Master of Ecstasy

Rating:
Summary: Master of the delightfully amusing unexpected
Review: Ganymede provides vacation services that are a bit unique as one would expect when he runs a firm. He escorts customers on tours of the past. Currently, Ganymede and his feline pal Sparkle take a twenty-fourth century based tour group back to 1785 MacKenzie Castle in Scotland.

Vampire Darach MacKenzie is not a happy bloodsucker when the futurists arrive at his clan's castle. He realizes that the two guides are a bit more powerful than humans, but he plans to rid his family estate of them and their minions. Everything changes when he sees Ecstasy, Inc. employee Blythe amidst the "guests" because somehow she makes his blood boil. Believing he has found his soul mate, Darach wants to snack on her neck, but she has to prove to her employers that she can do more than just turn on every man's lust even if his fangs look so temptingly alluring.

Is there any author who does humor, horror and romance in one blending better than Nina Bangs does it? The key to Ms. Bangs' clever facetious novels is the cast never does what the reader expects; even a simple vampiric neck snack becomes a hilarious exchange between two attracted individuals separated by species and several centuries. MASTER OF ECSTASY combines vampires, time travel and that nutty Ganymede accompanied by as daffy Sparkle into an amusing romance that will lead the audience to read in one enchanting bite.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Does Nina Bang?
Review: I wouldn't bother reading this book if I was looking for literary talent, but it is very mindless and it made me laugh. The characters are very one-dementional and it was easy for me to predict EVERYTHING that happened in this story. But there is a place for even books like this. Those weekday reads when you want to escape, but may need to put it down if you have more important things to do.

Rating:
Summary: A Review from the Other Side of the Coin
Review: I've been a fan of vampire and paranormal romances for a long time. I remember when everyone though the genre was dying out. I found some real gems among little know authors whose books went out of print or were published by obscure indie presses. In the last year or two, paranormals and vampire romances have undergone a revolution and revival. While we're getting an infusion of much appreciated new talent, there is also an increase of lazy authors who just want to crank out a hot, gimmicky new book. Perhaps the worst of these offenders are the poineers of the 'vampire comedy' which believe that the darkness and savagery should be dropped for sex and silly antics.
Bangs has scacrificed plot and characters for humor, but if unless your taste in comedy leans towards 'stupid, frigid woman has sex' good luck enjoying this one. You might say this is a light, fluffy read but its just dumb. The characters are all one dimensional caricatures with the vampire hero, Darach, being the worst. He's the kind of character that is defined by his genitals rather than his personality. A lusty fellow, he's all about SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX! He's got some sob story about his wife, but other than that he's to busy trying to be every romance hero cliche in the book. He's a vampire, a Scotts laird, and A VIKING! I half expected him to light up cheroot and talk about being a cowboy in the American West. Blythe is some time traveling person whose job is to make people happy. She herself is frigid and unhappy and something of a doormat. Love and sex has done her wrong so she will never love and copulate again, no matter what! Seeing as the crux of the book is all about Darach and other stupid people getting Blythe to have sex, it's one of those books that all talk, little action. It's a bit like seducing Ceasar, the muscular love god, only to find out that Ceasar is impotent from steriod abuse.
Pile on the dumb little antics (Darach's bed falls through the ceiling so Darach must sleep naked in Blythe's room! Har Har!) and you've got one painfully braindead comedy.

Rating:
Summary: Another fanciful tale by Ms Bangs!
Review: In the future, it has been proven that there is no such things as ghosts or vampires. So when Blythe goes on a working vacation in 1785 Scotland, why does she suddenly get the feeling that vampires and ghosts really do exist?

Darach just wants the meddlesome time travelers out of his ancestral castle so he can tend to his duty without endangering anyone. Except Blythe, the woman bent on making him happy without succumbing to sex is the most vexing and interesting woman he has ever encountered!

Then the villagers get unsettled. Women are traveling about by themselves, and peasants are gruesomely murdered during the night. So our time travelers and vampire must find a common ground, because there is something a lot worse than angry villagers moving about in the dark!

