A Girl’s Guide to Vampires audiobook

This book was totally a 5***** star read for me! FUNNY as hell and I think I probably laughed in my head every second page and out loud at least once a chapter. The heroine and ber crazy sidekick - best friends who can tell each other anything and call each other on anything - have very interesting senses of humor and both use them defence when they are nervous or uncomfortable. Although sometimes Joy was just plain lippy!Raphael is your true alpha male - domineering and possessive and protective and sexy as HELL! OMG The picture of him you get in your head as Joy describes what she sees when.... (read the book - its WORTH IT!)I enjoyed the cheesy side of this book and I can see that it would not be for everyone. I have a feeling that Katie MacAlister is an author that you either love or hate. Luckily for me I loved her sarcastic wit and sardonic charm and when a man growls at me I MELT (into a puddle of goo) just like Joy did.Was it original life changing profound wisdom that will affect me forever? No but it made me laugh and lust and made my day funnier and sexier that it would have been without it. To me that is a book I want to read again and again and again... and dream of in between!Looking forward to exploring the other books she has written - apparently there are dragons out there somewhere? I LOVE DRAGONS!!!!

Wow, I don't even know where to begin my review of A Girl's Guide to Dating Vampires. I thought I was completely over the whole vampire train because I have been bored with most of the vampire books I've read, but I guess I was just missing something. Katie MacAlister has totally changed that for me. I've already got the second book in the series on hold at the library. I think the best part of it was that it didn't completely revolve around vampires, and the vampires didn't make a large appearance in the novel. I was always guessing, who is the vampire?, who isn't the vampire?I loved, loved, loved the main character Joy and I thought Raphael was YUMMY!I was laughing the entire time and I have to say, if I could pick to be any literary character I would say Joy. I loved her wit, snarky come-backs, and sense of humor. Plus, she got to be with the gorgeous, and yummy Raphael.I thought I could predict most things in this book, but I found that I couldn't. There were twists and turns I wasn't expecting and it left me guessing until the very end. Also, did I mention Raphael was yummy?? Don't want to forget that!It was a light, humorous, quick read. One that I will definitely be reading again. I already requested it from Paperback Swap.

I absolutely loved this book - it had me laughing out loud from practically the first page. I'm just glad I wasn't reading it in public or I'd have received no end of strange looks. I just can't wait to read the next book in the series.Joy & her friend Roxy are both hopeless when it comes to love so they ask for assistance from a wiccan friend to find their true loves. Miranda's prediction for Roxy is quite straightforward - she'll find her true love within a month. However, when it comes to Joy things are not so simple - there are going to be 2 men coming into her life and if she fails to pick the right one then she will be in danger of losing her soul.The 2 friends are both obsessed with reading vampire novels and love author C J Dante who writes a series about the Dark Ones. Roxy is convinced that the Dark Ones are real and is determined to meet the author & convince him to tell her how to find them. Joy is sure that they aren't real but is happy to go with Roxy to the Czech Republic to search for Dante.They arrive in the Czech Republic & find themselves in the middle of a Goth Festival and soon start attracting plenty of attention, both good and bad. Roxy is determined to find a Dark One but with people from the festival walking around dressed as vampires spotting the real thing is going to be difficult. I don't want to give any plot information away so I'll just say that there are plenty of crazy antics & twists to the story and I love the way the ending isn't what you're expecting. The book is filled with comedy, romance and lust with plenty of hot sex thrown in for good measure. If you want something light hearted but still with a paranormal twist then I'd definitely recommend this series.

A Girl's Guide to Vampires was a nice and pleasant surprise. While I do get tired of Katie MacAlister's same heroine in every book I read, I could tolerate Joy more that most others. But lord can they be moronic, and not in a good way. I do wish she could expand her female leads to be different in both of their physical and mental aspects, and not be the same old monotonous ones over and over again. Always my gripe.Now on to the rest of the book...The storyline was interesting, there was some hilarious moments, and overall I enjoyed it better than most of the contemporary romances Ms. MacAlister has written. I am very intrigued by Christian and can't wait to read his book in this series. Roxy, on the other hand, reminded me of a little, annoying, rabid yappy dog. Yes, she could provide entertainment, but if I knew someone like that, I'd go insane, or else commit homicide. Otherwise the book was fine entertainment but not a keeper for me. Probably the main reason I read the whole book was because of the intriguing Christian and wondering about his fate.3.75 stars

This book is about a women and her friend traveling to a foreign country in search of the soul mates their witch friend predicted they would find. MacAlister's writing is smooth, witty, and freaking hilarious. I laughed out loud on so much of the dialogue and especially some of the monologue of the main character. The plot was strong, the romance was extra steamy, and the characters were wonderful. MacAlister has a strong command over vocabulary either, I loved the fact that she has written a romance that I didn't feel stupid reading. There is a reference to Christine Feehan's Carpathians in it as well which also made me laugh out loud. This book is definitely worth the read, as most likely the second one will be also. She will have you laughing and sighing through the book, I certainly was.

