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.

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.

Pretty Good for Light Listening

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this to a friend who enjoys mystery vampire books.

Would you recommend Moon Dance to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend it, but only as a light read. It's pulp fiction, not too deep or meaningful.

Great listen!!

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

Right up there - was a real nice surprise and would definitely be a favourite

What does Dina Pearlman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She is a great narrator and really brings it alive and becomes Samantha Moon

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes i hated having to turn it off.

Any additional comments?

Excellent reading and sucks you right in - i ended up getting all 4! Great story, believabel and very real. Nice surprise as didnt expect it to be this. incredibly enjoyable read, love the character, the plot, the story and the narrator. Excellent in my view - all round! Definitely a JR Rain fan and cant wait till the 5th installment!

Good character, horrible writer,

Maybe it's me. Maybe I am obsessive compulsive but I have two perspectives on this series. The first is that the character, plot, flow varied, I can care about Samantha Moon, what happens to her I like many of the other characters, and find the suspense and drama compelling.

However- you knew there was going to be one - the writing or rather the editing of these books is horrible. It reads like a high school creative writing exercise. You know the scene in Amadeus where them Emperor comes to Mozart's first opera and complains that it has too many notes. Well it's kind of like that.

First, if you took all of the redundancies that Rain commits in these first eight works you could use that number to make a 9th book. There are the traditional "3:00 AM in the morning"and "continue on" kinds of mistakes that seem ubiquitous these days, but these are only a small portion of the redundancies, many so blatant ("descended down the stairs")one wonders how the cannot have jumped off the page and screamed "fix me, stupid!" I tried to track them for a while but finally just quit because the constant stopping made it impossible to read.

The use of "myself" instead of "me"', the unnecessary superlatives, the clichés scattered all through "naked as the day I was born" etc,,the unnecessary adjectives and adverbs; the word seemingly is seemingly used on every page, if not in every paragraph; these errors become excruciating after a while. Sometimes Rain combined the errors "rows upon rows of aisles that seemed endless" and even the occasional trifecta "row after row of endless shelving that stretched as far as the eye could see" cause cringe moments that almost make you feel sorry for the author they are so embarrassing.

The thing is, these errors may be acceptable (barely) for an author to make, Rain should be attending to the plot etc.,The fact that they made it through an editing process is both astounding and unforgivable.

And then there is the simple wrongness; for instance Rain consistently refers to blood as hemoglobin, which is only a component of that vital fluid. Worst of all is when Samantha Moon refers to her "super-secret identity". What is she "Vampire Girl".

Finally, good fantasy requires the suspension of disbelief. This is a commodity and cannot be abused by the author. Rain flogs it. First there are the basic questions: why, after six years, does all of this stuff kick off. It took her husband six years to get disgusted, why do her abilities start showing up now? Why has it taken Fang six years to fall in,live with her and look her up? Why after all of this time is she just know running into Sherbert? Why has she know nothing about the supernatural community.

The problem is that the writing is so bad that it detracts from the story, and so any interest I had in it was contaminated. The reader made it worse not better, her delivery was mundane, almost deadpan.

Overall the idea is a good one, the execution is horrible.

Fantastic--

What made the experience of listening to Moon Dance the most enjoyable?

It was the perfect blend of earthy humor and mystery woven in amongst the paranormal goings on. Even my husband liked it, and he doesn't like anything.

What other book might you compare Moon Dance to and why?

Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series

What does Dina Pearlman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Oh my goodness, she brings the visual aspect to a basically two deminsional experience.

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

It made me laugh. That was a hell of a first paragraph, you've got to admit.

A solid 4 star, too short for 5 stars

I found it a little odd how the author added in so many "musings" about the nature of Sam's vampirism - not the source of it (that's not really disclosed) but what it means to be a vampire: if she's still human, if she's still alive, etc... these musings were sorta merged into other goings-on - such as a baseball game - which had no point in the story other than to provide a venue for these musings to be explored.

But this didn't detract from the story, which is a little bit of a mystery combined with a vampire-finding-herself story. There was a tiny romantic thread, but no sex (uncommon for this genre of book where the sex is usually quite graphic), and only the occasional bad word (also uncommon). I liked the story more than I thought I should - there is a bit of angst that develops out of the personal strife that Sam has to overcome, and the story's mystery was reasonable.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, even though it's a bit on the short side, and I'm going to start the next in the series right away. (It's not a cliff-hanger novel that makes you *have* to get the next one to see what happens, but if you want to find out how Sam deals with how her vampirism affects her life, you'll want to keep reading.) The narration was reasonable but a bit on the "breathy" side... I assume the narrator will settle into the role better as the books continue.

