Amazon Category:  Fantasy Publisher: Stonegarden ISBN-10:  1600761305 Type: Fiction Pages: 288 Copyright: April 25, 2009 ISBN-13: 9781600761300 Tara Daston only wanted a fun night out dancing with her boyfriend. Getting killed was certainly the last thing she ever expected and waking up three days later as a vampire was the last thing she ever wanted. And if struggling with her death and new unlife wasn’t enough, she soon becomes involved in a hunt for a vicious serial killer. In the debut novel of Katrina Michaels, we are introduced to a society where vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and witches freely roam amongst the ordinary humans.  One such human, Tara Daston, only wanted a fun night out dancing with her boyfriend.  Getting killed was certainly the last thing she ever expected and waking up three days later as a vampire was the last thing she ever wanted.  As Tara struggles with her death and new unlife, she also becomes involved in a hunt for a vicious serial killer.  During her own investigation into the killings, she meets Tom Duncan, fellow vampire and lead agent of the Preternatural Investigation Agency, who is not at all amused at what he considers to be her interference.  However, the serial killer soon takes notice of Tara and is intrigued, forcing her to work together with Tom and the rest of the agency to stop the murders. Excerpt She took a quick glance around, trying to see if she could recognize the humans from the nonhumans. Vampires had a few traits that made them different from humans. Most noticeably were the eyes, paler skin and the slightly more defined canines, which elongated into long fangs when they fed or were angered, but even the fangs weren’t obvious if the vampire never smiled. From a distance it was difficult, but once you were close enough to see the eyes, then you could almost always tell. It was interesting that vampires and lycanthropes could pass as humans in most aspects, but the eyes revealed the truth. When people meet death, their bright colorful eyes become clouded. That is one aspect of death that vampires never completely recover from. Some find it disturbing to look into a vampire’s eyes, because the iris is almost completely white, except for a minor tint of color letting one know that in life, their eyes used to be blue or green or brown. In the past, when vampires were still myth, they were referred to as the white eyes of death. Lycanthropes also had teeth that more resembled wildlife than humans, but their eyes were actually brighter in color than humans with a larger iris that nearly encompassed the entire eye. Tara thought it was strange, but for preternaturals, the eyes were truly the window to the soul, or at least the inner monster.

Bitten By Books
5 Tombstones.
Tara Daston is excited to be heading to Tombstones. She has been wanting to visit this new club for a long time. The club is quite popular since it opened, offering a supernatural theme. The club is quite popular to both humans and preternaturals alike. Tara was quite curious in meeting vampires especially, though she never wanted to become one. Unfortunately, circumstances sometimes do not offer other options in the moment of fear.

Tara wakes up to discover she has been transformed into a vampire. She is shocked and angry that her life was taken so quickly from her. Aware that she knows very little about vampires, and most of what she knows are myths, she has a lot to learn. Luckily, her sire, Alexander, is enchanted by his new childe. He ensures she achieves survival proficiency. Little did they know how important her skillfulness would become so soon as Tara finds herself obsessed with tracking down a supernatural shape shifting serial killer. The killer finds her quite intriguing and enjoys taunting her in his game. A quick turn of events finds Tara in danger.

Katrina Michaels’ novel Midnight Reflections is a wonderfully written murder mystery. The characters are strong and unique. The suspense entrances the reader’s attention. Each chapter offers new twists and surprises. I enjoyed the building suspense and drawn theories throughout. The author does not disappoint the reader!


Vampire Librarian
I just had one of the most enjoyable reading nights in a long time – all due to meeting a new character, Tara Daston, in the fantasy book Midnight Reflections by author Katrina Michaels.

Tara was funny and witty and, even though she was made a vampire against her will, she never lets it get her down. In this novel, vampires, werewolves and other mystical creatures are a recognized part of society. The rules governing vampire behavior is fairly traditional: a vampire cannot go out in daylight and they cannot enter your home without an invitation. They own bars and have jobs and, in this particular world, people are quite accepting of the vampire lifestyle. It’s nice to think of a world where people accept you and are willing to live equally with you, even though you could potentially suck them dry of blood or eat them on the next full moon.

The story begins with Tara going on a date to a vampire bar with her casual boyfriend of two months which she plans to break up with. He takes the breakup pretty hard; he kills her – yes, kills her. But his reason for committing murder isn’t entirely related to being dumped, no, he kills her because Tara refuses to recommend him for a job at her uncle’s business. What a jerk. Loser. Creep. Did I say that I didn’t like him?

Panicking at his carelessness, Tara’s idiot date begs a local vampire to “turn her” before she dies. Luckily for her, the vampire decides that letting such a beautiful, vibrant person like Tara die would be a waste and he agrees to bring her over.

Tara wakes up from her transformation to meet her sire, Alexander, a 300 year old vampire whose real motive for turning Tara lies in the fact that he yearned for the companionship of another child. Alexander wants to take care of Tara as he would a daughter. He is kind and thoughtful, he never lets her feel sorry for herself, and he teaches her how to fight. A good thing too because some monstrous creature stronger than any vampire or werewolf ever known is on the prowl, and it’s become fixated on Tara.

When this mysterious monster kills a friend’s boyfriend Tara is determined to find out who or what it is. She’s stopped at every turn by a vampire private investigator named Tom who’s also investigating the mysterious murder. He finds her interference incredibly irritating and likewise, Tara claims no romantic interest in him. However, did I mention that he looks like Hugh Jackman? ‘Nuf said.

I really love Tara’s character. She can kick butt and joke about it at the same time, making her my ideal heroine. She’s confident, intelligent and makes practical decisions. Although working with Tom is a fringe benefit, Tara holds her own during the investigation and turns out to be a pretty good sleuth in her own right. And although Tara frequently puts her life in danger during the investigations she plays an integral role in Tom’s attempts to identify the creature responsible for the murders.

Go Girl Vamp Power!

I sincerely hope there’s a sequel in the works for Midnight Reflections because I want to read more about Tom – and see Tara outwit him again!

Overall this fast paced and fun book is rife with endless possibilities; here’s hoping Katrina Michaels has “Book 2″ in the works!