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    The Vampire Shrink
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    The Vampire Shrink
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    The Vampire Shrink
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Vampire Shrink

    Written by Lynda Hilburn

    Narrated by Hillary Huber

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Kismet Knight, a brainy Denver-based psychologist with a predictable career and a dismal track record when it comes to her personal relationships, is about to have her world rocked. Kismet's newest patient, Midnight, longs to become a vampire, and the teenager insists that a coven of the undead hangs out at a downtown goth club. The always-rational Kismet dismisses Midnight's claims as the delusions of an attention-starved girl, but sees an opportunity to make the modern obsession with vampires the most exciting research project of her professional life. Then Devereux, the unbelievably hot club owner, walks into her office professing that he is a vampire. Kismet finds herself uncontrollably drawn to him, but she can't believe he is what he claims to be. Or can she?

    As inexplicable events and erotic encounters pile up-as well as corpses drained of blood-Kismet is caught up in a whirlwind of passion, mystery, and danger. But this fearless heroine, who doesn't do damsel-in-distress, is about to turn the vampire-meets-girl convention on its head in this exhilarating urban fantasy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 2, 2012
    ISBN9781469220789
    Unavailable
    The Vampire Shrink
    Author

    Lynda Hilburn

    Lynda Hilburn is a clinical hypnotherapist and licensed psychotherapist. Her lifelong fascination with the occult and paranormal led her to write urban fantasy novels, and her professional training shaped her Kismet Knight series, which begins with The Vampire Shrink. Lynda lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her son.

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    Reviews for The Vampire Shrink

