Alicia Thomas’s review of Can I Keep You by Candy Nicks
Paranormal erotic romance eBook published Nov 2006 by Alinar

Here’s my contribution for the spooky season.  Not a brand new book, Can I Keep You by Candy Nicks is my favorite traditional vampire story.  And, for once, the blurb is good.

When Kane picks up a runaway on the streets of Victorian England his only thought is to have a few days of amusement and a decent meal. He is a vampire, after all–it’s what he does. But Laura has to be the most unconvincing whore he’s ever met. She soon finds out that there are ways other than brute force and strength to bring a vampire to his knees. As they fall in love, she becomes the catalyst for his astonishing journey of redemption, bringing back all-too-painful memories of Harry, the gentle man he once was. It’s not an easy road. Along the way they encounter forces of evil that have other plans for Laura and Kane. And the question neither of them really wants to answer hovers in the background. Does he turn her into a vampire like himself and risk losing her? Or will a human lifetime together be enough?

Read an excerpt.

This is an almost entirely character driven story.  Half of the book takes place in one room.  It took a little while for me to see the direction the author was going but when I realized I was following these two step-by-step as they changed who they were I fell right in.  This is no shallow book and it isn’t a “fun” book.  This vampire has killed someone without remorse almost every night for ten years before he meets the heroine.  He enjoyed it.  It wasn’t necessary to kill them, he just did.

Then, he is brought to heel by love.  I won’t give any spoilers but I will say that this author doesn’t just toss us a sudden miracle out of the blue to give them their HEA, either.  And the epilogue is to die for.  Buy the book for the epilogue.

Grade:  B+

P.S. The author has some free ebooks available on her website.