** spoiler alert ** I absolutely LOVED this book, and boy did it ever take me by surprise. Over the last few weeks, i've found myself having a hard time finding a book that could hold my interest after the first 100 pages or so.. That was so not the case with A Girl's Guide To Vampires...i devoured this book in less than 24 hours.Katie MacAlister has somehow managed to bring to life a story that is at once funny, endearing, touching, sweet & sexy. With characters that burst off the page and feel like people you actually know.In the end, there was only one thing that bothered me; the emotional turmoil that Christian was in by the end of the story, was heartbreaking. Although, it does offer the perfect set up for the following book in the series Sex And The Single Vampire

Zum Inhalt:Als Joy sich die Karten legen lässt, erfährt sie zu ihrer Freude, dass sie bald den Mann fürs Leben kennenlernen wird. Doch was soll sie davon halten, dass ihr Traumprinz angeblich ein Vampir ist? Kurz darauf fährt Joy zu einem Gothic Festival nach Tschechien und dort Zeugin rätselhafter Vorgänge ... Cover:Das Cover meiner Version hat mir so recht gut gefallen. Wir sehen hier auf rot gehaltenem Grund einen angebissenen Apfel, wobei der Biss einem Herz ähnelt und wir sehen die Hand einer Frau. Das hat so nichts mit dem Inhalt der Geschichte zu tun und verrät auch rein gar nichts, wenn da der Titel nicht wäre, aber irgendwie musste ich immer wieder hinsehen und schließlich zugreifen. Ziel also erreicht. Eigener Eindruck:Joy und ihre beste Freundin Roxy lieben Vampirgeschichten aller Art. Besonders die Reihe eines bestimmten Autor hat es ihnen total angetan. Auf der Suche nach richtigen Vampiren reisen die beiden Freundinnen trotz der Warnung einer Freundin und ihrer gelegten Karten nach Tschechien, wo sie den Hinweisen aus den Büchern auf den Grund gehen wollen. Bei einem Gothic-Festival wollen sie mit ihrer Suche beginnen, doch bereits im Hotel kommt es zu eigenartigen Vorkommnissen die Joy an ihrem Verstand zweifeln lassen. Sie ist sich hundert Prozent sicher, dass sie ihren Vampir bereits in Form des attraktiven Security-Mannes Raphael gefunden hat, denn die Indizien weisen auf ihn hin und außerdem fühlt sie sich auch sofort zu ihm hingezogen. Gemeinsam mit Roxy und Christian, den sie ebenfalls im Hotel kennen lernen, begibt sie sich auf die Spurensuche, um ihren Verdacht zu untermauern und gerät dabei ins Visier eines kaltblütigen Mörders… Die Geschichte von Joy und ihrer verrückten Freundin Roxy hat sich recht amüsant gelesen. Zwar hatte ich zu Beginn ein paar kleine Schwierigkeiten in die Geschichte hinein zu kommen, doch wenn es erst einmal geflutscht hat, dann konnte ich das Buch kaum aus der Hand legen. Den Vampirkult der in den aktuellen Romanen derzeit betrieben wird in einem Roman selbst aufs Korn zu nehmen, fand ich als Idee nicht schlecht und ich musste so manches Mal schmunzeln, wenn Roxanne mit ihren Buchweisheiten versucht hat Joy zu überzeugen, wer denn nun ein Vampir ist oder eben wer nicht. Und auch die Schauspielergestalten von dem Gothic-Markt hatten es klischeemäßig richtig in sich. Das war schon klasse gemacht und ich habe auch an so vielen Stellen herzlich lachen müssen, wenn Joy und Roxanne wieder einmal in eines Fettnäpfchen mit ungeheuerlichen Ausmaß getreten sind und doch war Joy als Protagonistin einfach nur nervig, wenn sie wieder einmal hysterisch wurde, rumgezockt hat oder sich aufgeführt hat, als wäre sie der einzige Mensch auf der Welt. Nein, Joy konnte ich nicht wirklich etwas abgewinnen und bin irgendwie auch dankbar, dass die Geschichte um sie jetzt recht wahrscheinlich zu Ende ist, zumindest verspricht mir die Fortsetzung eine neue Protagonistin. Doch egal wie, war auch das Happy End recht schön, auch wenn es schlussendlich für den Blutsauger nicht so optimal ausgegangen ist, wie es hätte ausgehen können. Schade und dramatisch irgendwie, aber ich habe Hoffnung dass wir eben jenen Blutsauger vielleicht doch noch einmal begegnen werden. Fazit:Ein Werk an dem sich sicher die Geister teilen werden. Für mich war es von der Protagonistin abgesehen ein wirklich amüsantes Werk, da hier mit allen Klischees rund um die Vampirwelt gehandelt wird. Emotionen sind hier leider doch ein bisschen sparsam gesät, wie ich fand, aber das Werk ist durchaus lesenswert. Idee: 5/5Charaktere: 3/5Logik: 4/5Spannung: 4/5Emotionen: 3/5 Gesamt: 4/5 Daten:ISBN: 9783802590689Sprache: DeutschAusgabe: Flexibler EinbandUmfang: 480 SeitenVerlag: LyxErscheinungsdatum: 01.08.2012

