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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
A Mafia Vampire
Kristen Painter is a great author, I've read her Comarre series which just was incredible. So, this is the story of Donna, wife to a mafia strongman, way up the ladder. Donna is an amazingly strong woman putting up with this crap for so long, but she wants out. This is her story and her intro to vampire life. It was fun and light and is another great addition to this older woman paranormal story that I'm loving.
Kristen Painter is a great author, I've read her Comarre series which just was incredible. So, this is the story of Donna, wife to a mafia strongman, way up the ladder. Donna is an amazingly strong woman putting up with this crap for so long, but she wants out. This is her story and her intro to vampire life. It was fun and light and is another great addition to this older woman paranormal story that I'm loving.
I don’t typically go for mob-related books but I was intrigued by Sucks to Be Me. I’m always down for a vampire story, especially when the main character happens to NOT be a twenty-something. It’s refreshing to have an entire series devoted to the erm…mature adult woman.
Belladonna Barrone is married to the mob, quite literally. She’s actually trying to find a way out and has been secretly feeding information to an FBI agent in hopes that he can make that happen and give her a new life. Except things don’t always go as planned.
Read more at Wicked Cool Flight.
Belladonna Barrone is married to the mob, quite literally. She’s actually trying to find a way out and has been secretly feeding information to an FBI agent in hopes that he can make that happen and give her a new life. Except things don’t always go as planned.
Read more at Wicked Cool Flight.
Yay vampires!
I have always adored vampires, and to have a few vampires who aren't young and brooding is lovely. I really like the take on a mature vampire. Donna is ively...and I hope there's more of Francine in the future
I have always adored vampires, and to have a few vampires who aren't young and brooding is lovely. I really like the take on a mature vampire. Donna is ively...and I hope there's more of Francine in the future
Addicting
So I really had trouble putting this new book down. To the point of being 0430 in the morning parked outside a services just because I wanted to read the end. It was an amazing range of characters that I can’t wait to see more of, the mafia thing was large but not overpowering as I feared it may become. Bella is a character with class, pizazz and a wardrobe that I don’t understand. I cannot wait for book 2.
So I really had trouble putting this new book down. To the point of being 0430 in the morning parked outside a services just because I wanted to read the end. It was an amazing range of characters that I can’t wait to see more of, the mafia thing was large but not overpowering as I feared it may become. Bella is a character with class, pizazz and a wardrobe that I don’t understand. I cannot wait for book 2.
Enjoyable
Bit slow to start, but ended on a strong note, leaving me wanting the next book. Good character growth as well.
Bit slow to start, but ended on a strong note, leaving me wanting the next book. Good character growth as well.
Donna didn't set out to be a Mafia wife. But once she realised what her hubby was she began collating evidence she could use as her get of jail card. Now that her daughter is safely off to college it's time to vamoose. But before she can put her carefully crafted, FBI led plan into motion her hubby dies. Or was he a "hit"?
She thought finding out she was in the Mob was bad enough, how will she survive when she realises she has been bit be a vampire? Or that the agent she has been gently crushing on is not all that he seems?
Donna is just a hoot. She may be a mob wife but she knows exactly how she can trust. Herself, her daughter and her sister, who is a Nun. She does meet a motley crew of supporters as she stumbles through her introduction to the Supernatural, all of whom give her the help she needs.
Great story, comedy and little sparks of passion. Can't wait to see what comes next!
She thought finding out she was in the Mob was bad enough, how will she survive when she realises she has been bit be a vampire? Or that the agent she has been gently crushing on is not all that he seems?
Donna is just a hoot. She may be a mob wife but she knows exactly how she can trust. Herself, her daughter and her sister, who is a Nun. She does meet a motley crew of supporters as she stumbles through her introduction to the Supernatural, all of whom give her the help she needs.
Great story, comedy and little sparks of passion. Can't wait to see what comes next!
BellaDonna Barone is a peri menopausal woman who is trying to gather evidence to turn state’s evidence against her Mafia connected husband and his family so that she and her adult children can get a clean out. We meet her as she is discovering that her husband was killed in a car accident and she got her out without having to go through the trouble of turning him in and entering the Witness Protection Program. The night after his funeral, Donna goes to the cemetery to give her late husband a piece of her mind when she is attacked and changed against her will by a vampire. The rest of the book follows her adventures as a newly turned vampire. I really enjoyed this book and immediately downloaded the next in the series.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a fun, very quick read, like the paranormal women's fiction version of cotton candy. There is one major pitfall that keeps me from recommending the book - major internalized fatphobia, which I'll talk about in more detail below.
I enjoyed how Belladona worked to get through her problems, and that while she loved her children her entire personality didn't revolve around being a mom. The book moves at a lightning pace, making her confidence, skill and relationships feel like they came about too quickly, but the book has such a light-hearted tone that the ease of solutions seemed to fit.
Belladona goes to therapy both as a human and a vampire, and quickly gains a group of women friends once she turns. It was refreshing to see therapy portrayed in a positive light, and that her becoming a vampire didn't magically make her need support systems less.
The one major problem I had with this book is the heroine's internalized fatphobia. She spends a lot of time thinking about what she can or can't eat, and how much she needs to exercise to burn off food. She acknowledges towards the beginning that the beauty standards she and other women have to live up to are terrible, but with her change into a vampire everything becomes about how great it is she suddenly lost all this weight and "glows." She goes on two shopping trips after losing a massive amount of weight literally overnight, and the amount of time she spent thinking about how great her body looked now was incredibly off-putting.
While I was able to enjoy the book despite the fatphobia and focus on diet culture, I would never recommend this book to others because of these issues.
I enjoyed how Belladona worked to get through her problems, and that while she loved her children her entire personality didn't revolve around being a mom. The book moves at a lightning pace, making her confidence, skill and relationships feel like they came about too quickly, but the book has such a light-hearted tone that the ease of solutions seemed to fit.
Belladona goes to therapy both as a human and a vampire, and quickly gains a group of women friends once she turns. It was refreshing to see therapy portrayed in a positive light, and that her becoming a vampire didn't magically make her need support systems less.
The one major problem I had with this book is the heroine's internalized fatphobia. She spends a lot of time thinking about what she can or can't eat, and how much she needs to exercise to burn off food. She acknowledges towards the beginning that the beauty standards she and other women have to live up to are terrible, but with her change into a vampire everything becomes about how great it is she suddenly lost all this weight and "glows." She goes on two shopping trips after losing a massive amount of weight literally overnight, and the amount of time she spent thinking about how great her body looked now was incredibly off-putting.
While I was able to enjoy the book despite the fatphobia and focus on diet culture, I would never recommend this book to others because of these issues.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Alcohol
What a fun book. I listened to it on audio and I was hooked from start to finish. We have a strong main character that takes us through vampire politics.
Loved this book. Bring middle aged myself helped me relate completely to Donna. When she put someone in their place for disrespecting her for being older, I wanted to applaud. I have done that before and her reaction afterwards was perfect. Loved this book.