Tim O'Rourke

It’s official… Tim O’Rourke has made his way into my top favorite authors. Vampire Hunt, book three in the Kiera Hudson series, was simply amazing. I stayed up all night just to finish this book and then had to immediately download Vampire Breed and start reading! I haven’t come across a more emotional and gut wrenching cliffhanger in a very long time.

Vampire Hunt takes off right where Vampire Wake left off. In search of Kayla, Kiera, Luke, Murphy, Potter and Isidor are running for show more their lives from the Vampyrus that are after them and so are the human authorities. In their quest to find Kayla, they uncover more about the mystery of who is behind the whole “Vampyrus taking over the world” thing. Well, I think that’s enough of a description for now. This book was full of twists, turns, cliffhangers and so many “gasp!” moments, I’d hate to ruin anything for future readers.

While I loved VampireShift, the first novel, I think this book has to be my favorite so far. We learn more about Kiera, her past, and even her future. While I didn’t think it would be possible for me to fall further in love with the characters in the story, I was very much mistaken. The characters that O’Rourke has created inch their way into your heart and you can’t help but feel every bit of love and pain that they feel. While reading, I often found myself with a tear in my eye and a hand to my chest, distraught over the trials and tribulations the characters must struggle through.

We are introduced to a new “breed” of character (I know, lame joke) in this novel. O’Rourke’s own brand of Lycanthrope break into this story and they are nothing like Jacob, except for the fact that you may find yourself willing to do anything to be with them. They’ve got the power of persuasion on their side and I loved this different take on the werewolf vs. vampire relationship.

All in all, I’m coming to expect nothing short of genius from Tim O’Rourke and I haven’t been this excited about a self published author since Amanda Hocking. This series is completely stunning and I can’t wait to finish it out!

9 out of 10 show less

Lately, I’ve hit a bit of a slump in finding books that appealed to me. I’ve been staring books that I end up stopping because they don’t grab me, I don’t feel I can relate, it’s poorly written or all of the above. I recently read an article about Tim O’Rourke and how his books are said to rival Stephanie Meyer’s work. Needless to say, I was pretty intrigued and decided to check out Vampire Shift, the first in the Kiera Hudson series by Tim O’Rourke. The cover alone drew me show more in and after I began reading, I simply couldn’t put the book down.

Vampire Shift follows a 20-year-old Kiera who just graduated from the police academy. Upon graduation, she volunteers to be stationed in the small English town of The Ragged Cove. This costal town has a bad reputation for the number of murders that have been occurring over the past few years. Once she arrives in the town, she thinks that she may have gotten herself into a very strange situation. With her special gift of sight, she is a very thorough policewoman and she sees clues that no one else seems to be able to see. After her run-in with a vampire at her second crime scene, Kiera begins to question her fellow policemen and her own past. Complete with crucifixes, graveyards and holy water, this story will definitely have you guessing!

I really loved reading this book. First and foremost, this was a very well written novel. O’Rourke did not over do his descriptions or introductions into his own, different vampire world. He gave you as a reader just enough to understand what was going on, but not enough to keep you from trying to figure out the mystery behind this little, seaside town and its' inhabitants. Also, O’Rourke didn’t overplay the romance in this novel. Make no mistake, there are some very hunky men and a great romance in the book, but the story is about just that, the story. Vampire Shift plays most heavily on the mystery surrounding Kiera and the other characters and I really enjoyed this change of pace.

As an older reader of young adult fiction, I was pleased to read about a more mature character. Kierea wasn’t a 16-year-old high school student struggling with what to do with her life; she had a job and lived on her own. It was different to read a paranormal romance book where I could place myself in the main character's shoes.

O’Rourke’s own personal take on vampires was especially refreshing to read as most writers as of late are taking up the same story as the vampires in Twilight. After all, vampires do drink human blood so they’re supposed to seem a little scary! In O'Rourke's Vampire Shift, he shows readers once again to never count a self-published author out!

