Deception by D.B Reynolds

Kauai, Hawaii — tropical paradise, vibrant jungle, turquoise sea ... and sensuous nights that hide vampires so powerful they can change the world.

Raphael — powerful, extraordinary, arrogant. He's been eliminating rivals and gathering allies, determined not just to survive, but to demolish the Europeans who think they can steal what he's worked for centuries to create. In a final bid to avert a war that seems inevitable, Raphael agrees to meet an enemy he knows of old. She is formidable, wily, and not to be trusted. But in his arrogance, Raphael believes he can foil whatever treachery she has brewing.

Cynthia Leighton — Raphael's human mate, beautiful, smart, and deadly when threatened. She doesn't trust anyone, much less a powerful vampire claiming to want peace. So while Raphael prepares to negotiate a treaty, Cyn is preparing for the inevitable double-cross that she knows is coming. Raphael worries about saving thousands of vampire lives. She only cares about one, and she will do anything to keep him alive and in her arms.

When Cyn is proven right, when it all falls apart and Raphael's enemies draw on ancient magic to trap him, taking him away from Cyn and out of the war, it all falls to her — to find Raphael, to save the thousands of vampires who will die if she doesn't succeed ... and to kill every single being, human or vampire, who gets in her way.

In previous reviews, I've made no secret of the fact that Cyn and Raphael aren't my favourite couple to read about in this series. However the story in this one was so good that I forgot that fact whilst reading.

This is the start of the war that's been threatening for the last few books and it was certainly a doozy of a beginning. The Europeans first order of business is kidnapping and weakening Raphael so one of them can challenge his Lord ....ship(?) of his region, knowing that it will end in a default with Raphael being incapacitated.

With Raphael being laid low for the majority of the book, the action was actually on the down low. The main story focuses on Cyn doing her best and using all her resources to find and free Raphael - she's doing it for selfish reasons but it'll also save lives.

I have to say that, as much as Cyn manages and the actual work she pulls off, she came across as a bit pathetic in this book - it really didn't up my feelings for her. She was grieving for her mate as if he were dead, but all the while she was certain he was alive and that she'd know if he was dead. I just felt a bit "bleh" reading the scenes with just her and her thoughts and feelings.

But that doesn't affect how much I like this series and I will continue to read it because there are other characters that I love. I'm hoping Elke gets her own story soon, as well as more from Juno.

Oh, I'd also like to read more Robbie, and possibly even something from Ken-Ichi. You know what? I'd be happy with more words in general.


Book Depository: Deception
Amazon UK: Deception

Vincent by D B Reynolds

Sinaloa, Mexico ... haunting deserts, hot nights, and vampires, who've been there for hundreds of years, watching from the shadows, playing their games, manipulating humans, and surviving at any cost.

Vincent Kuxim, powerful and charismatic, was made vampire by an ambitious leader looking for soldiers to pave his way to the rule of all Mexico. But more than a century later, Vincent's Sire is looking over his shoulder as Vincent closes in for the kill, ready to claim the title Lord of Mexico for himself.

Lana Arnold is a bounty hunter, smart, beautiful, and determined to chart her own future. So when the most powerful vampire lord in all of North America enlists her help in tracking down a very old and elusive bloodsucker, Lana sees nothing but opportunity. There's only one catch. The client wants her to take Vincent — a vampire she neither knows nor trusts — along on her hunt. Then again, maybe it's herself she doesn't trust, because Vincent Kuxim is sex walking in a pair of tight black jeans.

Thrown together by circumstance, Vincent and Lana soon find themselves battling an evil they didn't know existed in a fight that makes Vincent all the more determined to destroy his Sire, seize Mexico for himself ... and keep Lana by his side forever.

Lana has been hired by Raphael to find an old vampire in Mexico with the help of Vincent, the Lord of Mexico's lieutenant. On the way to track the guy down, Vincent gets kidnapped and they end up getting caught up in another case that cements Vincent's decision to overthrow the current Lord of Mexico.