Nina Bangs has written a fanciful tale of magic, ancient Scotland and with a different view of the vampire. While I enjoyed the story, and the plot was interesting, the pace was a little slower than I expected and would have liked.

For me, the secondary characters stole the book. While Blythe (who is also empathic) tries to convince Darach to let her see into his past to help him find happiness, I found myself wondering what Sparkle Stardust (a Cosmic Troublemaker) was up too. I loved how Sparkle enjoyed thwarting Ganymede simply because he had renounced his status as a Cosmic Troublemaker. The fact that she was also in cat form was a hoot! Yet at the end, she proves she has a heart under all that white fur.

All in all, because the last eighty pages had me reading like crazy to know what would happen next, I have to say I enjoyed the story. So, even though I had a hard time getting into the story I would recommend MASTER OF ECSTACY.

Rating:
Summary: I Love Nina Bangs!
Review: Nina Bangs has been coming on strong with her books and this is another in the long line of "marvelous reads". It's another time travel; it's a vampire book like none other. Very refreshing tale in her Ganymede series.

Bythe was born in the year 2310, where nearly everything - including life - is indestructible. The people live on and on and on, so they grow bored and bored lead to extreme depression - except in Casper, Wyoming where Blythe was been "exiled" to do her job. A job that included reading her client's feelings and doing what she needs to make him happy - just sex it outside the limits. She crossed that limit in her previous assignment - hence the banishing to Casper.

In order to prove she is worthy to get out of Happyville, USA, she has taken on a new assignment - A working vacation (immediately superior tagging along to report on her). She and her boss book a vacation back in history - 1785 Scotland to be precise to Castle MacKenzie (HUM - Miss Bangs please note ;-) that is SMALL k not large K!! when the person is a Scot ) through Ganymede tours. We learn Ganymede and his companion - an oversexed spirit Sparkle Stardust there to make trouble. He commands to Sparkle appear in cat form to help with his plans. Ganymede has booked the tour into the castle thinking it's empty. Everyone soon learns there is one Darach MacKenzie, owner - for several centuries - of the castle. He wants the tour gone, so Ganymede plans to kill the vampire for control of the Castle.

Bythe is attracted to Darach, though she is not sure about liking a vampire. To make her confusion worse, her boss has assigned her - challenged - her to make Darach happy or else get fired - and no sex! How do you make a 700-year-old vampire happy???

Toss in a deranged Buffy the Vampire fan from the present century who sees herself as Bully Jr. and who agrees with Ganymede the Vamp has to go, you have is one witty tale that will keep the readers guessing from page to page. Sure to please vampire fans and time travel fans looking for something a little different, and guaranteed to satisfy Nina Bang Fans!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent.
Review: Taking a trip back in time might not be your ordinary vacation choice, but not everyone has reformed demon, Ganymede, for a travel agent. Since Blythe does, she takes a trip from the 24th century back to the 18th. As an agent of Ectasy Inc. she is under one rule above all else, no sex. That should be easy enough to accomplish, especially since Ganymede's not reformed demoness helper is causing Blythe's fellow male travelers to not be attracted to women. However, there is a vampire lurking around, and he is a much greater challenge. Darach finds the future woman intriguing in more ways than one, and is determined to win her, despite the insane vampires attacking the castle, the wild women looking for immortality, and the fluffy little pink tribble type things following Blythe around.

***** If Ganymede is in a book, it's a guaranteed winner in the laughs department. Adding in his associate, Sparkle, and the giggles double. Ms. Bangs cleverly mixes action, humor, time travel, and vampires to make a charmer of a novel. The only problem is now I want one of the little fuzz balls sent to harrass Blythe with affection. *****
Amanda Killgore

Rating:
Summary: wow!!!
Review: THIS WAS THE FIRST NINA BANGS BOOK I HAVE READ AND IT BLEW ME AWAY. IT IS FUNNY A LITTLE SCARRY AND ROMANTIC ALL AT THE SAME TIME... COULD'NT PUT IT DOWN.....