A Vampire's Christmas Carol
by Cynthia Eden
Blurb:
This holiday season has bite.
Ben
Prescott hates Christmas—he’s a vampire, and to him, there’s certainly nothing
jolly about the holiday season. While the humans are running around being
merry, he’s hunting in the shadows. Ben plans to spend the holidays his way…by
stalking deadly prey.
But fate has other plans for Ben.
Three
visitors are coming Ben’s way…A demon who will force Ben to face his past, a
ghost who will show Ben the present he could have, and a shifter who will
reveal the darkness that waits in Ben’s future. Unless Ben can change his ways,
he may just turn into a real monster, one who can’t be saved by anyone or
anything.
’Tis the season…to be undead.
Ben’s
redemption rests in the hands of the one woman he loved and lost—Simone
Laurent. If Ben is going to have a chance at being more than just the beast in
the darkness, he has to prove himself to the lovely Simone. A very hard task,
considering that, once upon a Christmas Eve, Simone died in Ben’s arms…
Review:
I admit I have only read a few of Cynthia Eden’s
stories, usually when they were in an anthology with an author or story that I just
loved, but this story though short was a pretty good read. I went in to the story expecting an interesting
twist on the classic Dickens story and I got just that, with some hot loving
thrown in, of course. I will say that I enjoy
Eden’s writing style and her imagination can’t be criticized, but I do often
find myself lacking that connection with her stories that I love in a good
romance or erotica story. That being said, I did enjoy AVCC and would happily
read her stories again.
This
version of the classic begins with Ben, an avenging vampire, being confronted
by his demon friend, aptly named William Marley, who prevents Ben from making his
latest kill and begins the redemption of Ben’s soul. Ben travels with William
to his past and shows him the night that be became a vamp and the night he lost
the love of his life, forcing him to relieve the pain and face the truths of
those actions. Then his lost love Simone
returns to him as his second visitor of the night and shows him the hidden
parts of his present to teach him that things are not always as they seem. But the moment they are together Ben can’t
resist renewing their love and Simone is more than willing to be taken by
Ben. When her time is up, Ben’s final visitor
shows him the true horror that his future holds if he doesn’t change his ways,
prompting Ben to remember the man he was before he became a vampire and find
the light within himself. Unfortunately, this
chance as redemption for Ben comes at a high price and when the secrets of his
past come to light, will Ben be redeemed or fall into the never ending dark, dragging down the only light he’s ever had when he falls?
Ben
and Simone’s story was short but heartfelt, sexy but emotional, and one that
has enough imagination to make this spin on the classic one that I plan to
enjoy each holiday season. It was fun
seeing Ben forced to face the changes within himself, but also uncovering
secrets that were kept from him for many years.
Simone is certainly a very angelic woman, sacrificing her happiness to
make sure that Ben doesn’t turn into a monster, knowing that the goodness
inside him is worth redeeming, that their love is enough to fill him with
light. Eden handles the twists well and
gives you a very enjoyable journey into human nature and the true nature of the
season and love. I haven’t enjoyed many
of the twists on Christmas Carol I’ve seen or read, but Ben and Simone were a
great couple and their story was great.
I would have loved to see it be a bit longer, maybe getting a little
more time to rekindle their love, but I guess for the short time they have
together they definitely brought the heat and naughty togetherness I was hoping
for.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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