Oh Vincent, Vincent, Vincent .... I don't know how Reynolds does it but she seems to write sexier vamps with every book (although it'll be heard to overthrow Duncan and Rajmund). Vincent is sexy and knows it and he's determined to get Lana to know it too, which she does - she just refuses to acknowledge it. But they're thrown together and things lead to other things so of course sexy things happen - very sexy things!

I really do enjoy this series (even though I seem to be the only reader that doesn't like the main couple) and I like the tangent the story is going on. For the last few books there's been a slow progression of the upcoming war with the European vampires and it seems it's almost upon us. This is definitely a series I'd recommend, the vampires are alpha and powerful.


Amazon UK: Vincent

Aden by D.B. Reynolds

She was seeking revenge. What she found was a vampire who swept her into the darkest depths of passion.

Chicago, Illinois ... the windy city. Home to football greats, dinosaurs named Sue, and, when the sun goes down ... powerful vampires battling for the right to rule the city and beyond.

Born into slavery, Aden is one of the most powerful vampires in North America, waging war on others of his kind in a struggle to become the next Lord of the Midwest. But in the midst of the deadliest fight of his long life, the ghosts of his past have come back to haunt him. Slavery still exists, and Aden is hellbent on destroying it and the vampires who profit from it.

Sidonie Reid is an investigative reporter in pursuit of the biggest story of her career, until that story costs the life of a friend and Sid realises she has to do much more than write about it. Intent on bringing down the vampires and their slave network, Sid gains entry to the highest levels of vampire society, where she finds herself confronting the raw sexuality that is Aden.

Caught up in a dark passion that neither can resist, Aden and Sidonie join forces, determined to defeat the old regime and everything it stands for. The dangers are beyond calculation, but the ultimate reward is worth the risk. If they survive ...

Aden is next in line for Lord of the Midwest, all he has in his way is the pesky challengers. Sidonie has been trying to bring down a slavery ring that she knows the previous Lord had his hand in, so of course she thinks getting in with Aden is the best way to continue - problem is that Aden knows exactly what she's doing.

I love this series and it only gets better with each one. My only problem is that my favourite vampire wasn't in this at all - that'd be Duncan. Although Aden is delectable and thoroughly lickable.

Reynolds is building up to something epic with this series and I can't wait to find out what that is. There's hints and small teases in each new book, we now know where the threat is coming from and partly what Raphael's plans are.

I highly recommend this series to any vampire readers out there. Reynolds' vamps are brutal and aggressive, but still know they have to fit in to human kind. They're not afraid to show what they really are though.


Book Depository: Aden
Amazon UK: Aden

Lucas by D.B. Reynolds

The Badlands of South Dakota ... haunting landscapes, legendary outlaws, and ... vampires?

Lucas Donlon is a Vampire Lord, one of the most powerful vampires in North America and beyond. Charming and irreverent to his friends and lovers, he enjoys everything about his life as a vampire. But when a neighbouring vampire lord declares war, he soon discovers that Lucas is as every bit as lethal as he is charming.

Kathryn Hunter doesn't care about powerful vampires or their wars. Her baby brother is missing and she will do anything to find him, even if it means going against both her FBI bosses and the local vampire lord. But Lucas Donlon has other plans for the lovely FBI agent who's landed on his doorstep.

Waging war against their enemies and each other, Lucas and Kathryn will risk everything to keep the most deadly vampire war in hundreds of years from engulfing every vampire, and human, in North America.

Lucas is the new Lord that was introduced in one of D.B. Reynolds shorts (Right now, I cannot remember which one, sorry!) as Raphael's child, and the story lit upon the fact that he was about to face some troubles with another Lord. Kathryn is looking for her brother, she finds a link between her brother and Lucas and so meets with him - sparks fly. Kathryn feels guilty about her growing feelings for Lucas while her brother is missing - so she denies them.

This is the 6th book in the Vampires in America series and it still grabs me with every page. Duncan will ALWAYS be my favourite Lord but I think I just found my 2nd ..... Lucas is all alpha male and I love it! Alpha males do it for me - I love them and D.B. writes some of the best alpha vampires that I've read.

