Dinner with a Vampire (The Dark Heroine, #1)

by Abigail Gibbs

The addictive, enthralling debut by online sensation Abigail Gibbs. The sexiest romance you’ll read this year.

One moment can change your life forever…

For Violet Lee, a chance encounter on a darkened street draws her into a world beyond her wildest imaginings, a timeless place of vast elegance and immeasurable wealth – of beautiful mansions and lavish parties – where a decadent group of friends live for pleasure alone. A place from which there is no escape… no matter how hard Violet tries.

Yet all the riches in the world can’t mask the darkness that lies beneath the gilded surface, embodied in the charismatic but dangerous Kaspar Varn.

Violet and Kaspar surrender to a passion that transcends their separate worlds – but it’s a passion that comes at a price.

As featured on BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Sunday Times, Guardian, Mail Online, Huffington Post and Sugarscape.

• ISBN13: 9780007503674
• Publish Date: 11 October 2012 (first published 13 September 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: HarperVoyager
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 560
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[Cocktails and Books]

I thought the reviews I read on this were going to sway me and scare me off, but I ended up liking this one.

Kasper was a man/vampire you love to hate. He could be a snarky ass one minute, indifferent the next and then the deeply hurt man who is trying to makes sense of his life.

Violet drove me nuts sometimes, but it I had to remind myself that she was eighteen. Most adults wouldn't handle what was thrown at her any differently than she did.

There were points in the storyline where I had to wonder why they were there (the thing with Fabian and Lyla...two characters that were somewhat inconsequential when we got to the "meat" of the story), but for the most part I liked the twist of this paranormal story. I look forward to what's to come in Autumn's story.

[Risa Nichols]

This has easily become one of my favorite novels I have ever read. With that having been said--this book is DEFINITELY not for everyone. There are some rather disturbing elements to this book, such as Kaspar initially kidnapping Violet and threatening to kill her; Violet finding herself nearly raped and killed by a terrifying vampire in the hierarchy; Kaspar's obvious bloodlust and inability to keep cheap sluts out of his bedroom (this really drove me up a wall, but sexuality is a huge part of the vampire world, so really, what can I expect?) and the way her "friends" do a complete 180 and change their opinions and attitude toward her, which had me shaking the book in frustration and wanting to kick Lyla in her all-too-perfect butt!

I had fallen hard for Fabian at the beginning--he just seemed so sweet and full of love for her, it was enigmatic and I was just so drawn to him, wishing that HE would be the one she was going to fall for. My heart twisted painfully as she rejected him multiple times, but unfortunately, you can't always choose who you fall in love with, and that was made painfully obvious as Kaspar really treated her like crap at first. And then, suddenly--so quickly, it gave me whiplash--Fabian and Kaspar change their personalities toward her and I found myself vying for it to work between the two "star-crossed lovers," though it just seemed doomed from the start. And then my heart rejoiced when I read that long before they were even born or thought of, fate had tied them to each other, sealing their fate before they could even choose. Fortunately, they do choose one another, and the way they come together is beautiful.

Anyway, enough gushing. There were some things that seemed a bit too clinical and at times, slightly confusing and a bit like she was trying a bit too hard to make Violet the cheeky, stubborn teenager, but I chalk that up to inexperience. I still can't believe the author is only eighteen, and I truly commend her work and can't wait for the next installment in this series and to watch her grow as an artist. I will definitely be reading this book again and I will be anxiously awaiting her future writings!