Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

CROUCHING TIGER, FORBIDDEN VAMPIRE, the last book of the Love at Stake series has it all, from sweeping action, to tough as nails heroes, and a sweet romance between two very different people. In a previous review of another book in this series I complained that the much more interesting plot was overshadowed by the romance. In CROUCHING TIGER, FORBIDDEN VAMPIRE there is thankfully a balance and the romance actually works within the plot. The plot was exciting, pacing steady and the story was just plain exciting to read.

Jia's got spunk and combined with her very determined quest to avenge her family's death she proves to be an incredibly passionate and strong individual. Granted her fighting show more skills at the start of the book leave a lot to be desired but I gave her points for determination. Russell is Batman. No wait stay with me here! He has a cave, is a recluse, has gadgets, wears a lot of black. He also talks like Christian Bale's Batman in my head. He is a vampire Batman full of brooding and a thirst for vengeance which is pretty awesome. I enjoyed seeing how Jia grew and learned from Russell and how they were eventually able to find some sort of common ground which lead to an eventual steamy romance. Both of them eventually grew to not only love each other but respect one another for their strengths which I always like to see in a romance.

CROUCHING TIGER, FORBIDDEN VAMPIRE is filled with exciting twists and turns and strong, interesting characters. It was a satisfying end to the Love at Stake series and I look forward to seeing what Kerrelyn Sparks has in store next. show less

The hero lives as a hermit, emerging only from his cave to seek out his maker and kill him for what he did. The hero is a loner, he has no real friends, he secluded himself in the jungle and only socializes with the other vampires when he goes to their house to take food and appliances. The heroine is a tiger shifter and a princess to her people. But she's never been the 'princess' type, not since the murder of her parents. She hunts the enemy vampire and will stop at nothing to kill him. It's then that the hero and heroine realize they are hunting the same enemy. The heroine wants to team up, she knows her best chance at finding the man responsible for her parents murder is to partner up with the loner vampire. But he wants nothing to show more do with it. First of all, he's instantly attracted to her and knows that he must keep her at a distance else he fall under her spell. Secondly, he doesn't believe she can help him accomplish his goals and he vows to stick to his mentality of hunting alone. That is, until he realizes her nose could help him after all. But secretly underneath the mask he wears around others, he likes the idea of being her hero. She looks at him with eagerness and she has an open, innocent way of believing in the good in him. So they begin their search for the enemy. I really liked the heroine. She was timid at times, totally innocent of sex or what to do with a man so when she starts having feelings inside she has no idea what to do with them. I also loved the hero. He really was a loner cowboy. He kept his cards close to his chest, only giving away very hints of his secret growing love for the Chinese beauty. He's tortured by the idea of her marring someone else but he's not the type to take what he wants. He's willing to live with the loss of her if it's her choice to leave him. He was honorable and full of pride which harmed him at times. Overall I really liked the story and would have given it a higher rating if not for the god awful ending. Everything was going so well until suddenly angels and demons and Lucifer showed up. The enemy is killed and the battle is won but no, they had to go and toss in the extended cut. I was so disappointed. But I will give it a 3 star rating as I loved the hesitate proud but insecure love affair both characters had. I think this is the last of the series and I'm sad to see it go but I'm glad it went of a decent note. show less

Unfortunately this is the last in this series, but I'm still OK with that because I've only read a few of them. This author has a way of enticing the reader to start anywhere and do just fine, but leaves the reader desperately wanting to read more in the series to find the *whys* and the *how did that come to be*. Basic premise is that one vampire is a chemical genius with no desire to kill humans and therefore he develops a synthetic blood, makes a boatload of money, and his *factory* is staffed and secured by other vampires as well as shifters. Each book is a romance/suspense thriller/great fun. This entrant is a vengeful vamp living in the depths of China near a village of tiger shifters and each of them want to destroy the evil show more vampire warlord. No spoilers, read the book!
The audio was narrated by Enrique Morales, and he does a superior performance with all of the males, and it doesn't take long before the listener forgets that it is a man portraying Jia (female protagonist). show less

Listened for Fun (Audible)
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 3.50
Character Rating: 4.50

Audio Rating: 3.50 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: Crouching Tiger,Forbidden Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks was a beautifully written and fantastically FUN send off to a series that has made me smile many times over the last few years. Russell and Jia were another great example of love conquering all. While I was sad to see the series come to an end, I was happy with the way it wrapped up and hold out hope that some day we may see characters from this world again.

