Review: Fantastic twist on vampires and great start to a series!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 28, 2012
A psychic who doesn't believe in vampires! How delightfully unexpected. You would think that one person firmly resident on the eerie side of the fence would automatically give at least some credence to the possibility that there might be some truth to rumors about the other denizens of the night.But not Serafina. And that's just a part of what makes Marie Treanor's Serafina and the Silent Vampire so delicious.Serafina MacBride absolutely does speak with the dead, among other "tricks". But her own spooky powers are the only ones she has any faith in. So she uses them. Sometimes for good, and sometimes for things decidedly not so good.She knows her current client, Ferdy Bell, is hiding something from her. He says there's a vampire stalking him. Sera believes in ghosts, because they're a natural part of being. We live, we die, our spirit passes on. But vampires are unnatural, so they must be fake. Therefore, Ferdy must be having her on.However, Ferdy is a wealthy banker. His money is no lie. And he wants protection. Serafina's, the psychic investigations agency that Sera owns, is perfectly happy to provide it. And while Ferdy is hosting a big house party for all of his rich friends, Sera and her friends have a plan to scare him with a fake vampire attack, all in good fun.Too bad for Sera that their fake attack is crashed by two very real vampires. One kills Ferdy's son, Jason, and gets clean away. The other very nearly seduces Serafina just when the murder is taking place.Serafina still doesn't believe that the man she met in her client's garden--the one she saw biting her friend's neck!--is a vampire. Even though he only speaks to her in her head, and not with his vocal chords. She's the only one who can hear him.She doesn't believe until she sees Blair in action. beating up the "bad" vampires, the ones who killed, and turned, Jason Bell.Blair and Serafina are surprised to discover that they have a common cause--eradicating the nest of vampires that is taking over the heart of Edinburgh's banking industry. Serafina wants them removed because their insidious plan is to control Edinburgh, and eventually a much larger territory, by pulling the strings on a vast financial empire. They're turning humans in key financial positions into vampires.Blair wants these new vampires out of his territory. Edinburgh is his domain, and, reminiscent of Highlander, there can only be one -- at least without an invitation. Too many vampires in one place risks exposure.But Blair is working with Serafina for another reason, a much more personal one. The greatest enemy of the immortal is boredom. Until Serafina careened into his unlife, Blair had felt nothing for a very long time. With Serafina around, he's been angry, frustrated, horny, satisfied, curious, excited, fascinated, impatient, eager and every other emotion he hasn't felt for centuries. But he's never, ever been bored.Now that he's found a reason to live, there's someone out to kill him.Escape Rating A: I didn't want this one to end. The case had to be over, but it's wide open for the next book in the Serafina's series, and I want to find out what happens next to these people. Not just where things go between Serafina and Blair, but also Serafina's whole crew.Serafina and Blair's love story isn't just steamy (although it certainly is that!) but you feel the push/pull of Seraphina very properly worrying whether this is a good idea and what possible future they might have, and whether a fantastic time right now is worth the inevitable heartbreak.And there's Sera's posse, who are also terrific. I hope that future stories will see them getting their own happy-ever-afters.Oh yeah. Making the vampires silent was a stroke of genius. Very, very cool!I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.Originally published at Reading Reality.