Shelley's Reviews > Moon Dance

Moon Dance is the first book in the Vampire for Hire series by J.R. Rain, another new author for me. I love checking out new authors when their work becomes available to me, especially if they get fairly decent reviews from readers. This one only costs me .99cents on Amazon.com.

Our main character is Samantha Moon. Sam is 37 years old, but doesn’t look a day over 25. She is the mother of two children; Tammy and Anthony. She is married to Danny, but for a while now, Danny has turned cold toward her, not even wanting to touch her cold flesh when they lie in bed together. He is also a cheating bastard with other women from his office. He, of course, blames it on the fact that she is no longer the person he married, and is a danger to him, and the children...utter hogwash.

Samantha is also a private investigator who used to be a federal agent for HUD. 6 years ago she was attacked by a vampire and transformed. Samantha has the same hang-ups as other vampires; she can only drink water and wine, while food of any kind makes her ill and sick to her stomach. Mammalian blood is doable and she keeps her refrigerator stocked full. She has have been telling people that she has a rare skin disease called xeroderma pigmentosum which if exposed to the sun, will cause her irreparable damage. Then again, she does find ways like lathering a strong SPF on her skin in order to pick up the kids like a good mother does.

Sam has enhanced speed and strength which came from her transformation. She also has another neat little surprise that she finds during the course of this story thanks to her internet buddy Fangs encouragement. She can fly.

Samantha receives a mysterious delivery, and inside the box, is the medallion once worn by the vampire who transformed her. Who sent it to her and why now? Sam has been looking for her attacker with the express with to end his existence for the hell he’s put her through. The story behind the medallion is interesting one as well.

Samantha is contacted by Kingsley Fulcrum, who asks Moon to help find a man who shot him five times. Obviously, he's not human, but a werewolf which Sam had no clue even existed. Kingsley later claims a vampire killed his wife, and that yes, vampires can shape shift if they want to. (which leads to Sam jumping/falling off a building to find out if it actually works.) He tells Sam that a vampire hunter, Randolf, is looking for her.

Samantha internet friend Fang is an interesting character in that he knows all about her difficulties and secrets, but still remains faithful as a friend. Later, he springs a nice surprise on her.

This story is obviously not for everyone. It’s the first book of the series, thus there will be mistakes in the story as well as some editing goofs. It is also the dangers of self-publishing your own book without an editor to review it before publishing.

However, I’m planning on continuing to read the story when I can since I actually liked Sam's character. I liked the interaction between her and Detective Sherbet who keeps dropping hints about her color and other mysteries he discovers along the way.

This is a cross between being a mystery novel, with a strong hint of romance, and paranormal. You pretty much don't find out who the actually shooter of Kingsley is until the very ending of the story.