Blood of the Maple

I had such a hard time rating this book. There were so many things I really liked about this book, but at the same time there were plenty of things that I didn't like. Blood of the Maple is about a playboy vampire, Parker, who moves to Maggie's Grove with his best friend and ghost, Greg. Maggie's Grove is one of the only, if not the only, towns in the US that is completely supernatural. Shortly after arriving, Parker meets Amara, a powerful dryad who lives next door. They fall in love, but their relationship, and the town, is threatened by Parker's ex, an obsessive crazy witch who has been following Parker for years.
Amara is a really powerful dryad who was raised by a kind woman. For reasons unknown to Amara, but revealed later in the book, the townspeople avoid her. When they are not ignoring her, they are outwardly horrible to her. Even though most of Maggie's Grove hates her, she has a few friends, but she is still very lonely. Amara spends most of her time in her garden and conversing with her tree.
After escaping from his ex, who was trying to make it so he could only drink from her blood, so they will be together forever, Parker is stuck drinking plant-like blood. Before Amara, Greg would make a smoothie with a few drops of his blood mixed with certain plants. After Greg dies and becomes a ghost, they move to Maggie's Grove, where Parker falls in love with Amara and the final showdown with his ex takes place.
Maggie's Grove is such a quant town. It's like a supernatural version of Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. Everyone knows everyone. The beings that inhabit Maggie's Grove are shapeshifters, vampires, psychics, witches, dryads, etc. When Parker's ex threatens the town to get to Parker, everyone comes together to fight her.
I loved the fresh take on the supernatural. The problems I had with this book had to do with all the random sex scenes. Some were appropriately placed but I felt that others were just unneeded. Yes, I know this is a paranormal romance-stressing the romance, but still. Having said that, I still liked this book and will definitely be reading the sequel when it comes out.

I picked this up cause it was cheap and the sample seemed interesting. Good concept, creative characters, but poor execution. First quarter is ok. First intimate scene is ok. After that both story and bedroom action get awkward and lose energy. Totally lost interest by the last quarter and skimmed just to be able to say I'd got my money's worth. Don't waste your time. Looking for something steamy and cheap/free? Try Jill Myles.