Rednecks 'n' Roses by Judy Mays

Story: 4

Presentation: 9

Total: 13

Publisher: Ellora's Cave

Contemporary Paranormal Erotic

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Blurb: What’s a good old country boy vampire supposed to do when a smartass city-slicker female barrels into his life and totally disrupts it? What’s wrong with hunting deer—with a rifle—for their blood, having a bushy beard, drinking beer out of Mason jars and sleeping in the bathtub? And what’s wrong with his name? He was named after his grandfather. Rusty Nipple is a fine name.

Amber arrives at her late aunt’s quiet farm planning to write her vampire romance, only to find a man in her bathtub—a dead man. Only he’s not dead. Well, sort of not dead. What more could a romance writer ask for but her very own vampire hero? He’ll be able to tell Amber things about vampires no other author could ever find out. Her book will skyrocket to the top of the bestseller lists!

But how is she supposed to write about a suave, sexy, debonair vampire if Rusty won’t cooperate?


Review: The blurb to this story had my expectations high. Perhaps that was my mistake. Stories from Ellora’s Cave are one of my secret pleasures. Rednecks 'n' Roses fails to deliver is many way. That isn’t to say there weren’t moments when I laughed out loud (the moments were few and far between).

The idea behind the story had great potential. However, the first chapter shows the absolute worst in human nature -- greed from the death of family member. It was difficult to like the heroine after that. But when she became the stereotypical dumb blonde and used television programming (Buffy) as her basis for vampire research, I no longer cared to see her with the hero. In fact, she doesn’t deserve him. Rusty delivers what little substance there is to the story. He’s charming, funny and in the end, shows he’s hero delicious. Alas, not even the fleeting moments of fun or Rusty can redeem this story.

The cover on the other hand, is tantalizingly hot.