The Nightlife New York by Travis Luedke
The Nightlife Book 1
Published August 18, 2012
4 Fangs
"At first, it seemed like just any other making of a vampire tale and I almost put it down. So glad I didn't."
Synopsis -
The Nightlife Series is violent, sexy, and occasionally violently sexy.
Vampires, strippers, escorts, night clubs, pimps and dirty cops – the Nightlife New York is never boring.
Aaron Pilan’s life is forever changed when he’s shot trying to rescue a drop-dead gorgeous woman on the streets of New York. Aaron is thrust into the shocking world of vampiric slavery when Michelle shares her blood to save his life.
Michelle's existence as a solitary vampire is also altered when she accepts this naive young man into her life. Bound by her blood, Aaron is subject to her authority. He walks a tightrope of strictly controlled feeding regiments and intense sexual adventures while catering to the neurotic control-freak tendencies of his new master. She vows to eliminate him if he proves too difficult to control.
This story is bold and evocative, infusing blood, sex, love and turmoil in an urban drama about two vampires battling evil outside and within themselves. (Goodreads)
Review -
Die hard Paranormal and Urban Fantasy fans have nine times out of ten read a million vampire novels centering around the creation and relationship between the vampire and their maker. When beginning this book readers of that sort may feel as though this is just another of those. Just. Keep. Reading. The Nightlife is in a league of its own, slow moving at first, but when the action begins it does not let up. The violence, the sex, the drama, the relationship between master and slave, all of it is a true work of art. The bombshell takes the term claiming her man to a whole new level in a beautifully gruesome, depraving, cruel, blood thirsty way that will give her message loud and clear in no uncertain terms.
Aaron Pilan is just your average Joe living his day to day life with no expectations of anything ever happening to change his monotone life; work, call from roommate, pick up beer, go home and be taunted by ex. All that changes when he leaves from work and sees a vision being harassed. What could have been the beginning of the end turns out to be the beginning of his brand new life, well, un-life. While his new existence does come with a lot of perks everything has a downside. Falling in love with his master and knowing how she truly feels being one. The fact that if she so chooses she can order him to do anything. When a person has that much power over you, barriers become truly thin. And when that type of power is abused, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, you begin to see everything in a whole new light. Some things not looking as beautiful as you once thought.
Michelle never planned to turn a human. Upon seeing how pure a soul the stranger attempting to come to her "rescue" was, no way could she allow him to die. Promising herself, and him, should he ever become uncontrollable, she would have no remorse in ending him. What she never considered is losing control over herself. Watching Aaron so closely to the point where she can no longer see herself, Michelle just may turn into the very thing she hates, and abuse her power over him to the point of no return. Another lesson she may learn the hard way is dismissing humans as being a non-threat. There is no greater threat than underestimating your enemy, a lesson that just may cost one of them their lives.
Though this novel would have even greater with more action, what action there is is well worth the wait. As with most firsts in a series is does move slow in the beginning, but the back story is needed to really understand these characters for not only this book, but for the rest that follow. Definitely not for the faint of heart, nor the blood shy or romance only reader. For those looking for violence, blood, sex and all three combined, this is the book for you. The Nightlife series is where the underdog goes from being a nobody, to victim, to predator. And it is a beautifully, bloody transition all blood thirsty readers are sure to love.