Karen E. TaylorCritiques

**I received a copy of this novel as part of a horror anthology, Modern Magic, from Falstaff Books via NetGalley in return for an honest, fair review.**


Laura Wagner notices some strange things about her new house in Woodland Heights. Phantom hands grabbing her in the cellar. Voices urging her that she would be better off dead. Weird sounds interrupting her phone calls. Disturbing nightmares about her children. A recovering alcoholic and prescription drug addict, Laura thinks the voices and strange things she sees in her house are just hallucinations brought on by getting clean during a month's stay in rehab. But soon she realizes that there is more to what's happening to her than just her body recovering from chemical and alcohol abuse.

This story, masterfully written by Karen Taylor, is incredibly creepy. It builds slowly, delving into the personal demons plaguing Laura Wagner -- her divorce, alcohol, valium, past mistakes, losing custody of her children. Her nightmares, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts seem to be part of her addiction recovery, but slowly morphs from hallucination to haunting. Culminating in a wonderfully creepy surprise ending, this novel is a must-read for supernatural horror lovers!

I was caught up in this story from chapter 1. At first I was pulled in by concern for the main character, but the creepy factor of this story snuck up behind me, catching me by surprise. The pacing was perfect. The creepy-stuff-happens-in-the-basement plot has been used before, but Taylor makes it her own, adding a new spin on an old storyline.

All in all, a great horror novel!!

Cellar is a re-issue of Taylor's earlier novel, Twelve Steps from Darkness. The author says the story is basically the same, but has been edited and expanded, adding new scenes and an epilogue.

Learn more about this book and Karen E. Taylor on her website: www.karenetaylor.com

Creepy to the max. Don't read it when you are home alone.½

Review as posted at http://www.myparanormalbookreview.blo...

Thirst combines two books (The Vampire Vivienne and Resurrection) of The Vampire Legacy Series. Viviene Courbet is the main character in The Vampire Vivienne of Thirst. Taylor takes the readers back in time to the 17th Century, then moves into present day. In the 17th Century, Viviene becomes a vampire, manages a brothel and falls in love. Her love, Eduard, becomes a victim of the French Revolution. Then the readers are thrust forward to present day. Vivienne is the head of the Cadre, an vampire organization. The Cadre becomes under attack from a group called the Others. Vivienne and other vampires meet to discuss how to handle the Others. When the Others leader shows up to interrupt their meeting, I expected a exciting fight and intense emotions. However, the confrontation ended without any excitement or emotion.

Resurrection focuses on Deirdre Griffin and her lover, Mitch. All the vampires are in hiding for two reasons: the public knows of the existence of vampires and the Others hunt them. Deirdre is poisoned by the Others and starts to lose her memory. Again, their is very limited action in Resurrection. The story is told from Deidre's POV. Taylor uses the same scenery (Abbey ruins) over, over, and over. After awhile, I tired of the Abbey.

Overall, Thirst was an average book. Parts of the book bored me and I pushed myself to continue reading. Will I continue to read other books in the series? Probably not. However, other readers will more than likely enjoy this series. It just wasn't for me.

The publisher provided me with a copy of Thirst in return for an honest review. Thanks for allowing me to read Thirst.

I initially wanted to review this book because of it's exquisite cover. I'm a sucker for book covers!! They say you can't judge a book by it's cover but when dealing with actual books that's how it ends up in your hand. I thought if the cover of this book had me at first glance then I can only imagine how the inside can be. So I got in touch with the author and to my surprise she agreed to let me review it. I was so excited!! It's taken me a long while to get in the mood of reading again but finally I did. So this past Friday I started reading HUNGER and, to be honest, when I first started to read it I was a little unsure if I would like it. After the second chapter I found that I just couldn't put it down!!! I was sucked in with every page I turned like it beckoned to me. I grew to know the characters as if they were a real part of my own life. If I absolutely love a book I get lost in the world that lives between the covers, and let me tell you, I was completely lost. the twists and turns in this book are breathe taking! You can try to figure it out but will never know for sure until you turn the last page and even then you're still left wondering. Karen did a fabulous job in making this book worth reading. If I could give this book a higher rating I so would!! This book just isn't a "MUST READ" it's a "MUST HAVE" so you can read it over and over again!! I highly recommend that you buy it if you are at all into paranormal romance or vampires. The love between the two characters is like the love every woman wants but not every woman is lucky enough to get.

I want to Thank Karen for letting me review this AMAZING book!! I can't wait to read the next and so on!!! THANK YOU!!

"HUNGER" BY KAREN E. TAYLOR

I have long found myself in love with Kelley Armstrong's writing style and I have never really been much of a first person POV lover, but I have to say that Karen E. Taylor has changed that. I find her writing almost reminiscent of Kelley's but from the main character's POV. The story caught me from the beginning and kept me deeply rooted until the end. It has a surprising storyline that you don't expect and leads you on quite the paranormal adventure. The love scenes are tastefully written and not over the top like so many paranormal authors out there today. Not that I don't love a good hot romp every now and then but I found it refreshing that Karen did not take the scenes too far and used just enough to whet the appetite and ignite the imagination.

I definitely recommend this book and give it the highest rating of 5 stars. For those of you that truly enjoy a good paranormal/vampire story pick up Karen's books, I have no doubt at all that you'll enjoy them as much as I did.