She also writes some really likeable leading females who normally tend to balk at the alpha male thing and try to fight their attractions - and Kathryn is no different. Although she's got her reasons for fighting but she's also got problems with admitting her love for Lucas.

I adore D.B.s writing style and her Vampires in America books is definitely one of my favourites. Highly recommended to any vampire fan - these are no wimpy vamps, they're vamps to be scared off ..... and attracted to!


Book Depository: Lucas
Amazon UK: Lucas

Vampires in America: The Vignettes Volume 1 by D.B. Reynolds

From award-winning author D.B. Reynolds come nine stories of seduction and intrigue set in her Vampires in America universe.

For the first time in print ... The Vampire Vignettes From New Year’s Eve on the beaches of Malibu, to love in a penthouse over Manhattan, and a challenge fought on a snowy night in Montreal, Reynolds takes us behind the scenes with seven steamy Vignettes featuring her ultimate alpha Vampire Lords and their beautiful and independent mates.

And Never Before Published – Two brand new, full-length short stories. You Belong To Me follows Duncan and his mate Emma as they consolidate power in his new territory, while generating plenty of heat in private. And then it's time for The Wedding, as readers join Rajmund and Sarah for their big weekend ... and Cyn's girls-night-out bachelorette party. Unfortunately, some local kidnappers have other plans, and Cyn and Sarah will have to outwit their abductors before Raphael and Raj start hunting, and the entire wedding is ruined!

I'll start this review off by admitting to my own idiocy. I've read all the vignettes online at Reynolds' blog but I bought the collection as soon as it came out to support a (fairly) new author that I like. I did NOT realise that there were 2 new stories in this until I started to read it yesterday and read Reynolds' statement at the beginning. The only reason I hadn't read this earlier was because I thought I'd read them all ... and now I realise I have made myself miss out on the sexy Duncan and Rajmund! I've managed to sadden myself with this fact.

But, all sadness aside, the vignettes are a great little addition to the Vampires in America series. We get some more face time with the lovely Lords and Lady and their mates as well as some interesting little back stories. I think one of my favourites was The Wedding, although I would have liked to see what would have happened if the Lords got involved - it would have been epic. Reading the vignettes has strengthened my idea of re-reading the entire series.


Book Depository: Vignettes Volume 1
Amazon UK: Vignettes Volume 1

Duncan by D.B. Reynolds

Washington, D.C. - capital of an empire. Powerful. Exhilarating. Corrupt. And in the shadows - vampires far older than the nation itself.

A power unto himself, Duncan has served at Raphael’s side for nearly the entire two hundred years of his existence. But long laid plans have finally borne fruit, and the time has come for Duncan to leave Raphael and tackle the greatest challenge of his life. He will face treacherous vampires and murderous humans. He will rock the halls of human power if necessary. But Washington, D.C. will be his.

Emma Duquet cares nothing for vampire politics. She just wants to find her missing roommate and best friend, Lacey. But Lacey’s been playing with vampires of a particularly dangerous kind, and Emma will have to deal with the new vampire in town if she’s going to find her friend.

Battling powerful enemies who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets, Duncan and Emma will dig beneath the corruption and depravity that is Washington, D.C. and uncover the most heinous conspiracy of all ...

I'd like to start this review by saying that my microwave needs cleaning. You may wonder why I'm telling you this in a review? Well it's because it's D.B. Reynolds' fault that my microwave needs cleaned! Apparently porridge needs watched constantly (I'm a new porridge eater so I didn't realise it expanded the same as scrambled egg while it was cooking) while microwaving. Oh FYI, don't microwave porridge while you're reading the first sex scene with Duncan in it! Especially if Duncan is your favourite vampire and you've been waiting for his book since Raphael.

So this is the book that a lot of people have been waiting for. I know there a lot of Duncan fans out there and this is the book where we get to roll around in Duncan (*sigh* Ah, if only it were real rolling around). And away from that train of thought! Duncan becomes a Vampire Lord in this book and meets his happy ending. I really liked Emma from the start, she wasn't scared of the vamps and wasn't afraid to stand up to Duncan.

