bianca_rodriguez's review against another edition
2.0
this is not the next great american novel…in fact the lack of editing hardly makes this a novel but god this was so bad it was good? like campy? v predictable but that made the self inflicted giggles i had reading this all the more fun
lindaunconventionalbookworms's review against another edition
4.0
Good story, funny vampire universe, but very close-minded human hunters in this one. I can never understand when characters in books will think that ALL *insert species or ethnicity here* are bad. There are good and bad people everywhere, but that's not an excuse to want to get rid of ALL people belonging to one group.
I loved Shanna, and felt very bad for Roman, he's had to deal with his guilt for so very long.
Shanna's father is the very close-minded hunter, who thinks that Shanna is strong enough to join his team who are not able to be mind-controlled by vampires, but he still feels that Roman must have somehow been able to control her anyway, since she loves him and wants to marry him... double standard is his middle name.
I think there's good groundwork for a good series, and I look forward to reading more Love at Stake books.
I loved Shanna, and felt very bad for Roman, he's had to deal with his guilt for so very long.
Shanna's father is the very close-minded hunter, who thinks that Shanna is strong enough to join his team who are not able to be mind-controlled by vampires, but he still feels that Roman must have somehow been able to control her anyway, since she loves him and wants to marry him... double standard is his middle name.
I think there's good groundwork for a good series, and I look forward to reading more Love at Stake books.
laurenjodi's review against another edition
3.0
How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire
3 Stars
Roman Dragnesti, a vampire master with a broken fang, is in dire need of a dentist. Enter Shanna Whelan in hiding after testifying against the Russian Mafia and suffering from an intense blood phobia. With hit men and bloodthirsty vampires after her, Shanna has no choice but to accept help from Roman and his sexy security detail.
The world building and characters are very appealing, but could have been fleshed out better. The romance is sweet and the writing is humorous at times. That said, the overall effect is one of silly campiness with contrived situations and several obvious plot holes.
I'll probably give the next book a try as the sexy highlanders have potential as does the Malcontent storyline.
3 Stars
Roman Dragnesti, a vampire master with a broken fang, is in dire need of a dentist. Enter Shanna Whelan in hiding after testifying against the Russian Mafia and suffering from an intense blood phobia. With hit men and bloodthirsty vampires after her, Shanna has no choice but to accept help from Roman and his sexy security detail.
The world building and characters are very appealing, but could have been fleshed out better. The romance is sweet and the writing is humorous at times. That said, the overall effect is one of silly campiness with contrived situations and several obvious plot holes.
I'll probably give the next book a try as the sexy highlanders have potential as does the Malcontent storyline.
lynseyisreading's review against another edition
4.0
How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks
Paranormal Romance (Humour, vampires, highlanders, teleportation, mystery)
My Rating: ★★★★
My Review
I really rather enjoyed this. I have to say from thehorrendous cover art and the cheesy title and the premise about the broken fang, my expectations weren't all that high. I was mostly just hoping to have a few good chuckles, a bit of vampire lite comic relief. But I have to say, that was by no means all I got.
I was actually rather intrigued by the vampire world Sparks has created here. You've got your good vampires who are striving to be as little a threat to humans as possible- using science to create synthetic blood and banning drinking for the flesh. And then you've got the malcontents who are, in their mind, true vampires, that feed on humans without regard, drinking them to the quick.
In this book we meet Roman, the leader of one of the largest American vampire covens. A 544 year old vamp with a very poor opinion of himself. A man with a brilliant scientific mind who has made many breakthroughs for vampire society with his blood replacement drinks. He is also working on a formula to help them stay awake (and alive) during the day. Apart from this work, though, Roman has very little in his life that he truly enjoys, and is rather maudlin at the beginning of the book.
Then we meet our lovely dentist Shanna. She is currently in the witness protection programme. She needs protection; Roman needs a dentist. And so they team up, and of course, this being paranormal romance land, it's not long before they start to have feelings for each other.
The romance element was quite well played out. There was a fair bit of worldbuilding but it was all interesting enough. I've read a number of vampire series' and I've never read one with this particular view on science and vamp self improvement before. I also really liked Roman's bodyguards - a bunch of kilt-wearing highlanders! (It's like she looked into my mind and went "Okay, she likes vampires? Check. She likes hunky highlanders? Check. She likes situational comedy and juvenile humour? Check"). It could have been written specifically for me!
In summation, while this book won't be going on any of my favourites list, it certainly was very enjoyable and I will definitely be reading the rest of the series whenever I need a bit of light relief.
Originally reviewed by Urban Fantasy Book Reviews
http://urbanfantasybookreviews.blogspot.com/
Paranormal Romance (Humour, vampires, highlanders, teleportation, mystery)
My Rating: ★★★★
My Review
I really rather enjoyed this. I have to say from the
I was actually rather intrigued by the vampire world Sparks has created here. You've got your good vampires who are striving to be as little a threat to humans as possible- using science to create synthetic blood and banning drinking for the flesh. And then you've got the malcontents who are, in their mind, true vampires, that feed on humans without regard, drinking them to the quick.
