I have finally found a new Urban Fantasy vampire series to rave about and it's about time. The Cassandra Palmer Series is one you don't want to miss.I held off this book for so long because of all of the mixed reviews out there. I had also started it like 6 times, but finally the next time I told myself I was going to read this and finish it, damn it. And I did and I am so mad I held off, but bright side of that story is the fifth book has just came out.I am not going to go into much detail of the plot and story lines because those can take many many paragraphs, but this book was funny entertaining in the action-packed side and the hilarious side of things. I loved all of the characters and it was just one of those great reads.I really felt bad for the main character Cassie, because she has this great power, and everyone wants to claim her for themselves and control her and because of this she has had the worse childhood ever. I really felt for her and hope she kicks ass and gains her Independence by the end of the series."Let me get this straight. First you decide I'm a demon because of a power I didn't ask for and don't even understand. Then when that falls through you label me a fallen sybil and a ho. Am I missing something or do you just not like me."We have three potential love interests, and by the end each of them gave me a reason to hate them all. It is funny how author do that, yes? I have hope that I will be able to pick which hottie within the next few books. But the guys in this book, are oh, so super hot. You think you have read a book with sexy vampires? I think you really need to read this book to find out just how hot these vamps are. I swear I loved every single one that had a main role in the book.There's Louis-Cesar, Mircea, Tomas, Rafe....oooohhhhh! All so hot. Okay. I done obsessing over my hottie vampires. But, overall this book was amazing, my expectations were very low and I am just so glad that this book caught me so off guard. I loved every moment and I can't wait to see what happens in the next Cassandra Palmer book.

Pretty good. Unfortunately, Cassie is not a stone cold killer, she's actually a complete wimp in that area. I liked the book well enough, but I wish Cassie was a badass. She's more super magically talented and kindhearted than anything. I prefer black hearted heroines. MacHalo Read

2.5 starsSometimes when you're chatting away on GR or lurking on someone's feed, you see character pairings mentioned all over the place. You know what I mean - Cat and Bones, Kate and Curran, Eve and Roarke etc. etc. In fact, that's what got me started on the Kate Daniels series, and that worked out really well for me. Cassie and Pritkin? Not so much.Touch the Dark is one big info-dump with a plot on the side. It was drowning in narrative with precious little dialogue to break things up. Every time I turned the page and saw wall to wall block typing I would groan, knowing there was more endless info-dumps to come before the story would progress an inch. What little dialogue there was was constantly interrupted for more info-dumping. This was a real slog to read. It would normally take me around two days to read a book of this size - this one took me five (and while not working to-boot), and I really had to push and force myself to keep reading.The shame of it is, I think there was potential here. I actually didn't mind the story, and might even have enjoyed it were it written in a different way. Some of the characters were also quite intriguing - sadly, Pritkin was not one of them. Clearly he must show some massive improvement as the series progresses, because there was nothing appealing about him here. I'd probably be more happy at this stage to know that this was the last we see of him.I'm aware that some readers compare this series to the Anita Blake series. For what it's worth, I haven't read that series so my opinion was in no way influenced by that. I've also heard that the series does improve, so I'll give it one more shot. But if the next book makes me feel like I'm reading underwater, that'll be it.

