Monday Book Review: DATING THE UNDEAD by Juliet Lyons

Dating the Undead, a V-Date.com Novel, by Juliet Lyons
Published 2017 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

About the Book:

There's more than one way to keep a vampire up all night.

V-Date.com. It's the vampire dating site. And if you're a mortal who's getting a little too close to learning our secrets, I'm the guy who swoops in to make you forget. But don't worry: I only bite sometimes.

I was great at my job until I met Silver—sarcastic, sexy, spunky Silver. I can't bring myself to make her forget about our kind. About me. It's all I can do not to throw her down on the kitchen counter and have my way with her, fangs and all.

She says she's just looking for a good time, and I'm just the vampire to give it to her—over and over again. I went into this looking for a good tumble, but even I have to admit that things are changing between us. Good god, I want to hold her hand. In public.

MY TAKE:

LOVE! Recommend!

Oh wait, I need to write more of a review than that. Or do I? Yes, I really should.

So if Charlaine Harris took her True Blood series (which I love) and infused it with all the snark and sass of J.C. McKenzie's Carus series (which I also love) it might result in something akin to this new series by new-to-me author Juliet Lyons. Hot vampires, snarky humans, lots of sassy dialogue and sizzling sex...yup. This jumped itself onto my absolute favorite list for paranormal romantic suspense.

AND it's set in London.

AND the hot vampire has an Irish brogue. AND the author just alludes to it, but doesn't write phonetically. *swoon* on both counts!

Okay, perhaps I'm fangirling a bit, but I just finished this book and L-O-V-E-D it. Here's the basic story line:

Silver is the ironically named heroine, who lives and works in London. We learn right away that she's tough and funny and doesn't take sh*t from anyone, especially not boyfriends caught in the act of kissing another woman.

Logan is a vampire. In the vague setting of this book, vampires have been outed and live among humans pretty peacefully in most countries, especially in large urban areas. As in most paranormal stories with vampires, they're still a pretty secretive bunch, but for the most part they pretend things are normal - they're just immortal.

There's a dating website for human/vampire interactions, and Silver's stepsister urges her to sign up and give it a try. Silver never thought about dating vampires before her New Year's Eve kiss with Logan - is it always that way with vampires? She needs to find out.

The story unfolds like an origami puzzle, each layer leading to more questions and more answers that lead to even more questions. The first person narrative alternates between Silver and Logan, each POV thoughtfully labeled for the reader, although after a while it's obvious as the characters have distinct voices. More than anything else, it's Silver's snark and sass that makes this a truly enjoyable rollercoaster of a read - oh, and the sizzling hot sex. Can't forget that.

If you're a fan of True Blood (the books or the HBO series) and/or a fan of author J.C. McKenzie (lesser known but by no means less talented) you need to give this new series a shot. I know I'm headed back to Amazon to pre-order the second book in the series (available in October! My fav month for vampires!) and crossing my fingers for several more from this author. Five out of five stars, and looking forward to reading more!

Grab your copy on AMAZON.