I love reading paranormal books and this one was pretty amazing. Thank you for the opportunity.

Ughh!! Can i please please please trade places with Renee?? I'd have so much energy to give Rafe! Now that is one hot vampire i would willingly give myself to... This 2 meet when a sycophant ( bad evil vampires who i would run away faster than you can say bunny rabbit) murders a human.. Renee is called to investigate said murder and Rafe is sent to check out if Renee knows anything or has any leads with the case..Love this story.. love the writing, the way the story flows, how strong the heroine is ( for a change) and no unnecessary drama whatsoever!.. like i said earlier, bite me Rafe! i'm all yours!


ARC provided by NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept and Ms. Jacquelyn Frank

Great start to a series. I especially love the strong heroine. We've seen the damsel in distress way to many times, especially in vampire stories. It's refreshing to have a kick-ass lady that can hold her own.

Vampires are fascinating world to delve into. I enjoy Rafe. His role in the vampire world. The summit in New York opens a different world up to him as well as his human interest Renee.

Suspense, passion, danger and a society more ancient than anything we can imagine is meshed with a fast paced tough detective who sparks a flame in one very important member of this society. Fantastic book that keeps you engaged and wanting more.

I am an avid fan of Ms Walker's Nightwalkers, Shadowdwellers, Gatherers and The Three Worlds. I decided to give her Energy Vampires series a read as well. It was an okay read for me. In this story we have Renee who is a homicide detective investigating a murder where the witness states that the victim was murdered by a vampire. We have the hero Rafe Silva an energy vampire who finds out about the murder and needs to know what Renee knows because they cannot allow for humans to know of their existence. Rafe goes about courting her to keep abreast of any information she finds out about the case and starts to fall for Renee. They do end up together and Renee, though a bit reluctant to believe at first, does finally know that these sycophants exist and that they need to be stopped. I liked the original take of the vampires needing energy from their victims instead of the usual blood. I also liked that they absorbed a lot of their strength through solar energy. The book was well written but I found I just could not connect with Rafe and Renee. it did seem that there was too much information on everything else and not enough romance between the two. There were couple of suspenseful and action moments., which were good and helped move the storyline along but for me it was lacking something, not sure exactly what but I believe that the next book might be much better. I really found Halo interesting. Thanks for the opportunity.

These are more my general notes/thoughts on the book as I read it, since things are a bit cray in my RL and writing a full review...yeah, not happening.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything In Between

-Oh dear Lord I’m only about 16% in, and the constant conversation about eating clean are mind numbingly boring. Between that and the constant exposition to set up the ‘verse and I’m in a coma.
-Original spin on the vampire mythology
-Repetitive inner monologues
-Lots of dull exposition about the ‘verse
-Feels like a boardroom drama, without the drama.
-Odd lack of tension considering danger
-Uneven pacing really hurts. Sex in elevator at your work after the focus has been how capable and responsible you are is just...oy vey. Confessions of love while riding in van also oy.
-There’s sexual heat but lacks just that extra something to tip it over
-Capable heroine at least by the end
-Still mental lapses or simply overeager dum dum moves are distracting.
-Gets better as the action picks up


The Bottom Line
This unfortunately didn’t work for me. If you’re into a unique spin on vampires and don’t mind alot of not-exciting setup, this may work for you better than it did for me.

Renee Holden and James/ Jimmy Franconi were partners and are homicide detectives. The were called in to the homicide of Arnie Cooper who lived in the building very close to the alley where he was found and died. Anna Sophia a very rich lady had seen Arnie being attacked and swore it was a vampire . Rafe was a vampire bounty hunter and had been in the crowd and heard all that had been said. Rafe also knew what precinct Detective Holden and her partner worked at. Rafe went to the precinct but just sat in his car . then was a big storm that was suppose to hit that night and it had started to snow when Renee got out of work late , she went home and changed and headed for the organic market as she really had no food in her third floor apartment and even though tired she had to eat. The market was only a few blocks from where Renee lived. While at the store Renee and a hot stranger started to chat he then asked her to coffee but then she was really hungry so she went home and dropped off her groceries and met Rafe DeSilva and an organic Cafe she knew not far from her apartment. Renee knew it was crazy to have dinner with a stranger but her gut told her he could be dangerous he wouldn’t hurt her and she had her gun and could handle herself so she did meet Rafe to eat.. Renee never gave Rafe her last name. Rafe said he was an ambassador and not from America and Renee felt his courtesy and the gentleman he showed himself to be proved this Then after dinner Rafe gave her a card with his name and cell number he wanted to see Renee again but left this up to her. Then Rafe kissed her at her doorstep and seemed to drug her with his kiss after awhile he bit Renee in the back of her neck she felt a harsh pain but shortly after it felt like nothing she had ever felt before.when Rafe was done he hypnotized Renee to forget everything but the kiss. Rafe was an energy vampire and was very careful to find pure clean sources to feed from Renee was such a choice now yet there was something even more special about her energy. It was not easy to find this kind of clean person. There was also evil bad lower culture vampires called sycophants and they fed off anything old or diseased or even a child and drained their victims at will. They didn’t care and often weren’t careful such as the one who killed Arnie Cooper in broad daylight.
I had mixed feelings about this story. I thought I would like the energy vampire definitely a different twist on vampires but didn’t really like them that much. Also there wasn’t much of anything for the vampire to be a afraid of and every vampire has to have something to fear just as do humans the balance thing. I didn't like how Rafe cold heartedly planned to just use Renee as a food source as well as to keep up with the case. But then he found Renee brought out something Rafe thought he would never have and it was feelings. He became protective of renew and wanted her safe and that wasn’t easy as fare had enemies. Also clean vs dirty was used to much in this story. But i did like Simone was the queen of the vampires and wanted to bring then all back together as a species.Rafe works closely with the queen but he was gaining strong feelings for Renee and i liked she was no longer just something for him to use to get what he needed. Anyway there were things I liked about this story and things not so much.