In this book we meet Roman, the leader of one of the largest American vampire covens. A 544 year old vamp with a very poor opinion of himself. A man with a brilliant scientific mind who has made many breakthroughs for vampire society with his blood replacement drinks. He is also working on a formula to help them stay awake (and alive) during the day. Apart from this work, though, Roman has very little in his life that he truly enjoys, and is rather maudlin at the beginning of the book.
Then we meet our lovely dentist Shanna. She is currently in the witness protection programme. She needs protection; Roman needs a dentist. And so they team up, and of course, this being paranormal romance land, it's not long before they start to have feelings for each other.
The romance element was quite well played out. There was a fair bit of worldbuilding but it was all interesting enough. I've read a number of vampire series' and I've never read one with this particular view on science and vamp self improvement before. I also really liked Roman's bodyguards - a bunch of kilt-wearing highlanders! (It's like she looked into my mind and went "Okay, she likes vampires? Check. She likes hunky highlanders? Check. She likes situational comedy and juvenile humour? Check"). It could have been written specifically for me!
In summation, while this book won't be going on any of my favourites list, it certainly was very enjoyable and I will definitely be reading the rest of the series whenever I need a bit of light relief.
Originally reviewed by Urban Fantasy Book Reviews
http://urbanfantasybookreviews.blogspot.com/
geo_ix's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars.
I enjoyed it for the most part but I think the last chapter or two bought it down pretty quickly. It turned into some awful bad guy type scene where everyone’s like ‘I’ll get you, wait and see’ type drama and the other bad guyseveryone’s just like ok cool.
Some of the moments in it were a bit too much trying to be funny, but I do think the concept was very original, I’d never read a PNR similar to this. It obviously has some similar Lore elements but then as added its own and it was super refreshing. It sort of reminded me of the feel of Lynsay Sands Argeneau series (with the humour etc nothing more) but I enjoyed this one much more in terms of writing.
I’ll be reading more in this series & more from the author.
**It had one of my biggest pet peeves in it. She has dyed brown hair, puts on a box dye for 30 minutes and ends up with ‘Marilyn Monroe blonde’, that’s legit impossible lol. Don’t ask me why this annoys me so much, but it’s one of my biggest gripes when someone’s on the run and this stuff happens. Darker is possible, lighter on top of darkened hair? Not like that.
Also I hate the title and cover of this after reading. While they and that happens in the last page.
I enjoyed it for the most part but I think the last chapter or two bought it down pretty quickly. It turned into some awful bad guy type scene where everyone’s like ‘I’ll get you, wait and see’ type drama and the other bad guys
Spoiler
kill the main bad guy and agree to being good andSome of the moments in it were a bit too much trying to be funny, but I do think the concept was very original, I’d never read a PNR similar to this. It obviously has some similar Lore elements but then as added its own and it was super refreshing. It sort of reminded me of the feel of Lynsay Sands Argeneau series (with the humour etc nothing more) but I enjoyed this one much more in terms of writing.
I’ll be reading more in this series & more from the author.
**It had one of my biggest pet peeves in it. She has dyed brown hair, puts on a box dye for 30 minutes and ends up with ‘Marilyn Monroe blonde’, that’s legit impossible lol. Don’t ask me why this annoys me so much, but it’s one of my biggest gripes when someone’s on the run and this stuff happens. Darker is possible, lighter on top of darkened hair? Not like that.
Also I hate the title and cover of this after reading. While they
Spoiler
get engaged, there’s no marriage or wedding dresses in this book lolshan198025's review against another edition
4.0
It started off deathly boring. Roman said God's blood so many times almost quit reading. I'm glad I stuck it out. It's a new take on vampires (at least they aren't sparkly). I grew to like both Shanna and Roman. But the supporting characters are what really nailed the 4+* rating.
diaryofthebookdragon's review against another edition
3.0
Nothing very special. Maybe I will read next book in series, but I do not have that yearning that stays after good book that you have to find out what happens to the characters right now.
I liked the glimpses of vampire world. Like different kinds of blood or vampire television. When Roman confused name of that tv reporter with fake breasts, was one of the only scenes that was really funny to me.
Also some side characters were very interesting to me. Scottish bodyguards are very cute. And Roman's harem has some interesting characters, I am interested to learn their stories. Probably they will be told in some next book.
All in all, everything seems more interesting than main characters and their love story. Roman is somehow not very attractive too me. Whole tortured ex-monk thing was just annoying me...
I liked the glimpses of vampire world. Like different kinds of blood or vampire television. When Roman confused name of that tv reporter with fake breasts, was one of the only scenes that was really funny to me.
