Moon Dance

Vampire for Hire, Book 1

By: J. R. Rain

Narrated by: Dina Pearlman

Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Mother, wife, private investigator... vampire. Six years ago, federal agent Samantha Moon was the perfect wife and mother, your typical soccer mom with the minivan and suburban home. Then the unthinkable happens, an attack that changes her life forever. And forever is a very long time for a vampire.

Now the world at large thinks Samantha has developed a rare skin disease, a disease which forces her to quit her day job and stay out of the light of the sun. Now working the night shift as a private investigator, Samantha is hired by Kingsley Fulcrum to investigate the murder attempt on his life, a horrific scene captured on TV and seen around the country. But as the case unfolds, Samantha discovers Kingsley isn't exactly what he appears to be; after all, there is a reason why he survived five shots to the head.

Blood money: listen to more in the Vampire for Hire series.

©2009 J.R. Rain (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Down Girl...

The book just seems off..

Ann McCafferey in her Psy series set a good mark for paranormal adventures with well rounded characters, the Michelle Sagara's elantra series does the same in a more modern series, Jeanine Frost night huntress series does kickass with romance very well.. This book doesn't' reach any of those marks and it sounds like just inexperience and very poor guidance from an editor.

It ins't a terrible book, but it ins't good either. The main character clearly has bitterness about men from the beginning and the way she talks about them saying "down girl" repeatedly (editor please!) objectifies the men. Now this anger/frustration makes perfect sense as you listen to more of the story, but the book seems to end suddenly just as some promising characters are finally starting to reveal themselves. The whole thing feels like an action book that was meant to be action/romance and just never got around to it.

If there were another book in the series maybe listening to both would make the pieces fall in place, but i am not sure i would buy the next book to find out.

No spoilers

This is the first book I've read by this author. I'm going to give a review of book 1, 2, 3. I like the story and characters a lot. The first book in the series was ok not great but peaked my interest it's a bit different take on vampires, wolf's ghosts and the like. It's enough to get the next book how could I go wrong i have KU and the Audible was only 1.99. Book 1 you get to know a bit about the characters and world building not bad but not great. Book 2 got much better and by the middle of the book Sam starts to become a stronger character and you get to know her better along with new powers she discovers which really starts to get very very interesting. She's a character i would love to meet in real life. Book 3 well let's just say you won't want to stop reading/listening. For me the series is very engaging full of drama, mystery, light romance, some action and humor dry humor but I like it. The detective kills me I think he's my favorite along with Sam. She has 2 guys wanting her romantically hope she picks fang but will see. I know my review doesn't say much about the books but for me this series has sucked me in I have to find out more about Sam. Rain let's you know there is a hole lot more to learn about this character and she is wrapping this up in what is turning into a fantastic story. The narrator Pearlman is good she has a smooth voice and dose the voices of the other characters well. Will be listening to this whole series I suggest you do the same highly recommend both author and narrator.

Good story , but too much money for the following short sequels.

Good story but the next sequels are little more than 4 hours long which doesn’t justify using a credit.

Chick flick version of a vampire book

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Entertaining, although it was a little slow in spots where I would have perfered the story moved on a little quicker. There was some action sceens, and some promise for future story plot, but the opening book was overall slow paced.

Soccer mom vamp, PI, weres, and more! Awesome!

Moon Dance
Vampire for Hire, Book 1
By: J. R. Rain
Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
This is an audible book I really got into right away. It is a turned vampire, a mom of two, her husband finds her repulsive, and she is a PI. It is a very exciting story and gets you into the characters and I really loved it. I see why this is such a popular series.
The narrator is soooo good! The many voices are all great and perfect! I am going on to book two!

yes

The story takes place in Orange County California. All I am going to say is was so happy when Sam chocked Dan. you have to read the book to find out why.

Good and clean

Good little paranormal mystery. Reads like an old detective novel. Good start to a series.

You can't have it all.

Vampire and mom. She works quite well as an investigator. Less so as a family person, So goes the story.
This is a pleasant enough read. The premises didn't quite hold for me. But the main character is in transition. Perhaps the later novels round it out more.

Vampire Private Chick

Such an interesting take on the private sick story. Really enjoyed her point of view and the threads woven into the story, making it deeper thank just a private detective novel.
Narration was 100% enjoyable.

A Nice Surprise

I thought I would try some of Audible's productions and saw that Mr. Rain was a #1 Kindle book seller, so I thought I would give him a try. I was not disappointed. This has a little bit of a different spin on the vampire/werewolf supernatural genre. First Mrs. Moon doesn't (usually) drink human blood. Second, she tries to keep up appearances as a human by even going so far as to slather on sunscreen and a hat and shades so she can pick up her kids from school. Third, she is a PI (former Federal Agent for HUD) and doesn't want to become a killer, like a lot of legends have portrayed many vampires. Only a few people close to her even know the truth about her "skin disease." This series really humanizes many aspects of the supernatural and how they are coping with their "condition," and how they carry on relationships. Whether they consider themselves still one of "God's children" or not; if they think they, themselves, are good or bad.

The books are not very long, compared to some, but there is a lot of ground covered. It will be interesting to see the continued character development in the next installments of this series. I appreciate Audible taking a chance with this author and would probably enjoy some of his other books in audio format as well. Too bad my library doesn't carry his books.

Dina Pearlman does an outstanding job in her reading of this work.