Vampire's Kiss

Mafia Monsters Series, Book 1

By: Atlas Rose, Kim Faulks

Narrated by: Cheryl May

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

He captured my wrist, smooth black leather against my skin. The kiss was hungry, and urgent. His hard chest pressed me against the bricks and before I knew it, my hand rising to meet the wall. 

He had me. Gloved hand pinning my wrists above me. His finger at my temple.

And his lips taking...taking...taking. 

The Hidden, we call them. Four Vampires who run this city west of the river. And my family runs the east. 

They’re immortal beasts...more dangerous than my family, the Costello’s.

Only my dying dad has left behind a fuck load of trouble. One of them, a deal with these fanged beasts...a deal that’s now gone south.

Threats on my windshield, and a dead rat impaled on my door makes me confront these monsters. 

Elithien, the leader of the Vampire Clan wants to tell me the truth. 

Only it’s a truth I don’t want to believe. 

But somehow I always return to them. 

These Vampires invade my mind...and leave me craving their touch.

Hurrow, Justice and Rule are possessive, and jealous and every bit the bloodthirsty hunters I knew them to be. 

I will fight the lies they tell me. I will hold on to the last traces of my sanity.

I won’t become a monster like them...not even for love.

©2020 Atlas Rose, Kim Faulks (P)2020 Atlas Rose, Kim Faulks

RUTHless and her vampires

I’ll start by first saying the ending to this was to die for, no pun intended. I just can’t put it into words how good it was. To some, it may be a cliffhanger but I didn’t really see it as that. It was some clarity as to what’s happening and even more, an open door to the future for Ruth and the vampires. I have a lot of reverse harem books but have only read a few. It seems different reading them lol. For those of you who don’t like them or are reluctant, I would recommend this one. While there is more than one vampire devoted to Ruth, it’s written with taste and not a lot of sex throughout the book. I love that it is an intense story of Ruth and her life as the daughter of a man who is head of the mafia. A man who is dying of cancer. The book shows what happens after his death. How relatives are wanting the company and how much they underestimate Ruth, especially since she’s a woman. Not only the relatives, but everyone underestimates her. I loved how she could hold her own. She had no one to help her except the vampires who rescued her. I hope in future books we see more of the wolves. I liked them a lot also. I also hope to learn more about the unseelie Fae. So bad but so good. I want to say so much about a certain character but feel it would ruin it. I don’t recommend reading the excerpt for book two as it does talk about this character. I loved that I didn’t know about it until I listened to the audiobook. It was a great treat. Be warned though if you decide to give this one a try. You will have major book hangover. No other will do for a while. Unless it’s the next in the series, of course!

If you go for the audiobook, the narrator is perfect. I can’t get over how well she does all the different voices, male and female.

Wow

Warning!!! Major cliffhanger! This will be an amazing story when it's completed. I absolutely LOVE the characters and the chemistry between them. The storyline is great but I am so disappointed that the story isn't finished.

Did not expect such a personal journey type story

I found it frustrating to be so long inside heroine’s head . The title, name of series and previous “dark” work of the author implied a different type of story than the personal journey that was offered.

Couldn't put it down

✔Vampires
✔Wolves
✔Fae
✔Mafia
✔Why Choose Romance
✔Sexy, Engaging, Suspenseful

Vampire's Kiss is a "keep me up all night" kind of read. The constant twists and turns underlined with suspense encouraged me to turn the pages.

And, oh, the sexy as sin vampire clan interested in Ruth? Delicious! I loved how the authors gave so much personality to their descriptions, making each male pop right off the page.

I'm going to need to stake a claim on Elithien, though. He's mine. I'm not sharing. Sorry, Ruth.

I recommend this series to those who enjoy dark paranormal romance with a sexy side of a reverse harem. This story is intense with significant world-building and a solid plot that's going to carry on for several books. I don't know what more to say, this book kinda blew my mind. Vampire's Kiss is the first book in the Mafia Monsters series by the writing team of Atlas Rose and Kim Faulks.

Ruth is a mob boss's daughter, the daughter of Denzel Costello, the head of the human mafia. She is the lone woman in a world that is ruled by men and where women are treated more like objects that the fierce intelligent hard-working beings they can be. When something horrible happens and enemies closing in, Ruth is about to discover who the real monsters are.


The story was so interesting, this was my first ever mafia story I read by Kim Faulk, mainly because I stick with fantasy/paranormal books and I never came across it. I wanted to try a mafia story but truth be told if it isn't my favorite genre then I kinda find it hard to enjoy. I do go out of my comfort zone with a few book but it's rare. Anyway, when I read that the new series by Kim was called Mafia Monsters I was in, a book type I wanted to try and my favorite author, sign me up. The cold mafia world with its violence, decadence, and power was a very interesting story. I admit it started slow but the more I read the more I got hooked and by the end I was screaming at the book, having theories, jumping around, you can say I'm all in at this point.

I only had a couple of things that bothered me, One of the things that confused me about her character was that being in the precarious position she's in how does she not know any self-defense. She can't through a punch, shot a gun, use a knife, nothing and that doesn't seem wise. The other thing was that I had a little confusion with information, I would swear one thing was said earlier in the book then a little later another fact was given to contradict the first fact. It could have been me, either way, I still loved this book.