    3/5

    16 ratings15 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I'll take half the credit for my disappointment with The Vampire Shrink. There's just nothing new here, when it had the potential to be one of a kind. Unofortuantely, I got the same old story, the same old characters. I'm sadly disappointed - this had the potential to be like Interview With A Vampire, but, you, know, actually good. With narrative introspection into the state of vampirism without being so blindingly boring as Anne Rice's faux-journalistic endeavor was. Some readers, especially those with a voracious and appreciative appetite for all things fanglike (maybe the Twi-Moms that Kismet takes potshots at?), will read this and love it. I just could never get into the story being told; I never found the 'mystery' a t the heart of everything to be compelling, or really even a focus of the narration. In the end, I think reception for this is much like Royal Street, which has garnered high reviews from others but I personally fought to finish. I was lured to this particular novel by the unique idea of a human psychologist to the undead - and evil, murder-y vampires at that. So it's easy to imagine my dismay when that idea is further and further abandoned in favor of a much less interesting and much more predictable urban fantasy plotline about sexy head vampire, Devereux. I was never really engaged in this novel - the first hundred pages are particularly difficult and layered with clunky dialogue and endless exposition. Details that could easily have been shown or subtly woven into casual conversation are blatantly - and oddly - stated. Kismet is so wooden as a narrator that it's hard to get a feel for her as a person, much less view her as a conflicted and engaging woman. Her prolonged refusal to accept Midnight's claims got old, fast and hurt her credibility when she so abruptly changes perspective a few chapters on. For a rewrite of a previously published novel, The Vampire Shrink Pt. II: This Time With More Feeling (or should that be "The Vampire Shrink: The Redux"? Or "The Revamped Vampire Shrink!") could still stand to do with some authorial and editorial work. I so much wanted to like this, but so much of it strains feels familiar, or done before: the main character is too perfect (especially in the looks department. A mix of Megan Fox and Angelina Jolie? Really? I am supposed to relate to this character?) and the plot is far too predictable and typical for the PNR/UF genres. As for nearly everyone else present and accounted for in the cast here, they all feel familiar and uniformly indistinct.Maybe the main reason (after the fist listless and exposition-heavy introduction) I couldn't get into The Vampire Shrink was that I didn't buy the romance. When it was quickly apparent that the mystery element would take a backseat to the graphic lovin' between (yes, I'm calling it) the insta-loving protagonist and Dev, I pretty much mentally checked out. Sure I read along to see what would happen and how the chips would fall, but this human/vampire romantic relationship felt rehashed and lacked individuality from any other novel in the genre. I am still giving this nearly 3-stars because there are some amusing moments and I did find the magic-aspect to be somewhat clever. However, neither are enough to interest me in book two of this really-long-titled series, Blood Therapy. I'm sure this is purely a case of "it's not you, it's me" type of situation, but this book and I did not see eye to eye, so Kismet Knight will continue her nocturnal adventures without my readership.
    • 3/5
      MY RATING: 3.5 STARSAfter finishing The Vampire Shrink, I'm left with mixed emotions about this book. I like the whole concept because it's a bit different. However, I felt the main characters (especially the character of Devereux) didn't evolve through the story enough.The second book is available, but I haven't read it yet. It's possible that Dev is more hashed out in the second book. I hope that's the case, because I couldn't really connect with him in this book. I felt more connected to the hunky FBI agent, Alan.Kismet is somewhat confusing. She stayed in denial way too long about the existence of vampires even when it was staring her right in the face...literally (Bryce lol). I liked her well enough though. She has three potential love interests in this book—Tom (her ex), Alan (FBI agent), and Dev (800 year old vamp). Yeah, I was rooting for Alan because I felt more connected to him than Dev. I shouldn't even really count Tom because he's an egotistical ass. Overall, I did like the story and will read the next book, Blood Therapy. I think this story was well deserving of 3.5 stars, but I'd give the cover art 2 stars. I just didn't care for it.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book had a hard time putting it down to get some sleep.A very diffrent take on the vampire thing Kismet is a very intellegent women that is very aware of her senses.The characters in this book are very easy to relate to .The story is very easy to follow and a bit naughty it gets very deep into descriptive scenes and leaves me feeling .like im reading soft porn every now and again.The characters in this book are described so well i felt like i was there in the scene a bit like a fly on the wall.The men she developes feelings for are a bit on the perfect man fantasy side atleast for me .They almost seem to good to be true .The story is very well written and i will look foward to reading it in the future it is one of my favorite titles to date.I would recommend this book and give it 5 stars easily.
    • 4/5
      Up to the point where she was involved in a ceremony where nothing was explained and everybody just kept going "later" to her I liked this story. However, this was a sticking point for me. It's a lazy cliche being used in too many books to bind the heroine to the supernatural creature without actual consent being involved and this is where I have issues with a lot of Urban Fantasy. Without consent this is morally dubious at best and downright issue-laden at worst, and what's worse for me is that this is becoming a regular feature of books I'm finding.Safe, sane and consentual. These are three words that should dominate romance but they don't, they're not even regularly discussed and this character (and her creator) is a shrink.The story starts with our heroine Kismet Knight dealing with a girl who wants to be a vampire which leads Kismet into the vampire underworld of her city and some relationships with people who will change her life forever. Including a guy who is trying to get his revenge on the man she is falling heavily in lust with.It wasn't bad but I think it could have been better.
    • 1/5
      Supposedly steamy romance made me cringe.
    • 2/5
