Eileen Sheehan
Genre: paranormal romance
Publisher: Eternal Press, LLC
Date of Publication: September 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1629293110
ASIN: B01494XZB8
Number of pages: 202
Word Count: 100 k
Cover Artist: Dawne Dominique
In a romantic triangle of good and bad, it's hard to tell who is good and who is bad.
Lizzy Ewing is caught in a romantic triangle between a two enemies; the handsome vampire, Nevi, and the hunky handler, Geoffrey. A handler herself, Lizzy must choose between Nevi and Geoffrey. One wants her for all the right reasons and one doesn't.
Will she discover who is who before the bad destroys the good?
The vampire, the handler and me left some mixed feelings about my reading. While I enjoyed the course of the plot and the overall story I felt this was those kind of novels where you need at least more 200 pages in order to have its full effect on me. There were times when the author used tell and time lapses in order to accelerate the plot, which again was the main cause that I wasn’t thrilled or amazed with the reading process Don’t get me wrong I read it in 2 hours, it is not a slow reading, however the much used of “tell” in some parts did spoil some joy.
This is, I believe, Sheehan’s first novel ad let me tell you this is a very good first novel. I have read far worse from more experienced authors by no means I believe that Sheehan’s a bad author or that this novel is not good. But I do believe that there are a few things that should be changed in future novels and also things that Sheehan should keep doing.
But let us start this review with a more positive note: the worldbuild, I enjoyed the fact that there were different type of vampires and that it was all explained carefully. At the beginning you just know like the main character that vampires exist and then with time you also start understanding that it is not that easy and simple.
Nevil’s character is also very good, he sends a very mysterious vibe and is almost hypnotic. He gets what he wants most of the time, has a somewhat tragic recent past and he is a good love interest. I just wished that he would be more vampiry and less lovey-dovey. I always expected him to bite Lizzy and let his more wild side set free. Even Lizzy in the end is more mean and vengeful than he is. There were some twists that I was not expecting and some that I could see miles away, but again I am happy when a twists surprises me as I am used to see twists miles away most of the time.
Now Lizzy’s character was what made me cringe sometimes throughout the plot. I only liked in the last act because then she had a defined character. She is the traditional oh-i’m-ugly-i-have-no-boyfriend and it sucks. Her family is a bully, her friends while they don’t appear that much are supportive but what really tickled me was how easy she changed between Geoffrey and Nevil. I am fine with a girl loving two guys, I am not fine with her being indecisive and thinking about who she likes more. I don’t have time for that bullshit, sleep with both and I am happy. One time is enough to have guilt, if you’re going to be guilty for kissing both always you need to think about your life.
Another thing that bothered me was how easily she was in love with these both guy just because they were hot. Nevil I get, he is a vampire, he has abilities, but Geoffrey was a handler he had nothing that would make Lizzy find him irresistible. I just never bought it when she said she was so in love. In the final act I did because she did something, she fought against something, throughout the novel we’re just told that she loves Nevil but she does the opposite of a person in love, she lies, she hides information, she cheats and at first I believed why she was attracted to both guys: both said she was gorgeous and kissed her, so being a women with low self-esteem she felt that there was something in her that they could see. Something that was valuable. It just came to a point where I thought she was not being real. I waited the whole novel for when she was finally going to tell him her big secret and Nevil would freak out. That would be a great conflict: hey I am one of the things you hate the most and you love me, ain’t life happy? But she never did, when he found out it was literally in the end so no conflict. Don’t tell me you love a guy just so you catch a plane with another and kiss him! It’s not that I am all for monogamy relationships but if you want both, then get both! If you want just one, then just get one.
The beginning was also a bit strange (the first chapter), it didn’t grab me but at the same time I had to wait until the third chapter to see some real conflict. Again it’s not a beginning where you’re like: oh my God I need to read more, it’s one of those where you tell yourself: ok author, I want to see where you’re going with this.
So, overall I can say that The vampire, the handler and me is a solid first novel, it has some interesting characters and twists and it is a pleasant reading. There is room for improvement but also things that worked nicely and should be kept in future novels. I hope to see more of Sheehan’s novels where she explores the handlers more.
“My name is Nevi, Nevi Sharpe,” he said with a deep, sultry accent. “May I ask with whom I have the pleasure of sharing scratch-off tickets?”
I wanted to answer him but I was still stuck on stupid. I opened my mouth to speak and absolutely nothing came out.
How embarrassing.
How ridiculous.
How mortifying.
He was just a man, after all. What was my issue?
I just couldn’t move past the sense of magnificence that permeated the air around him. It was both electrifying and nerve wracking.
“You have a phone call,” blurted the bland voice of Miss Congeniality as she approached my newly discovered god-man with a cordless phone.
“Please excuse me,” he murmured in my direction as he snapped the phone from the clerk’s hand, obviously unhappy to be disturbed.
“Lizzy. Lizzy Ewing,” I forced past my lips as he stood up. “My name’s Lizzy Ewing.”
I could feel flames consume my cheeks when I realized how desperate my voice must have sounded. He studied me with dancing eyes—momentarily forgetting his annoyance about the phone call.“Nice to meet you, Lizzy Ewing,” he said warmly. “Please excuse me.”
With that, he lifted the phone unceremoniously to his ear and disappeared through a doorway behind the counter. I assumed it led to his office. At the faint sound of another door shutting behind that door, I felt I assumed right.
The clerk shuffled through the array of lotto tickets spread out on the counter in front of me with a notable smirk on her broad, acne infested face before looking up at me. “That’ll be twenty-five dollars,” she stated smugly.
I stood there looking at her for a brief moment while it registered with me…I was getting stuck with the entire bill of my not so private scratch-off tryst!
Eileen Sheehan lives in her native upstate New York where she enjoys the beauty of the New York Countryside.
When she is not sitting at the computer creating a new fantasy, she can be found helping her clients through her holistic business as Lena Sheehan a.k.a. Psychic Lena.
She takes advantage of her experiences, wisdom and knowledge of the paranormal and often finds ways to insert them into her writings.
(2) e-book copies of The Vampire, The Handler and Me in epub or mobi format.
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