Vamps and the City by Kerrelyn Sparks

Vamps and the City by Kerrelyn Sparks

Second in the Love at Stake series

4 stars

OK, I'm pissed I just rewrote this really good review and then that bitch sitting in the chair popped up telling me Goodreads was over capacity and deleted it. ARGGGGH! Well here it goes. I'm still annoyed. How dare that little girl come and delete my review! Darcy Newhart used to be one of the vampire women in Roman Draganesti’s harem. Darcy thought having a vampire TV reality show where mortals compete with vampires for the title of The Sexiest Man on Earth would be a great idea. There’s a catch for the judges who were also once apart of Roman’s harem- no one knows that they have humans in the contest. There’s no way a human could win anyway. But when Darcy meets Austin she begins to wonder if it was such a good idea. Austin signs up for the show under the direction of his boss, Sean Whelan, along with a partner in hopes of taking down the vamps. This CIA Stake-Out member never expected to find that he’s falling on the show and he thinks Darcy is a human forcibly held captive by the Vamps. What’s he going to do when he finds out the truth about Darcy? Compared to How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire this book was a letdown. I was interested in reading a book through a female Vamps eyes. But not just any female Vamp, but an ex-member of Roman’s harem. This should've been amazing right? Well it wasn't. It fell flat. It was entertaining and I did enjoy reading it, but I didn't like the characters and it ruined my experience.


The main female character is Darcy. I liked Darcy well enough. Was she a great character? Not at all; compared to the previous heroine, Shanna, she fell flat. I found she wasn’t nearly as likable or well developed. She wasn’t nearly as interesting or strong of a character. I felt like she was fake and not really real.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 7.5

The main male character is Austin. I honestly don’t really like Austin all that much. He’s not a bad guy, but I personally just don’t like him. There’s just something about him that I don’t like. You know how there’s people you just don’t like and can’t explain why? Well, this is one of those moments, but he’s a character. He didn’t charm me or make my heart race. I thought he was mediocre. The thought of him is intriguing, but his character isn’t likable or interesting to me.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 7

The Villain- Honestly I was expecting there to be an interesting battle scene or standoff like in the previous book. I got zip, nada, zilch of that and I was disappointed. The ending fell flat and I was not impressed.

Villain Scale: 4

I don’t see the point in talking about the other characters in this book. This book isn’t bad it’s just not nearly as good as the previous and a letdown for me.


Character Scale: 7

Darcy and Austin’s chemistry was not believable for me. It was just so fake feeling. I didn’t like it at all. I think they aren’t right for each other and it’s just forced. I have read the sequels though and they aren’t a letdown at all. I think it’s just suffering from Second Book Syndrome. I did enjoy the story and couldn’t put it down at times, but it also fell flat in other places. I do like the reality show idea. Props for thinking up of something creative and I would definitely watch it if it was on TV. I'm sorry if I sounded somewhat cranky throughout the review, but I'm mad about having to rewrite this review and I also didn't like the characters and talking about characters I don't like aggravates me.


Cover Thoughts: I like it well enough. I’m not blown away by it, but I don’t dislike it either. I do like the bat on the window… or outside? It’s cute, but I’m not sure why it’s there since these Vamps down turn into bats.