Monday, November 25, 2013

Ten Vampy Reads To Help Get You Into The Holiday Spirit

Holidays Are Hell by Kim Harrison



This holiday, spend quality time with family and loved ones—living and dead . . .



There's no place like home for the horrordays—unless you'd prefer a romantic midnight walk through a ghost-infested graveyard . . . or a haunted house candlelight dinner with the sexy vampire of your dreams. The (black) magical season is here—and whether it's a solstice séance gone demonically wrong with the incomparable Kim Harrison, a grossly misshapen Christmas with the remarkable Lynsay Sands, a blood-chilling-and-spilling New Year's with the wonderful Marjorie M. Liu, or a super-powered Thanksgiving with the phenomenal Vicki Pettersson, one thing is for certain: in the able hands of these exceptional dark side explorers, the holidays are going to be deliciously hellish!







The Bite Before Christmas by Lynsay Sands and Jeanine Frost



In Lynsay Sands' "The Gift," Katricia Argeneau knows grey-eyed cop Teddy Brunswick is her life mate. She just needs to convince him they belong together, and being snowbound in a secluded cabin will make this a Christmas neither will forget. 



It's "Home for the Holidays" in Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series. Cat and Bones may long to wrap presents and set up a tree, but this Christmas, an evil vampire and long-buried family secrets will threaten to take a bite out of their holiday cheer.





All I Want For Christmas is a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks



Toni Davis's Christmas wish list

1. Springing my best friend from the psych ward.
2. Living somewhere that doesn't have coffins in the basement. Occupied coffins.
3. Finding Mr. Right. Please make him tall, dark, handsome, and alive.
This Christmas isn't so merry for Toni. Her best friend's been locked up in a mental hospital ever since she told the police she was attacked by vampires, and the only way for Toni to get her out is to prove that bloodsuckers really do exist. So she's taken a job as a bodyguard for the Undead, but she gets more than she bargained for, especially when she meets Ian MacPhie, a Scottish rascal looking for Ms. Right.
Although Ian's nearly five centuries old, he looks and acts like a twenty-seven-year-old hunk.
How can a dead man be so damn sexy? Could Mr. Wrong be Mr. Right? One forbidden kiss could lead to an eternity of passion—and all it takes is one moment under the mistletoe . . .

A Dark-Hunter Christmas by Sherrilyn Kenyon
This is the special Christmas story that features the gangster Gallagher and Simi when Gallagher is temporarily relocated to New Orleans to help battle Daimons. 
Written as a gift for DH fans, it originally appeared in the back of the first edition of Dance with the Devil. It's also found in its entirety in Dark Bites, and you can read the whole thing as an excerpt on the above link by clicking "Read the Whole Story Here"

The Shadows of Christmas Past by Christine Feehan and Susan Sizemore
Love and magic triumph over evil in two sizzling holiday novellas.
CHRISTINE FEEHAN — "Rocky Mountain Miracle"



When Cole Steele, a womanizer rumored to have killed his father, meets Maia Armstrong, a veterinarian rumored to practice magic, the sparks that fly could melt all the snow on his Wyoming ranch. And when an injured horse brings them together, Cole can't help but believe that Maia casts spells on animals and men. What else could explain the burning passion he feels for her and the thawing of his heart around the holidays?



SUSAN SIZEMORE — "A Touch of Harry"



When the injured wolf Dr. Marjorie Piper takes back to her kennel turns into a man, Marj is stunned, and keeps his subsequent escape a secret. The only thing more difficult to hide is the burning desire she feels for Harrison Blethyin, a stranger in town who brings out her animal instincts. But when Marj and Harry join forces to find a pack of runaway teens before Christmas, truths are revealed that will bind their souls together forever.