I loved Frank's Nightwalker vampire series, so when I saw this author had a new book out, I had to pick this one up. Plus, #thatcover.

Unfortunately, this story never took off for me. A lot of my issues were with the dialogue. Nothing important is said, and when they do talk it's a severe case of "Talking Heads." The scenes and the romance and the plot simply didn't move.

I DNF this read.

*I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Great paranormal romance. She's an officer of the law and so is he (sorta). The difference is, his laws are not hers. He's part of a vampire race who thirsts for electricity. Their attraction is undeniable and once he discloses who he is to her, there's no turning back.

I'm not a huge paranormal fan, but really enjoyed this read. If you're on the fence, I'd say give it a try. I liked it.

I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGallery, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

BOOK REVIEW
TITLE: Thirst
BOOK SERIES: The Energy Vampires #1
AUTHOR: Jacquelyn Frank
GENRE: Paranormal Romance
PUBLICATION DATE: January 17, 2017
CLIFF HANGER: No

4 Stars

*This story is for mature audiences only. Contains explicit scenes and language intended for adults 18+

SYNOPSIS:
A hidden society of vampires—and the humans they love—are at the heart of this opening novel in a biting, all-original series from the New York Times bestselling author of the Nightwalkers saga.

Rafe DaSilva is an energy vampire, soaking up nourishment from the sun—and, only when necessary, drawing sweet sustenance from humans who are pure in body and spirit. As the right-hand man to his queen, Rafe is a key player at a historic peace summit in New York City, which will unite the vampire nations against a common threat: the sycophants, who feed on humanity and kill indiscriminately. But Rafe’s fascination with a beautiful blond police detective may put everything at risk.

Detective Renee Holden has never worked a homicide quite like this. The victim has twin puncture wounds on his neck, and the only eyewitness swears she saw a vampire. Now’s definitely not the time to get distracted by a seductive stranger. But the suave, darkly austere, exotically handsome Rafe DaSilva is a hard man to deny, and as Renee falls under his spell, she also falls prey to his enemies. Desperate to protect her, Rafe lifts the veil on a shadow realm she can only visit—a world of intoxicating power, terrifying dangers, and forbidden pleasures.

MY THOUGHTS:
Another new author for me! I liked her writing style. I really enjoyed this twist to vampires and look forward to the next book in the series. I seem to be in the minority of liking this book, but I truly enjoyed it.

Renee is good at her job as a NYC police homicide detective. She is known to sift through leads, has good instincts and is a hardnosed detective. She and her partner get a case that has them baffled. A man is killed in broad daylight and the witness swears he was bitten by a vampire. The woman gives a detailed description. Of course, they think it is a person that has dental implants, but they have to work the leads and see where it takes them.

Rafe has to find out what the beautiful detective knows. He is responsible for the peace summit that is going to be held in NYC. He promises the Queen that he will get the information needed to find out who is threatening the vampire culture, as well as threatening the summit with the blatant killing of a human. Rafe follows Renee and strikes up a conversation with her. He is charming, handsome and Renee is attracted to this mysterious stranger. He asks her to go out for coffee, she hesitates, but takes him up on his offer and meets him at the coffee shop. He charms her and gives her his phone number. He told her I want you to want to see me again so the ball is in your court.

