Raphael

Vampires In America, Volume 1

By: D. B. Reynolds

Narrated by: Traci Odom

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Malibu, California, - home to rock-and-roll gods and movie stars, the beautiful, the rich...and vampires.

Powerful and charismatic, Raphael is a Vampire Lord, one of the few who hold the power of life and death over every vampire in existence. Thousands call him Master and have pledged absolute loyalty on their very lives. But when, in a brazen and deadly daylight attack, a gang of human killers kidnaps the one female vampire he'd give his life for, Raphael turns to a human investigator to find his enemies before it's too late.

Cynthia Leighton is smart, tough, and sexy - a private investigator and former cop who's tired of spying on cheating spouses and digging out old bank accounts. When Raphael asks for her help in tracking down the kidnappers, Cyn's happy to accept. But she soon realizes her greatest danger comes not from the humans, but from Raphael himself.

Battling Russian mobsters and treacherous vampires, and getting betrayed by those they trusted, Cyn and Raphael find themselves fighting for their lives while caught up in a passion of blood and violence that is destined to destroy them both.

©2009 Donna Beltz (P)2014 ImaJinn Books

can't get enough

loved it ALL. read whole series narrator great going to by next on audio. hope same narrator. really bought book to life.

Called the Civil War the Northern Aggression

At the end of the book a character stated that he thought the Civil War should have been called the War of Northern Aggression. This is a term used by confederates. I'm African American and very offended. For the author to include this opinion unnecessarily leads me to believe that is her point of view. Some of you might think me feeling this way does not make sense because the characters in the book are not real. I understand that. If the character's personality or anything in the book focused on racism I would not be offended. But, this seemed like a random comment not part of character building. This is the first and last book I have read from this author.

WOW, WHAT A THRILLING NEW VAMP FEST

Just when you think you've heard the last of a good vampire book BANG this series hits Audible's vast Library and you dare to hope that it's going to be good. Well I can happily tell you it's not only good..…. it's positively great.

The dark, handsome, sexy and very Alpha Lord of the West Coast Vampires Raphael needs the help of a P.I. and Cynthia (aka Cyn) is more than capable at what she does but isn't prepared for the raw power that oozes out of Raphael he rules, he orders and all obeys him but although Cyn is frightened she is also fearless. Their attraction slowly simmers in the background then all of a sudden it erupts and the sex is frenzied, powerful and memorable and the sexual tension becomes intense. The romance runs alongside the other main plot of kidnapping, spies, murder, Russian vamps, a take-over bid, intrigue and some tense nail-biting times as the well described plot of who, when and why plays out with characters that are loveable, likeable, interesting and some that are just plain evil.

Worth a credit? It was exciting, fast-paced, addictive, action-packed, fresh and I couldn't stop listening (being desperate to get to the HEA part) BUT shock and horror, no it's not a cliffhanger, it's a 'to be continued' listen which was equally a 'rip you hair out and scream' moment and very frustrating. However, very credit-worthy and an auto download for book 2 and I only hope that the wait is going to be a short one….. because I want it like yesterday!!!!.

Great Listen

Where does Raphael rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I loved this book so much I had to buy the eBook to continue the story when I couldn't listen to it. Worth the credit. Hot vampire, spicy heroine and it's a series, Yay.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Duncan a quiet, powerful, charismatic vamp. Can't wait for his listen. Of course, Raphael and Cyn.

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved the scene when Rapheal entered Cyn's house and found her on the steps after she escaped the blood house.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Neither I just couldn't get enough of the story and was elated to find the story continues.

Any additional comments?

I liked how it is written in real talk, common everyday language.

On the fence

I'm not sure if I liked his book. I found myself speeding it up a lot. I'm not sure if it was an ok altars to a great series or just not my speed. Overall it was ok.

great series story

this is that first in a great series. Raphael is a BadAss vampire lord and Cyn as a human, wont take any of his C**p. She can hold her own. Together they are magic and you find yourself wanting more.

At first I was really liking this book

The story started off really good, but my problem was all the unnecessary chances the heroine kept taking with her life at the end bc she thought she was so bad ass. I love books with strong female leads, but still be smart and I feel she made a lot of dumb decisions... smh

cliffhanger!!!!!!!!!

Good detective/vampire book,
well read,sad thing the cliffhanger though
although you kind of can imagine what is going to happen

😩

I wanted to like this. I listened to the whole thing and didn't get what I wanted out of it. 2 steamy scenes in this whole book, and the first one didn't show up til halfway through. good book just not what I was looking for. 😔

I want more!

This is a popular series on Amazon, with many, many books already available, which is very exciting provided Audible records them all!

This first book was an intriguing mixed bag for me because I both hated and loved the h, Cyn or Cynthia. Mostly because her dangerous and pig headed actions made me nervous. I shouldn't have worried. She's every bit the bad ass she thinks she is, so I look forward to reading more about her and her relationship with Raphael.

Traci Odem's performance of Cyn's voice, while good, bordered on strident at times. I found myself turning down my ipod because of the sharp pitch of her voice. This may have impacted my overall opinion of the character, at least until the end.

The main criticism I have is that although we've all been trained to accept that the vampire love interest is A. gorgeous, and B. powerful, aside from a few cliched descriptions, I really wanted to SEE Raphael in my mind, and I didn't feel that D. B. Reynolds did justice to her character in this book. It was a bit disappointing to realize at the end that he was never fully fleshed out. That being said, I'm hoping that this is remedied by the many, many books to come.

It also bugged me that if Cyn had only told Raphael one name, so much of the situation would have been solved. It felt a little silly that she wouldn't have told him, but then, that's the nature of these kinds of books, so whatever.

I am excited that the action scenes, in particular, are well done. Spare and easy to envision, there is nothing cliched about them! The villains are interesting and scary, and the resolution was nicely executed. The world is interesting and big enough to make a series worth my time.


The sex scenes were what you'd expect -- hopefully, they'll get a bit hotter.