I have a confession to make. I actually have the rest of the My Vampires series. I remember borrowing the first book from my city's digital library and enjoying it so much that I bought myself a copy and returned the library one. Then I proceeded to get to about the 40% mark and then left it unfinished. And I bought the 2nd book not realizing that it was actually a series and left it on my tablet for another day.
I had to go searching for it on my tablet because it's been a few years and it had fallen way down on my list of things to read in my digital library. And then I went ahead and hunted down the details of the first book because I could not for the life of me remember why I put the first book down for so long. Looks like it came out around the time I was coming out of the newborn trenches, the ones so deep the Mariana looks at us floundering in the deeps and gives a nod of respect to the trench we're in. I'm in them for a second time now but I like to think I have more experience with sleep deprivation to the point that I can read all the books I want while simultaneously handling screaming tantrums and soothing lullabies.
I was tempted to read both previous books as fast as possible before reading Road Trip with a Vampire before I realized this would be the perfect opportunity to try a book and see if it could stand on its own without depending a lot on the previous installments for me to enjoy the story. I am happy to report that YES, you can read this book without having read the others. Also, you will most definitely WANT to read the other books once you're done with this one.
This was just so sweet, it made me want to curl up with my hands under my chin and just sigh and smile because awww, that was so good.
This book follows Grizelda Watson, known as Zelda, a witch who has left her bad reputation behind for a new start in California as a yoga instructor. Zelda used to hang out with vampires but has spent the last 10 years avoiding them and her magic, in favor of a new peace and being an overall better person than she was in her long and storied past. That all changes when amnesiac vampire Peter Elliot shows up, having been sent by her old friend Reggie, so that Peter can have someone to look out for him while he tries to regain his memories. Zelda decides the least she can do is help him and together they try to figure out who Peter used to be. When Peter gets a threatening note about a job left unfinished, Peter and Zelda come up with a plan: visit places mentioned in Peter's journal to see if they can jog his memories before the sender of the message tracks them down.
I loved Zelda. I loved her name, her attitude, and I even loved her past, which is that apparently she had a reputation for pulling off elaborate pranks. She made me chuckle and smile and that is everything when you're following a romatic lead through their trials and tribulations. I thought Peter was charming and enjoyed hiw flustered he got with Zelda and how the two of them would flirt and slowly learned about each other. It was all just exactly what I wanted to read after the last week of horrible weather and horrible stories on the news about the floods that happened less than an hour away from me. Zelda and Peter made me forget about worrying enough so that I could be able to fall in love with their story. I'm starting My Roommate is a Vampire in the morning because yeah, okay, I NEED to sleep, tell me what else is new.
The book is written from Zelda's point of view, allowing us to see how hard Zelda has worked to become someone better. We can see the pain she feels for mistakes she made in the past and how it drives her to choose to change. I liked how that theme, making a choice to be better, was worked into Zelda's story and into Peter's, because the more we learn about Peter, the more readers see that Peter wants to believe that change is possible, even for him. Funny enough because as is, Peter doesn't know who he used to be. All he knows is that Zelda makes him want to be better, to be deserving of someone like her, and isn't that just exactly what romance needs? It gives me fuzzy feelings and makes me smile just thinking about it. Some of the chapters start with a bit about Peter, filling in things from his past about what his job used to be and how all of it brought him to Zelda. Others have bits about Zelda's past and how her practical jokes created a reputation with a mind of it's own, practically. I liked how reserved he was and how little details like his music choices were enough to expand on who Peter was and who he chose to be for Zelda. The story just worked for me with making me love the characters and then, in turn, love the story of how they fall in love.
If I have to make any complaint, it would be about how I wanted to know a little more about Zelda's past, where she came from, who her family was, things like that. The same for Peter. I was also a little irked by the final conflict of the story, the reasoning that Zelda came up with for why she and Peter would not work out. I thought she was being way too stubborn and refusing to see the truth about what had happened and I wanted someone to tell her that earlier but she did eventually work it out, better late than never. Still, I would have slapped her upside the head because really? You were going to give up on love because you were what? Mincing words about what had happened and what you thought had happened? Ugh, romantic leads, I tell you. There always has to be something, no matter how small, to make their happily ever afters feel earned. Still, sigh, this sweet couple earned their love story ending and this author has earned a new fan. Seriously, I will be reading the rest of the series, probably within the next week, and I'll be keeping Jenna Levine on my list of automatic preorders. If the pattern holds, my hope is for a new book by this time next year. I'm looking forward to it.
Rating on my scale: Going with 9 stars because Zelda really did need a smack to head. Just a few times, nothing too violent, I wouldn't want a vampire coming after me for knocking some sense into his love. Still, this is a great book, exactly what I want to see in romance stories, and I hope the rest of the series is just as good.
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