When you live in a town that’s run by vampires, where it’s not safe to be on the streets after dark, you’re thrilled at the chance to leave town and see some new sights. That’s the case in Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine, the latest installment in The Morganville Vampire series. Claire and her friends are given the chance to go past the city limits in order to let Michael make a demo CD in Dallas. Freedom from Morganville, they are all just too excited! Although that excitement is tempered a bit when they get their transit papers and they find out that Oliver, an enforcer for Morganville’s head vamp, is going along as their escort. Wow, that will really liven up the trip – NOT!

So, the two couples set out – Shane and Claire, Michael and Eve – along with Oliver on their way to music fame and fortune. Everyone is so excited because passes out of town are few and far between – you don’t leave Morganville without the okay of the lead vampire, Amelie. It is all going great until they stop for food in a small town that has more than its share of rednecks. When Oliver disappears on some mysterious mission and tells them not to leave the little town, things go from bad to worse. When rogue vampires from Morganville track them down, intent on having Claire and Eve for lunch, rednecks are the least of their worries. As Shane tells the sheriff, “we’re not the bad guys here”.

The writing in Kiss of Death transports you to small town Texas, letting you connect with the unique personality of each character. The story of joy-riding teenagers, happy about their freedom, being sidetracked by hating humans and malevolent vampires delivers an exciting read that never lets up on the action. Rachel Caine delivers yet another great installment in her Morganville Vampire series. If you are looking for a fun, fast-paced, road trip adventure, you’ve got to read Kiss of Death.

A young woman with a sketchy history tries to go straight. Looking for a respectable job, she interviews as an intern at a radio station. But the job has a lot of odd requirements, such as:

-the DJs don’t work during the day
-she can never enter the locked room in the basement, and
- each DJ is uncannily aware of his/her decade of music

Thus begins a great novel titled Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready. Meet Ciara Griffin, reformed grifter who needs a job badly and who’s willing to take on the strange crew at WWMP in order to make ends meet.

What she doesn’t know is that the reason these DJs know their music genre so well is that they are vampires that were turned in the decade of the songs they play – that’s why they’re such experts.

Just when Ciara gets into the groove of her new job a nationally syndicated radio giant decides to buy WWMP, ruining the life that these vampires have built for themselves. so Ciara comes up with a radical idea – tell the world that the DJs are vampires as a marketing gimmick and hope they can make enough money to hold off the wolves. Changing their name to WVMP, the vampire DJs pretend to be vampires for their human listeners and it’s a rousing success. Unfortunately, their ruse attracts the attention of an ancient vampire cult whose members are less than happy at the visibility WVMP is generating for their kind . . .

Wicked Game is a cleverly written book with lots of unique and interesting characters that keep you engrossed. From the very beginning, Ciara is attracted to Shane, the DJ for the grunge rock era, but she’s also quite wary of him – seriously, can a human truly have a relationship with a vampire? Adding the other fun characters in the story, from bizarre vampires who only live in their decade to the mystery buyer who wants their radio station, Jeri Smith-Ready brings us an excellent tale of friendship, mystery, and love. Pick this book up and be prepared to be reading for a while, it’s hard to put down.

Here are the bestselling urban fantasy books for September 2008 in which vampires play a central role:

1. Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, No. 1)
2. Dead as a Doornail (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 5)
3. All Together Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 7)
4. Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 6)
5. Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1)
6. Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)
7. Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)
8. Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1)
9. Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Book 2)
10. Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)
11. Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2)
12. Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 5)

See also:

New Vampire Books for August and September 2008

You’ve come to the right place.  The following books have been released in the August 2008/September 2008 timeframe.  Check out some of the authors included: L.A. Banks, Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer, Jeanne C. Stein, and C.E. Murphy. There are some clear winners here.

Check out the new carousel below. Click on the book cover to get more information:

See also:

Best Vampire Books for July 2008

The list itself is generated by book sales reported by Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.

Links are included to make it easy to purchase the books from either Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

May 1, 2008

Lover’s Bite (Wings in the Night, Book 2) by Maggie Shayne “Before she joined Reaper in hunting Gregor’s gang of rogue bloodsuckers, privileged princess Topaz was gunning for just one vamp: Jack Heart. The gorgeous con man had charmed his way into her bed, her heart and her bank account, taking her for half a million dollars and vanishing without a word.” Check Availability: Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com

May 6, 2008

Darkness Everlasting (Guardians of Eternity, Book 3) by Alexandra Ivy “TWO MEN. Darcy Smith always sensed she was different from everyone else-if only she knew how different. Possessing a secret strong enough to end an entire race of demons, Darcy unwittingly becomes a pawn in an epic battle between the vampires and the weres as she discovers a new world filled with ecstasy-and dark passions.ONE DESIRES HER LOVE.Consumed with lust for Darcy, Styx-the Anasso of vampires-will do everything in his power to keep her out of the lair of Salvatore Giuliani, the deadly leader of the weres. But protecting the woman he loves could cost Styx the ultimate price. Check Availability: Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com

May 6, 2008

From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 8 ) by Charlaine Harris “After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the manmade explosion at the vampire summit, everyone—human and otherwise—is stressed, including Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who is trying to cope with the fact that her boyfriend Quinn has gone missing. It’s clear that things are changing—whether the weres and vamps of her corner of Louisiana like it or not. And Sookie—Friend to the Pack and blood-bonded to Eric Northman, leader of the local vampire community—is caught up in the changes.” Check Availability: Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com

May 6, 2008

Vampire Wars by Steven Savile “The Von Carsteins are the most infamous vampires to stalk the Warhammer Old World. This three-book saga chronicles their rise and fall in one bumper omnibus edition.” Check Availability: Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com

May 13, 2008

Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready Late Night Radio You Can Sink Your Teeth Into “Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, ’60s psychedelia, ’80s goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers just how the DJs maintain their cred: they’re vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.” Check Availability: Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com

May 20, 2008

Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole “A seductive beauty he can never have, yet can’t resist… Cadeon Woede will stop at nothing to atone for the one wrong that will haunt him forever. But once he secures the key to his redemption, the halfling Holly Ashwin, Cade finds that the woman he thought he could use for his own ends and then forget haunts him as much as his past.” Check Availability: Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com

May 27, 2008

The Touch of Twilight (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 3) by Vicki Pettersson “On the surface she’s a sexy, sophisticated socialite, at home among the beautiful people of the Las Vegas upper crust. But Joanna Archer inhabits another world: a place ordinary humans can’t see and could never enter … a dangerous dimension where an eternal battle rages between the agents of Light and Shadow. And Joanna is both.” Check Availability: Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com

May 27, 2008

Blood Noir (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter, Book 16) by Laurell K. Hamilton “A favor for Jason, vampire hunter Anita Blake’s werewolf lover, puts her in the center of a fullblown scandal that threatens master-vampire Jean-Claude’s reign—and makes her a pawn in an ancient vampire queen’s new rise to power.” Check Availability: Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com

See also:

Best Vampire Books for November 2008

Best Vampire Books for July 2008

Come here to explore the best in vampire non-fiction. If it has a vampire in it, and the book has a modern day setting, odds are you’ll find it here on our shelves.

Enjoy!