The Vampire's Priceless Treasure

Nocturne Falls, Book 11

By: Kristen Painter

Narrated by: B.J. Harrison

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year. The tourists think it's all a show: the vampires, the werewolves, the witches, the occasional gargoyle flying through the sky. But the supernaturals populating the town know better.

Living in Nocturne Falls means being yourself. Fangs, fur, and all.

Half-reaper, half-vampire Kora Dupree has made big changes in her life. She’s on good terms with her previously estranged father and taken on all kinds of adult responsibilities. But when an opportunity to find out the truth about her late mother comes along, she can’t resist pursuing it. Even when it means returning to her somewhat dubious ways. 

Vampire Greyson Garrett knows the bad but beautiful Kora is up to something. He’s wise to her games. After all, her father has hired Greyson numerous times to save Kora from all the sticky situations she’s gotten herself into. If she were just…better-behaved he could see himself falling for her. Hard. 

Even though Kora promises she’s changed, Greyson has his doubts. So much so that he follows her one fateful night and gets pulled into her latest scheme. It’s not like he hasn’t been here before, but this time he swears it’s her last chance to prove she’s different. 

Kora’s new adventure sends them on a treasure hunt that takes them all over the globe, and in the course of their travels, they realize how good things are when they work together. But will that all change when the adventure is over? Are they really in love? Or just addicted to the rush?

©2019 Kristen Painter (P)2019 Kristen Painter

Vampire Jones & the Last Crusade with Less Luster

I have been devouring the audibles of this series and Miss Frost. I should also note that you should read/listen to Miss Frost Chill's a Cheater BEFORE this book as pretty immediately in the beginning some spoilers were revealed about that story line I did not know about. I was pretty disappointed in this volume as I really enjoyed Greyson from the Miss Frost series and was sad when he made a very sudden and quick departure from that story line. It had felt too abrupt and more to do with just wanting to get characters to certain plot points than an organic departure. I had appreciated Greyson's practical, direct, yet flirtatious character as well as his position within Nocturne Falls social structure. He was interesting working for the head vamps but also taking job from the local reaper. He was independent and capable, able to move within different circles. We also have Kora who is half-vamp and half-reaper and only recently had a change of heart and attitude.

The two are thrown together in what feels like a thinly veiled supernatural version on Indiana Jones the Last Crusade. They globe trot, get in and out of danger searching for clues and artifacts, and are even chased by a brotherhood. Yet there is not much life to the excitement and not just because we are dealing with undead. Greyson comes off as lackluster and as I know is typical in these stories does an about face in character to be completely head over heels for Kora in a way that lands flat. I don't buy their romance it feels contrived. I wanted to like the story and the fun but I have noticed a trend in Painter's tales where I never feel remotely grounded in the environments she is placing her characters. I feel like I am watching actors on an empty stage. So things feel flat, less rich, and less realistic. I have a harder time being swept away in the story when I am never really sure where I am other than whatever item they are interacting with.

This is light, easy listen, with some fun flavor. But there was not a single moment I felt even a hint of tension. It is also hard to build up how powerful certain groups are yet easily over powered. I mean if you are a fan of the series and don't mind any of these issues than I am sure you will be satisfied with this installment. But I had hoped Greyson would get more. I also find it so odd when in the middle of decisions that could determine massive racial war characters are wondering if their romantic interest would like and accept them. So that every conflict no matter how large the fallout for huge groups of individuals would be gets centered on the potential of this budding romantic partnership. I know that is supposed to be apart of this fantasy romantic theme but I feel really bored with this trope when I don't feel like the characters interactions have created the depth of such devotion and fervor.

Happy endings for all, no foul language for those that dislike that, PG romance, and adventures that take the characters all over the world and interacting with different kinds of supernaturals. I was also let down this time by the narration. I typically love B.J. Harrison but Greyson (whose voice in Miss Frost series is the ONLY voice I enjoy) is barely noticeable and at times there isn't even an accent. There was not much to distinguish some of the other characters voices either, which did not help the feeling of the story being a little lackluster overall.

Again for fans of the series and those that listen to both this and Miss Frost I am sure you will enjoy the listen. Lots of things that are fun and light. But for me I was disappointed overall and had wanted more for the male character and felt this was more going through the motions, with reveals and endings that were predictable and not satisfying.

What happened?!

What happened? I use to love these books! They were fun and cute. This one was a little too sappy an didn’t feel authentic as much as the others. I also got confused as to who was talking - Greyson or Kora - as I often thought it sounded like Kora but was actually Greyson. The differentiation in voice just wasn’t there for me. I’ve never thought that before so maybe this is a one off!

The overall story was good but I’m still confused as to what the final prize did. Kora confronting the Fox was a little predictable but ended strangely. Everything was a little too easy in this book which again, I haven’t noticed in previous books! Let me with too many questions!

I also felt like Greyson lost something! I liked him in the Jayne Frost books until that story got messed up! I like him and Kora (more than him and Jayne) but I wanted more for them! Something was missing :/

SWEET!!