Also some side characters were very interesting to me. Scottish bodyguards are very cute. And Roman's harem has some interesting characters, I am interested to learn their stories. Probably they will be told in some next book.
All in all, everything seems more interesting than main characters and their love story. Roman is somehow not very attractive too me. Whole tortured ex-monk thing was just annoying me...
sammaich's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
marpesea's review against another edition
2.0
This started off entertaining— a vampire scientist team is developing a faux human delivery source for synthetic blood (aka a real doll with blood circulating). During testing, the head honcho breaks a tooth and needs a nighttime dentist who just so happens to be a lonely lady in the witness protection program...
And I’m gonna spoil some shit— consider yourself warned.
It starts off strong, but after that it kind of stumbles along. The romance jumps around in fits and starts— within a page the heroine will go from loving to hating to loving our hero with no real reason why.
This book doesn’t really seem to like women.* It doesn’t pass the Bechdel test and we hear an awful lot about breasts and butts, but very little about our hero’s proportions (except for his massive manhood!). The interesting characters with agency are almost all men- the hero, his vampire enemy (who hates synthetic blood and wants to eat people), their other enemy (our heroine’s dad and leader of the CIA task force to kill all vampires), the scientists, bodyguards, pizza delivery person, can driver, etc. We have the mother of one character who’s an administrative assistant and delightfully sassy, the vapid talk show host with overblown breasts (the book makes a note to mention the vampire
plastic surgeons) and the harem of female vamps who live in the hero’s mansion. That’s right, most of the female characters are petty and only after our hero’s vampire sex skills.
Our hero has a harem of lady vamps who he services via telepathy (aka vampire sex). He’s really not into it, so he usually just broadcasts it out and they all listen in. Our hero is surprised that his lady love (Shanna? Sorry I’m tired and don’t remember her name) is upset he regularly has psychic sex with them all— he has to because these women obviously can’t take care of themselves (never mind that the most vapid and petty is also a successful model). Also, it shouldn’t matter because -physically- he’s a virgin.
That’s right! He was a monk and has never had *actual* sex. (Or would that be human sex?). And so obviously they’re gonna get married and also? After confessing his sins he can touch crosses because God forgives and suddenly my smutty afternoon romantic vampire read has become a story of religious redemption.
Know your audience book! Is this a smutty vampire romance? A sex farce with a real doll? A military struggle between multiple factions? A spy story? A religious parable?
Recommended for about the first 60 pages, feel free to continue skimming for lackluster “vampire sex.”
*Yes, at the end some of the evil vampire women kill their master, but it comes 1- a bit too late to for them to have any real agency and 2- one of them says something like “yeah, I’ll fuck whoever I want now.” So either female vamps are obsessed about sex or the evil vamp was a controlling rapist or the harem system is controlling and gross.
And I’m gonna spoil some shit— consider yourself warned.
It starts off strong, but after that it kind of stumbles along. The romance jumps around in fits and starts— within a page the heroine will go from loving to hating to loving our hero with no real reason why.
This book doesn’t really seem to like women.* It doesn’t pass the Bechdel test and we hear an awful lot about breasts and butts, but very little about our hero’s proportions (except for his massive manhood!). The interesting characters with agency are almost all men- the hero, his vampire enemy (who hates synthetic blood and wants to eat people), their other enemy (our heroine’s dad and leader of the CIA task force to kill all vampires), the scientists, bodyguards, pizza delivery person, can driver, etc. We have the mother of one character who’s an administrative assistant and delightfully sassy, the vapid talk show host with overblown breasts (the book makes a note to mention the vampire
plastic surgeons) and the harem of female vamps who live in the hero’s mansion. That’s right, most of the female characters are petty and only after our hero’s vampire sex skills.
Our hero has a harem of lady vamps who he services via telepathy (aka vampire sex). He’s really not into it, so he usually just broadcasts it out and they all listen in. Our hero is surprised that his lady love (Shanna? Sorry I’m tired and don’t remember her name) is upset he regularly has psychic sex with them all— he has to because these women obviously can’t take care of themselves (never mind that the most vapid and petty is also a successful model). Also, it shouldn’t matter because -physically- he’s a virgin.
That’s right! He was a monk and has never had *actual* sex. (Or would that be human sex?). And so obviously they’re gonna get married and also? After confessing his sins he can touch crosses because God forgives and suddenly my smutty afternoon romantic vampire read has become a story of religious redemption.
Know your audience book! Is this a smutty vampire romance? A sex farce with a real doll? A military struggle between multiple factions? A spy story? A religious parable?
Recommended for about the first 60 pages, feel free to continue skimming for lackluster “vampire sex.”
*Yes, at the end some of the evil vampire women kill their master, but it comes 1- a bit too late to for them to have any real agency and 2- one of them says something like “yeah, I’ll fuck whoever I want now.” So either female vamps are obsessed about sex or the evil vamp was a controlling rapist or the harem system is controlling and gross.