Book Reviews

Book Blurb

When Jepoi meets the man of his dreams, he has no way of knowing that Malakai is a fallen Hawaiian god condemned to eternity…as a vampire.

The pantheon of gods were displeased when Kane, one of their major gods, fell out with his lover Kanaloa, one of the ruling forces over the Hawaiian Islands. Condemned to an eternal earth-bound life as a shape-shifting vampire, Malakai has one chance to break the curse. He must never fall in love and he must never intervene in human problems.

All that goes astray when he meets Jepoi, a young male nurse working on the Big Island of Hawaii. Malakai falls for Jepoi and can't resist him, but then all hell literally breaks loose when Malakai saves Jepoi from ancient and deadly disease that returns to the fatal shores of Hawaii.

 

Book Review

Hawaiian gods? Vampires? Curses and dire consequences? Sign me on! It's been a while since the last vampire series co-penned by A.J. Llewellyn and D.J. Manly was published, and I am really, really happy the long drought is over. 'Tiki Vampires' promises to be an excellent addition to these authors' work and my bookshelves, and if this first book is anything to judge it by, I'll be hanging on by my fingernails – as usual. I cannot wait!

Okay, so here we go. The basic premise seems simple. We have two gods in eternal opposition based on their "jobs", Kane and Kanaloa, yet they are lovers. Kane - whom I immediately liked except for his obviously bad taste in lovers! - falls for a human. Kanaloa feels betrayed (actually, he is jealous) and gets the pantheon of gods to curse Kane to roam the Earth as a vampire - by unfair means, of course, since he's the bad guy. With me so far? But then it becomes really unfair. Kane has a chance to break the curse IF he doesn’t fall in love and IF he never intervenes in human problems. "And this is supposed to be a romance?" I grumbled. Then I reminded myself that I trust these authors and read on.

Jepoi is a young nurse working as a paramedic, who is great at his job and very dedicated. He has barely met Kane, now called Malakai, when disaster in the form of a strange fever strikes the islands and Jepoi, called in to help, catches the sickness. Once healed by Malakai, Jepoi finds himself in a different world as things get truly weird. He copes with most of it remarkably well, even if it takes him a while. One thing is certain: he loves Malakai and will do whatever is necessary so he can stay with him.

Malakai falls for Jepoi and endangers his entire existence when he cures Jepoi. The thing is, he's so lonely after many centuries on his own that he cannot resist saving the first man he has feelings for in a very, very long time. And I have to say, he has picked a worthy partner in Jepoi. Of course, this opens the door to all kinds of trouble, but I loved the way Malakai stood by Jepoi, no matter what. This sort of loyalty is truly worthy of a god, fallen or not, and added significantly to the romantic flair of the story.

The turns and twists of the plot are plentiful, the depth of emotions on all sides amazing, and the way some of the old legends are woven into vampire lore are highly creative and very entertaining. While this book is not for the faint of heart due to quite some violent events, keeping in mind this is total fiction helped me deal with that and really enjoy what was going on. Of course, the cliffhanger at the end was to be expected… but then, the next volume (Fever Pitch) is due out early November which isn’t too long to wait.

If you like vampire stories with several twists, if you're ready for a roller coaster ride of events and emotions, and if you're looking for a read that is scary, imaginative, and definitely hot, then you will probably like this novel.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Pride Publishing for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 137 pages/50333 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	20-September-2013
Price	$5.50 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/fever