*2.5 Stars*I'm conflicted over this one, as most readers have been. My main problem is that I've already read the Anita Blake series, and Touch the Dark is so similar that you almost have to wonder why she wasn't called out on plagiarism. I could be being unfair, but it's not like I can unread or block out the books and series I've already read. I apologize if you're reading this and haven't read the Anita Blake series at all, and it's very possible you'll enjoy Touch the Dark more if you haven't, but I can't help but compare the two.When I first started, Cassie really felt like old-Anita to me. She seemed head-strong, independent, always running from trouble, and obviously there was something special about her. I liked old-Anita so I wasn't turned off by these similarities. I also really enjoyed her ghost friends and her abilities, I thought they were refreshing and very interesting, but unfortunately underused.What I was turned off by were the male characters, because I had felt like I'd already met them before. Mircea was the book's saving grace though, and I think that's because he reminds me of old-Jean-Claude. He's sexy, dangerous, and cunning, but still cares for Cassie, albeit in a very pragmatic way.Chance's penchant for giving her men long crazy hair was almost an instant turn-off for me. I don't mind shoulder-length hair on a guy, but any longer and I can only think that he's going to be high-maintenance and all that hair is just going to get in the way during sex. Plus, this is yet another thing that Laurell K. Hamilton overuses as well.I know there's a faction on this site that swears by Pritkin's sexiness, but I found him to be like a yapping ankle-biting dog that you just want to punt across the room. I think he's the type of person that grows on you, maybe? At this point I don't hate him, but that's because I don't even care about him enough to bother with the emotion. He also reminds me of Richard with his ignorance and preaching, especially about how vampires are monsters, while he himself uses magic to maim and kill. I hate Richard now so much that I can't even remember liking him. Pritkin seems to be just like him with his hypocrisy and temper tantrums.I didn't really get that big of a feel for Louis-Cesare, yet he did remind me of Asher in a way with how he was tortured and used for sex. But as for Louis-Cesare's personality, I didn't really get much and I'm not attached to him at all.In the beginning, Tomas reminded me of Nathaniel with the obvious comparison of being a lost boy living on the street selling his body. He wasn't what he seemed though and I was bothered by what happens with him the most. I'm kind of disappointed where she took his character and it honestly didn't feel like that's the way things would have played out.Aside from the carbon copy characters, the other thing that I was disappointed with was the use of historical figures. At first it was kind of neat, but then it just became silly and I rolled my eyes at having Rasputin, Jack the Ripper, Dracula's brothers, Cleopatra, and Raphael all appearing on the pages. It's one thing to have Elvis running around Bon Temps, but when more than half of your characters are people you didn't even create, it makes me wonder if you have a hard time coming up with your own ideas.Now if you can look past these things, it's still possible you might be unhappy with her writing style. Chance seems to think that telling us what happened and bombarding us with information is better than letting the events play out naturally. I was aware of the giant info-dumps before I started so they didn't bother me as much as they might someone else. I really wanted more dialogue though, because she does do a good job with it.Another big thing that I hate that LKH does in both her series, is explaining something to the reader, and then a few pages later explaining the same thing to a character. Chance unfortunately does this a few times as well, although she's nowhere as bad as LKH. Just skip the explanation for the reader, we can learn things along with the characters just fine.I have to say, as something positive, I was excited when I got to the first really sexy scene. Mircea is HOT and what he says and does to Cassie practically scorches the pages. But Cassie. Oh Cassie. She should just shut her mouth. Her need for answers and her horrible timing really pissed me off. I swear this book must hold the record for the longest foreplay ever, and at the end I was shaking my fist at Raphael, enraged. (Even though it wasn't his fault.) The time travel aspect kind of made me mad too, for its faulty logic. You can't go back in time to fix something, if you do, you won't need to go back in time to fix it. As a hypothetical example, say you accidentally hit someone with your car and kill them. You have the ability to go back in time so you go back a few hours and maybe hide your car keys on yourself so you leave later and miss the accident. The accident doesn't happen so the person lives. So you have no reason to go back in time now and this creates a paradox because the you that went back in time doesn't exist. If you go back in time so someone doesn't die, then you won't have to go back in time because that person didn't die. I know there are other theories out there but this is the one that I believe. Chance sort of gets around this paradox in a way, but she does it sloppily. Honestly though, this wasn't even my biggest gripe of the whole novel so it didn't influence my rating all that much.Most of all, I think Chance just tried to cram too many things into a first book. I never felt confused though and I was never lost, but she could have spread a couple of the storylines over a few books to really flesh things out. The info-dumps were poorly done and most of the characters were flat and unoriginal. I do like Cassie though, and I thought it was odd that a lot of people that had the same problems as me found her to be annoying. I like her in the way I used to like Anita. She has some of the same annoying characteristics, and I don't mind if a character has flaws, but if it gets to the point where Cassie doesn't learn and grow, then I might agree with other reviewers down the line. I also loved loved loved Mircea and I'm anxious to read more about him. He really saved the novel for me and he makes me glad I bought the whole series.I'll read the next book sometime soon since Touch the Dark had an unresolved ending, but I'm really hoping that a lot of the problems I had with this book decrease greatly in the next. Otherwise, I'll probably feel the same way I do about the Anita Blake series now; disappointed and frustrated.

WARNING! This book may leave you out of breath and dizzy due to non stop action and far too sexy vampiresCassie Palmer has a problem. In fact Cassie has quite a few, a psycho mobster vampire who also happens to be her former guardian has found her after 3 years of being on the run; her clarvoiyant abilities seems to be getting more vivid and disturbing; her Billy Joe, her ghostly sidekick keeps disappearing at most inconvenient times and her former roommate isn't quite what he seems. But this is just the start for Cassie things have started to shift in the supernatural ability and it seems that several factions want a piece of her and she is never quite sure who to trust. What I love about this series is that it grabs you as soon as you start reading and drags you straight into the action. There is almost no let up; hence the warning at the top of the review. Cassie is flung from one dire situation to another. This book also gives you alot of information all at once and on top of everything else going on it can make it an intense read.The world the Karen Chance has created though is really interesting, full of vampires, weres and mages all kind of living in harmony. And once you have gotten past the intial information overload you can appriciate the complex world the Ms Chance has wrought. Another great thing about this book is the characters. It is told from first person POV and I know this can put some readers off, but I find that I quite like this in UF, especially if I like the person whose head I am inside, like I do with Cassie. Cassie was a great character, she wasn't your usual tough chick who makes pithy sarcastic comments as she kicks the crap out of people, instead she makes pithy sarcastic comments as she runs away or as she is being almost beaten by the enemy. As for the sexy-dangerous vampires, there are a few to pick from, there is Mircea, brother to Dracula, the seemingly urbane and calm master vampire, so long as you don't piss him off; Louis Cesar (my personal fave) with the long auburn hair and the lethal fencing skills and Tomas hot, sexy and likes to ripe people hearts out with his bare hands. Choices, choices!This is definately a series I would recommend to those who love Urban Fantasy, it was funny, interesting and action packed and I can't wait to get to the next one.