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated By Enrique Morales / Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Enrique did an EXCELLENT job with the pacing and Russell's voice. In fact, I liked the slight show more cowboy drawl a whole bunch. The other accents were handled with great care too. Jia's voice took a bit to get used too but once that happened I was totally on board with this audiobook. Overall a downright pretty good job!

Part of my Read it, Rate it, File it, DONE! Reviews show less

This was the conclusion to the Love at Stake series. It was just okay for me. I think the series enchanted me, at first, with its humor and loveable characters but I think it lost a little of its humor along the way and became more serious with darker subject matter which was alright with me. I just wish the humor would have persevered along the way.

This book was about Russell. Russell has been a character in this series for a long time. We knew a little about him. The good vampires found him amongst rows and rows of bodies encased in what appeared to be terra cotta like terra cotta soldiers. Russell was set apart from the others and he was in a vampire coma, a sleep that takes place after being turned into a vampire, but he had never show more been given enough blood to wake up. He was the only one of all the terra cotta soldiers to survive. The Vamps gave him blood and woke him up. He had been in the coma for 39 years and the last thing he remembered was that he was in the Viet Nam War. He woke up to a new world and found out he had lost everything. The people he had known were now all dead. His wife had presumed he was dead and had remarried after seven years. His family land had been sold. He also had Master Han’s slave tattoo on his wrist.

Russell was angry and went off on his own to seek revenge against Master Han for turning him and taking his life from him. He would pop up and help the Vamps sometimes but then disappear again. Zoltan, one of the good vampires, helped him by supplying synthetic blood and weapons. Other than that, we really didn’t know much about Russell.

Jia is a were-tiger princess. She is cousin the Rajiv, the new Grand Tiger of Tiger Town in China. Her parents and brother were murdered in front of her by Master Han and his soldiers thirteen years ago. Since then, she has been training in martial arts so she seek revenge on Master Han. She sneaks off to find Master Han. She finds him and kills two of his soldiers but Master Han teleports away but his soldiers almost catch and kill her.

Russell is so angry. He had Master Han in his sights. He knows not to kill his soldiers first because Master Han always teleports away. Just as he has a good aim at his target, someone starts killing his soldiers and Master Han vanishes. He sees it is a woman who is running away. He saves her against his better judgment and takes her back to Tiger Town where she gets put under 24 hour watch with guards following her every move. When Russell finds her escaping twice, he finally agrees to work with Jia to find and kill Master Han.

Their romance is rather adorable. Jia is betrothed to a were-tiger prince from Korea who she has never even met. Russell does not want to get involved with an engaged woman and Jia doesn’t want to fall for a vampire but they both have feelings for each other whether they want to or not.

The plot and storyline were pretty predictable but still entertaining. The author, Kerrelyn Sparks, doesn’t seem to have any more books in the paranormal genre at the moment but I hope she decides to write another paranormal romance series. I would definitely read it.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com show less

The unlikely pairing of a male vampire and a female weretiger, meeting up when both are attempting to kill the same vampire lord who destroyed both of their lives. He’s spent the last 2 years tracking Lord Han and prefers to do it alone and not let anyone get close. She’s a princess who has been training to take out Lord Han for the past 13 years since she saw him kill her family, yet everyone attempts to stop her from getting her vengeance. But Jia is determined to not only have her chance, but to partner up with Russell in doing so.

Tension and humor as she’s just learned her grandfather had arranged her marriage to a prince who will be traveling soon to come get her, as well as the fact that considering the problems the show more weretigers have experienced for years with Lord Han, as a whole they aren’t too accepting of vampires.

It’s been years since I picked up a book in this series. Not because I wasn’t enjoying them, but with money and time constraints you have to pick and choose. So I haven’t read this in awhile and I don’t recall much from the past, much less any names and it seems the story arc has changed quite a bit.

But it’s obvious that many of the secondary characters and situations leading up to this story had been showcased in prior books. Wow, I’ve missed a lot. And yet while I don’t feel you have to read those prior books in order to enjoy this humorous and touching story, I believe I would have had even more appreciation for this tale and given it an additional star rating. show less

I loved this paranormal series and the exciting grand finale in this last book was great with all the characters coming together. The intrigue and outcome of this story was good too and I particularly like the heroine's assertiveness. Vampire Russell is attempting to kill his nemesis when were-tiger Jia gets in the way.