8 out of 10
eBook only show less

Color me intrigued. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn't exactly your everyday, trite vampire love story. Sure, our main protagonist Kiera Hudson does fall in love with her supernatural hero, but that's not all there is. This book has more going for it.

First and foremost, O'Rourke presents an intriguing take on the vampire genre. Stories of debonair night-walkers à la Anne Rice seem to be a dime-a-dozen these days (a dime I'm most certainly willing to shill out, mind you), show more which makes O'Rourke's take on the genre a welcome and interesting change. I'm not going to give it away here, though; you'll have to read Vampire Shift to find out.

Second, Vampire Shift is also a well constructed mystery novella. O'Rourke drops hints to the reader and leads them along the path of discovery and deduction through the eyes of Kiera; however, be forewarned that things aren't always what they seem and the most obvious answer isn't always the right one. I'm a reader who loves to figure things out before the reveal and, still, Vampire Shift threw me for some loops. You may think that you have it all figured out, but don't get too full of yourself… I can assure you it'll lead to disappointment.

Finally in the plus column, the reader is introduced to many major plot lines that I assume will run throughout the series. While it is somewhat frustrating to have a substantial number of plot lines and mysteries not solved by the end of the novella, this is a calculated plan of action on the part of the author. A sufficient number of mysteries are resolved to leave the reader satisfied with the story, but enough are left unresolved to spur interest in future installments of the series. I know that I'm hooked, at least enough to move on to number two in the series.

So, you may be asking yourself: If Vampire Shift has all these things going for it, why didn't you give it five stars?

Well, the writing feels like it's missing some necessary polish. There are pronounced pacing/time issues in this novella. While I know that I'm dealing with fantasy here, I'm not presented with a world whose time scale is noted to be vastly different from my normal waking world. The events I'm presented with in the novella, though, sometimes seem like they could take up 40 hour days… Also, the pacing of the writing seems to be out of sync with the pacing of the events at some parts in the book. It's not horrible, but it's not wonderful, either.

All of this, though, is nothing compared to the editing! There are quite a number of typos/grammatical errors for such a short piece; they're distracting. Also distracting, formatting issues, uneven indenting being the biggest offender. Quite frankly, the grammatical errors and formatting anomalies were enough to drive me batty (pun intended) at times... I'm all for self publishing, but not as an excuse for poor editing and presentation.

Overall, while the concepts, plot lines and structure of the story are all fantastic, the prose and presentation feel unpolished. Hopefully these will come with a bit more time. In the meantime - Tim, if you're reading this - I'd be willing to lend a hand with the editing! show less

Samantha "Sammy" Carter thinks that the recent murders of four women in Whitechapel are committed by a vampire. The gruesome murders are identical to the murders of Jack the Ripper a hundred years ago. Is there a copycat or is Jack the Ripper back?

Sammy is desperate to prove that the killer is a vampire and one night she follows the killer on the night tube train. But she blacks out after an encounter with the killer and wakes up in the wild west. How and why did she end up there and will show more she ever get back home?

Vampires, Jack the Ripper and time-traveling. What an amazing combination. This book was really entertaining to read and I enjoyed Sammy's experience in the wild west. Not only is she far from home she is also a bit lost in time and now she has to get used to not only that vampires are really real, but that for reasons she can't understand she was sent back in time.

When Sammy wakes up in the wild west she is a bit groggy and also in danger, but lucky for her, the Preacher show up in the right time to help her out. The Preacher isn't alone. He is traveling with Louise, Harry and Zoe and they are not an ordinary group of people; they are vampire hunters. She also feels that there is something mysterious about them, besides the fact that they are vampire hunters.

This book was entertaining to read and even though I'm a bit sick and tired of the whole vampire genre really liked Tim O'Rourke's wild west theme with time travel. Also, having added Jack the Ripper to the mix was very interesting, The ending wasn't that surprising, but I enjoyed reading the book and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! show less