High Stakes (Vegas Vampires, Book 1) (edition 2008)

*** 3½ stars ***

Ethan Carrick is not just an ordinary vampire. He is 900 year old and he has seen it all. Nothing can surprise him anymore. So with his experience he is the perfect candidate for the president of the vampire nation. He just needs a fiance to further advertise his calm and professional image.

The only thing shorter than Alexis Baldizzi is her temper. When something gets on her nerve she is not ashamed to voice her opinion loudly and clearly for everyone. And the thing that irritates her most is pompous casino owner Ethan Carrick.

When these two opposites collide, sparks will fly (and some karate chops). Ethan will become 'Garlic' and Alexis 'BB' aka. 'Ball Buster'.

Light and funny reads. If characters were a little bit better developed, I would have given it maybe even 4 stars.

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When you are close to finishing this book, be sure to have the second in the series, Bit the Jackpot, close at hand because a lot of the questions are going to be left unanswered! Very fun vampire romance though! ( )

This book was a pleasant surprise. I picked it up at a book sale over the summer. I don't care for the cover of the book much but I love reading vampire stories so picked it up. I love how sassy Alexis is in this book. I thought the book ended with some loose ends but I guess that is why there is another book to read in the series. I plan on passing this book along to some friends who love a good vampire story. No gore here but just some fun romance. ( )

I had to grudgingly admit (this is coming from someone who runs away from the romance shelves) I actually liked this book. Alexis is a great likable character; she's got wit, she's stubborn as an ox, she knows how to fight back (literally), and her sense of humor is hilarious. With a main character like that, it was thanks to her that got me so interested in this book I read at least more than half of it in one morning and then finished it the next day.

The plot was all right. It does follow the typical romance genre standard plot line but the characters are likable and engaging and they provided so much entertainment, I found myself chuckling a couple of times because of Alexis and Ethan and how they felt about each other at first, and their banter was extremely entertaining. Although the sub-plot of several of Ethan's enemies trying to oust him from running for President is interesting, I actually wished they focused more on that plot instead of having to spotlight the main couple all the time. It left me with a lot of questions and now that certain events now happened regarding some of his enemies, I really want to know what's going to happen next. What bugged me was, although they were some trying to kill Ethan, it seemed as if both Ethan and Alexis didn't really care, they were too busy being in love with each other - which caused me to roll my eyes in frustration. Yes, I do realize this is a romance novel, but the intrigue plot is so interesting, why give that up to showcase the couple? wouldn't the plot to kill Ethan be just as exciting?

I also liked the plot with Brittany and Corbin. I thought they made such a cute couple and I was actually wanting more of those two instead of Ethan and Alexis, sure they were fun to read, but as soon as the "mushy stuff" came in, I just wanted them to move on and wanted to learn more about Corbin and his "research". Although Brittany strikes me a terribly naive and a little on the ditzy side, you can't help but like her because it's like she doesn't have a bad thought for anybody and nothing seems to ruin her day. She's such an exact opposite of Alexis but it's nice to see, so at least you don't see the book through eyes of one side all the time.

There are love scenes for those that enjoy that sort of thing, I particularly don't care much for them, so those were skipped. They do become more frequent as Alexis and Ethan are closer together towards the end of the book. It does get old, and tiring and the plot just remains stagnant with those two. I do admit, they do make a nice couple. (Although upto the point where they got mushy I switched to preferring Brittany and Corbin). The other problem I do have is it was predictable in some parts. Oh well. I actually expected that in this story. It wasn't bad enough to ruin my enjoyment of the novel.

Overall, it was a nice light read despite some pitfalls. I was able to tolerate it and I enjoyed it because of such entertaining characters. The story and plot could have used some work though. Those that love romance with vampires in it, give this a try. It's on the light side so don't expect things to get too dark. ( )

This is a nice quick summer beach read kinda book. It sounds silly, but when I picked out this book I did not know it was a romance book. Anyway, it definitely is. The story is a fun love story complete with vampires who have a governmental system and registered vampire voters. With that said I did not find it too cheesy, I know some of you reading this may think that. I think that if you like vampires and romance books it would be something you may want to pick up for the pool or a light r...more This is a nice quick summer beach read kinda book. It sounds silly, but when I picked out this book I did not know it was a romance book. Anyway, it definitely is. The story is a fun love story complete with vampires who have a governmental system and registered vampire voters. With that said I did not find it too cheesy, I know some of you reading this may think that. I think that if you like vampires and romance books it would be something you may want to pick up for the pool or a light read. ( )