Tag: paranormal

What sharp teeth you have!

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 1 Comment
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It’s October—the month of monsters! Do you have a favourite monster?

I do. About ten years ago I read every vampire story (mostly PNR) I could get my hands on. This went on for a while so, in the end, I grew a little tired of tall, dark and deadly and started mixing it up a little.

But as the nights grow darker I find myself wanting back to the time when I curled up on the sofa and read a novel a day, most often one including sharp fangs tearing through delicate skin.

But where are the gay vampires?

I know there are tonnes of M/M vampire stories out there, and maybe I haven’t read the right ones. Maybe I grew a little tired of these evil hotties even before I started reading M/M. Maybe, just maybe, the gay vampires are too busy having sex to actually take part in a rememberable plot.

I don’t mean to criticise, not really, but when I think of vamps, the books popping up in my mind aren’t M/M. I’m thinking of Black Dagger Brotherhood (yeah, I know one book in there is an M/M but it’s the weakest in the series in my opinion), Anita Blake, Nighthuntress, Sookie Stackhouse, Chicagoland Vampires, Guildhunter, I even think of Twilight before I think of an M/M story—though that’s probably more because of well-done marketing than a rememberable plot.

So where are the gay vampires? I scrolled through my read list to see which books I’d forgotten because some pale hunk must have swept me off my feet these last years. There must have been someone, right?

Nah, not really.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Jordan Castillo Price‘s Channeling Morpheus series but, as much as Wild Bill drags me in, the stories have little to offer outside the bedroom activities. I really liked Winter Winds by Missouri Dalton about Cillian the deaf vampire. And let’s not forget Harvey Feng in the Sanguine series by Harper Lou. You have to love a cross-dressing, vegetarian vampire. Among the favourites, I also have to mention Jordan L. Hawk’s Hunter of Demons. I’ve only read the first in the SPECTR series but I so loved Gray.

I’m still missing a gay vampire snagging and managing to keep my attention, though. I miss desperately searching for the next book in a series. I miss not being able to put the book down until the dreaded ‘The End’ stares back at me.

Which vampire books should I read?

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

A Frost of Cares | A Ghost Story

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes all you want is a good ghost story, and A Frost of Cares is that. I’ve read about 70%, and I really like where Amy Rae Durreson is going.  A little while ago I read Spindrift * and I enjoyed it plenty, but this is better.

Usually, a story is told as if the MCs are unaware of there being a reader. Here you are addressed at times, and Luke (the narrator) talks to his husband through the text. I haven’t really made up my mind about what I think about it, if you’re a romantic you’ll probably think it’s a nice touch.

Luke is a military historian, which normally would have scared me off—I usually stay away from military dudes, I’m married to one that’s enough—but here it’s perfect. Just thinking about empty halls in old military buildings has me trembling.

In RL I’m a teacher and staying late at work always scare the crap out of me. Mind you, schools can be scary too. There is something about the dark study halls, the automatic light coming on as I walk by, my steps echoing in the empty corridors that send shivers down my spine. You never think of it during the days when there are students everywhere but once the dark creeps in and the rooms turn quiet *shudder*.

Anyway, A Frost of Cares is definitely the best purchase I’ve made this week, and if you like ghosts you should check it out!

books2read.com/AFrost *

Military historian Luke Alcott leaps at the chance to live in the seventeenth-century country mansion of Eelmoor Hall, home of the Royal Military School of Medicine, after being offered a job cataloging the school’s archives. Luke believes he chose the perfect place to start a new life and put his broken past behind him. But soon after settling into the old house, he hears strange noises—like footsteps—and he begins to suffer from terrible nightmares.

The only person Luke can turn to for help is the taciturn caretaker, Jay, a veteran of the Afghanistan war who carries an old battle wound. Together they try to understand Eelmoor Hall’s history and decipher what could be causing the haunting. As the weather grows colder and snow dusts the countryside, a child goes missing. Luke needs to deal with his own demons and learn to trust in love again if he hopes to face down the angry spirit and find the missing girl.

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Friday Reads | Oleander House

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Friday again! But it isn’t a normal Friday, I know that it is to most of you out there, but here in Sweden, it’s a holiday. It’s Midsummer Eve which means you’ll eat pickled herring, strawberries, have a nubbe (shot of vodka) or five, and then everyone will be dancing around a maypole. It’s just the way it is.

Now to the reading! I’ve just started Oleander House (Bay City Paranormal Investigations #1) by Ally Blue. Ally Blue is one of those authors who doesn’t always work for me, and I’m afraid Oleander House has failed to hook me. I’m only three chapters in though so maybe it’ll change.

There is a warning of intense violence and there has already been some hinting at gruesome deaths happening in the house so I’m hoping some evil demon will reach out through the screen and grab hold of me as I go on reading. From what I can see on Goodreads there are 4,900 ratings on this series and most of those readers have enjoyed it, so I’ll keep at it for a bit longer.

books2read.com/Oleander *

When Sam Raintree goes to work for Bay City Paranormal Investigations, he expects his quiet life to change–he doesn’t expect to put his life and sanity on the line, or to fall for a man he can never have.

Book One in the Bay City Paranormal Investigation series.

Sam Raintree has never been normal. All his life, he’s experienced things he can’t explain. Things that have colored his view of the world and of himself. So taking a job as a paranormal investigator seems like a perfect fit. His new co-workers, he figures, don’t have to know he’s gay.

When Sam arrives at Oleander House, the site of his first assignment with Bay City Paranormal Investigations, nothing is what he expected. The repetitive yet exciting work, the unusual and violent history of the house, the intensely erotic and terrifying dreams which plague his sleep. But the most unexpected thing is Dr. Bo Broussard, the group’s leader.

From the moment they meet, Sam is strongly attracted to his intelligent, alluring boss. It doesn’t take Sam long to figure out that although Bo has led a heterosexual life, he is very much in the closet, and wants Sam as badly as Sam wants him.

As the investigation of Oleander House progresses and paranormal events in the house escalate, Sam and Bo circle warily around their mutual attraction, until a single night of bloodshed and revelation changes their lives forever.

Warning: this title contains explicit male/male sex, intense violence, and graphic language.

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.