The Vampire Shrink

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1. July 29th, 2010

   @ 1:19 pm

   T. Bittick posted:

   When Dr. Kismet Knight meets the vampire of her dreams, she has a hard time believeing she’s not in a neverending nightmare.

   Kismet is a wonderful character, with the unique ability to have the open mind a practicing psychologist needs and yet the practical, “let’s be real” attitude of a woman in the twenty-first century. She doesn’t believe in boogey men or vampires or anything like them until she meets them in a series of escalating adventures that challenge our heroine to survive. The fact that an 800-year-old wealthy, powerful, stunner of a vampire has fallen hard for her goes far in convincing her that vampires, maybe, just might exist. Maybe.

   This is an involving, fun read, and I loved the author’s sassy voice and her insights into psychotherapy, insights made more realistic by the author’s own background in the field. Kismet provides a running internal commentary much as our own might be while counseling her patients. For example, she struggles between the objective desire to unjudgmentally advise a teenage wanna-be vampire patient about her blood-drinking practices and unsafe sex, and wondering if her license would be taken away if she locked her client in a closet until the girl grows out of this phase. Kismet is sympathetic and yet strong, tolerant and yet with definite lines she will not cross. She’s a wonderfully complex character and more than a match for the two suitors–one vampire, the other an FBI agent–who want to call her their own.

   I’m not a huge fan of the vampire genre, but I’m glad I read this one. Whether one is or is not a fan of the genre, every reader will find something to like here. If you like hot triangle romances, chick-lit vampire, or psychological thrillers with some of the scariest bad guys imaginable, The Vampire Shrink is for you.
   
   Rating: 5 / 5

2. July 29th, 2010

   @ 3:58 pm

   Nikki posted:

   Despite initial misgivings, I really enjoyed this book. Although I like paranormal romance, I often find myself gagging at all the wrong times. Not so with this book. I felt a strong kinship with the Vampire Shrink, Dr. Kismet Knight. An unusual name, but it doesn’t get in the way of the story. Told from Dr. Knight’s point of view, the reader only knows what she knows — which isn’t much. As the title suggests, the book is about Dr. Knight’s journey and not necessarily about vampires. Don’t get me wrong, vampires are a very large part of that journey. However, I could just imagine how I would react if someone showed up in my office professing to be a vampire. I’d laugh, loudly, and then go in search of the hidden camera. From the initial revelations to the final showdown, the story makes a logical progression that felt true to the characters involved. I can’t imagine it was easy for the author to maintain that integrity, but it pays off in a tightly written narrative. I won’t go into all the story details since I think that other reviewers have done a nice job. I will say that Dr. Knight isn’t a superhero, she’s a woman who finds herself thrust into some interesting, and terrifying, situations and has to find out the truth for herself. Of course no woman is an island, and she has help from a super-sexy FBI agent, a surprising police detective, as well as compelling vampire coven leader, Devereaux. Along the way there’s some sizzling sexual tension, interesting therapy sessions with actual vampires, and a very, very nasty villain. I enjoyed this book. It’s romantic fantasy without going way out over the rainbow. I hope that there will be more to come.

   One reviewer unfavorably compared this book to those of J.R. Ward and Kresley Cole, but I don’t think that’s a fair comparison. Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series is a favorite of mine, and I also enjoy the Black Dagger Brotherhood. However, I would be more likely to compare The Vampire Shrink with Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld Series, especially Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1).
   Rating: 5 / 5

3. July 29th, 2010

   @ 5:02 pm

   K. Hinton posted:

   Denver psychologist Kismet Knight believes in what is tangible. Kismet relies on facts, data, and evidence to let her know what is real. When a new client confides in Kismet that she wants to be a vampire, and that there is a secret world of vampires in their town, Kismet initially believes that the girl must be crazy. When she is visited by Devereux, the leader of a coven of vampires–and the love interest of Kismet’s new client, the psychologist believes the man might be pale and delusional, but there’s no way that he actually drinks blood. However, as strange things start to happen in Denver–bodies turning up drained of blood with puncture wounds in the neck–and Kismet gains a name for herself as the “vampire psychologist,” she begins to accept that their might be aspects of the world that she doesn’t understand. With the help of Devereux and an attractive FBI agent, Kismet decides to put herself on the line to try and figure out who is causing all the strange occurrences, and to put a stop to the killings before they put a stop to her.

