Book Review: Cleopatra's Men by Eve Langlais

Review: Cleopatra’s Men
Author: Eve Langlais
No of Pages: 97
Release Date: 14 January 2011

One former Egyptian queen plus two vampires equals a threesome with lots of bite.

I’ve paid my dues in Hell for my mistakes, but Satan thinks I’m too dangerous to keep around so he’s kicked me out into the modern world for a second chance.

Ambushed by a pest from my past, I’m rescued by a seriously hot vamp. I vowed to not allow men to use me anymore, a pledge forgotten with Michael’s first kiss. And when Julius, my first love, shows up bitter and angry, I can’t help but want him too.

Maybe I do deserve the nickname Whore Queen, for I’ve decided I shall keep them both—naked in bed.


My Thoughts:

Cleopatra’s Men was yet another hot exhibit of Langlais’s writing ability.

Cleopatra is alive and well in modern times, having been kicked out of hell for nearly forcing Lucifer to marry her, Cleopatra is now fending for herself in the real world once again. She is immortal, powerful and currently blonde.

But Cleo has made many enemies in her time, one of those being Antony, her ex, who has an annoying habit of continuously trying to kill her by sending demons her way. On her first night out, these demons attack her and things are looking bleak if not for Michael, the mysterious dark stranger who jumps from a building to save her.

Cleo is definitely my kind of chick, I would have preferred more actions behind her words though as she seemed to be playing damsel in distress too much, but for a quick, hot story like this, I didn’t really mind. Cleo was not only tough and sexy but she also had an added element of wit that kept the story light.

Michael was everything and more, sexy, powerful and a gentleman. Michael was everything Cleo wasn’t used to after being used for most of her life and although it made for some questioning on her part as to his intentions, it also made for some really hot sex and quite a few swoon moments.

Cleopatra’s Men was a quick hot dive into the world of a paranormal Ménage a trois with the addition of Julius Caesar, Cleo’s first love into the mix it made for some comical but very hot reading. I loved Cleo’s dissection of her feelings for each man and how she didn’t try to hide behind an equal love excuse for her actions.

The massive deux ex machina at the end did put a slight dampener on the rest of the story. It was expected, but I was hoping it wouldn’t happen.

Cleopatra’s Men was another excellent example of Langlais’s incredible writing and has left me wanting even more of her yet again.

Book Review: Blood Prophecy by Stefan Petrucha

Review: Blood Prophecy
Author: Stefan Petrucha
No of Pages: 352
Release Date: 26 October 2010

Man and monster are in his blood...

His name is Jeremiah Fall. A soldier of fortune, he has been fighting his own war for 150 years—ever since the beast in him was born.

Desperate to restore his lost humanity, Fall crosses the sands of Egypt, discovers a lost city off the coast of France, and finally arrives at the birthplace of all mankind. Shunning daylight and feeding only when he must, he battles the monster who transformed him forever. He can share his deepest secret with no one . . . not even the beautiful woman he starts to love, the only human who grasps the mysteries of an ebony stone as old as creation itself.

Across the world, across time, Fall seeks the stone's secret. But has he found a cure for himself or unleashed a final curse on all mankind?

My Thoughts:

Blood Prophecy to a while to get going, but once it did it became very interesting.

Jeremiah Fall has gone from a hard working Purist to a bear-fighting, vampiric army of one. Blood Prophecy is the tale of how he finds his roots and reconciles his two-selves. Jeremiah travels from America to Egypt in his search for the Stone. A legend he heard from the tribe of Abenaki’s living near his settlement.

Jeremiah is an interesting character. He was raised a Purist which is a very strict form of Christian. Purists aren’t allowed to smile and must work hard every day for their salvation. Once Jeremiah is attacked and turned into a vampire he struggles with his Purist mentality, as he learns about other civilisations, other beliefs and battles with the beast inside himself that constantly telling him to kill.

Blood Prophecy is written differently to many vampire novels that I have read so far. Petrucha doesn’t delve deep into the mentality of Jeremiah; he also doesn’t waste time with descriptions and needless filler. We are constantly given more parts of the story, more threads to unravel the mystery and are time jumping like there is no tomorrow, which if Jeremiah fails there won’t be.

We travel from the year 1644 to the year 1799 in a matter of chapters with only a few details in between. There isn’t a lot of travel; there isn’t a lot of dialogue, just searching and discovery. It was a refreshing novel to read provided one is in the mentality to read it. I will admit that with the lack of secondary character development and the constant search for the stone had me falling asleep at times if I just wasn’t in the mood.

Blood Prophecy is about the journey rather than the characters and considering how interesting and fast paced that journey was, it became the main pull for continuing the story. Will he get there in time? Will he become human again if he succeeds? Will the evil Bandite worshipers win and release their god, ultimately destroying the world?

Blood Prophecy had many religious elements to it, but these elements were historical rather than evangelistic. Petrucha took different translations of the book of Genesis and combined them all into one story; he pinpointed the Garden of Eden in Egypt and the roots of many old nursery rhymes and created Blood Prophecy from it.


Blood Prophecy was very interesting and piqued my curiosity with the historical and paranormal elements surrounding it. Watching Jeremiah struggle with who he was and continue to fight what he seemed destined to be was intriguing and had me turning pages very quickly towards the end.