The Nightlife: New York By Travis Luedke

Summary

Reviewer Name : rileybanks This was quite a hard review for me to do, as I know Travis Luedke through a couple of the author forums I’m on. In that regard, I really wanted to love his book, but instead found myself sitting on the fence, not really sure which side I wanted to be on. It must be said that this is definitely not a Young Adult book. Nightlife New York is vampire porn with a sprinkling of romantic attachment. The emphasis is definitely on the sex scenes with the rest of the action really acting as spice. I have no problem with that aspect of the story, as I knew ahead of time that’s what I was going to read. There were some aspects I truly loved. The whole vampire bite equals orgasm was a new one I haven’t seen before (though it might exist elsewhere). For the most part, I liked Aaron and Michelle and was motivated enough to keep reading to find out what happened to them. There were some great, descriptive lines that I had to highlight because I loved them so much. For instance, at the start of the book, when highlighting Aaron’s naivety, the author says ‘His limited intimate encounters taught him there was considerable effort and occasional begging involved in the removal of women’s clothing.’ When describing a vampire’s hunt for prey, the author says ‘The vampires slid through the crush of swaying bodies like snakes in tall grass. Their prey could not see them coming until it was too late.’ I loved that Michelle spelled out to Aaron exactly what the changes would mean for his life. She explained the pros and the cons perfectly, setting up the vampire lores of the Nightlife. For instance, they do not stop aging but age very slowly. They can also die but are just more difficult to kill. It was cleverly done. Another scene I loved was where Aaron was referring to Michelle’s ability to read his every thought. He began to get a sick feeling in his gut, suspecting that maybe he could not attain any privacy. Would he be doomed to a life where his every thought, no matter how petty and disgusting, his every sin was laid bare for her perusal? Who could live with such a burden? Could any man live every moment of every day with perfect thoughts? This paragraph instantly put me into Aaron’s mindset. He was living every man’s worst nightmare – having his every thought invaded and picked over by his girlfriend. There’d be no more of the dreaded ‘tell me what you’re thinking’. Instead it would be ‘let me into your mind’. Travis got the ‘show don’t tell’ method right when he described the women in the nightclub. All these women really wanted was to meet a man – not just any man, a man who might be the one. These women go out with their friends hoping to be romanced off their feet as they dance the night away with that special man. The reality more often than not was ridiculous. The ladies stayed securely locked away in their safe zone with their girlfriends, brushing away the majority of men who would chance to meet them. These girls discouraged and actively worked against the very thing they desired most, a meaningful romantic encounter. What a sad, sad truth of how the club scene often works. There was also one scene, where Aaron was remembering his father’s death that drove home how different Aaron’s new life was to his old. It came at a perfect time, when Aaron was starting to come across as a cartoonish porn star, reminding me of his humanity and vulnerabilities. That being said, there were certain aspects of the book I really didn’t like. To be fair, I will split them into two categories: storyline and technique. Storyline: For some reason, the sub¬plot of the cops was distracting and annoying. I know it was supposed to add drama – to give Aaron and Michelle a life-anddeath situation they had to overcome. But the two cops were so dishonest and corrupt that I found myself rolling my eyes at all the clichés that came out about them. The storyline would have been just as strong, if not stronger, without them. Also the author spent way too much time exploring the backstory of Talco when really he was less than a supporting character. “Nope – not a word, nada.” Kyle got a kick out of throwing in random words of Spanish. He took two years of it in high school. This sentence made me curious enough to keep an eye out for any Spanish words coming from Kyle but there was nada, nothing, nil! Not one single other Spanish word uttered besides that first, which makes that whole sentence a red herring and completely