Book Review: Love Bleeds by Maggie James

*I hate spoilers in a review and therefore will only include the blurb for this book and refrain from giving away anything else for the benefit of those who may still have this on their TBR piles.*

Love Bleeds
Maggie James
Source: Purchased from Smashwords

There’s no such thing as vampires…
Straight-laced Katarina Renót is well educated, logical and doesn’t believe vampires truly exist. But when a well deserved holiday in Europe turns into a torrid game of cat and mouse with a handsome stranger and her best friend is exhibiting signs of being allergic to daylight-Kat doesn’t think her life can get any stranger.
Every man has a weakness…Even an immortal…
Joseph Markus is an arrogant, wealthy entrepreneur who spends his free time as the raspy lead singer for the rock band “Slang” and seducing beautiful women. After decades of mourning the tragic death of the only woman he ever loved, vying to save his best friend from an unrelenting death wish- now he is accused of being a murderer.
An undeniable twist of fate…
Kat learns her Prince Charming is actually the “Prince of Darkness” and though she can’t resist falling for this sultry vampire, she still lives in denial. But when the lines are drawn, and Kat finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly plot for revenge she has only one choice--trust the seductive vampire who has captured her heart.
Despite his own arrogance, Joe finds himself inexplicably drawn to Kat. Her stubborn will to resist his seductive charms coupled with her endearing naiveté prove to be more than he bargained for and Joe soon realizes he is in way over his head.
But will love be enough to save their immortal souls from the grips of a twisted obsession?

My Thoughts

I wanted to read this book because of a review it got....a bad one.
Thats right. I wanted to read a book that got a 1 star rating.
Why? you ask. 
Well, the reviewer tore into the characters, pointed out their flaws, and generally said that other than the sex the book wasn't worth the read. 
So I was intrigued. 
But the clincher, the reason that I HAD to read this book was the author, Maggie James.
Even though she had just received a bad review she very calmly and graciously thanked the reviewer in the comments tab.
Thats right, she said thank you and even apologized to the reviewer for her book not meeting the readers needs.
Now I haven't been doing this reviewing lark for long, but I have seen plenty of authors get pissy and grumpy and try rallying support on twitter, facebook and goodreads to counteract a bad review.
But what did Miss James do?, she APOLOGIZED!!!!!!

So, I headed over to Smashwords and purchased a copy.


The story itself is not a bad one in fact, I quite liked it. 
I did struggle a little bit at the start, as it does tend to jump about a bit between all the characters. And there are a lot of characters to keep track of but once I settled into the story it evened out. 
Sexy vampire rock stars, with tortured backgrounds, dead evil nemesis, mysterious vampire murders, and sex!!
So it ticks all the boxes. Action, it has. Romance, it has. Blood sucking, it has. Sex, it most definitely has.
Overall, its a good read, and it is only the first installment in a series. So there is room to iron out some of the kinks. I look forward to reading more of the Only After Dark Series.
I give Love Bleeds a 3.5 star rating