Review: One heck of a ride!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 22, 2013
Once burned? Poor Beatrice. As an agent for OWEA (The Otherworlder Enforcement Agency), she knows that crimes are solved by careful, painstaking attention to detail, and by following and documenting each step of a methodical investigation according to the rules of proper police procedure,despite the fact that her own gift requires just such a suspension of belief and process. She also knows she should stay away from former lover Claude, who drew her like a moth to a flame and started a fire between them that scars her still.Beatrice Davis sees deaths from the past. When she touches a powerfully imprinted object from a crime scene, she uses her psychometric gift to find clues by personally experiencing the crimes. Not surprisingly, this has led to burn-out and an enforced leave of absence. But boredom and recuperation take a backseat when Claude Desmarais, the Chicago detective she partnered with as a rookie, comes looking for her professional assistance.Claude isn't just any powerful ancient vampire; he's also the former lover who ended things badly enough to turn Bea from a nave, optimistic rookie into a rule-following, cynical professional. Beatrice quickly realizes that something is wrong with Claude's request. Not only is the evidence he brings questionable, but his unwillingness to take the obvious procedural next steps in the investigation arouses Beatrice's suspicion as an OWEA agent. And against her best judgement, the chemistry that has always existed between them arouses Beatrice as a woman.What makes VAMPIRE GAMES so compelling is the way each of the two main characters is trapped by their own strengths. Beatrice's stubborn insistence on proper investigative process puts her life in danger. Claude's reliance on the centuries-old bonds of friendship could trap both of them. And their kryptonite, the sizzling chemistry between them, is the one forbidden place they both know to avoid.Certainly, VAMPIRE GAMES has flaws. There's an inconsistent betrayal that is never fully explained, a pat resolution that doesn't ring true in every sense, and one or two loose ends that aren't tied up. Since this is part of a series, the author rightly expects the reader to be familiar with the other characters and background arc. But she doesn't flesh out any secondary characters here, so with the exception of the two (admittedly compelling) main characters and cardboard Evil Villain (mwa-hahaha), we don't get to know or care about anyone else, or even understand Beatrice's devotion to her agency, or Claude's bonds of friendship.With all of these weaknesses, I would still give VAMPIRE GAMES an enthusiastic four stars. Because sometimes, if we just plain get lucky, the main characters are so fully rounded, presented with their flaws as well as strengths so lovingly displayed, that the lucky reviewer just hangs on for the ride. And Tiffany Allee's VAMPIRE GAMES is one heck of a ride.I have only one choice after this, and that is to get my hands on the rest of the series and hope more are on the way. After reading VAMPIRE GAMES, I'm betting you'll feel the same.Reviewed by Barb Taubfor TheRomanceReviews.com