Blood and Whiskey

I can't remember how I discovered The Cowboy and the Vampire way back in 1999 (there was once these things called books with pages that you turned...) but it was like nothing I had read before. The mix of laconic, down-to-earth but heroic cowboy and blood-thirsty yet world-saving vampires was unique and delivered in a not-quite-serious but not-quite campy style. Keep in mind that this was five or years before vampires became hot, thanks to Twilight.

So when I saw that Cowboy was an Amazon Kindle Daily Deal and then discovered that Hayes and McFall had written a sequel, I immediately picked it up, but I was wary that lightning couldn't possibly strike twice - especially considering the ubiquitous nature of vampires in today's fiction. Fortunately, I was wrong. In many ways Blood and Whiskey is even better than its predecessor. The plot has more of a natural arc, with various story strands coming together in a dramatic conclusion, and the authors delve deeper into the troubling implications of Lizzie's still-new vampire lifestyle. There is nonstop action, and lots of quotable wisecracks of course, but the action seems to mean more this time.

I laughed, I cried, I eagerly await book 3 in the series.