Lost Angeles
by A.L. Purol, Lisa Mantchev
Series: Lost Angeles #1
Published on June 12th, 2015
by Capriquarius Press
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Amazon | B&N | Goodreads
Also by this author: Ticker
So step into my world
where I'm the dreamer
and the dream...A year ago, Lourdes Chase lost two months of her life to a kidnapping nightmare that she's only now piecing together. She arrives in California with every intention of tracking down those responsible, but when she wakes up in a strange motel room with no recollection of how she got there, it's a blue-eyed, fast-talking stranger who offers an assist. Then a chance audition at a downtown nightclub drops her in the proverbial lap of everyone's favorite immortal rocker...
Xaine is the poster boy of hedonistic infamy, from his supercar to his Palisades mansion to his record label, Apocalypse. But his life abruptly shifts gears from Grammy Awards and blood dolls to police statements and coroners' reports when dead blond girls start turning up on his property. Everyone is quick to accuse the resident vampire, and with a list of enemies that dates back four centuries, only his newest opening act can clear his name and help him figure out who's behind the murders.
Within days of meeting, Xaine and Lore are caught up in a web of intrigue, pursued by fallen angels, sin-eaters, reapers, and a coalition of vampires with a deadly agenda. Virtue and Vice, Light and Dark, they will have to battle their every demon to vanquish the ghosts that haunt them both. But fame and fortune come at the cost of anonymity, and when a powerful enemy can see Lore's every move projected across the television screen, it's Hollywood's biggest bad-boy who becomes her only hope.
I’m a Lisa Mantchev fan, started with her Théâtre Illuminata series and finishing with her more recent Ticker, so when I saw Lost Angeles on social media I jumped right in. This is an adult book with a paranormal/urban fantasy vibe to it. I loved everything about this book for sure!
Not a single whisper from any of the hundreds of club-goers standing perfectly still in the darkness. I can’t see them anymore, because it’s just me and her and both our voices in perfect harmony. It hurts. It burns in a way I can’t describe except maybe like being stabbed in the gut and having my innards ripped out of me.
Bleeding out.
What I loved:
- The characters! There is a great casting of characters, especially of the male persuasion. Xaine has “brothers” (Cas and Trick) or other vampires turned by the same creator. There’s also Jackson and Asher, and I really want to know their stories too. So Xaine… he’s a hot mess, a rock star, a vampire and man of excess. He’s damaged and deep down a ruthless sweetie (yes, I did used these two words in the same sentence 😉 )
- Tamsyn, Jess and most specially Lourdes are different female characters with very different personalities, but one thing in common: they don’t take crap from anyone. Lorde had a really bad experience that she’s suppressed because it was so traumatic and she had no fault or inkling as to why.
- Scary, creepy bad guys like Benicio and Tiberius. Seriously dangerous and extra creepy.
- Vampires, angels, reapers, sin eaters… there is a host of things that go bump in the night and I
- There’s music, singing and composing, and I love books about music.
- The plot, the secrets, the non-stop action, the fact that vampires were “out-of-the-closet”, the mysteries. Even as they irked me some, I love them all.
- The banter and dialogues were funny, snarky, interesting…I want more!
“Men are more easily governed by their vices than their virtues,” he tells me, “And no virtue in this world is going to make you a better man, Xaine. Understand that, if you understand anything at all.”
There is not much I didn’t like about Lost Angeles, except maybe that fact that Xaine tricks Lorde in Las Vegas, that there were so many unanswered questions (that’s just me being pick since I know it’s a series), and the kind-a-sort-of-cliffhanger ending.
I cannot wait for Loose Canon, Trick’s story since we didn’t see much of him in this book.
“On a scale of one to take-me-now, how turned on are you?”
The second the question processes, I laugh, right in the face of the world’s biggest rock star. “Wow, you are …so arrogant.”
That garners me the full smirk and a swift release from his grasp. “So I don’t even rank on the scale? That’s depressing. Or hey, maybe you play for the other team?”
Still grining, I tell him, “I’m not into girls. I’ve just been told that I shouldn’t take candy from strangers.”
“Trust me, Lore, I hadn’t even gotten to the candy part yet.”
About A.L. Purol
Amanda Purol resides in a tiny mouse house in Baltimore with a lion named Aslan, who disguises himself as a tuxedo cat. When not composing immortals smut, she enjoys rescuing plants from near death and actually baking the things she pins on Pinterest. LOST ANGELES is her first novel, though she has been writing since she was old enough to sound out swear words.
About Lisa Mantchev
Lisa Mantchev is a temporally-displaced Capricorn who casts her spells from an ancient tree in the Pacific Northwest. When not scribbling, she is by turns an earth elemental, English professor, actress, artist, and domestic goddess. She shares her abode with her husband, two children, and three hairy miscreant dogs. She is best known as the author of the young adult fantasy trilogy, The Théâtre Illuminata. Published by Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan,) the series includes the Andre Norton and Mythopoeic awards-nominated EYES LIKE STARS (2009), PERCHANCE TO DREAM (2010), and SO SILVER BRIGHT (2011.) Lisa’s short fiction has also appeared in venues like Clarkesworld, Weird Tales, Fantasy Magazine and Strange Horizons.
Born in Puerto Rico, hola :), military wife for 22-years, and mother of three boys.I work full time doing something else that I love (sadly I don't get paid for reading!)
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Twitter: Bieke Paesen
I’ve never heard of this one before, but it sounds interesting! 🙂
Twitter: Liza
It’s an adult book so that might be why. I loved it though 🙂