I LOVE THIS SERIES SOOO MUCH!! THEY ARE THE SWEETEST STORIES! EXCITING, FUN, HEART WARMING AND I ALWAYS WANT MORE!!! B.J. HARRISON IS THE ONLY ONE MEANT TO READ THEM TOO, HE'S AWESOME!

One of my favorites in the series

The Vampire’s Priceless Treasure is book 11 in the Nocturne Falls series. This book is about vampire, Greyson Garrett, and half-vampire and Lucien’s daughter, Kora Dupree. I was really excited to read about Greyson. I first met him when I read the Miss Frost crossover series. He was dating Jayne Frost for a short time. I really liked him and couldn’t wait to find out what happened with him. This book did not disappoint.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to review this book when I finished it 2.5 weeks ago so it isn’t as fresh in my mind. What I can say is that I loved this book. It is one of my favorites from the series. It felt like the author got a whole new zest to her writing and has somehow been re-inspired because while all of these books are fantastic, this one just felt different and new.

This book was pretty much a global treasure hunt. We went from country to country during Kora’s quest. There was quite a bit of adventure and I was captivated by it all. There weren’t any dull moments in this book. I also really loved watching Greyson and Kora’s relationship develop.

The content and writing in The Vampire’s Priceless Treasure are easily 6 stars for me. The only thing that was a bit lackluster for me was the narration. This narrator has narrated all of the books in this series and he typically does a wonderful job. I haven’t had any real complaints about how he reads until this book. There were several times in this book where I couldn’t tell which character was supposed to be speaking. The narrator either forgot to switch voices or I just couldn’t tell because the voices were too similar. Like I said though, that has never happened before in this series so I’m not sure why it did now. I won’t hold one book against him though.

I highly recommend the Nocturne Falls series and the spin-off series, Miss Frost. I suggest reading them in order because it makes it more fulfilling (for me anyway), but the author does a great job writing the books so even if you read them as standalone, you don’t get lost. This is a series that I will listen to again and again.

Not B. J. Harrison’s best work but still good

B. J. Harrison usually does an outstanding job at giving the characters different voices; but not this time. Throughout most of the narration I couldn’t tell the difference between Greyson and Kora. It made it very hard to follow at times. If this has been the first book I’d listened to narrated by B. J. Harrison I probably wouldn’t listen to any more by him. However, as already stated, he usually does a much better job at bringing the story to life.

The story itself was as good as expected. I’ve become a lover of the Nocturn Falls/Jane Frost series’ and can’t wait for the next book.

Fun to listen to.

I love this series! So good to pass the time with old and new friends! I’m so glad Greyson finally got his chance at happiness. The story had a really good story line with plenty of action and adventure the chance to change and a romance threaded throughout the cat named waffles made a nice touch!! So looking forward to more B.J. Harrison did a wonderful job narrating this book made is so enjoyable to listen to.

Nocturn Falls

I really have enjoyed all the Nocturn Falls stories!! I am really not interested in the graphic details of sex scenes and these stories fill that bill while giving me cute and funny romances. I could see these as a TV Series.

Where is Grayson’s accent?

I loved the story and all the voices except Grayson. From the Jane series Grayson had a nice accent. In this book reading there was a tiny accent in some parts but most parts he had no accent. The voices of Cora and Grayson sounded identical to me and I frequently had no idea which of them was talking which caused me to miss out on some of the story.

good story

My only disappointment was that Grayson's accent that I love wasn't as noticable as before.

hi

again I love the series I just really wish there was a female voice character for the female voices in a male voice character for the male voice character otherwise these books are perfect the whole series is perfect to the writer or writers if there's any way that you can redo all the books voice characters which female character voice I think it would help the books out so much more they're so good it just needs a little female voice actress in it I'm sorry

Brilliant!!

I've been waiting ages for Greyson to get his book! I loved it, especially the fact that he was matched with Kora! I had thought that it would be great if he and Kora ended up as a couple and I'd really wanted to get her POV on her past and family. She did a lot of growing since we first met her in Luciens book!

Nocturne Falls has lost its sparkle

Story: this wasn't a bad book, and maybe if I hadn't listened to all the other books in the series I might not have been so disappointed. The story line should have been interesting - half-reaper, half -vampire Kora on a mysterious quest that takes her to a lot of different locations, with Greyson at her side to help. It just didn't hold my interest. I'm can't quite put my finger on why but it didn't manage to convince me to care what happened and in fact I stopped listening before the end. I loved Nocturne Falls but I feel like maybe the series has run its course because this just didn't hit the mark for me. I've been listening to Kristen's new series Shadowvale and I think it was a good plan to move onto something different.

Characters: they just weren't that interesting. I didn't much like Kora, I found her antics tedious and her supposed development from brat to decent person unconvincing. It just ended up making her seem dull. Grayson was just bland and didn't seem to have much personality really.

Romance: just not really convincing. They didn't seem to gel particularly and not in a way that set off fireworks between them. There was no sparkle here.

Setting: this moved around a lot but I never really felt like I had actually arrived in any of the locations, they weren't well described or made interesting, despite being places that I know to be fascinating.

Steaminess: as per the author's usual: nothing explicit.