Vampire's Kiss was a violent delight, I did enjoy the book. Between family that is out to destroy one another, supernatural love interests, and a couple of plot twists, how could I not be entertained? I figured out a few things before they happened but I have so many questions and I have a couple of new theories that are floating in my head and I wanna know if I'm right. I believe that this is a trilogy and I am so looking forward to the next book in the series, I can't wait to see what happens next.

pathetic

It could've been a great book, if I could have respected the main character. She is feeble and pathetic through the whole book. It's like a huge pity party in her head non stop. Repeating the same bad memories over and over. She's a victim and she just accepts it. I kept waiting for her to learn from her mistakes but she continues to be blind to everything until she's once again a victim. Damsel in distress. Not my cup of tea.

want more

hooked from the start and want more as this ends on a cliffhanger, so looking to read and/or listen to the next book.

FANG.TASTIC & V-V DIFFERENT.. BUT A CLIFFHANGER

This was my first taste of these two authors.. and the narrator too, but the book’s blurb appealed to me and I’m so glad it did and I took the chance.. because it blew me away with its sinister storyline as Ruth, the heroine with an empty life, finds self-worth, a place to call home and love in the least likely place.

A mortal, Ruth is the daughter and heir to her beloved father’s illegal Costello Shipping Empire that’s east of the river, she wants to make her mark in the business and works on steering it legal.. but she’s been placed in a job with little or no impact. She loves her father but there’s Costello monsters working alongside them.. family monsters with broken moral compasses and pockets full of villainous plans. This is a world full of power and powerful supernatural enemies - Vampires and Werewolves running west of the river. And one deadly night Ruth gets caught-up with one of them.. and all it takes is being badly beaten after a kiss in the shadows.. but it’s a kiss like no other before. It’s a kiss that will taunt and haunt her thoughts.. it’s a kiss that will make her do reckless things.. it’s a kiss that lingers long after yet holds the promise of more.. it’s a kiss that had touches which seduced her into ecstasy.. and it’s a kiss that will change her life forever.. but first it’s a kiss that’s going to make her a powerful ally.

And later in this well-paced story, as Ruth’s father slowly dies from his disease, dark allies reveal those shadowy monsters.. and a new Ruth slowly emerges.. one that will go to the dark side to face demons in order to slay her monsters. But be careful lady, because Elithian, Hurrow, Justice and Rule aren’t just ruling Mafia Vampires.. they’re at the top of the food chain.. they’re four deadly, possessive, sexy sinister alphas who make up a fang Clan.. a Clan that doesn’t share - other than with each other.. they get jealous.. and each and every one of them wants you.

MORE.. more is what I say to everything about this book.. I want MORE because it’s a cliffhanger. The chemistry between Elithian and Ruth was MORE than electrifying and intense as was the chemistry with the other three vampires. The very slow-build as the layers were laid and cast introduced was MORE than I was expecting. The suspense and depth to the story was MORE than gratifying.. and the first taste of thIs dark new world was MORE than exciting and climactic. And the narration by Cheryl May was MORE than just good - it was great and it brought each and every character to life, gave them individual voices, breathed life into the plot-line and I got much MORE from the story that was told from Ruth’s POV. It was a long wait while the invisible bond pulled and entwined between Ruth and Elithian.. but when they do finally figure it out.. fireworks people.. and only two have had a taste!! No ‘Mafia’ or ‘Fae’ touches yet.. but the night is still young.

Worth a credit? Well I loved it - so that’s a definite yes from me.. but there was NO WARNING of the tbc CLIFFHANGER ending.. and Audible, that’s not on!!

performance

slow in the beginning but really pulled it out in the end and I loved it. I was all kinds of giddy and others at work questioned my sanity. perfect

EXCELLENT!!!!!! NO WORDS!!!!!

Vampire’s Kiss, an Audiobook by Atlas Rose, was a taut, mesmerizing thriller that had me hooked immediately….and NEVER let up!!!! It is book one in the Mafia Monsters series!! This was a story about Ruth….and a kiss….she’s heir to a conglomerate run by her father. But, other family members want her place. There are a number of werewolves, fae, and vampire involved in an intricate plot that is slowing unfolding. The story ends in a cliffhanger that I can’t wait to find out!!! Even though I REALLY hate cliffhangers….

Vampire's Kiss was so incredibly well-written, I had tingles down by back throughout the entire story. The story and the writing were captivating, absorbing and held my attention throughout!!!! What a fantabulous read!!!! 5++++++ stars!!!!!

This story was captivatingly, mesmerizingly narrated by Cheryl May….her rough, growly voice was perfect for this story!!! There were times she made me shudder and brought chills down my spine!!! Fabulous!!!!

I am volunteering to leave a review for an Advance Reader Copy of this Audiobook.

Just couldn’t finish this book

I didn’t care for the narration at all... and I’m not super picky about narrators but this just was horrible. The author also uses way too much internal dialogue. It makes it hard to really get into the story.

Vampire's Kiss

This book was everything I needed. It was just enough dark Mafia and then add in the Supernatural element, perfect. Cheryl May did fabulous gravely voices. I need book 2 now!

Absolutely Fantastic

I have to say this one of the best stories I have listened to this year!! I wasn’t in the mood to read about vampires, but I’m so glad I did. This was so much more than a vamp story, so much more than expected and the narrator was excellent, all the characters had distinctive voices and the men sounded like men. I really need the next one please!!

wow

Absolutely loved this book, I can not wait for the next one. The story is brilliant and there's a twist at the end of the book that you don't expect. Ladies please hurry up and write the next one.