Mistletoe and Magic by Lisa Cach, Stobie Piel, Lynsay Sands and Amy Elizabeth Saunders
A recipe for an unforgettable Christmas of love and laughter.
Serves: Everyone
Holly berries
1 pair enchanted spectacles
4 couples
8 lonely hearts
1 fairy godmother
1 miracle
Elves
Take four heroines, created by some of Romance's hottest authors. Mix them up with an equal number of heroes until warm and sweet. Press together and add laughter. Set in delicious historical settings, seal with a kiss, and leave overnight. By morning, couples will have formed into four delightful stories. Sprinkle liberally with... Mistletoe & Magic.



stories are:

The Fairy Godmother by Lynsay Sands
A Midnight Clear by Lisa Cach
Angels We Have Heard by Amy Elizabeth Saunders
Here Comes Santa Claus by Stobie Piel

A Very Vampy Christmas by Kerrelyn Sparks
Maggie O'Brien is thrilled when she lands a starring role on the Digital Vampire Network's hottest soap opera, As the Vampire Turns. Doesn't hurt that her leading man is Don Orlando de Corazon, the greatest lover in the vampire world But who is Don Orlando really? Nobody knows, not even Don Orlando. As the couple sets out in search of his mysterious past, "home for the holidays" takes on a new meaning when the recently-turned vamp discovers his own Christmas miracle.


A Vampire's Christmas Wish by M. L. Guilda
Master vampire, Janus Morano, has searched for centuries to find his lost soul mate. When he finally discovers his true love on Christmas Eve in Hawaii, she doesn’t know him, doesn’t remember her previous life, and doesn’t want him. Janus must get her to remember him and their love, but nothing comes easy with Deirdre Hahn. 
Deirdre is drawn to the mysterious dark stranger, but she came to Hawaii with Brandon Delaney, to heal their broken relationship. Brandon has promised to never beat her again, bending over backwards to be Prince Charming. But the promise is broken. 
Deirdre escapes Brandon’s clutches and her only hope is the mysterious dark stranger. Janus vows to help her but soon she discovers his dark secret. He’s a vampire…a vampire searching for her. 
Now Deirdre is caught between two desperate men. Not sure who to trust. In order to save her future she must accept her past and when her Hawaiian vacation falls apart and she’s kidnapped, she must learn to trust Janus or die on Christmas.

Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith
From the author of the New York Times bestselling Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Huntercomes UNHOLY NIGHT, the next evolution in dark historical revisionism. 
They're an iconic part of history's most celebrated birth. But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity, besides the fact that they followed a star to Bethlehem bearing strange gifts? The Bible has little to say about this enigmatic trio. But leave it to Seth Grahame-Smith, the brilliant and twisted mind behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunterand Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to take a little mystery, bend a little history, and weave an epic tale. 



In Grahame-Smith's telling, the so-called "Three Wise Men" are infamous thieves, led by the dark, murderous Balthazar. After a daring escape from Herod's prison, they stumble upon the famous manger and its newborn king. The last thing Balthazar needs is to be slowed down by young Joseph, Mary and their infant. But when Herod's men begin to slaughter the first born in Judea, he has no choice but to help them escape to Egypt. 



It's the beginning of an adventure that will see them fight the last magical creatures of the Old Testament; cross paths with biblical figures like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist; and finally deliver them to Egypt. It may just be the greatest story never told.

Christmas Tales of Terror by Chris Prestley
From malevolent snowmen to Father Christmas - with a difference ... Chris Priestley is on absolute top form in these atmospheric, clever and thoroughly chilling stories. Add a new kind of thrill to the fluffiest of seasons with seven brilliantly conceived examples of why you'd better be good at Christmas time. For stories which can be enjoyed by the whole family, unwrap these perfectly formed festive tales of terror, each with a gripping yarn and genius twist.



Singing carols may never seem quite the same again ... especially after dark.

BONUS!!!!
This is one I deem as a true Must-Read!
This holiday season has bite.

Ben Prescott hates Christmas—he’s a vampire, and to him, there’s certainly nothing jolly about the holiday season. While the humans are running around being merry, he’s hunting in the shadows. Ben plans to spend the holidays his way…by stalking deadly prey. 


But fate has other plans for Ben.


Three visitors are coming Ben’s way…A demon who will force Ben to face his past, a ghost who will show Ben the present he could have, and a shifter who will reveal the darkness that waits in Ben’s future. Unless Ben can change his ways, he may just turn into a real monster, one who can’t be saved by anyone or anything.


’Tis the season…to be undead.


Ben’s redemption rests in the hands of the one woman he loved and lost—Simone Laurent. If Ben is going to have a chance at being more than just the beast in the darkness, he has to prove himself to the lovely Simone. A very hard task, considering that, once upon a Christmas Eve, Simone died in Ben’s arms… 








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