      Lovelorn Kismet Knight learns that becoming a psychologist to the vamps can be hazardous as well as extremely rewarding. This was one of those bipolar books in which the things I liked I really liked, and the things I hated I *really* hated.The book got off to a great start. The heroine is likeable, and she has a lot of concern for her patients. She's a regular person with a not-so-great past, and at first, her character is very believable. Also adding to the plus side of the equation is the interesting premise. A vampire shrink is a new take on an old trope, and I enjoyed the doctor/patient scenes in which Kismet first explores the world of vamps. Finally, I liked the plot itself. The threads were all fairly loose, but they tied together fairly well at the end.Unfortunately, there was also a lot that I didn't like. For one thing, the sex was all over the place. I don't mind R-rated scenes, but in order to be any good, they have to flow with the characters and the story. These didn't. Although a self-proclaimed good girl who had kept her panties on for the past two years, Kismet suddenly becomes infatuated with any guy who said 'hello'. Not only that, the guys don't seem to mind that she sleeps sleeps around. Her vampire lover shrugs it off, and her human one tells her he'll wait for her to make up her mind. As if Kismet could ever make up her mind! One moment, she's so in love with Devereaux the vampire that she can hardly stand it, and the next she despises him. She tells Allan, the human, she only wants to be friends, then she asks him to join her in the shower.There were other things that bothered me. For example, the heroine's name. Kismet would work if her parents had been carefree artistic types, but according to her, they were unimaginative drones. Also, an estranged boyfriend makes an appearance at the beginning of the book, yet completely disappears midway through without anyone caring. I have no idea what his purpose was. Kismet constantly forgets to lock her doors despite the fact that she's being stalked by a rogue vamp. Then there were the Canadian spellings...ordinarily, not a bad thing unless the story is written about an American from a first person POV.I had really wanted to like this book, and there were quite a few good things about it. Unfortunately, there were even more bad things that I disliked.
    • 3/5
      And back to vampires I go, I was actually pretty excited about this book. It has a really cool premise. The idea of a psychologist who is catering to the vampires of the world is really a fun look at the vampire universe. I mean really when you think about it, what would you do if you were told there were vampires, you most likely wouldn't believe it, so it was fun looking at it through the eyes of someone who is trained to diagnose mental illnesses. One of my biggest complaints with the book had to do with the continued references to Twilight. Actually the first alluding to Twilight was actually kind of amusing, because it had to do with Kismet (the psychologist) asking the "vampire wannabe" what vampires are like, and she asked if they are really sparkly. But the Twilight references go even more with blatantly referring to the book over and over again, and even refers to the movie, or rather the actors by name. It just kind of felt to much. Another one of the issues I had with the book was the inner monologue of Kismet, the main character. I understood that she is a psychologist, and that she is trained to diagnose people who have mental illness, but she looks for it everywhere. In every single conversation she has with another person, she diagnoses them after like 3 lines of dialogue. Well maybe not diagnoses them, but goes over every possible diagnoses and then changes the prospective diagnosis based one how they reply to her. It just didn't feel right or organic. There was even this part where Kismet is pretty much attacked and her response to the attack was purely clinical, it really just felt wrong. I guess the main thing that I did enjoy about the book was kind of how the entire thing almost worked like a perspective of how society has become so involved with vampires in a pop culture sense. Especially in the beginning of the book when Kismet is really looking at the phenomenon in a purely analytical way, which I enjoyed reading. Overall, I think the book had a really unique way of being told/concept. But I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. I kind of think when you include so many references to other books or pop culture it really kills the shelf life of a book. But on the plus side the writing was pretty okay, so if you want to try an unique take on the vampire phenomenon then this might be the book for you.
    • 4/5
      Dr. Kismet Knight is a psychologist living in Denver. With no love life - her career is her life. New patient by the name of Midnight yearns to be a vampire. Dr. Knight thinks this is crazy and finds the things Midnight says to be impossible. That is until Kismet meets vampire Devereux and her world and the way she looks at it is forever changed.This is actually the second time reading this book (first time being in 2009) and I love it just as much as I did back then. Ms. Hilburn's take on vampires is unique. The Vampire Shrink is a totally engrossing read. Filled with mystery, action and romance. I was quite take with Devereux and look forward to reading more about him and Kismet. If you are a vampire lover this book is a must read.
    • 4/5
      Kismet lead a pretty boring life in my opinion before a girl (Midnight) dressed like a vampire walked into her office. Midnight told her all about how she knew vampires and how she was going to be turned into one. Although Kismet was supportive she did not believe a word Midnight said about the vampires and decided she would start a book about the delusions of people that believed in such things. It very slowly is revealed to Kismet that everything Midnight has said was 100% true and she just might be in way over her head.Kismet is extremely hard headed and stubborn. She hangs on to her non belief even when the truth is staring her right in the face and their were many points where I wanted to shake the heck out of her. There is a love triangle between Kismet a sexy vampire and a just as sexy FBI profiler. I really liked both guys with Kismet so I'm not really rooting for one over the other. I felt that the story was well written and it was easy to fall into the scenes. There were a few parts that dragged a little, annoyed me, or that i found a tad bit cheesy but for the most part it had a great storyline and characters. I wasn't crazy about the ending. It cut off way to fast and seemed abrupt but the book as a whole left me interested to see where the series goes.
    • 5/5
