Reviews: Let it Bleed and Lust for Life

Posted July 25, 2013 by shooting in Uncategorized / 9 Comments

Let it Bleed by Jeri Smith-Ready

Review by Lauren

copy from her website

Official Summary DO NOT READ SUMMARY IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THIS SERIES: Con artist-turned-radio-station-manager Ciara Griffin hopes to settle into a normal un-life as a fledgling vampire, with the help of her immortally hot fiancé, grunge DJ Shane McAllister. But she has bigger problems than finding a sane blood donor and a new home for those boxes of mac ’n’ cheese. Ciara’s best friend mourns her like she’s dead instead of undead, and her own maker clearly wishes she’d never been born (again). Worst of all, the WVMP crew calls a Code Black: hippie vampire DJ Jim has murdered a pair of humans—humans who share Ciara’s true last name.

That’s when trouble rolls out the red carpet, straight into Ciara’s life. At Shane’s first live concert, Ciara finds herself face to face with her Irish Traveller cousins, a not-so-welcome family reunion that might hold the key to Ciara’s anti-holy blood. Jim’s spiral into madness makes Ciara an unwilling prize in his deadly feud with Shane. As Ciara clings to what’s left of her humanity, she’ll need her new vampire strength—and old con artist cunning—now more than ever.

Review: Most of the time, when an author offers up a novella online, it’s an additional part of their story but not a necessity to read. This is not the case for Let it Bleed. If you want to learn more about this book (3.5 in the WVMP series) then visit Jeri’s website. However, for now, all you need to know is that Let it Bleed cannot be skipped if you want the full story of Ciara and the vampire DJs.

Let it Bleed might not be a full WVMP novel, but it still ups the stakes for the final novel, Lust for Life. Ciara’s biological family shows up and makes things more complicated…especially since one of the DJs is slowly losing their mind and has killed their relatives. Yeah, not fun. Ciara definitely cannot catch a break.

I don’t want to give too much away, because I know a lot of you haven’t read this series yet. Let’s just say that Jeri is awesome for being willing to offer up a novella in order to give her fans a full story. It’s still free at the moment, but soon you’ll have to pay a bit to get Let it Bleed. Get it now if you can, sure, but it’s always a nice idea to support authors when you can…especially ones as awesome as Jeri!

In the end, I love that Let it Bleed shows how even the “good guys” can have their problems.

Lust for Life by Jeri Smith-Ready

Review by Lauren

copy sent for review, but all opinions are my own

Official Summary- AGAIN, DO NOT READ SUMMARY UNLESS YOU’VE READ UP TO THIS BOK: Ciara’s con-artist parents taught her three keys to survival: keep low, keep quiet, and most of all, keep moving. But managing WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll—not to mention becoming a vampire herself—has kept her in one place long enough to fall madly in love, adopt an undead dog…


. . . and make more enemies than she can shake a stake at.

A psychotic DJ, a wanna-be necromancer, and a posse of vengeful hippies would all love to see Ciara get her day in the sun—literally. To protect Ciara, her fiancé, Shane, has traded his flannel shirt and guitar for a flak jacket and crossbow. If she survives to walk down the aisle, will she recognize the man waiting at the altar?

In this final chapter of the award-winning WVMP RADIO series, Ciara must decide who to trust, who to love—and who to kill.

Review: I’m sad to see this series end. I loved the unique take on vampires, how important music is to the characters throughout the series, and obviously, how awesome the characters are in general. They might not all be good, but they are certainly layered and there are many you can’t help but love despite their bad decisions…while others are simply so much fun to hate!

Music has always been a key ingredient in what keeps the WVMP vampires sane, but it’s something that Ciara clings too as well. I’ve always loved the references to various artists and songs, and Lust for Life upped the ante when it comes to music because it becomes so much more than just a fun pastime. It was a nice way to take the musical influence and I loved it!

Again, I don’t want to go on and on about the books because I do want people to read this and I’d hate for the big things to be ruined. Lust for Life is certainly an exciting read and a wonderful conclusion to the series. You have to read it to find out how it all ends but wowee, I didn’t see that coming!

9 responses to “Reviews: Let it Bleed and Lust for Life

  1. I still need to read this series! Thanks for the heads up on the novella, you're right, I don't usually read it and figure it's just an extra. When I read this series I'll keep that in mind. So glad you liked these!

  2. I'm not really a fan of novellas that are necessary to read to get the story, honestly. I don't feel like you should have to read something extra to get the full understanding of the real book. But at least this one is being offered free!

    I admit I have never read anything by Jeri Smith-Ready before. But it sounds like I'm missing out, definitely! So good to hear that this was such a great conclusion to the series – it's the worst when you are left unsatisfied after putting in the investment.

  3. I haven't had a chance to try this series yet, but it is so cool that Jeri offered up the novella for fans! I'm glad to hear Lust for Life was a fitting conclusion to the series, and thanks for leaving this spoiler free 🙂 It's always nice to start a series knowing the ending is satisfying for fans. Awesome reviews!

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