Murder In Vein (Madison Rose Vampire Mysteries)

My review assumes you've read a synopsis elsewhere.Madison Rose is a young woman that life has treated very badly since the age of 8. She's learned to defend herself with a sharp tongue and a high wall of distrust. Once on her own, she got into trouble through bad choices and decided she wanted better for herself, cleaned up her act, got a steady job, a small studio apartment and was going to night school. I had a lot of empathy for this basically decent young woman. She spoke and behaved like a real person would in the same circumstances.She'd spent so much of her life with normal seeming people doing evil, life with the vampires wasn't a stretch for her sense of "normal" with the difference being these were vampires trying very hard to retain as much of their humanity as they could. They were however, as they occasionally needed to remind her, basically animals. It took her a long time to adjust to that aspect. The irony was, these "animals" were the first group of people that treated her with true kindness and affection. For the first time since she was 8, she had a sense of family and trust.I read some of the reviews and wonder if we were reading the same book. This woman had her own strong sense of morals. She wanted to be respectable and respected. The few times in her life that she crossed that line, no matter whose fault, she felt great shame. She DID NOT swoon, or gasp, or giggle, or stammer, or get weak kneed, or any other of the commonly written idiocies. She DID NOT drool over the handsome men she met. She DID NOT bed down with any of them, and she DID NOT have repetitive inner dialogue about sex. She was in survival mode and for once we have a heroine savvy enough to know that when you are at risk and need to be alert, thought of sex must slip down in your list of priorities. This is a pet peeve of mine. So many of these Urban Fantasies have the damsel in distress forget all about survival and slip into hot, drooling speculation at the first sight of something that looks good. Sorry, somebody's trying to kill me, THAT'S going to be my focus and nothing much else. At no time did I moan at something Madison said or did. This is VERY unusual. I get really tired of how some of these women are being written.The mystery plot was an actual mystery and was pretty decent. The vampires were in general, interesting characters. There were even moments where we got a flash of a different point of view that allowed for a bit of sympathy. The world the author built was feasible, so it was easy to suspend disbelief. The heroine reacted and spoke like a real person would. I wanted to know what happened to this group and I was able to get completely immersed in the tale. I would HIGHLY recommend this book. If it were under $3, I'd already have the 2nd one half read. Good going Ms. Jaffarian. Keep up the good work.PS...Another of my pet peeves was avoided. This is a stand-alone book. You want the 2nd in the series simply because you want to know more about their lives, not because it has a cliff-hanger ending. That's exactly how it should be.

I wasn't too sure what to expect from this series. I enjoy the vampire genre but you never know what you are a going to get. I was so pleasantly surprised that I have become a die-hard fan of Sue Ann Jaffarian. The writing style is fun and witty, the story line in this series keeps you coming back for more. I have now read both of the books in this series and can't wait for more Madison Rose! These are not your tame, sappy vampire books. These characters have a depth that allows them to work their way into your heart and soul. Sometimes you love them, sometimes you hate them and sometimes, you just want to smack them upside the head. All of the characters are multi-dimensional, noone is just what they appear on the outside and Sue Ann Jaffarian writes them in such a way that makes you want to know more about them and what makes them who they are. Yes, there are the norms for vampire books but what's really nice about this is that the tortured characters have found ways to work through and past the hard parts of their lives, just like the rest of us. They are ever evolving, they are very real.

I've been a fan of author Sue Ann Jaffarian for years. It began with her Odelia Grey series then continued with the Granny Apples books. However, I just wasn't interested in reading about vampires. Part of me I'll admit was kind of disappointed that Ms. Jaffarian seemed to just be jumping on the band wagon by doing a vampire book. As part of her fan club on FB I read many comments along the same lines and then how they all loved the book and maybe even more so than her more prolific series. I put it on my wish list and when it came up as a deal of the day not too long ago I took the plunge. So glad I did! I love her take on vampires and the culture surrounding vampire lore of late. Book #2 is on my wish list and now my only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be solid plans for any further stories in the Madison Rose world.

I love paranormal romance, and I love mysteries, so I thought this book would be a great fit for my tastes. The vampire element, however, was much more explicit and violent in this novel than in others I have read and even romanticized and glamorized the drinking of blood, something I found disturbing. I know it's a book with vampires as a main part of the plot, but I wasn't expecting to learn so much about the social groups that seek out the vampiric lifestyle. And the leaders punishing a guilty vampire-wannabe by drinking her blood as a group? Disgusting and unsettling. It was an interesting read, but I won't be seeking out any sequels or other books by this author in the future. One novel was enough for me.

Sue Ann Jaffarian has created a new character to love in Madison Rose. She is tough, witty, smart, and resilient. I'm not a fan of vampire stories, but Sue Ann does not spend her pages focusing on the gore and violence so it is easier to move on to the story and characters. As the title indicates, I am a Madison Rose fan even if not totally enamored of her associates.

Murder in Vein is a fast moving murder mystery set in a fully imagined vampire society with few human assistants. Madison Rose, a tough, feisty, young waitress, finds out all about vampires after she is saved by one from a fatal vampire attack. She eventually learns all about this hidden society in Los Angeles, and she has to make some life altering decisions. This is very different from Sue Ann Jaffarian's lighter mystery cozies, but just as well written and plotted with interesting and some surprisingly appeal characters, even the vampires. If you like creative vampire lit with mystery and a dash of snarky humor, this is for you!

Sue Ana Jaffrian stole my heart in her series with Odela Grey. So when I saw she had a new Vampire Murder Mystery I couldn't resist. This is similar to the way she writes her other series but I have to say it grabbed me right off the first page. Very good book, I won't ruin the ending but you will like it.