Name: Lust for Life
ISBN: 9781439163504

Jeri Smith-Ready

The manager of WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll, vampire Ciara, as she prepares to walk down the aisle with Shane, must deal with a psychotic DJ, a wanna-be necromancer, and a gang of vengeful hippies – all of whom want her to get her day in the sun. Original. 75,000 first printing.

Lust for Life

Jo H

Well, I think that this is the best vampire based UF series that I've ever read. And it is one of the few vampire only (as in no other supernatural creatures) series I've actually read and enjoyed from start to finish too. Never once did I roll my eyes or get irritated by something cliched or juvenile like I do in so many series, even the ones that I do enjoy. This is possibly because the series is shorter than many of the others I've read, and partly because of many of the choices the author made with her characters and how they speak and behave.

Not only is it somewhat casually inclusive in ways that is very rare in mainstream UF, but it is also steeped in the music culture of certain genres of various different decades throughout and has an awesome doggo! It also has one of the most appealing romances that I've come across in UF (as opposed to PNR where the romance is the driving factor) and actually had me shedding a tear or two in quite a number of places, especially in this series finale. 

And the fact that the female MC is not a Mary Sue type character like so many others (that I still enjoy anyway though!) is an added bonus.

The only criticism I think is worth mentioning is that despite the huge emphasis on music throughout, it was somewhat only based on certain types/decades of music and not all that the DJs represented which is such a shame, especially as those left out were the ones I would have been most interested in. However, in books that doe engage pop culture, I totally understand that they are normally based on the preferences of the author which I think is what has happened here. 

Overall, I am really impressed with this highly underrated series and am surprised that I've never heard it spoken about in the many groups I'm part of here on GR.