{"id":772,"date":"2015-10-27T10:55:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T14:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/?p=772"},"modified":"2015-10-21T18:49:09","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T22:49:09","slug":"vampire-week-liv-rancourts-top-five-favorite-vampires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/2015\/10\/27\/vampire-week-liv-rancourts-top-five-favorite-vampires\/","title":{"rendered":"Vampire Week: Liv Rancourt’s Top Five Favorite Vampires"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"selfie<\/a>A couple weeks ago\u00a0I saw Kate’s request for bloggers who wanted to talk vampire. Since I’ve got a long-standing relationship with the unholy undead,\u00a0I eagerly\u00a0volunteered.<\/p>\n

My thing for vampires goes back to the ’70s. When I was in second grade, my sister used to make a point of watching Dark Shadows\u00a0– the original TV show, not the movie –\u00a0just because she knew it would freak me out. At that point, I hated vampires. And you know what? They say your tastes can change, but I’ve never developed much of an appreciation for horror.
\nReal life scares me enough!
\nSometime in the ’80s, though, vampires became less frightening and more…well… romantic. For me, reading the\u00a0sexy bits worked\u00a0like\u00a0a spoonful of sugar to help the scary\u00a0parts go down.<\/p>\n

Wait… I’m not sure that analogy worked quite right<\/em>\u2026
\nAnyhow, here’s a list of my favorite romantic vampires, guaranteed to feel appropriate to the season without actually – you know – frightening\u00a0you. The only order to this post is how quickly these five characters came to mind. I could no more choose one favorite vampire than I could choose a\u00a0favorite flavor of ice cream\u2026.<\/p>\n

1. Lestat de Lioncourt – The Vampire Chronicles\u00a0 – Ann Rice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lestat is THE vampire. He’s narcissistic and charismatic, and he’s thoughtful without devolving into angst – something Louis never quite understood. Ann Rice wrote \u201cInterview with a Vampire\u201d\u00a0 before she wrote\u00a0\u201cThe Vampire Lestat\u201d, but I read them in reverse order, so I was bonded with Lestat before I spent a whole book listening to Louis whine about him. I’ve often wondered if my opinion would be different if I’d read them in the order the author had intended.<\/p>\n

Nah.<\/p>\n

Louis is whiny, and Lestat is cool.<\/p>\n

2. Jean Claude – Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter\u00a0\u2013 Laurell K Hamilton<\/h4>\n

Of all the vampires on this list, Jean Claude is perhaps the most gorgeous. With long dark curls, brilliant blue eyes, and fair skin, his beauty attracted the attention of the vampire who turned him, and through her he draws his most potent power, the ardeur<\/em>. Basically, he can love people to death, and from that perspective, he embodies the essence of the Anita Blake stories: beauty and sensuality framed in heart-rending violence.<\/p>\n

Like Lestat, Jean Claude is French, which I think actually adds to the romance angle. He’s smart and sexy, and it has been fun to watch his character grow\u00a0over the twenty-some books in the series.<\/p>\n

3. Wild Bill – Channeling Morpheus for Scary Mary\u00a0– Jordan Castillo Price<\/h4>\n

Now Wild Bill is a different sort of vampire. He’s intrinsically American, a punk rocker from the ’80s who hooked up with the wrong (undead) dude and since then\u00a0has spent a couple of lifetimes hiding his artistic soul under black leather and spikes. He meets Michael, a vampire hunter of a sort, and their gritty romance mostly takes place in the back of a beat-up van, somewhere on the\u00a0back roads of the Midwest.<\/p>\n

But Wild Bill bought the van for Michael, which is kind of romantic…isn’t it?<\/p>\n

4. Eric Northman – The Southern Vampire Mysteries<\/strong>\u2013 Charlaine Harris<\/strong><\/p>\n

What can I say about Eric that hasn’t already been said? He’s always struck me as Lestat’s younger, straighter, brother. He’s just as unapologetically\u00a0All About Eric, and\u00a0while we don’t see him spending\u00a0hours pondering the meaning of existence, we’re also not in his head. Maybe he does ponder – or maybe he’s just too busy living. Eric appears in all the Southern Vampire mysteries, but it’s his sweet, vulnerable side we see in \u201cDead to the World\u201d. This is book the fourth in the series, and it starts when Sookie finds a naked man on the side of the road. Well, not a man, a vampire. A vampire who doesn\u2019t even know his own name.<\/p>\n

Eric with amnesia? Now that’s romantic!<\/p>\n

5. Don Simon Ysidro – The James Asher Novels\u00a0\u2013 Barbara Hambly<\/h4>\n

For my final favorite romantic vampire, I’m going old school.\u00a0\u201cThose Who Hunt the Night\u201d by Barbara Hambly was published back in 1988. It tells the story of James Asher, a former spy for Queen Victoria who left that military\u00a0to become an academic. He’s newly married, and appreciates the peace and safety of his Oxford life, until the night a vampire shows up. Don Ysidro needs a favor. Someone is killing the vampires of London, and the good Don has no problem threatening Asher’s young wife to motivate him to return to his espionage roots.<\/p>\n

But over the course of the first two books, Don Ysidro and Asher’s wife develop a … flirtation. A very Victorian, restrained, unspoken … something. Don Ysidro’s more like Lestat, in that human means of expressing physical affection are lost to him, and we’re not in his head, so we don’t truly know what he’s feeling. But the extended looks, the long, drawn-out moments of…<\/p>\n

Wow.<\/p>\n

There you have it! Five romantic vampires, for when you want to get your spook on without actually feeling frightened. Thanks very much for having me, Kate! And thanks to all of you for reading along!\u00a0I\u2019ve got a brand new baby mailing list, so if you\u2019d like to be the first to hear about my own vampire work-in-progress, jump HERE<\/a> to sign up.<\/p>\n

Happy Halloween!<\/p>\n

Do you have a favorite romantic vampire? I know I left quite a few off my list, so leave me a comment and we can compare notes!<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0\"VDD<\/a>A Vampire’s Deadly Delight<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Liv Rancourt<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u2019s a quiet, unassuming bookstore owner by day, but by<\/strong><\/p>\n

night…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kristen has a deadly secret\u2014when she smells a vampire, she\u00a0turns into Jai, a beauti-licious babe who makes vamps\u00a0permanently <\/em>dead. To a vamp, Jai is like ambrosia. They can\u2019t\u00a0resist her. She uses this attraction, plus her super strength and\u00a0her trusty blade, Mr. Sticky, to end their undead lives. The thrill\u00a0of wearing miniskirts without worrying about cellulite stifles\u00a0any qualms Kristen might have about killing the undead. Being\u00a0Jai is the most fun she has ever had\u2014until they come up\u00a0against the one <\/em>vampire Jai can\u2019t kill. If he and Jai have a history,\u00a0as he claims, Jai can\u2019t remember it…or him.<\/p>\n

But when her work catches the attention of some old\u00a0enemies\u2014who won\u2019t hesitate to destroy Kristen if it also\u00a0means the end of Jai\u2014this vampire may be their only hope.\u00a0Can Kristen and Jai learn to tell the difference between good\u00a0and evil in time to defeat Jai\u2019s ancient nemesis? Or will being\u00a0Jai\u2019s hostess cost Kristen more than just her beauty sleep?<\/p>\n

Available from Black Opal Books<\/a>, Amazon<\/a>, Barnes & Noble<\/a>, and Smashwords<\/a>.
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