There's not a lot I can say about this book because I really do have a serious literary crush on Duncan and couldn't wait for this book to be released. Although I don't think the guy on the cover does Duncan any justice, he's too small. And on that note, I urge you all to go buy Duncan right now, although if you haven't read the first 4, go buy them first.


Book Depository: Duncan
Amazon UK: Duncan

Sophia by D.B Reynolds

The Pacific Northwest . . . home to lush forests and constant rain, to lumberjacks and computer geeks, especially those of the vampire kind.

Sophia, beautiful and deadly, has spent the last hundred years dancing her way through the balmy nights and hot-blooded men of South America. But when her Sire sends an urgent summons, Sophia rushes home to Vancouver only to find he has disappeared, leaving nothing behind but three dead vampires and a letter with Sophia’s name on it.

Colin Murphy, a former Navy SEAL, came to the Northwest seeking a quiet place to heal the scars earned in more than a decade at war. But when someone starts killing local vampires and torturing their mates, Colin takes on the mantle of a warrior once again as he sets out to find the killers and do whatever it takes to stop them, even if that means hunting with vampires.

Following her Sire’s trail of death to a small town in northern Washington, Sophia unexpectedly discovers the heat of a South American night in Colin’s arms. But too soon Sophia and Colin find themselves in a race to uncover the killers before the next dead vampire becomes Sophia herself.

I've been waiting for this book for a long time! And happily, Reynolds didn't disappoint. Book Four in the Vampires in America series, following Raphael, Jabril and Rajmund.

I have to admit as much as I love this series ...... I'm still not a Cyn fan! She really bugged me in this book for some reason, I can't work out why exactly. I think it's the whole stubborn mule thing she has going? I mean, she chose to be with a Vampire Lord but she can't stand the protectiveness of him and how he tried to keep her from danger. I know she was all strong and independent before him but still ...... there's just a little thing always niggling at the back of my head when I read scenes with her.

I liked Sophia though (is it Soph-eye-a or Soph-ee-a? I constantly jumped between the two, neither one sitting comfortably in my mind) and Colin as well. And of course, more of the delectable Duncan =D

OK, so this next part should hopefully be blank (I've not done this before so this'll be my first try) since it contains spoilers. If you've read the book and want to know what it says them you should only have to highlight it to read it (I will be testing this theory before the actual post goes live though, lol).

I was actually quite sad that Cyn didn't die ...... let me explain myself before you get all angry.  Yes, I don't like her and know that her death would mean Raphael's death but I also thought that would be the perfect tie in to Duncan's book (which is next) since all the books up to now have been about Vampire Lords (and Lady).




So yeah, that's my thoughts.  If you've read the first 3 then you're undoubtedly going to read this and if you haven't read the first 3?  What the hell are you doing still reading this?  Go buy them all now!!!


Book Depository: Sophia
Amazon UK: Sophia

Rajmund by D.B. Reynolds

Buffalo, New York—Thundering waterfalls, great sports teams . . . and a treacherous Vampire Lord who is slowly losing his mind.

New York City vampire Rajmund Gregor is the undisputed master of The Big Apple. He bows to no one but his Sire, the Vampire Lord Krystof, who has ruled the Northeast for hundreds of years. But when Krystof summons Rajmund to his headquarters in Buffalo, Raj finds his master slowly descending into madness and his territory crumbling around him. Raj is the only one of Krystof's children strong enough to seize power, but he’ll have to save his master before he can destroy him. Several women have gone missing and the local police are convinced a vampire is behind it. Is Krystof so lost to reality that he’s capturing and murdering human women? Is a rogue vampire moving into Krystof’s territory for the kill? Or is it something far more insidious, something that could threaten the existence of vampires everywhere?

Sarah Stratton is living a lie. Her past holds a secret she shares with no one—not even her good friend Cynthia Leighton, the West Coast vampire lord’s mate. It's a secret that could destroy her carefully constructed life as a professor at a Buffalo university. It’s also a secret that could save the lives of the missing women. To save them, however, she must enter Buffalo’s vampire community and put herself into the care of Rajmund Gregor. But can she trust Raj, the dangerously seductive vampire who wants to lay claim to far more than her secrets?

