Reviews: 2 Stories by Seleste deLaney

Posted December 2, 2011 by Jen in Paranormal Romance Tags: , , ,

Of Course I Try
The Ghost of Vampire Present
Author: Seleste deLaney 
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Blood Kissed Series
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format(s): e-books
Book Source: Author

About the books:
Of Course I Try
Blood Kissed #1
Release Date: August 2010

Love is a wonderful thing. Unless you don’t get a choice in the matters of your own heart…
Jocelyn has loved Max since the day she met him. Even when he scares her enough to leave, she can’t resist going back. No matter how many times she tries to break free from him, she ends up in his arms and bed again. 
Not this time. Jocelyn needs to be free, and Max isn’t going to stop her from walking away — no matter how hard he tries.
The Ghost of Vampire Present
Blood Kissed #2
Release Date: October 2010


Between the ghost and the vampires, this Christmas is going to suck…
Jocelyn has finally found her knight in shining armor in Chad, and ghosts are the last thing on her mind. Even when one shows up in her bedroom on Christmas Eve, Jocelyn’s a bit more concerned about the other guests on the agenda. She’d prefer to never see another vampire, and the ghost tells her to expect not one, but three.
When the one from her past shows up even though he’s supposed to be dead, she decides she’s dreaming and suffers through the night. By the time dawn breaks, she’s not so sure anymore.
But if it’s not a dream, that means her nightmare is far from over.
What VampBard’s talking about:
I was provided with both Of Course I Try as well as The Ghost of Vampire Present for my review of this neat little short story by deLaney.  It was very helpful to have the 20-page PDF of the first short to have the full background prior to reading Ghost of Vampire Present.  I’d suggest reading them in order for the full effect!  
In Of Course I Try, Jocelyn finds Max, the dark, mysterious hottie that is totally not her usual type while on a girls’ weekend.  Yup.  They hook up eventually, and while Jocelyn keeps trying to end the relationship, she finds herself compelled to remain with Max.  The sex is H-O-T (get a tall, cool drink to read this one!), and extremely satisfying for Jocelyn, so she’s really not sure why she wants to leave him.  She doesn’t actually do it.  She finally figures out some secret he’s been harboring – he’s a vampire – and she calls him out on it.  Story ends with a bang and I was definitely left wanting more.
When Jocelyn’s dead Grandmother showed up in The Ghost of Vampire Present to warn her that three would visit her & she could only trust one, the images that played in my head were A Christmas Carol meets Interview with a Vampire meets Twilight, and I was a bit deflated.  Visiting in whatever state Jocelyn was in that night was Max – her former vamp lover. It was OBVIOUS that Jocelyn still had feelings for Max, and he fed from her.  Her next visitor was her current BF, Chad.  They got it on, but to me, it felt tainted by Max’s visit not long before.  There was some biting – conveniently on the other side of her neck – and he asked HER to bite him as well.  Hrm.  Curious.  
The third visitor was Creepy Old Guy.  This is where my Interview with a Vampire and Twilight sensors went off.  Creepy Old Guy shows up and talks about how she was the little secret kept from him, blah blah blah.  The physical description not only reminded me of Louie from IWAV, but his behavior did as well.  THEN…he starts talking about how Jocelyn’s blood is supposed to taste so good.  *beep*beep*beep*  Twilight sensor… la tua cantante.
Ultimately, I hope to see the next short confirm/deny the presence of vampires in Jocelyn’s life, versus portray her as a lush that has awesomely vivid dreams when she drinks too much wine.  I felt as though I was left hanging, and the story had no resolution.  While some may construe her friend’s analysis of her ‘dream’ as resolution, it didn’t sit well with me.  Nor did the ‘normal’ scene with her BF, Chad, at the end.  While the sex scene near the end was warm, it didn’t sizzle like the scenes with Max, IMHO.  
deLaney is an extremely talented author.  I was completely in love with her totally hot love scenes, bordering on erotica, from reading Of Course I Try, and missed the ‘hotness’ in The Ghost of Vampire Present.  I think she found a great heroine in Jocelyn, as well as a strong hero in Max.  I do hope that in future stories we see more of them together.  I’m not quite as convinced that Chad is ‘all that and a bag-of-chips’, however.  I’m speculative and hopeful about the direction deLaney might be going in her short story installments of Jocelyn’s trials and tribulations, as well as her sexploits  >:)  

Read for a Cure:

Buy a book and help fight cancer! The Ghost of Vampire Present is Decadent Publishing’s Read for a Cure book this month. All publisher profits from every December sale of the novella will go to the American Cancer Society via Relay for Life. Additionally, the author will donate fifty cents for every copy sold in December to Relay for Life.  You can purchase your copy at Decadent Publishing or by clicking HERE.  

3 responses to “Reviews: 2 Stories by Seleste deLaney”

  2. Decadent Publishing

    We are anxiously awaiting the next installment in this little saga, as well. Thanks for the reviews and the Read For a Cure mention! This is a very personal cause to the author and to us, so we are grateful for your generosity.

    Heather
    Decadent Publishing