Gwen’s review of Don’t Talk Back to Your Vampire by Michele Bardsley
Contemporary paranormal romance published 3 Jul 07 by Signet Eclipse

This paranormal is set in modern day Broken Heart, Oklahoma. This fictional town (http://brokenheartok.com/) is filled with, and rebuilt around, “parakind” or paranormal kind such as fae, vampires, lycans, etc.  The heroine, Evangeline (Eva) LeRoy, is the town’s librarian and a vampire.  The hero, Lorcan O’Halloran, is a former druid/monk/scholar and a vampire plus a little extra sumpin’ sumpin’.  This is a story of how these two fun folks come to terms with how they met (violently) and repel some baddies, all while falling in love.  Of course.

If I’m honest with myself, I’ll have to admit that I ended up really liking this book.  It sure didn’t start that way, though.  When I first picked it up, this book had three strikes against it in Gwen’s Book o’ Review Candidate Selections: (1) corny title, (2) written in a casual “hip” style that grates on my nerves if it’s not done well, and (3) it’s written in first person POV.  Shouldn’t even pick it up, right?  Well, if I had followed my first impression, I’d have missed out on a good read.

The book starts a little rocky but the rhythm smooths out about 50 pages in. At first, there doesn’t appear to be a story arc.  It feels like a recitation of the daily comings and goings of this unusual community.  That is, until Eva’s teenage daughter is attacked, then Eva is kidnapped and “tampered” with.  It is interesting before, but after it is downright fun.

There is a lot of good story-fodder in this book: single mom becomes a vampire, mom falls in love with a vampire, there’s a mysterious disease infecting the undead, someone is making vampire/lycan mutants, etc., etc.  Ms Bardsley would have to hang her head in shame if she couldn’t get a few good pages out of all that.  Luckily, she got plenty of good pages and won’t have to be publicly humiliated.  : )  I even cried a bit – I won’t ruin it for the rest of you, but if you’re a mom, you’ll cry, I guarantee it.

There is a little trouble with pacing and segues here and there.  I felt a little bereft on a couple of occasions, but I was able to regain the story thread before too many sentences went by.  Not a big complaint when I was able to forget about the first person POV (bonus!).  And, since Ms Bardsley can obviously write nicely erotic scenes, I would have liked bit more steam between Eva and Lorcan (only two erotic scenes – wah).

This was a fun, quick summer read.  I highly recommend it for your poolside TBR pile.

Grade: B
Here’s the book blurb:

Being a mother is never easy-especially when you’re undead.

Eva LeRoy, Broken Heart, Oklahoma’s librarian, got “vampified” when everyone else did: during a rogue vampire’s feeding frenzy. But books still make her undead heart beat-and, strangely enough, so does Lorcan the Loner, the vampire who killed her…

Read an excerpt.