The 3rd book in the Vampires in America series.
Cyn's friend Sarah is a great character, I definitely preferred her to Cyn. I also preferred Raj to Raphael, I'm waiting until I read Duncan's book before I decide on my favourite vampire.
Good story but why do the lead characters never talk to one another? There always seems to be tension between them (Raj + Sarah and Raphael + Cyn) because they think the other hates them. I'm hoping this won't be a recurring theme in the rest of the series.

Again, if you read the first 2, you must read this one.
Rating 5/5


Book Depository: Rajmund
Amazon UK: Rajmund

Jabril by D.B. Reynolds

Houston, Texas—Cowboy boots, baseball and journeys to the stars . . . right?

Wrong. Because Houston is also home to Jabril Karim, one of the eight powerful Vampire Lords who control all of North America. And as Private Investigator Cynthia Leighton will soon discover, not all Vampire Lords are created equal. For Jabril is the face of evil in the new world, a vampire who values no life but his own, who enslaves those he desires, steals whatever he covets and destroys anyone who stands in his way.

Running from L.A. and its seductive Vampire Lord, Raphael, Cyn sees the Houston job as a welcome refuge, a place to get away and heal her broken heart. But Texas will be no vacation. For in Jabril Karim, Cyn will confront a true enemy, one who will go to any lengths to satisfy his lusts, enrich his coffers and expand his power.

Fighting for the lives of two young sisters, Cyn’s journey will take her through the streets of Houston and back to L.A., where the human police are determined to bring Raphael down for the murder of one of their own. But the danger doesn’t end there. For Jabril has set his sights on Cyn, and he will stop at nothing to have her.

The 2nd book in the Vampires in America series. This features Cyn again but with a new vampire, Jabril. Jabril is a very unlikeable character (which, I suppose, is the point) and I was glad to see the return of Raphael. Cyn kind of grew on me in this book. Plus more Duncan!
We also meet Cyn's friend Sarah in this book, setting her up for the next book.

If you liked Raphael, Jabril is a definite "To-be-read" for you.
Rating 5/5


Book Depository: Jabril
Amazon UK: Jabril

Raphael by D.B. Reynolds

Malibu, California—home to rock-and-roll gods and movie stars, the beautiful, the rich . . . and vampires.

Powerful and charismatic, Raphael is a Vampire Lord, one of the few who hold the power of life and death over every vampire in existence. Thousands call him Master and have pledged absolute loyalty on their very lives. But when, in a brazen and deadly daylight attack, a gang of human killers kidnaps the one female vampire he’d give his life for, Raphael turns to a human investigator to find his enemies before it’s too late.

Cynthia Leighton is smart, tough and sexy, a private investigator and former cop who’s tired of spying on cheating spouses and digging out old bank accounts. When Raphael asks for her help in tracking down the kidnappers, Cyn’s happy to accept. But she soon realizes her greatest danger comes not from the humans, but from Raphael himself.

Battling Russian mobsters and treacherous vampires, and betrayed by those they trusted, Cyn and Raphael find themselves fighting for their lives while caught up in a passion of blood and violence that is destined to destroy them both.

Book one in the Vampires in America series. I wasn't too keen on Cyn as a lead character but I loved Raphael and I loved the story so I could put that in the back of my head.
The story was good and the characters are likeable. I especially like Duncan and I believe he has his own books coming so I'm looking forward to that.
DB Reynolds vampires are strong, powerful and gorgeous! I'd like them to actually fight more, the fight scenes are more a pushing of power between the vampires and I can't help but have a mental image of two vampires just standing there. I know that's probably not what DB Reynolds had in mind when she wrote the scenes but it's how my mind apparently wants to see them. I tried to fix that in later books and I'm slowly training my mind to see it better.

A definite must read for all vampire fans out there.
Rating 5/5


Book Depository: Raphael
Amazon UK: Raphael