Raphael by D.B. Reynolds

Powerful and charismatic, Raphael is a Vampire Lord, one of the few who hold the power of life and death over every vampire in existence. Thousands call him Master and have pledged absolute loyalty on their very lives. But when, in a brazen and deadly daylight attack, a gang of human killers kidnaps the one female vampire he'd give his life for, Raphael turns to a human investigator to find his enemies before it's too late.

Cynthia Leighton is smart, tough and sexy, a private investigator and former cop who's tired of spying on cheating spouses and digging out old bank accounts. When Raphael asks for her help in tracking down the kidnappers, Cyn's happy to accept. But she soon realizes her greatest danger comes not from the humans, but from Raphael himself.

Battling Russian mobsters and treacherous vampires, and betrayed by those they trusted, Cyn and Raphael find themselves fighting for their lives while caught up in a passion of blood and violence that is destined to destroy them both.

I can usually find something I don't like about most books, but I have to honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised by Raphael. When I saw the cover, it seemed to shout romance to me, which I'm not a huge fan of, but Raphael is more than a romance.

The best thing about Raphael is the main character, Cynthia. She's cool, hot, tough, sarcastic and believable. She has her flaws, but D.B Reynolds does an excellent job of creating a strong female character that grows as the book progresses. Cynthia definitely isn't boring, and my interest in her grew as I continued to read.

The second best thing about the book is...well...vampires. I mean, vampires are iconic monsters that seem to be able to traverse to any genre. You'll find vampires in horror, romance, science fiction and almost any other genre you can think of. They're smart, sexy and scary all at the same time, which I suppose is why they're such a popular monster.

D.B Reynolds's vampires were to me a cross between the Vampire Chronicle books and the Twilight books. They seemed to borrow the best attributes of each, yet seemed different than both. To be honest, I found it intriguing.

While the book has strong sexual undertones, the book doesn't rely on sex scenes every two pages. Instead, D.B Reynolds does a great job of mixing in some steamy sex scenes, but still manages to tell a complete story. I'd say the book relies heavily on the main character, Raphael and a solid plot, which makes it a good book in my eyes.

The only thing I can say that I found lacking was the length of the book. Raphael is only 244 pages long. I usually like books that are much longer than that. Raphael is the first instalment of a series of books entitled, Vampires in America. I wished that the book was a bit longer, but even so, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be grabbing the next book in the series as soon as it comes out.

I sincerely found Raphael refreshing. D.B. Reynolds is a new author, and this is her first book. There was more than enough action to hold my attention, the sex scenes were excellent, but not too long and boring, and her writing is tight, to the point and descriptive, without being too over the top in terms of detail.

I have to admit, this book was well worth the read. I recommend it 100%. In fact, it may be the first romance novel that I really enjoyed. I read it in less than two days, and I found myself picking it up and reading every chance I had.

If you enjoy vampires, sex, conflict, sexual tension and action, you should give Raphael a read. You won't be disappointed.

Overall Rating: 9/10

As a first time author, what part of the publishing process did you enjoy most and why?

Well, the MOST fun part was when I received the e-mail telling me my book had been accepted! But I have to say, because this was my first book, I pretty much enjoyed all of it. It was such a thrill. From the copy edits to the galley proofs to the moment I held that first book in my hand. And I was really fortunate in that my publisher actually let me see the prototype of the cover and offer an opinion. Of course, my cover art was beautiful, so I only suggested some very minor changes to make the images more consistent with the way I'd described the main characters.

Why vampires? With so many different things to write about, why did you choose vampires? What about them do you find the most alluring?

The answer to "why vampires" is mostly because I had this inspiration one day. It all started with that opening scene and the female vamp who is kidnapped and she says to her kidnapper, "He'll kill you." Her absolute certainty in that outcome was what drove me to create a character who could live up to that certainty, and he was Raphael. And the story just flowed from there. But basically, I've loved Science Fiction, Fantasy and Paranormal literature since high school. It's the only thing I've ever considered writing.

As for vampires in particular, I guess it's the old "bad boy" stereotype. They're the ultimate bad boys -- powerful, cruel and to hell with the rules. The idea of such a powerful character falling in love - the ultimate vulnerability - is hard to resist.

Unlike a lot of romance novels, Raphael didn't have a sex scene (for which I'm grateful) every chapter or so. Did you do it that way on purpose, or was that just the way it turned out?

Oh, no. That was definitely on purpose. I didn't want to write the typical romance novel. In fact, I don't see RAPHAEL as a romance novel, but as an urban fantasy with romantic elements. To me, the mystery of who kidnapped Alexandra and why is just as important as the developing relationship between Raphael and Cyn. I wanted to write a good story that just happened to have a relationship between two interesting people as part of it. Plus, let me tell you, sex scenes are difficult to write! They may be sexy to read, but there's nothing sexy about writing them! The first sex scene I ever wrote, I sat there at my computer and felt like a total perv. I don't feel that way anymore, but I still put a lot of effort into making my scenes come alive for the reader.

You said in your "Acknowledgement" section that your husband didn't "get the neck biter thing". Being a curious person, that naturally piqued my interest. What exactly did you mean by that?

