by Ellie Palmer
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
I keep selecting these Rom Com Paranormal books because the descriptions always seem like so much fun. And they stack up in my TBR list because I love having the option of pulling out a fun read that will be cute, quirky and under 400 pages. It’s sort of a guaranteed “win” as a read.
This book is the perfect example of this sort of book. I hate to use the word ‘cozy’ to describe these books because that means low stakes, no gore and tends to focus on the “curvy” introverted librarian virgin who loves cats. I still want a messy relationship, a little bit of violence and a FMC who has made a number of poor choices. In this case we meet Frankie and Alex, a married couple who hit a bump in their married life and find themselves in a bad place. I like this set up, it’s very different from the usual ‘meet-cute, get to know him, screw it up somehow and find each other again’ trope. The prologue gives us the first time they meet, very cute indeed and then we jump forward to the present day, where dreams have been dashed and reality has taken over and our couple have lost their way with each other.
Frankie had a career ending accident and Alex has put his own life on hold to support her, but that’s led to a million little disappointments and things not said. Anyone who has been in a long term relationship can relate that sometimes things get bad. And they are working on it, but it’s quiet between them. And then there is a terrible car accident on a snowy January night and Frankie SHOULD have died, well, actually she did die, but then ended up not dead. Actually she ended up a vampire.
But instead of this new complication making things worse it appears to be bringing our couple back together, if accomplice to murder is any indication of new found support. Well, actually there is a number of things that happen and Frankie and Alex need to get over their communication issues and decide whether this new development will make or break them.
I mean, it’s a romance so there isn’t much more that needs to be added here. The story is exactly what one would expect it to be, perfectly serviceable for what it gives you. This isn’t the author’s first novel, although her first vampire, but you can tell that everything runs on time to the inevitable conclusion. Some mid west jokes, some vampire pop culture references “Am I a Nosferatu, Buffy or Twilight type of Vampire? “, even some inside name references like “Helsing Bay”, or a character with the last name “Harker”.
It was nice to read about a married couple who stay married, instead of falling in love, just finding their rhythm for each other again.
No big surprises so this is a solid 4 stars for me.