   I’m used to reading paranormal romances where everyone involved knows that the supernatural beings in question exist. So The Vampire Shrink was a change in that sense. Kismet stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the existence of vampires for at least half of the book. Her steadfast refusal to admit that she is wrong, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, got old a bit quick. Also annoying was the fact that every five minutes she’s about ready to hop in bed with a new guy, including Devereux, the FBI agent, a doctor she meets at a hospital, and her ex-boyfriend. Then she has the nerve to call herself a feminist while at the same time chastising herself for behaving like a harlot. It would have been nice if she had exhibited a bit more consistency. The Vampire Shrink was by no means great, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t finish it. It’ll do the job if you’ve got nothing better to read, but if you do I’d suggest some great paranormals like the Kresley Cole Immortals After Dark series of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood.
   Rating: 2 / 5

4. July 29th, 2010

   @ 6:49 pm

   AK posted:

   Despite a whimsical name, Dr. Kismet Knight is as practical as they come. So, when a young woman walks into her office needing counseling on how to deal with her vampire lover, Kismet thinks she’s just dealing with an extreme Goth, someone who is pretending to be, or believes themselves to be, involved with a vampire. Even when she meets vampires, she does not believe. Then, she has no choice to but to accept the truth. Vampires are real and one is a serial killer, with her name on his list of upcoming victims. Fortunately, there is a very powerful, very hot vampire who has been in love with her for much longer than she has been alive.

   **** Ms. Hilburn has created a world filled with intriguing twists and turns. Watching the skeptical doctor’s conversion into a believer is as interesting as the murder mystery. Kismet has a unique voice, both practical and cynical, and retains that quality even after she believes. I encourage those who love vampire stories or a good mystery to discover this gem of a novel. ****

   Amanda Killgore
   Rating: 4 / 5

5. July 29th, 2010

   @ 7:20 pm

   Constance S. Edwards posted:

   I picked this up because the author is local, and I’m a Buffy fan so paranormal fiction interests me. Normally, I read a chapter or so before I buy a book, because writers work HARD on the first chapter (or they’re supposed to) but I was in a rush so I just plucked it up. I wouldn’t have bought it if I had read the first chapter.

   On the plus side, there are great bones in this story. I’d love to see a series about a shrink who sees (to steal Jim Butcher’s term) Nevernever clients. (Heck knows, Buffy and Angel both needed one…) The story itself is a little thin, a little easy, not at all complex. Beach material, or getting over the flu material.

   The big issues I had were both technical and with the story itself, and would probably have been resolved with the assistance of a good editor. The technical issues may seem unimportant to the average reader, but they detract from the experience of the book when they’re present. Misspellings, bad word choices, and an utterly passionate romance with the verb “to be” made it had for me to get into the story. Since the author displayed places where she wrote beautifully, I think the book needed another draft to track down and eliminate all the passive verbs, all the unnecessary description (no reader puts a book down in disgust because the action hero’s wardrobe isn’t discussed, but a lot of us do when it is!), and to tighten the plot and check for consistency. I see she’s been contracted for a second one; I hope she gets a good editor for it, or there may not be a third.

   I also had some problems with the characters. I don’t have my doctorate, but I do have an MS in clinical psych and experience in both public mental health and private practice. Kismet is a little naive for someone in private practice, and not nearly the skeptic she claims to be. She reminded me a lot more of someone in residency/internship than someone in private practice.

   The author also makes a point of saying vampires retain their essential personalities, but then she goes on to describe individuals who aren’t people. Devereaux — too good to be even remotely real. The villains are equally too bad, too evil. That was a disconnect to be resolved with revision.

   The plot is a little thin, resolves way too easily. Without spoiling it for anyone who reads this and still wants to read the book, I can’t give details, so just don’t expect you’ll need to do mental gymnastics for this one.

   I did give this a second star because it has potential, and I hope that at some future date, the author can change houses to one with in-house editorial staff that actually know their stuff. When that happens (or when the author takes a mechanics of fiction class), I think we’ll see some better stuff out of her.
   Rating: 2 / 5