Super hot vampire aka dark one, laugh out loud hilarious h, kept me still laughing 2nd time around., so did the followup books, making my way through series again.

3,5 Sterne

AudioBook ReviewStars: Overall 5 Narration 5 Story 5I should preface this review by saying that I have been a fan of Katie MacAlister (and her alter-ego for YA/Teen Reads) Katie Maxwell for a long while now: my daughter and I would pass her books back and forth repeatedly and read them regularly. So it was particularly wonderful to have won this AudioBook copy. Significant parts of the story are told in the heroine, Joy’s, voice: smart, self-deprecating, funny and charmingly inept in relationships Joy and her best friend Roxy are off to the Frankfurt Book Fair, with a side trip to the Czech Republic to bask in and hunt down their favorite author, the reclusive CJ Dante, author of the Dark Ones series: full of alpha male vampires and the heroines who love them. From one moment to the next, this story is full of gentle teasing and outright laughs: Joy is marvellously snarky and Roxy is a bit of a Chihuahua: tiny, mouthy and full of energy. Roxy also completely and utterly believes in the existence of vampires, and feels, from her obsession with Dante’s books, to know all about them. Her list of “how to tell if someone is a vampire” is quite amusing, and completely understandable as a reader who wants to be transported by every story. Several interesting characters come under the scrutiny of Joy and Roxy: while Joy’s belief and patience for the poseur vampire Dominic is waning, her own beliefs are being tested as she is having visions and feeling ‘invaded’ by a distinctly vampiric male. There is also a traveling Goth Faire in town: and here Joy meets the man of her dreams in the form of Raphael: tall, dark, handsome and protective: he is the head of the security detail for the tour. So we have Roxy determined to find a vampire and meet the author, Joy curious about and enamored with Raphael, a ringmaster/magician with fake fangs and a slimy bent insisting on calling joy ‘mon ange’ as well as several different nationalities and skills from the workers of the faire, the story is loaded with plenty of side stories and moments of interest. When a particularly distasteful and nasty ‘witch’ from the fair is found dead, exsanguinated and with her throat torn apart the search for the killer is all encompassing. Narration is provided by Karen White who manages to slip in and out of voices and accents with near seamless precision: adding in a tone and breathing that emphasizes moments of exasperation, insecurity, tension, anger and even sexual frustration and satisfaction. The French accents are spot on, with a solidly Slavic intonation in the voices of Christophe and the police captain, and the smooth yet often frustrated and flummoxed British accent affixed to Raphael managed to convey him with panache. Never overreaching for male or female voices, all of the characters were clearly delineated and crisply delivered and added to the character visualizations. Yes, there is a romance, but it is done in a uniquely ‘MacAlister” way: euphemisms are heavily used to allude to actions and parts, to great effect, as the humor with which Joy (and the author) see the world and their place in it is quite apparent. There isn’t a great load of drama or tension or even a load of angsty heroes and heroines in this series: it’s fun: it pokes fun at the genre, the readers and the characters as it presents a new series with a wonderful story and plenty of characters to learn more about. MacAlister’s books are light and fun reads: perfect diversions after a long day or to while away a weekend. I received this AudioBook copy as a blog tour win. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

This is the first novel in the Dark Ones Series. I got given this book by my nephew through his bookclub he knew I loved Vampires and said to his mum Aunty would LOVE this, which would in turn make this a book that would be in my heart because he got it for me and knew I would love it. I read it,and this book was the first I'd ever read of Katie Macalister and from then on have LOVED her and her stories. To this day I re-read this novel at least once a year and everytime it amazes me on how good it is. Her Series gets even better throughout. Although they can be read on their own often past characters return.Joy and Raphael are an amazing couple, there is secrets and trust issues and love and pain and murder mystery and kooks and to top it off a cool goth faire. This book was excellet completely recommend this to all.