Dead Sexy

In "Dead Sexy", author Kimberly Raye begin a new vampire series. As paranormal stories seem to be all the rage today to stand out authors have to not only be good writers but find a new twist. Raye does this by giving it a cowboy slant. Jake and Nikki, the main characters are lively, interesting and couple together very nicely. Raye neatly weaves her other characters into the story making them prime for leads in subsequent books. The ending was unexpected and tantalizing leaving me looking forward to the next in this scrumptious and sensual Texan vampire series. Look for "Tex Appeal" coming out in February, 2008. Enjoy

Nikki has spent her whole life in small town Skull Creek try to live down her wild mama's reputation and to live up to her staid Aunt's pristine expectations. And just where has that gotten her? Jilted by yet another loser, well at least this one didn't take her lingerie and stiletto's with him when he left. Now she's 30 and brimming with sexual frustration, 'til Jake, gorgeous-stranger-just-passing-through-town, sweeps her into the most amazing night of her life, her first one night stand - though there was not much standing involved. Some awesome passion with no strings with a hunky guy that would be gone in the morning sounded like the answer to Nikki's prayers. But in a small town nothing is ever that easy. Everybody knows your business, and since everyone knows what a 'good girl' Nikki is, by noon the next day the whole town thinks that Nikki's getting married. Since Jake is gone, Nikki figures she'll just fib about a long distance relationship until the whole thing blows over. Just one problem - Jake isn't gone and he's planning on being in town for a whole week. Breaking his one night only rule, Jake is quick to offer to help Nikki out with her little problem. He'll be her fiancé for a week in exchange for more sizzling sex. But Jake is more than he appears, Jake is a vampire. Only Jake doesn't just feed on blood, Jake feeds on sexual energy. And in that department Nikki was way more that a tasty snack, her passion really packs a punch. Jake figures a week with Nikki and his batteries will be fully charged. And Jake needs all the power he can get - he's preparing to face down his maker in a battle to regain his humanity and only one vamp will walk away from that confrontation. I loved this story. Nikki was sweet and sexy, with her mom and Aunt pulling her from both directions, and trying so hard to please them. Nikki doesn't trust herself to know that her happiness lies somewhere between the two extremes until Jake helps her discover that being just a little bit `bad' can be so very good. Jake was intensely sexual but appealingly vulnerable, considerate and supportive, as for the first time in his long life he allows Nikke to get close enough that he's caught and then discovers that he wants to set himself apart from all the losers in Nikki's life and have her remember him as more than just another mistake. The romance between Nikki and Jake was very well done, and very steamy. Since this is a Blaze it pushes the sensuality to a pretty high level but not at the expense of the romance. If you've read Kimberly's Dead and Dateless series you will be pleasantly surprised to find no chicklit-y first person narrative here, we get to peek into both characters thoughts. Getting to see the effect that Nikki and Jake have on each other makes the interactions between them so much more satisfying. This is the first of a series set in Skull Creek, I don't know about the next one, but I am looking forward to the one after that because

Jake comes to a small town in Texas to prepare for the fight of his life. He must kill the Vampire that made him a Vampire over a 100 years ago. To prepare for his the fight he needs to feed - by having LOTS of sex. Nikki is a small town beauty saloon owner who was born to a unwed teenage trampy mother. She decides after meeting Jake to throw caution to the wind. This is the first Vampire theme book I have ever read and it was very good. I enjoy this authors style or writing. It was a perfect escape, Enjoy! Check out her upcoming novels Tex Appeal (Cheryl Anne's story) coming out Feb 1, 2008 and Just One Bite: A Novel of Vampire Love (Dillon's story) comming out Jul 29, 2008.