I really liked the beginning especially because the mc didn't act so incredibly incompetent and foolish with all the new stuff around her like usual but instead quickly and efficiently analyzed her situation and takes things in her own hand. It went a little bit too far in the opposite direction at times tho.
She made unbelievable deductions about her new circumstances very fast. We never see her fail or make perfectly reasonable but wrong assumptions in that area at least.

This leads me to another common flaw this one is guilty of. Plot convenient selective stupidity. There is one major instance of this that I can accept because love really can make blind and all that but there are other things she really should've seen coming from miles away judging by her incredible intelligence in almost all other situations. If she had roughly average intelligence this wouldn't have been a problem.

Furthermore, she is the special special girl with all the special special abilities which, while not being too obnoxious, was present.

Roughly at 50%, there is a major plot point that determines most of the rest of the book but is fundamentally and very obviously flawed and honestly just ridiculously stupid.
I had to fight with myself to keep reading especially as the ramifications of this bullshit reason just keep piling and piling up but I wanted to give the book a chance past one even very big mistake.

Sadly, later on, we have a very unlikely redemption foreshadowing that isn't related to the first blunder but shows the same disregard for common sense.
The more books with this pattern I read the more bitter I become about it:
He treats her like shit; she is mad but can not resist and forgives him because reasons; he tries to fulfil her every wish and is suddenly a perfect partner.

I badly crave a book like this with the same beginning spiel but after he did the bad thing she resents him, doesn't forgive him and eventually, in a situation where she would normally come around, she blows his head off instead. Call be bloodthirsty but this would be so incredibly satisfying and might release some of all this built-up frustration. ( )

where to begin?
Connie Suttle is a Super Nova when it comes to creating worlds within worlds! This was the first book that I read of hers, and i was pulled in like a fish on a line! Seriously, if she were a drug, id have been six feet under now, from OD'ing!
This is the first in the series, and folks get your wallets out because you will not be able to stop at the one book!
Connie draws you into the story, and well while you fall in love with Lissa, and she is in no way a victim.. you really just want to beat the crap out of several people by the end of the book, just to stand up for Lissa!
What drew me to Lissa from the start, she didnt start out as your perfect, sexy bombshell who is kick ass.. she was you or me.. struggling, crippled by grief and well ready to just lay down her head and give up.. does life give her a break? nope! just decided to kick her while she was down.. and continued to do so.. if she was not the strongest willed woman i have ever met.. she would have just said.. F it a long time ago.. I dont want to write too much more.. without adding spoilers.. but if folks want spoilers happy to give em *LOL*
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phenomenal! review soon and I'm on second book now :) ( )

Well, I just burned through that one! This is an interesting take on vampires. More thoughtful, less action, and less romance. Middle-aged heroine (although after becoming a vampire, she's suddenly young again). Randomly switching POVs between first and third person. Somehow, it all ties together into an engaging read. Self-published, but not many glaring errors to distract. Thanks to [a:Ilona Andrews|21748|Ilona Andrews|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1219436898p2/21748.jpg] for the recommendation! On to the next... ( )

Lissa was an ordinary, late middle aged woman reeling from the grief of losing her husband and trying to find some solace in the bottom of a glass.

Which is when the vampires notice her – not for any good reasons, but for a cruel bet on whether someone they regarded so pathetic would turn into a vampire and how soon, to be disposed of as soon as they had their answers

But the newly vampiric Lissa escapes. She builds a new life for herself, far away from her erstwhile creator, getting a new job and becoming embroiled in a werewolf pack

She hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Vampire Council, however; she is technically a rogue, a vampire created without their knowledge and one who has not been properly educated. Rogues are usually killed and Gavin, an assassin, is dispatched to do just that

This book starts pretty poorly, I have to say. It’s slow, it’s clunky and the whole set up of the story requires some vast leaps of coincidence that stretches any attempt to maintain a willing suspension of disbelief.

Lissa becomes a vampire in dubious circumstances – but I was fine with that. I was less fine with how extremely quickly she became a vampire, how extremely quickly she learned the ins and outs of being a vampire. I felt that whole section was somewhat fast forwarded through when it should have been a compelling part of Lissa’s story. I think we get some good scenes of her frustration about being a vampire without an instruction manual – but she does so extremely well without it! We also had some good scenes of her grief and regret of leaving her old life – but they’re brief scenes, especially considering her grief over her recently deceased husband, the family and friends she left behind, her job et al. She has some nice grief scenes but they feel limited.

So… we’re stretching. Then she decides to become a bodyguard – she has zero experience in this field, no idea of the technology or laws or regulations involved and is completely incapable of working anything but the night shift – but she applies anyway and gets the job because she can use her vampire wiles to beat up another bodyguard. She’s hired as a full time body guard because she can fight, that’s it (at least they do eventually hand wave the lack of background check, etc).

And, chance of chances, she ends up being a bodyguard to werewolves. Pure random chance after answering an ad in the paper. There follows a series of events that just occasionally throw me – like her forgiving William for something he did and I didn’t see why she would – it just seems to be silent treatment then reconciliation (though it does take time, I have to concede that, she doesn’t instaforgive). Or why she’s farmed out to another pack as bodyguard – are vampires that much more dangerous than werewolves? If so, how does it follow that vampires and werewolves have nearly driven each other to extinction in their war?

Also, are we supposed to regard the sale of the super powerful facial recognition software to the NSA as a good thing?

Ok, all those complaints duly noted, there were good points squeezed between them. Lissa’s competence and intelligence grow through the book as she expands into her new role. I like how Gavin grows to respect and admire Lissa, to be impressed by Lissa and, eventually, be outraged on her behalf on how she has been treated. In just a few short emails to his superior we can see a developing respect and infatuation from Gavin that doesn’t happen on first sight nor is it even based on her looks – but grows slowly as he admires her growth, strength and capability. It’s an excellent part of the books

But did we have to have the supernatural sexy smell?

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