Very Different Vampire Novel

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

Nothing close the the Outlander series - but then it was good enough that I had to quickly finish the series. It was a great find from the sale to try out a first book in a series, This is one probably would not stopped to view.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Moon Dance?

All the way through I had to find out what happens to this wife and mother - trying to keep up with her daily schedule - after being turned into a vampire.

Which character – as performed by Dina Pearlman – was your favorite?

All the way through I had to find out what happens to this wife and mother - trying to keep up with her daily schedule - after being turned into a vampire. And I must say very much liked her client - the large attorney.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes - but then as quickly as it was finished I went to Amazon and downloaded the rest of the series to my Kindle.

Any additional comments?

I cannot wait for the next book.

Better Than I Expected ~ Original Characters!

What did you love best about Moon Dance?

I loved the characters and plot were different from most vampire stories. Six years ago Samantha Moon was attached and changed into a vampire against her will. Since then she has been trying to adapt to being a vampire, while hanging on to her husband and children. Because she can no longer go out in the sun, she has started her own PI business from the comfort of her home and mainly works at night.

While we only get to meet one vampire in this story, it appears the vampires are not always drop dead sexy and being a vampire could be considered a curse. However, while it was a curse at times, her heighted senses and strength did come in handy. Then her ability to turn into a creature that could fly was definitely different.

Which character – as performed by Dina Pearlman – was your favorite?

This story was told from Samantha's POV so she was my favorite character. I loved Dina's delivery of all the snarky comments.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I did! It was the perfect length.

Moon Dance is an older story but if you have not listened to it, you are missing out. It's about a female Private Investigator who happens to be a vampire. She is investigating her new client to find out who tried to kill him by shooting him in the face......five times. I know I have been missing out.

Any additional comments?

There are few stories that evoke strong emotions from me; however, this story made me feel rage. Samantha's cheating husband tells her he is taking the kids and makes her move out of their house. Adding insult to injury, he will only allow her supervised visitations every weekend for two hours. If she does not comply with his demands, he will expose her as a vampire, and have her declare unfit as a parent.

All throughout the story, you could tell Samantha was crazy about her kids and took very good care of them. I hope she gets even with her ex-husband in the next book.

Not Your Typical Vampire Story

Loved this new take on the life of a vampire. The story and narration were both excellent. I highly recommend it. My only gripe is the length of the book (short). I didn't mind buying it on special but I did not, and probably won't, pay the usual asking price for the rest of the books in the series. It was good but not good enough to justify the expense. Audible - please put the rest of the books on special or lower the regular price.

very good book kept me wanting to read more

Would you consider the audio edition of Moon Dance to be better than the print version?

i loved listening to it while at work

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sam

Which scene was your favorite?

carrying away of the ups man

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

made me laugh at times

Good Read\Listen

Would you consider the audio edition of Moon Dance to be better than the print version?

Don't know never read the paper version.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Kingsley - I can see lots of story to come

What about Dina Pearlman’s performance did you like?

Enjoyed her performance - felt the characters pain etc.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I lost a tear when the family separated - I know it's a girl thing but nobody would separate me from my family.

Any additional comments?

New author to me - I hope that the rest of the series is as good as this one.

Great Story

Loved it cannot wait for the next one in this series Very intriguing and exciting

Great book

This was a great book and I am Eager to listen to the next only thing is the narrator voice does sound at times like someone just going through the motions and not like someone invested in the story line but great overall all and a nice change from the atypical story line of vampires which is great. X thanks for a great story.

A struggle but interesting premise

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I very much struggled through this book. I picked it up on a whim as it sounded interesting but in the end I found the character very steriotypical vampire with no development on the idea. The constant reminders, within a few sentences, of many things with a lot of repetitions of themes or her thoughts throughout the book made me rather frustrated at times. Also the over description of the men made her seem sex craved. The constant reminder of her icy skin or the unnecessary over description of something that had happened earlier made it a hard going read. Sad as it seemed a promising idea. A lot going on without much depth put into most of it. Seemed to jump theme to theme. I will keep going with the series mainly only as the cliffhangers are infuriating.