Lou Harper

Review by Karen posted at ScuttlebuttReviews.com

Gabe and Harvey are back! Their adventures continue; the thrill of the chase, the development of the storyline from Spirit, the lovely chemistry between these two…it’s all here, and more.

Like the first book, Spirit Sanguine, Temper Sanguine is actually more like two novellas together, however there is much more cohesion between the two in Temper, plus there’s the continuation of plot lines from Spirit.

Gabe, our slayer, is still working show more for the Vampire ‘Don’, Victor Augustine. He is called on to investigate the ongoing issue of vampires using dirty blood (think vampire heroine), this time in New York. Running parallel is Harvey, the Buddhist ex-vegetarian vampire’s, quest to develop a vampire tranquilizer.

As the plot thickens, our intrepid duo head off to Hungary, on the hunt for a vampiric Mengele-esqe doctor, and another super vampire.

With Gabe and Harvey now living and working together, Gabe struggles with expressing his emotions and the normality of living with someone else, and certainly can’t tell Harvey that he loves him!

The action in Temper is more prevalent than the romance, which makes for a truly exhilarating and interesting read. The part set in Hungary/Romania is quite fascinating, as is some of the vampire myth creation.

The ending is resolved well enough to satisfy that Gave and Harvey were going to be happy, but open enough for some more adventures, should Lou Harper decide to do so (I hope she does).

I’m generally not a huge fan of vampire novels, but in Harvey especially, Lou has created a fantastic character who is loveable, sexy, and very human.

While Temper Sanguine can be read on its own, better to read Spirit Sanguine first. show less

Absolutely hilarious, extremely funny and with a very tongue-in-cheek lesson about the long-term benefits of being slutty and materialistic, this story had me somewhere between smiling and laughing out loud the entire time. Jamie, the first-person narrator of this story, is one of those college students who is very open to experiments, and Roger is the exact opposite. The fact that Roger is an art student and somewhat more conservative than most people would expect makes this all the show more funnier.

Jamie has a very peculiar philosophy about helping men to realize they are gay and about ‘widening the horizons of straight guys’, as he put is. He almost thinks of himself as delivering a service to the community and that made me laugh. In essence, he gets to have sex with a wide variety of guys, but he pretends it is for their benefit. I loved the lesson he learns in the end: that is not all there is under the sun, and as soon as he finds ‘the one’, he is just as smitten as Roger. Not that Jamie would ever admit that. He remains true to himself to the very end, and his voice remains his own.

Roger is a bit of a riddle, as we only see him through Jamie’s eyes. I loved the eventual discovery of what he is all about, but won’t go into detail here. It would spoil the surprise.

Some people are sure to misunderstand this story, but I loved its sarcastic tone and snarkiness. It certainly makes this book stand out, and I love authors who give their characters individual voices. There is nothing wrong with being different, and voices like this authors’ are a refreshing breath of diversity in a genre where the ‘standard’ is very defined and ‘disturbed’ by few. If you like humor in your m/m romances, if you’re looking for something different and are open to reading about an interesting yet possibly somewhat abrasive character, and if you don’t mind a lot of very explicit encounters, you will like this story as much as I did.




NOTE: This book was provided by Amber Allure for the purpose of a review on QMO Books. show less

Review by Karen, posted on ScuttlebuttReviews.com

A queer sort of slayer?

Having books given to you to review is fascinating; you get to read authors you otherwise wouldn’t come across. I have been such a resolute British reader (native and relocated) that clearly I’ve missed out on loads of really great books and authors. Lou Harper was completely new to me before starting this, and I specifically didn’t do any research on her or Sanguine beforehand.

Sprit Sanguine is really three show more novellas published as one book. They pretty much flow seamlessly from one to the other, but allow a feeling of time elapsed – although the events in the books do happen spatially close together.

Gabor (Gabe) Vardas has returned to Chicago from the ‘old country’ – Hungary, where, since the death of his parents, he discovered he was a vampire hunter and plans to continue this career path in America. But one evening while pursuing a vampire the tables are turned.

Harvey Feng is not what Gabe has come to expect from a vamp, for a start he doesn’t try and kill him, and secondly he is beautiful. Harvey, when human, was a vegetarian and a Buddhist and still lives by those ethics.

Gabe starts to discover that American vamps are very different from their Hungarian counterparts. This, plus his growing attraction and sexual relationship with Harvey, start him reassessing his slayer stance and attitude towards vampires.

The secondary characters have a chance to develop as well. Ray, Stan, and Dill – a vamp-human ménage – are key in the first part of the book, in terms of increasing our understanding of Harvey, vampryric culture, and a plotline involving Dill’s (the human) kidnapping. The heads of the Chicago vamps, in a nice Mafioso twist, are Sylv, a 1000 year old gypsy, and Victor Augustine. They are both strong characters; I particularly liked Sylv’s hippy-chick attitude. Another stand-out character is Deacon (aka Dead Man, yes he does really sense dead people), and I found him worthy of his own plot. Happily, after reading, I looked into the author and her books, and my research shows that he does get his own book.

But Gave and Harvey are the stars if the show. Atypically for a vampire romance, there is no instant love; no ‘mine, mine, mine’, but a gradual and thoughtful development toward something that could be more.

Now, though there are obvious Buffy parallels here with the slayer and vamp relationship, not to mention that Harvey’s pet name for Gabe is Angel, the ‘opposites attract’ plot line always makes for scintillating romance. There is also some lovely, subtle world-building going on; the paranormal culture and hierarchy develop really well without being overwhelming. The non-romantic story lines are interesting, well written, and evenly paced, which makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read when combined with the romance.

Throughout, Harper’s writing is clear and readable while keeping the tone of Spirit Sanguine from becoming too heavy. There are funny moments; Harvey, in particular, has his tongue firmly in his cheek. “And you just happened to have six very sharp wooden sticks on you. Or were you just happy to see me?”

The free short, Late Night Snack (see below), is also worth reading and acts as a hors d’oeuvre for the next book, Tempest Sanguine, which I am really looking forward to when it’s released in early June. show less

Ooh there were moments in this one where I really wanted to smack Denton. Maybe Bran too but not being in his pov saved him. Talk to Bran, Denton. That aside I really enjoyed these stories including the fact that Gabe made an appearance.
These two are still adorable despite the miscommunication issues and end this story in a really solid place.