Needless to say, Renee contacts him again and they go out on a date. They are attacked by rogue vampires known as sycophants. They kill two of the three, with the third threatening Renee that she isn’t safe. Rafe, under vampire, law is not to divulge what they are to humans unless the human is approved by the council. Rafe is worried for Renee’s safety and doesn’t want anything to happen to her so he feels it necessary to tell her what they are and who he is. An energy vampire. They draw energy from hosts that are pure, clean living with no drug or alcohol abuse, clean eating and exercise. The theory you are what you eat. They pierce the back of the neck at the base of the spine between the neck and vertebrae drawing the electrical impulses from the spinal cord. They only take what they need and hypnotize the hosts, so they don’t remember why they are feeling tired and a little run down. After 24-48 hours, the host is back to full strength. They also get energy from the sun. Renee is floored.

There is a lot more to this story and I am not going to tell you anymore. The secondary characters are strong and some are outrageously funny! There are so many twists and turns in the story. It held my interest and it was so entertaining. I loved the idea of energy vampires. I can’t wait for the next book in this series and can’t wait to see what’s next!

If you want an interesting twist to your usual paranormal vampire series, give this one a try, I highly recommend it.

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

This brand new series was definitely something unique and unexpected. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked up this energy vampire book, but it certainly wasn’t this much… electricity.

The story is something familiar – a love story. The twist comes in the form of the players and their surrounding backstories. Rafe is an energy vampire who happens to have a very high standing in their community. He’s been tasked with keeping things under control in a relatively political way. When a member of his community goes off the rails and ends up killing someone in broad daylight, he’s forced to slip into the investigation any way he can.

The lead investigator, Renee, is truly his biggest temptation. As a “good” energy vampire (as opposed to the “bad” ones, called sycophants), he’s looking for pure energy sources. I don’t really agree with the thinking here, but in this book it involved eating only organic and taking care of your body (no drugs, no alcohol, working out, etc.). This got to be a little preachy at times, but it could be my scientific background that is playing into this. Anyway, when they meet, the sparks fly (literally), and what starts out as a fact-finding mission soon becomes a true romance. There are some stigmas attached to dating your “food,” but Renee easily proves worth the risk.

As the start of a new series, it had everything you could be looking for – romance, action, mystery, and a very happy ending. We met a lot of interesting and well-developed characters that I’m sure we’ll see more of in future installments. As I’m familiar with the author, I wasn’t surprised by the high level of storytelling and would gladly read more from her in the future.

Title: Thirst
Author: Jacquelyn Frank
Publisher: Loveswept
Series: The Energy Vampire # 1
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:

"Thirst" by Jacquelyn Frank

My Thoughts.....

This one was one a PNR suspenseful story line. The story was of a homicide detective [Renee Holder] with a witness claiming that a vampire attacked the victim. Now with unusual murder on her hands [the victim had vampire puncture wounds] she get involved in the their 'vampire world'. The vampires were definitely different than the regular ones that I have read about. These vampire got there energy from the sun[they feed off of human's energy and not blood]. Be ready for a long read as this story comes together as we find Renee a very strong and independent woman [sometimes too much]who dealt with some emotional raw connections dealing with a romance with Rafe DeSilva[who was a energy vampire]. Now, this is where I hope the story would pick up but what I was left wondering if I had missed something. However, I kept on reading and by the time I got to the end I thought this novel was a OK read especially if you are into paranormal reads 'with murder, romance, suspense, energy sucking vampires, sycophants who feed and murder humans to stake their feeding lust.' In other words the readers will see clean energy vs unclean energy sources. In the end will Rafe be able to protect Renee? This is where I say you will have to pick up this unusual read to see what all with happen to Renee, Rafe and those sycophants, Since this read was the first of 'The Energy Vampire' it will be of interest what the author has planned in the next series.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

Wow is this book hard to review. The story is interesting…. Sort of. The problem is that there is a lot of things about these vampires that we are not used to hearing. I mean don’t we all know that vampires can not be in the sun and yet this society gets their energy from the sun. What? And they don’t really feed off of blood but off human energy. What? I mean why make him a vampire then?

Then there is Renee. I liked how independent she was and how strong and willing to stand on her own two feet but sometimes her character just takes it a bit too far.

This isn’t a bad story. It just took me a realllllllly long time to read and just never seemed to get my full attention. I finished it though but I doubt I will move on with the series.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

An amazing new twist to a vampire series I can't want to sink my teeth into.

Renee and Rafe have a connection right away that is simply electrifying!

This was a good read for me, the story has plenty of drama and is entertaining, a new take on vampires. I liked Renee and Rafe although the chemistry between them isn’t as good as I would like it to be. I am looking forward to more in the series.

A hidden society of vampires—and the humans they love—are at the heart of this opening novel in a biting, all-original series from the New York Times bestselling author of the Nightwalkers saga.

