Reviews with content warning for Murder - Guilty Pleasures

Overall, this was an enjoyable book. Great mystery. Interesting characters. Everything wrapped up nicely by the end. What I didn't like might be a sign of when it was written. There is some homophobia and a lot of fat phobia. Describing anyone's thighs as "two white whales" is unacceptable. Part of me wanted to rate the book lower just for those types of comments. I'm not sure if I will continue the series. If I do, I hope the writer grows as a person and doesn't feel the need to write such awful things.

SPOILERS AHEAD AND SYNOPSIS
Anita is an animator and works for Bert. Her friend, Catherine, is having a bachelorette party put on by her friend, Monica. Monica takes them to the vampire strip club, Guilty Pleasures. There we meet Jean Claude, 3rd most powerful vampire, Phillip, a human stripper addicted to vampires but trying to quit, and Robert, a bouncer that is supposed to protect everyone.
Anita gets told by the Master of the City, Nikolaos, that she must find who is murdering vampires. It's Nikolaos own animator, Zachary. He has been killed and is using vampire blood to animate himself. In the end Anita, with the help of bounty hunter Edward, kills Nikolaos, Theresa, Zachary, Valentine (who fought Anita before and almost killed her), Aubrey (who killed Phillip), and Winter. She made sure Phillip was laid to rest. She now has two marks from Jean Claude and he can visit her dreams. He is now the master of the city.

Content Warnings

hellxriver's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

leviathanknight's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

carlaabra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I liked this way more than I thought I would! It’s not a romance at all, more of a vampire thriller / urban fantasy. Anita is badass. There’s a lot of dark themes and violence, even for a vampire novel.

One downside is the pacing. The first 80 pages were so action-packed that I couldn’t put it down at 4am. The last 50 are great too. In between though… it can get a little slow. I also felt some of the characters could have been developed more, but it’s a short book and there’s a lot of plot to get through.

The writing is first-person stream of consciousness almost. As a result it’s very casual (Anita is like 24 I think). I liked it, some will think it’s juvenile or poorly written.

#teamJeanClaude

Content Warnings

time4tori2read's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

rmperezpadilla's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

eleeowart's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Was it amazing? No
Was it what I anticipated? No
Will I read another in the series? Maybe

Content Warnings

vagrantheather's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.5

DNF at 37%. Super pulpy. Probably considered a fun read, but not my style. MC gets beaten to shit regularly but isn't emotionally involved in it, seems like she has a chip on her shoulder, "another day another broken bone" style. I like murkier, darker, more complicated conflict. The baddies were relatively one dimensional. The writing is average. Action packed, but in a boring way - I don't care to visualize the choreography of a dozen battles. The plot itself was hardly getting established but I wasn't feeling it.

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