Neck biters are how my husband refers to vampires. He's a very distinguished professor at a major university - we met when I was a student there - and he's quite puzzled to find himself married to a woman who not only reads about such things as vampires, but who writes about them as well. He absolutely doesn't understand the appeal of vampires and werewolves and all of these fantastic creatures who, he believes, don't exist. He's very rooted in the real world.

How did you come up with the specific powers that your vampires possess in Raphael? I note in my review that your vampires seem to be a bit of a cross between Anne Rice's vampires and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series vampires. Was that what you intended or were their other influences that helped shape your vampires in Raphael?

I haven't actually read Twilight or any of the other books in that series, although I have young relatives who adore the books. The themes I'm interested in reading about and exploring in my writing aren't suitable to younger readers. And then, of course, there's the sexual angle. RAPHAEL is very definitely an adult book, which I will say is very frustrating to my younger relatives, whose parents won't let them read my books! As for Anne Rice, she is the indisputable Godmother of contemporary vampire fiction. Her Interview with a Vampire is one of the best and most original books ever written in the genre. And, of course, I'm influenced by all of the books - no doubt hundreds, if not more - that I've read about vampires and other supernaturals over the years.

But I didn't consciously borrow from anyone's idea of Vampire. I did want to avoid the emasculation of vampires that has occurred in some books, the idea that they're just sensitive guys who are forced to drink blood. I wanted my vampires to be an evolved and highly superior predator of humans, without the religious taboos that follow them in some books. And I wanted them to be scientifically possible - you see, I'm somewhat rooted in the real world, too. But at the same time, there has to be a magical element, because they are vampires. So, crosses and garlic don't trouble them, and you can certainly see their reflection in a mirror, that's just good physics. But their blood and saliva contain elements that aid them in their hunt and seduction of humans, and they do possess certain telepathic powers. And who's to say what's possible and what's not? That's the whole point of speculative fiction.

Who had the biggest impact on your writing career, and how?

The biggest impact on my writing career would have to be my mom, because from the time I was old enough to hold a book, she had me reading one. Every good writer is a reader at heart. It's the love of a good story that starts us writing in the first place.

If you could offer just one piece of advice to an aspiring new author, what would that be?

That's an easy one. Write. The only way to learn how to write is to WRITE. You can take a million classes, but they will never substitute for sitting down at the computer, or taking out pen and paper and just writing. I look back on stuff I wrote years ago - stuff I thought was pretty good at the time - and I cringe. Because I've learned how to write better. Not because I took a class that said, "Here's how you do it." But because I wrote and wrote and learned how words worked and how to say what I wanted to say in better ways. And don't be afraid to submit your work. You'll get a whole lot of rejections, but you learn even from the rejections, and if you never submit, you'll never get that ultimate acceptance either.

When you wrote Raphael did you create an outline first, or do you just write it as it comes and hope for the best?

RAPHAEL rushed into my brain so fast I couldn't write it down quickly enough. I didn't use an outline so much as notes of scenes that were in my brain pushing to get out. With the subsequent books, and with most of my books, I do use an outline. I rarely stick to it, mind you, but it does help me keep track of the ultimate goal of the story and helps keep the plot going forward.

What do you think separates your vampire book from others? In other words, why should readers pick up your book?

I think my vampires are different from what's become the norm in urban fantasy and especially in romantic fiction today. Vampires have drifted too far from their rather bloodthirsty natures, become too civilized. My vampires are capable of appearing to be civilized, but at heart, they're not. They're the most powerful predator on the planet and they know it. The rules don't apply to them and that's very evident in my books.

When you're not writing the Vampires in America series, what do you read? Do you read mostly supernatural romance books, or do you enjoy other genres more?

Oh, I read all sorts of things. I still love Science Fiction, especially military Science Fiction, and some Fantasy. And I read straight mysteries of all kinds, although I'm most fond of contemporary, urban mysteries. I've never been a fan of the more formal mysteries with fussy little old ladies solving well-mannered crimes. I like real world mysteries with nasty bad guys and sometimes rude good guys too. I do read a lot of supernatural fiction, both romance and not, and I'm very fond of mystery-romance too. And then there's the occasional foray into non-fiction, just to prove to my husband that he really did marry the right woman.

What can fans of your work expect next from D.B. Reynolds? Do you have any dates or special events that you'd like to share with the rest of us?

Next up, of course, is JABRIL, which releases on July 31 and is a direct sequel to RAPHAEL. And after that comes RAJMUND, which I'm writing now. RAJMUND takes place in the Vampires in America universe, but introduces a whole new set of actors. My original plan for Vampires in America was for every book to introduce a different Vampire Lord. Even though JABRIL features Cynthia and Raphael, it introduces the Southern Vampire Lord Jabril Karim who's a very definitely evil vampire. And I'm writing a couple of other things as well, including a Science Fiction tale featuring a race of shapeshifters and a werewolf novella that might be the opening salvo of a werewolf series someday.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question, D.B. I truly enjoyed hearing the answers, as I'm sure your fans will too.

I'll be eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Vampires in America series!

Coming Soon: Jabril, July 2009