Rafe DaSilva is an energy vampire, soaking up nourishment from the sun—and, only when necessary, drawing sweet sustenance from humans who are pure in body and spirit. As the right-hand man to his queen, Rafe is a key player at a historic peace summit in New York City, which will unite the vampire nations against a common threat: the sycophants, who feed on humanity and kill indiscriminately. But Rafe’s fascination with a beautiful blond police detective may put everything at risk.

Detective Renee Holden has never worked a homicide quite like this. The victim has twin puncture wounds on his neck, and the only eyewitness swears she saw a vampire. Now’s definitely not the time to get distracted by a seductive stranger. But the suave, darkly austere, exotically handsome Rafe DaSilva is a hard man to deny, and as Renee falls under his spell, she also falls prey to his enemies. Desperate to protect her, Rafe lifts the veil on a shadow realm she can only visit—a world of intoxicating power, terrifying dangers, and forbidden pleasures.

Review:

I was drawn to this first by the cover, very sexy. Then I was intrigued by the blurb. I have to say I have read a lot of vampire books, but this one had a new twist to their mythos. The vampires in this new series draw on humans energy. Some things were the same, like mind erasing part and others were different as the can walk in daylight and light actually helps strengthens them. Though how they started out as a race was a little much. I did think the chemistry and sexy between Renee and Rafe was great and I liked them as characters. Both were strong and smart and super likable. There is some action and intrigue in the story as well. This is the first in this new series and I think it was a good start. I will definitely read the next one to see where the series leads.

3.5Stars

*I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book provided by the publisher.*

Thirst is the first book in Jacquelyn Frank's newest series, about a new sort of vampires. Here we meet Rafe, an energy vampire who is tasked to keep the peace between different factions for his Queen. In trying to keep who they are in the dark from humans, he is set on the path of Detective Renee Holden. An unusual death has occurred and its up to her to investigate. When Rafe deliberately crosses paths with Renee, an unfortunate attraction develops. Now how can you explain to your date that you really, really like her but she's also an excellent and healthy food choice!

The pacing for Thirst is steady I chalked this up to being a first book which sets up the world and general story line that the series will eventually follow. Rafe and Renee as leads strikes me as uneven at first, since its mostly the former who catches the attention of readers rather than the latter. As the story progresses and the plot is fully revealed everything kind of gets into place and world building, very complex characters that reveal hidden depths and of course a great plot. The romance fully catches the readers imagination. This has always been the strong point of Ms. Frank excellent in this one though is not as intense as the other novels Ms. Frank has written but as a paranormal action suspense its definitely intriguing. Its an acquired taste as Rafe would state and Thirst is definitely a great hook for the series.

I was so excited to see a new series by Jacquelyn Frank. I have loved every book I have read by her. This one just wasn't quite up to par. It had excellent writing and the story moved well but I just couldn't become invested in the characters the way I normally do. Usually I will stay up to all hours reading her books because I just can't seem to put them down. This book just didn't hold my attention. I'm not sure if I loved the last series so much that I had trouble adjusting to new characters and concepts or if I need to read the next book to see if it grabs me more.
I like the concept of an energy vampire and I think it is a great selling point. I have to rate this a 4 and would recommend it. I am hopeful for the next in the series. I was given an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Renee Holden is a New York City homicide detective, and the case she is working on has an eyewitness that swears it was a vampire that attacked the victim. As she investigates, she is drawn to Rafe DaSilva. He's an energy vampire, drawing sustenance from sunlight or absorbing the life force of "pure" humans, those who eat well, exercise and don't drink or do drugs. There are vampires who are less picky, but these sycophants turn violent and crazed. At that point, they can't be redeemed and must be hunted down. There's a treaty that would allow the vampire princes of different cities to band together to hunt down the sycophants more efficiently, making Rafe their primary target. Because he quickly grew to care for Renee, she's a target as well.

I love reading books about vampires in general, and Thirst started out really well. It built up the mystery of the bodies from Renee's perspective, as well as the conflict that Rafe had in trying to keep his society's secret from her while trying to find the sycophants endangering the vampire society. The romance aspect of the book felt rushed; both mention that it's only been two or three days that they've even known each other, and this is out of character for them. Going from a date after a "chance" meeting in a snowstorm to sex in an elevator and declaring undying love is a bit much, even in a paranormal romance. The addition of the energy vampires' origin at the end of the book only threw me out of the realm of credibility entirely. I know, I know, we're supposed to suspend disbelief in a paranormal romance novel, but it was going too far. The conflict felt a little too contrived, the prologue was unnecessary, and the way the story was wrapped up was neat yet still unsatisfying. Renee is a very likeable heroine, and Rafe had moments where he shone. They were the best parts of the book, actually.