Kitty Bullard / Great Minds Think Aloud / http://www.greatmindsliterarycommunity.moonfruit.com/

A thick volume that pulled me in from page one and had me filled with suspense. There was just the right elements of romance, danger, suspense, thrill, misdirection and even comedy at times. Hunger is the first two of the Vampire Legacy series books written by Karen E. Taylor and I can already say that she has gotten me hooked and wanting more. Already I am driving my family insane as I look for the second novel and talk about how pleased I was with the reading.

I even found myself pulled in during dinner and must apologize to my family for burning their croissants something that I try not to do ;). The characters were individuals and thankfully no two were just alike. Though some had similarities it was pleasant to see that the writer took the time to develop each one and not let them fall through the cracks. I want to know more about Dorothy/Dierdra and Mitch. I want to know more of how Chris comes to terms with his fathers choices. We all hate Larry and want him to die and even want to see what happens with the other numerous characters that make you fall in love when you start to read this wonderful adaption.

Further, more I can't express enough how please I am with Karen for taking the steps to make sure that this novel was not just another over sex filled supernatural romance but an actual universe that I can't wait to see further developed.

Blood Secrets
What I Liked
Unfolding
The start of the book has you jumping right into the our character Deirdre's world, with no explanation of who and what she is. Of course by reading the summary you know she is a vampire. As you read the book you get piece by piece of how she came to be created through her remembering her tragic past and her nightmares.
Vampires
Deirdre is the fairly typical vampire, sunlight bad, ageless, rejuvenation, blood drinking with out killing and a few other different things as well. I never did completely figure out the garlic one, but many things she isn't even sure about. She has never met another one like her, besides her creator who she doesn't remember. Either vampires are almost non existent or they are very good at hiding themselves from the public eye.
Deirdre
She is a very interesting character, to say the least. She has good morals for being a blood sucking vampire. She assimilates fairly well into the human world with her nocturne habits and her high fashion designing company. Her personal boundaries and the distance she keeps between herself and potentials friends is saddening. I definitely feel sorry for the rich and very lonely female vampire Deirdre.
Romance
I wouldn't describe this book as high romance, more like mild to moderate romance with high sex appeal. I still am not sure what genre this book is being labeled as urban fantasy, sci-fi fantasy or paranormal romance? (Just found it, urban fantasy). There are some great romantic tension between Deirdre and Mitch, her old lover Max and her one night stand blood donors.

Didn't Like
I was left feeling like I still don't fully understand the vampire world and I can't wait for more, I guess it is a good thing these books are being re-released as omnibus volumes. I'm hoping that in the next book Deirdre will discover more about her vampire capabilities and world.

Bitter Blood
(This will be a little vague because I don't want to spoil anything from Blood Secrets)

What I Liked
More vampires are introduced into the novel and Max's mysterious history finally come to light. Deirdre learns more about her own capabilities as a vampire and she does some self discovery.

Didn't Like
Bitter Blood had a little more self pity than what I normally like, but it did make for some great tug of war arguments. In book 1 there was more events occurring than this book and it fell a little flat in the who is out for revenge drama. Although the ending did more than make up for it, lots of excitement and the puzzle in finally being pieced together.

Recommendation
I really did enjoy this ominous novel and I really do need to get my hands on Crave. Great for any vampire lovers. Also 2 books in 1 are awesome.

Hunger consists of two books, Blood Secrets and Bitter Blood (originally published 1994). I have tried not to include spoilers but the second book, Bitter Blood does contain a few from Blood Secrets.

Blood Secrets (The Vampire Legacy, #1)In Blood Secrets we are introduced to Deidra Griffin, owner of Griffin Designs. She is a vampire that has been around for 100+ years. She has never met her maker and has lived her entire existence thinking she was the only vampire around. Ten years ago she met a man named Max and she shared her secret with him. Max now the owner of Ballroom of Romance has helped Deidra with her undead life by supplying donors for her. Deidra has always struggled with the taking of blood from her victims. She abhors it but knows she must otherwise she turns into a crazed animal. Murder begin happening around her and usually they are her latest donors. The victims are found drained of blood with two puncture wounds in their neck. The lead detective Mitchell Greer falls hard for Deidra and Deidra for him but she is the main suspect right now. Deidra knows that she isn’t the murderer but now she definitely she isn’t the only vampire out there and she must find him first. In the end it is the ultimate betrayal that opens Deidra’s eyes to the violence that a vampire can really bring upon those around them.

Bitter Blood (The Vampire Legacy #2)In Bitter Blood we flash forward to two years later. Deidra has left town and is currently living in England starting a new life. She has left Mitch behind and hopes that he will move on with his life. She is still haunted by the betrayal of Max and the horrors of what Larry did. But now Chris, Mitch’s son has come pleading for Deidra to come home. Mitch needs her help. He is being tormented by vampires appearing to him and now he is an insane asylum. Deidra must face the past but in taking this step she now must face the The Cadre who will pass judgment upon Deidra for her hand in killing Max.

Hunger fell short for me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I found the main character Deidra very shallow and one dimensional. She doesn’t grow from book one to book two and I couldn't believe that she has lived over 100 years but still doesn't learn anything. She still can’t seem to come to grips with having to drink blood and for some reason she still just can’t believe that there are more vampires then just she. Mitch’s character is pretty typical. He is absolutely in love with Deidra and flies off the handle every time she speaks to another man. I found that I was able to guess who the bad guy was so in the end it wasn’t much of a revelation. Very PG-13 for the most part and just didn’t work for me.

Of the three books up to this point this one is by far the best. The vampires are starting to resemble Vampires.½

readable but predictable Vampire novel, I fell for the main character being the same name as myself trap.