      The Vampire Shrink was a great read, it really captured my imagination, When I began to read, it was like I was being sucked into the book,if you pardon the pun, I WAS Kismet!I loved the way her thoughts were written into the book as well as what she actually said.She had a great sense of humour considering her past.I was disappointed that the book wasn't longer and more in depth in the end scenario although I know there is a second book so it can still progress now we know all about Kismet it leaves a lot of room for other things in the new book.With action, romance, sex, fantasy, paranormal it made for a brilliant book and I really can't wait for the release of the next book Blood Therapy
    • 2/5
      Kismet Knight is a psychologist whose therapeutic treatment of a vampire wannabee plunges her into a paranormal subculture she refuses to believe exists. She considers her patient's tales of vampire hypnosis and blood drinking a product of a desperate young girl crying out for attention until she meets Devereaux who claims to be 800 years old and declares Kismet his soul mate. Yet Kismet is still unwilling to succumb to what she is sure is nothing but mind tricks and illusions even when she confronts bodies drained of blood and wakes trapped in a coffin after being kidnapped. Despite Kismet's determination to deny the entire absurd situation, as the irresistible Devereaux's destiny, she finds herself in the middle of a vampire war, and at the mercy of a psychopath.I have had The Vampire Shrink on my TBR list for two years so I was thrilled when I received an ARE as it is being republished here in Australia. The premise intrigued me and I had high expectations for a unique story that I was sure I would love, but sadly I didn't.I thought the actual story a really strong idea, while neither paranormal romance or urban fantasy it had a good mix of action and romance (well lust anyway). With good and bad vampires, ghosts, witches and even visits to other dimensions there is something for everyone. I thought there was potential for creating more tension had the identity of the villain been less predictable but the pace is quite good and there is plenty happening.Yet my enthusiasm for the story waned in the face of Kismet's immature and inconsistent personality. From a analytical, sensitive, intelligent psychologist Kismet devolved into a close minded victim with wild mood swings and the desire to jump every male's bones. The changes in her personality just weren't believable even given the strange circumstances. Initially I understood her rationalization to deny the existence of vampires but it continued far too long until I was rolling my eyes with impatience. I just couldn't reconcile the character we were introduced to with the character that she became.Unfortunately I didn't think much of the rest of the leading cast either - Devereaux embodies the cliche - gorgeous, rich, mysterious and dominant and was further hindered by some truly awful dialogue. FBI Agent Alan sparked my interest until his main focus became getting into Kismet's pants and Bryce was simply nasty, though his bisexuality was an unusual source for conflict. I thought a few of the more minor characters had untapped potential including Midnight and 'Bull' but in general I felt the characters lacked dimension.There are aspects of The Vampire Shrink that I liked but since I found Kismet so frustratingly uneven, I ultimately found it an unsatisfying read. Based on my experience of this start to the series I'm undecided if I will try book #2: Blood Therapy, when it is released, but despite my disappointment I'm not ruling it out either.
    • 4/5
      I don't really know why I never read one of her Kismet books before. I follow her blog Paranormality! Well, I got the Kindle app for my ipod and found it in the Kindle store and decided to give it a try.Kismet is a psychologist and she even has her own practice which seems to going through a mundane phase. Ya know, the alien abductees and such until she comes across one of her patients who is obsessed with vampires. Now we all know vampires don't exist - right? Well, that's what Kismet thought but it seems that her life is now is ready for some more exciting things to happen.Her patient talks about a man named Devereux who is supposedly the leader of the vampires in Denver. Well, Kismet thinks that this is just one of those groups that 'think' they are vampires.Upon meeting this handsome devil - Devereux, she is attracted to him. Then she is attacked by some weird guy named Bryce and Dev comes to her rescue. He tries to explain everything to her but she is too stubborn to believe any of it. Until every time she turns around she's being attacked by something or being wisked off to who knows where because someone has an evil plan afoot!Quite an interesting storyline and it really kept me interested from the beginning to the end. It involved a lot about magic, the vampires and even Lucifer. The characters were incredible - you could really identify with them, especially Kismet as she was introduced to this strange new world. A lot of skeptics would agree with her.
    • 2/5
      Yeah, it was just silly. Alas, the vampire fiction genre has been overwhelmed with new entries. First, the protagonist's name is Kismet---right up there with soap opera names. And of course the vampires are gorgeous specimens of manhood. And these vampires can go into other dimensions. The successful vampire book creates the plausibility that the world as we know it has changed (Sunshine by Robin McKinley or Vamped by David Sosnowski) or that we are entering a different world. This book just has one implausability after another, well beyond the stretch of amatuer fiction. Men are tripping over themselves to have sex with Kismet. There's a vampire club in Denver and the police don't know this. The vampires wear mainly leather. Yeah, you've seen it before in countless other trashy paranormal romance novels. This one did not break away from the pack. (Ooops, that's a werewolf reference)
    • 5/5
      With the title I thought this book would be more silly than it actually was. Well I did laugh when I read the main vampire, Devereux, can travel to other dimensions. Kismet is a psychologist who is seen by a young women who not only believes in vampires and hangs out with them, but is trying to decide if she wants to become one. Of course Kismet does not believe that vampires are real and spends half the book talking herself into not believing no matter what happens to her or what she sees. Even before she decides vampires are real, Kismet advertises herself as the "Vampire Psychologist". She also gets herself involved in some gruesome murders and a psychotic stalker. I enjoyed the story and look forward to the next in the series, Dark Harvest.
    • 1/5
      I don't read paranormal romances for the plot or character development, but I was puzzled by far too much in this book. And I'm not interested in reading the next installment to find out.That said, a human psychologist treating vampires sorely in need of help is an interesting twist to the genre.