Customer Reviews

Sacrament

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

To sum up this novel: two hours of my life I can NEVER get back.

First off, there's no romance. I swear NO ROMANCE in it. Just a heroine and her creepy neighbor. She wants to dig up roman ruins on his land. He wants nothing to do with her.

Her best friend is manipulative. She wants the vamp and when he refuses her she addicts him to drugs (can that even happen to the undead?)

Our heroine nurses him back to health, doormat that she is. And in flashbacks she reveals once using drugs and losing her virginity to an underage boy in a threesome.

I mean, what the h**l?

I couldn't finish it and I've read all 1,000+ pages of Anna Karenina when I didn't want to, so you can see how usually I'll finish any book.

But this one was so bad I even tried to return it for my money back. The bookstore wouldn't take it so I tried to get something from the publisher, even a partial refund.

I sold it at a garage sale last year and guess what? Two days later it got returned. I refunded the fifty cents and threw it out.

This book could be the worst ever published.

Stick to more modern vamp romances or more established authors like Christine Feehan, you'll be sooooo happy if you take my advice. trust me.

Frankly, I hated this book. It's bad when you start skimming a book just to get through it to find out how it ends (before moving to another book). Save your time and read something else.

I liked this very gothic romance- the hero and heroine are appealing. Set in regency Bath , England we meet Sara and Julien. He is a dark lord and she a not too well off gentlewoman with a dark passionate side she keeps in check. He releases her inner beast while she gentles his own.

Has many of the elements of good gothic fiction- steamy romance, a horrid villainess, extravagant surroundings and a fresh and imaginative take on the vampire and how they come to be and live.

Read the follow up by Squires set in modern times with more of Sarah and Julien and the first vampire he made....Magda and her tormented ture at redemption. This novella is in the anthology MY ONE AND ONLY which also contains tales by Christine Feehan and Susan Grant.

Have you ever read a book that you felt started off somewhat decently but ended up having so many unlikable characters that you just wanted to throw it across the room? Well, that's how I felt about Susan Squires' novel Sacrament. The story starts off with our plain Jane heroine Sarah, traveling to London to solve a land dispute. There she meets up with her immoral friend Corina, whose past-times include rape, torture and S&M. Not exactly my cup of tea. The worst part is Sarah has SOME idea of Corina's past times and she ignores it. Not exactly heroine material in my book.

Enter the vampire Davinoff. Davinoff is tall dark and dull. He wanders around uttering cryptic comments, and for some reason Sarah's friend Corina becomes obsessed with him. What follows is an endless series of jaunts across the country in a carriage as Corina chases after Davinoff and drags protesting limp Sarah along. Yawn.

I just simply did NOT care about the characters and was alternately annoyed and repelled by them. Sarah is spineless, plain and boring, Corina a psychopath and Davinoff seemed more like a caricature. I know he's a vampire, but he had the warmth of cold pudding.

This novel became a wallbanger during a very disturbing flashback scene about halfway through. Yech. If the author spent as much time developing the relationship between the two main characters, as she spent in establishing the fact that the character Corina is eeeevillll, this novel might actually have been halfway decent.

If you must read anything with a vampire in it, then go ahead. If you like Harlequin Romances, ok. If your only criteria is that the author be able to construct a reasonable sentence, maybe.... If you are looking for a steamy vampire novel, this isn't it!!! Try I burn For You by the other Susan, Susan Sizemore or maybe something by Laurell K. Hamilton. When I lost this book part way through, I was thrilled I didn't have to finish it; but sadly, someone found it and returned it to me. Don't find yourself in that situation. ;-)

I picked up this book eagerly, but had to force myself to finish it. I won't get into the plot because I still can't really tell what the plot was supposed to be. I don't understand how Sarah and Julien fell in love when they barely spent any time together. That was confused me about the whole book. The end was good though, as were some parts throughout. If this is your first step into the vampire genere, I wouldn't read this one!

I'm not usually a big fan of the vampire romance genre so I almost didn't pick up this book because of its lurid bodice-ripper cover and the vampire story. Glad I didn't judge this book by its cover! This is definitely not your typical romance novel. The dark tone may turn off those who like their romances sweet or fluffy. Sacrament is subdued, yet intense and a pleasure to read--Ms. Squires resists using the overblown prose so often utilized in this genre in an attempt to convey passion and depth of character. Sarah and Julien's characters unfold as the story progresses and their developing respect and love for each other is subtle and believable--although Julien's feelings are for most of the story, far from obvious. I have to agree however, that Corina's character and actions were so over-the-top that it was a bit jarring and detracted from an otherwise excellent story. A keeper! I'll definitely be looking for more of Ms. Squires' stories.

I did not like this book, on my second attempt; I still had to force myself to finish it. I still cannot figure out what genre it is suppose to be-paranormal, gothic, romance? The cover states "Gothic Romance", where is the romance, was that the part where Sarah rescues Julien and helps him get over his drug addiction.

There was not enough focus on the Sarah & Julien so-called relationship. In fact they didn't have one, just a few carriage rides to parties and a one-night stand. Author had too much unfinished business with too many different and irrelevant subplots.

Sarah is weak. She allows herself to be manipulated by her "best friend", Corina. Corina is a psycho, the extent that she went to get back at Julien for ignoring her too much.

This book went from bad to worse with Sarah's suicide attempt on the grounds of the monastery, that was too drastic. Even though Julien finally comes to her rescue, Sarah's intent was to die because she felt she was "nothing" without him. No man/vampire/whatever is worth killing yourself over!

I recommend Shades of Gray by Amanda Ashley and Dark Magic by Christine Feehan, if you are interested in paranormal romance.

This was an enjoyable mixture of a formula Regency with a twist-sex, drugs and a vampire! The novel was well written, the characters not too evil or goody goody and the story line was fairly fast moving. Good read.

As other reviewers have said, this book starts off very very slow. But if you can make it past the first 120 pages it starts to pick up. Squires definitely presents a different set of rules for vampires!!! There is also a good set of secondary characters to add to the book. This is one to check out of the local library.