Just One Sip (Anthology 3-in-1)

This is a collection of vampire romance stories. I loved the cover (one of the reasons I picked it up), and I enjoyed the book for the most part.

"Viva Las Vampires" by Jennifer Ashley - The beautiful Meredith Black checks into a vampire-themed casino in Las Vegas as research for her next book and immediately catches the eye of the hotel's owner Stefan Erikson. Stefan happens to be vampire-master of the 'living vampires' and in need of a blood slave to restore his powers, and he is immediately drawn to Meredith. Caught in the middle of a vampire turf war, Meredith must decide whether to pledge herself to a vampire master or leave the man she just might love.
This was my favorite of the stories. Stefan is hot (though personally I want a show more story about Mario, the hot 600 year-old Italian dancer) and tender at the same time. He does show an unfortunate tendency toward noble, patronizing self-sacrifice, but he is a Viking, so he's forgiven. The sex was hot, and I thought it was a very cool take on vampire lore.

"Bring Out Your Dead" by Katie MacAlister - This story involved characters from MacAlister's Dark One Series. Ysabelle, a zombie counsellor and tutor with two souls, is called to tutor Adrian's son Damian, who is at danger from his uncle Sebastian. Ysabelle turns out to be Sebastian's Beloved and must try to turn him from his path of revenge and destroy a demon after her soul. Typical MacAlister slapstick with zombies staging sit-ins and a spirit guide who speaks some sort of Frenglish. I was amused, but a tad confused since I haven't read the others lately.

"Lucy and the Crypt Casanova" by Minda Webber - Lucy is a talk-show host on the paranormal equivalent of Jerry Springer. She hopes to introduce more serious topics to gain more respect for herself, so when it turns out an incubus is on the loose, she starts investigating. There are a few problems, though. First of all, she's probably the clumsiest and unluckiest person on the planet, and secondly, her vampire ex-boyfriend whom she's never gotten over is head of the Paranormal Division of the police.
This is easily the worst of the bunch. The author constantly throws in smatterings of 'French', but it's all wrong. Even the articles are wrong, not to mention that no French person would EVER say some of those things. Anyway, her battle-cry is 'Remember the Alamo' which amused me, as did some of her mother's sayings. For the most part, though, the story was an exercise in irritating misunderstandings and armchair psychology. I actually didn't like either of the characters and couldn't have cared less whether they got together. The sex wasn't great either, though that might have been an extension of not seeing why either character liked the other... show less

The first 2 stories by Jennifer Ashley and Katie MacAlister respectively were good reads. The Jennifer Ashley had some unusual sun worshipping Vampires in Vegas and the Katie MacAlister was about her world of Dark Ones. It was not a 'great' entry into the Dark ones' world...but it was good. The last story by Minda Webber I thought was the weakest link in the anthology. It didn't make me want to go out and find more of her books. I thought the heroine was unlikeable and the issues she was going through seemed more like an author 'going through the motions'. The plot was predictable and so were the characters. Too bad, the other 2 stories would have had much higher ratings.

The first two stories in this anthology were okay.
I barely made it through the second one because the Franglias-speaking Spirit Guide was *extremely* annoying. And if I didn't know some French, it would have been even worse.
The third was better, but it still tried a little too hard to be funny. There were a few good lines in the third story, though.
"Campbell women didn't back away from danger... Campbell women embraced danger, they ran toward it. Of course, Campbell women often had short life spans."
"His comment 'Love is not enough' was pure blasphemy. Love was always enough, presuming one partner wasn't being pigheaded."

I think that these stories were written to be shorter than they are.

I only enjoyed the first story, Viva Las Vampires. It was the story of a vampire on the verge of "dying" and needed to find himself a blood slave to stay a warm blooded, living vampire. Nice love story, sexy even.

The other two...not so much. All three stories center around vampires but I kept forgetting that the Dark One was a vampire (Bring Out Your Dead). It spent a lot of time talking about zombies (reverants), I thought the Dark One was more of a devil.

The last one (Lucy & the Crypt Casanova) I didn't get further than the first chapter. It talked of too many mythical beings at one time: ogres, trolls, werebears (?). A bit too much for me to take in and believe.

I show more give the book three stars because I liked the first story and would be tempted to read it again. show less

This was a so-so anthology. I'd read previous books by Jennifer Ashley and Katie MacAlister. Katie delievered a pretty good novella that fit in with her Dark Ones series. It was by far my favorite of the stories and the main reason I picked up this book. Jennifer Ashley's was OK, but I prefer her historicals over paranormals. I suppose I just didn't "get" it...and for me it wasn't a memorable read. Minda Webber is a new-to-me author. Her contribution was a comedic vampire tale and I just didn't connect with her sense of humor. I can't say I'll be reading another of her novels in the near future. This book isn't one for the keeper shelf.

This was the book that got me reading Katie MacAlister I believe. I actually sought out the authors found here because I enjoyed most of the stories.