Moon Dance by J.R. Rain

The thrilling first novel in J.R. Rain's epic #1 bestselling vampire mystery series! For fans of Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton and Janet Evanovich!

Six years ago federal agent Samantha Moon was the perfect wife and mother, your typical soccer mom with the minivan and suburban home. Then the unthinkable happens, an attack that changes her life forever. And forever is a very long time for a vampire.

Now the world at large thinks Samantha has developed a rare skin disease, a disease which forces her to quit her day job and stay out of the light of the sun. Now working the night shift as a private investigator, Samantha is hired by Kingsley Fulcrum to investigate the murder attempt on his life, a horrific scene captured on TV and seen around the country. But as the case unfolds, Samantha discovers Kingsley isn't exactly what he appears to be; after all, there's a reason why he survived five shots to the head.

Book 1
Buy Links

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~  Available with KindleUnlimited  ~

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
About a week ago, I stumbled upon this book as a freebie. With Wicked Reads reviewing our personal copies, I thought it the best time to delve into this long-standing series. I wasn't sure what to expect – truthfully, I was surprised I'd never found this series years back, when I was a voracious Urban Fantasy fanatic.

It was a refreshing change of pace to have a mature, married mother as the heroine. Most often, this type of book features a young, naively attractive woman, with the book starting out as she is dropped into a world she never knew existed.

For the reader, this happened to Sam six years in the past. At the start, our heroine is a vampire (which is a mystery to her as much as it is to the reader) – a mature woman in her late thirties, but also a married mother of two. She has real-world problems while struggling to handle her nature. Sam's an 'every woman,' where most female readers can relate to specific parts of her characterization.

Ex-FBI, Sam is now a private detective, because this can fit into her nocturnal schedule. She's forced to be a loner, unable to let anyone in to know the real her due to her vampiric nature, when she enjoyed the camaraderie of a partner.

The reader discovers the world-building as Sam stumbles upon it, answering her own questions as she investigates an attempted murder.

I've read many UF series, and most of the heroines are kick-ass, yet turn into too-stupid-to-live damsels in distress – basically doing anything to put themselves in precarious positions to gain attention, and draw them near their love interests. Sam can and does take care of herself, not needing a knight to ride in for her rescue.

The Vampire for Hire series has a similar feel to old-school Anita Blake (LKH) – the writing style, the bluntness of the main character, but is also original and inventive in its own right.

After finishing Moon Dance, the first thing I did was seek out the next, curious to see where the series heads next.

J.R. Rain is an ex-private investigator who now writes full-time in the Pacific Northwest. He lives in a small house on a small island with his small dog, Sadie. He is the author of over sixty novels.

Connect with J.R.

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Erica reviewed her personal copy of Moon Dance (Vampire for Hire #1) by J.R. Rain for this post.