A Girl's Guide to Vampires / Katie MacAlister

3 out of 5 stars

🎃🎃🎃 This was a silly rom-com version of a paranormal romance, but I liked it despite myself. It had things that I usually deplore, namely a main female character (and her friend) whose only aims in life seem to be finding a spouse. They behave in ways that I consider too stupid to live and instead of being rightly shunned by the men around them, they are considered merely annoying or “spirited.” If that isn't enough, the author has them doubt the ability of the police to solve a crime which they then meddle in. Have I mentioned how stupid they are portrayed?

And yet this story really effectively makes fun of the vampire paranormal romances that feature fated romance, mating bonds, and irresistible controlling dark men sweeping the women off their feet (Christine Feehan's Dark series comes immediately to mind for me).

The tale begins with Joy as the sceptic, contrasted with her pal Roxanne, who has memorized a certain series of vamp PNRs and is a true believer. And they are, of course, going on holiday to the town in Europe where the author lives, after a scrying session with a Wiccan friend to determine their chances of finding suitable men.

 So naturally it is Joy who attracts the vampire's attention, forcing her to be much less sceptical, though she can't figure out who he is, just that he is trying to mind-meld her. She proves to be rather resistant to being controlled or bossed around, being rather more truly independent than most PNR heroines. Oh, she's still besotted with the man she's chosen (and she's pretty definite on the fact that SHE has chosen), but there's much less of the claiming to be independent while knuckling under to his every demand. Well, except sex, she never turns that down.

 As you can see from my ramblings, this book is a strange combination of strong, if silly, female lead in a cozy mystery type set-up. I mean it's printed by Avon, all right? It's got to be a romance with an HEA and some steamy scenes, yeah? It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea and I wouldn't want to read the next book immediately, but it would be fun to eventually see what's next for Joy.