Sunday, April 25, 2010

Because Your Vampire Said So by Michelle Bardsley


So I was trying to type out another review for a different book and it just wasn't flowing for me. I really, really liked the book so I'm not sure what the trouble is other than I felt like I was saying the same things that I've said before. Hmm...apparently I just needed to get this review out of me first.

Because Your Vampire Said So is the 3rd book in the paranormal romance Broken Hearts series. I loved, loved, loved the first book in this series and really enjoyed the 2nd book as well. So I admit that I went into this one with high expectations which made me think that I was going to love this one. Sadly, not so much!

Because Your Vampire Said So features Patsy, a single mother, and newly turned vampire that is the town hair dresser. But even though she is part of the undead crowd, she still has to deal with her teenage son that is growing further and further apart from her. And there is an evil ancient vampire that is causing trouble for all of the Broken Heart residents. Before Patsy knows it she is being targeted by that ancient vampire and her savior comes in the form of a shapeshifter named Gabriel. It looks like there is going to be a huge supernatural showdown.

I'm going to state once more how much I enjoyed the first two books in this series. I feel that it is important to say because I don't want my review of this book to come off as too negative. So let's start off with my dislikes. I disliked Patsy. Immensely. To be quite honest it seemed to me that the author created a stereotypical character and in the worst way. Patsy was a "country loving" hairdresser who lives in a trailer, has an alcoholic ex, and comes across as uneducated as she doesn't like to read. I mean, really? Could you throw any more stereotypes into one character? Oh but you can if you listen to the way Patsy talks with "Whoo-wees" and crap like that. She never once believed in herself and her character didn't have much depth which is unfortunate as she is the main character. The storyline itself had potential but fell flat. I think (and of course this is my opinion) that this was because the author didn't flesh it out enough. There were a few times that I was reading where all of a sudden I would feel like I missed something so I would go back and reread. I didn't miss anything...the details just weren't there. I wanted more about the Ancients, more about the prophecy, just more in general that would have made the story better. My final dislike was the relationship between Patsy and Gabriel. They were just thrown together with no actual building of their relationship. It was more of attraction, sex, and we're in love forever. Seriously? The whole point of a romance is to root for the couple and I didn't care about this couple getting together at all. The sex scene itself was just shoved into the story and I had to stop and say WTF? It didn't fit for me at all.

Wow, after reading all of that back it makes it seem like I hated this book but I really didn't. I flew through it in just two short days which doesn't happen all that often. I really thought the story itself had a lot of potential but it just didn't get there. And I was glad to see the characters from previous books included within this story as well. I was just disappointed to not have enjoyed this one more. All in all, a read that was ok but I would definitely recommend starting with the first book in this series instead of this one.

Disclosure- From the library as usual.
*I read this for the following challenges:
Romance Reading Challenge
100+ Reading Challenge
Support Your Library Reading Challenge
BTW- I leave you with a link to my review of the first book in this series...and just to let you know I still do plan on continuing on with the next book at some point.

5 comments:

  1. I think you did a good job of explaining why this one didn't match up with the first two...doesn't sound like you totally hated it, but that you wished it was better!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Staci- Boy do I wish this one had been better. But the entire time that I was reading it I kept thinking that I must like something about it as I read it so fast.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm struggling with a review right now too. I finally set it aside and figured I could come back to it later. Hopefully I won't forget what I need to say by the time I do. LOL

    The Broken Hearts series does sound good. I'm sorry this installment was disappointing. Sometimes that happens though, doesn't it? One book in a series doesn't quite win us over the way the others have. Hopefully the next one will be better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I haven't heard one bad thing about this series and I've had the first book since it first came out but I never have gotten around to reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Literary Feline- I think that I was just mulling this review over in mind so much that I couldn't get myself to write the other review.

    Ladytink- Don't let this review discourage you from giving this series a try as I really did like the first two books. This one just didn't work for me.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate each and every one of them :)