thompson, Anita Blake for examples.

Truly this book has serious potential but, alas, it isn't that great. Perhaps I'll read the second in the series just to see if any of the plot threads get wrapped up. We'll see.

re-read aug 2014 Love Raphael but man Cyn is the worst. ( )

[b:Raphael|6398385|Raphael (Vampires in America, #1)|D.B. Reynolds|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327922058l/6398385._SY75_.jpg|6587077] by [a:D.B. Reynolds|2898479|D.B. Reynolds|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1467151715p2/2898479.jpg]
Genres; Adult, Action-Adventure, Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense
5 Stars
*Hint: This book is going to blow your mind.
Negatives & Positives
I found 1 typo. That's the only negative I can come up with. For me, this story was 'Out of this world amazing!
The suspense and intensity level was to the Nth Degree. Definitely kept me on my toes. From page one you start having moments of 'I really did not expect that.....'.
The writing is absolutely, no doubt about it, Top Notch.
The action in rapid and constant.
The romance is adult, hot and steamy.
Every element ties in together. No repetition. No rambling.
This is what I want in all the books I read. Second 'new to me' author I have found this year to impress me this much!
This is the first time I have read this author and I have fallen in love with her work.
I am so going to stalk this author.
I am going to get every book in this series and find EVERYTHING she has written.
They are mine! One way or another, they will ALL be MINE! WhaHaHA!
Let the stalking commence!! ( )

Raphael
By D.B. Reynolds
Vampires in America #1

Cynthia Leighton is a private investigator in Malibu, California. When she is hired by one of the most powerful vampires in America to investigate the kidnapping of one of his people, her life changes forever.

I liked this book and I liked the background characters but I just could not get into Raphael and Cynthia. They both seemed pretty into themselves and the only attraction between them was lust.

I thought Raphael was a total ruthless dick. The author goes through pains to show that Raphael is a powerful kingpin. In one scene, one of his security men who had worked for Raphael for over 200 years screwed up so Raphael killed him without a second thought. In another, one of Raphael’s vampires tells Cynthia over and over to make sure she calls Raphael “my lord” like maybe Raphael is out of touch with humans and totally wrapped up into his own feudal vampire system. He also thinks of humans as cattle and stupid.

In another scene, Raphael goes into a blood house, a house where beautiful humans go to basically have sex with vampires for the euphoric feel they get from being bitten, and he manhandles some poor woman who is there. He grabbed her and took her into a room. He sank his teeth into her and then threw her face first onto the bed and would have had sex with her but couldn’t because he really wanted Cynthia instead.

After Cynthia didn’t get down on her knees and beg him to have sex with her, he got pissy. Here is what the author wrote - His private thoughts raged at the human female and his own timidity in dealing with her. Why did he care if she accepted him? Why not simply take her as was his right?

I liked Cynthia well enough but why do authors of paranormal books always have to make women go off on their own and try to prove themselves? If a bunch of vampires with super strength and other supernatural powers were going to go into a fight, I am smart enough to know to stay out of it and let them do their thing. Cynthia was one of those female characters who had to be badass and prove herself.

I’m going to go ahead and spoil the end of this book for you. There really was no end. The author wrote, to be continued at the end of the book which kind of irritated me. But the worse part of all is that I liked the secondary characters so much that I purchased the next book. What can I say? I’m desperate and really need a new series to read.


www.paranormalromanceslut.com ( )

I actually enjoyed this book. I know I sound surprised when I say that, but I guess that's because I didn't expect to enjoy it. I didn't think it was going to be bad, but the Amazon reviews worried me. It's very rare for a book to have so many high marks and not hardly any bad ones.

The book was definitely a hybrid between urban fantasy and romance. I'd probably just call it an urban fantasy romance since ultimately that's what it is. The thing I enjoyed the most about it is that the vampire lord hero is allowed to act like a vampire. He's unashamed of his behavior. I like that in a paranormal hero. One warning though, the romance does not wrap up until the end of book two, Jabril.


Addition: I just finished re-reading Raphael again last night. I think this makes the sixth time I've read the book, but honestly I've lost count. I genuinely enjoy this book every single time I read it. It reminds me why I fell in love with these characters/this series in the first place. I immediately jumped into Jabril (book 2) after I finished this last night and should be done with it today. It's hard to read Raphael without following it up with Jabril. ( )