Dancing with the Devil - Review

	Title Dancing with the Devil Author Keri Arthur Genre Urban Fantasy Publisher  Dell Publishing Date July 30, 2013 How I Got This Book NetGalley Paperback 368 pages Stand alone or Series Nikki & Michael #1    My Average 10 pg/day    Reading Difficulty 2 (on a scale of 1-5 5 = dictionary vernacular)
Dancing with my Heart!

Private Investigator Nikki James grew up on the tough streets of Lyndhurst and believes there's nothing left to surprise her. All that changes the night she follows teenager Monica Trevgard into the shadows-and becomes a pawn caught in a war between two very different men. One fills her mind with his madness, the other pushes his way into her life-and her heart. Nikki knows how dangerous love can be, but if she wants to survive, she must place her trust in a man who could easily destroy her.

Michael Kelly has come to Lyndhurst determined to end the war between himself and another brother of the night. For 300 years he has existed in life's shadows, gradually learning to control the life from death cravings of a vampire. Nikki not only breaches his formidable barriers with her psychic abilities, but makes Michael believe he may finally have found a woman strong enough to walk by his side and ease the loneliness in his heart. But will his love be enough to protect her from a madman hell-bent on revenge? Or will it drive her into his enemy's deadly trap?

Only together can they overcome the evil threatening to destroy them both. But the secrets they keep from each other might prove to be the greatest threat of all.
 
Full of blood-thirsty action, steamy romance and an ending that will leave you screaming for more.


Woohoo!:

Fantastic pace. Oh my God, the pace! Though there were a few hiccups in the beginning, once you get past the first 25% the book takes on a snowball effect. I couldn't put it down. 

Nikki is a strong character who doesn't know what she wants, all she knows is that she's been burned in the past and doesn't want to repeat that life. It's nice to get a female lead once in a while who kicks ass weather or not her beau is near by to catch her. Someone who doesn't care about her own well-being as long as her loved ones are safe.

The antagonist is terrifying and has the upper hand the majority of the novel. There's something about a villain who can fade into the shadows and make other people do their will that makes them immensely more terrifying. Even though you know you're safe from them under the noon-day sun, they can still send things after you. You're never truly safe.

An ending that leaves you thirsty for more. Deep down, I knew it would end the way it did. I was actually wondering at about 80% how Arthur was going to be able to keep the story line alive for another novel. She figured it out, and it was so perfect, too. She found a way to end the novel with the reader clamoring out the door to purchase the next installment just by using the yo-yo effect which was already strung throughout the novel. Do I love him? Do I loath him? I can't live with her, I can't live without her...


Meeh:
At times, it felt like the protagonist had too much power. They were too perfect. Sometimes, it sounded like Nikki's powers went far beyond the ability to move things with her mind.

In the middle of the book, there is too much "telling" We are stuck in the minds of the two main characters. No action. Nothing that makes us see, smell, taste what's going on.

Lastly, the romance seemed to blossom out of nothing, and in an instant. Sure I read some sexual tension blossoming between the two characters in the beginning, but there seemed to be a solid wall we hit all of a sudden. I suppose that's how romance works in novels though. There isn't enough time to really get it out there properly.

Rating: A

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Author
Keri Arthur

I’m a born and bred Melbourne (Australia) gal, and grew up sharing my life with dragons, elves, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters and the occasional talking horse. Which worried my family to no end. Of course, now that I’m actually make a living sharing my life with the above mentioned creatures, they no longer contemplate calling the men with the little white coat. When not at my keyboard, I can be found at the gym, sitting front of the TV, or taking my two dogs for a walk.

Keri Arthur, author of the New York Times bestselling Riley Jenson Guardian series, has now written more than twenty-eight novels. She’s received several nominations in the Best Contemporary Paranormal category of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards and has won RT’s Career Achievement Award for urban fantasy. She lives with her daughter in Melbourne, Australia.