Also by this author: Dead Man's Hand, Queen of Hearts, House of the Rising SunWelcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year.
The tourists think it's all a show: the vampires, the werewolves, the witches, the occasional gargoyle flying through the sky. But the supernaturals populating the town know better.
Living in Nocturne Falls means being yourself. Fangs, fur, and all.Las Vegas headliner and vampire Desdemona Valentine is one cool, collected diva on the outside. On the inside, she’s petrified of falling in love after her last relationship nearly killed her...literally. Protecting her wounded heart makes for a lonely life, but she has her fame and fortune to keep her company. Who needs anything more? Julian Ellingham does. One look at Desdemona on stage, and the vampire is smitten. She initially ignores him, but his relentless pursuit pays off when a wild night ends in a Vegas wedding. Finally, Julian has everything he wants while all Desdemona wants is...a divorce. Julian sweet-talks Desdemona into letting him prove his love, but his time is running out. Especially after someone repeatedly tries to turn his bride to ash. When Desdemona flees Vegas for the spooky streets of Nocturne Falls and Julian’s protection, he’s more than willing to help out. But can he convince Desdemona to trust him, or will ‘death do us part’ become a reality?
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This is the 8th book in the series. As I am writing this I have just finished reading the 10th. I don’t know how she is able to write as fast, but I am one happy reader. This book actually has a scene another book. I won’t say what it is, but when you read it, it will make itself obvious. We all know the three vampire brothers, the one married to Delaney, the owner of the yummy chocolate shop. The brother married to a Valkyrie. Then there is Julian. The last single brother and one that likes it that way. Julian and Desdemona meet in Vegas and after some vampire type shenanigans, it appears that they are married. Desdemona is set on divorce while Julian is set on happily ever after.
All of her books are similar. There is a resident of Nocturne Falls who either falls for a newcomer or goes out looking for one. The fact that all of them are somewhat predictable isn’t a bad thing. The conflict is always different. I enjoy these books because they are a quick read and they are fun. I have read every book following reading the first two. Every book has you meeting another supernatural. In some cases, they are ones you know a lot about like Julian and Vampires. There are others that you don’t and learning about not only the character but the species they are is very interesting.
These books don’t force me to think about the world, they don’t make me think about what is going wrong. They allow me to disappear into a world that as a human I would not normally be a part of. It makes me wonder if there is a real place like this. I will never know, but it makes me happy thinking about it. There is a saying in Men in Black when Will Smith asks why we don’t tell people that aliens exist and K says “A person is smart, people are dumb and panicky.” It would be the same way if supes existed.
One person would be okay with it, but people on the whole would freak out. Not just that but we would want to kill them because that is Human’s first thought. New bug? Kill it so we can study it. Bigfoot may exist? Let’s kill one so we can see what makes them different. We could learn so much more by not killing things, and letting them life, but what is the fun in that right?
I know I got off on a tangent about this book, but I think it is important to understanding how I feel about the books and the whole world that Kristen has created. I would love if it existed in the real world, first because I love Halloween and so a full year of that would be awesome, but also because it meant that people with differences, or in this case supernaturals would be able to live in peace knowing that they were safe.
About Kristen Painter
When the characters in Kristen Painter’s head started to take over, she decided to put them on paper and share them with the world. She writes paranormal romance and the gothic fantasy vampire series, House of Comarre, for Orbit Books. She has also been published in non-fiction, poetry and short stories. The former college English teacher can often be found online at Romance Divas, the award-winning writers’ forum she co-founded. She’s represented by Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency.
