Bark at the Ghouls

GR Cleanup Project Read in 2010

Jasmine’s a nurse who is feeling crappy and is sent home from work early. She’s a trooper though and decides to walk, as she normally does, but on this fateful night she happens to walk past Corin who recognizes the “scent” of change. He is a vampire who holds the title of “Executioner” and it’s his job to destroy all unauthorized vampire fledglings. And this one is definitely unauthorized. Her smell intoxicates him and he follows her home.

Jasmine’s a bit taken aback to find a stunningly gorgeous male in her home but she goes with the flow (hey, I can’t say as I blame her). Corin wastes no time explaining what is happening to her body and that he’s there to destroy her in three days’ time. As Jasmine is overcome with the “heat” of change (think Anita Blake’s ardeur) she is told by Corin that the only way to soothe her need is spicy food, chocolate or sex. There aren’t any chick flicks and boxes of Godiva’s lying around so guess what they end up doing instead? After petting her throbbing need into submission for the moment, Corin calls in her existence to the “Council” thus sealing her fate. He must kill her in three days or they will do it for him. He instantly regrets it because, damn, she smells like cinnamon and he finds himself falling in lusty-love. Yummy.

It all starts out fun and sexy and I was looking forward to learning more about both Corin and Jasmine but soon after the setup the story turns into a humorless, running from danger, angst-fest and I was disappointed. Corin is dripping with drama, the poor vampire-man. His past is seriously dark and tortured, I’ll give him that. He’s been raped and tortured and forced to serve a sadistic master at some point in his long existence. It’s not pretty stuff and we only get to see glimpses of it (darn!), but you get the gist that it was a very bad time for him. It’s turned him into a deadly serious vampire. I can take angst, I will even go so far as to admit I’m a sucker for angsty romance, but this one just didn’t draw me in. I never once got that heart-sick feeling that tells me I’m reading an unforgettable romance. Sadness. I even ended up skimming a little and I don’t usually do such things.

As for the storyline, there were far too many things that were not explained in enough detail for me. But the two that stand out are Jasmine’s vampirism (she was poked with an infected needle) and the little fact that Corin is already bonded to his male maker. There was much fuss made about Jasmine being “a new breed of vampire” but it just didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Also the whole sharing blood and bonding thing left me wondering about a lot of things. What if The Big Bad Master Vamp (sorry, his name has escaped me) got a sudden craving for Corin’s fine bum and showed up demanding kinky m/m sex? Would Corin still be forced to oblige? And would Jasmine enjoy watching? (probably not, she’s not me). Seriously, I fear for Jasmine’s HEA.

I liked Jasmine. She was a nice character and she was a good match for Corin. She stood up to him and even tried to save his sorry ass but I would have enjoyed this story so much more if the prose weren’t so overblown and we got a little bit of “getting to know you” time between the two characters. In the end, it all seemed too rushed, much like many of Jasmine’s orgasms.