Falling for a Villainous Vampire (publication day October 27, 2027) by Charlotte Stein is the third stand-alone in her Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures series and the first one of this series that I’ve read, although I very much enjoyed My Big Fat Fake Marriage and While You Were Seething, contemporary romances in a different series.
Stein puts the reader right into the middle of a deadly conflict between Marley, a witch in a small town, and her vampire attacker, Halsten. Somehow Marley knows that the vampire has stalked her through many lives and has finally caught up with her in this one. Her familiar is her Phone, and for once she actually has some friends who are also witches. Luckily the part about vampires not being able to come into your home unless invited is true, so Marley is able to escape.
With her friends, Marley conjures a spell to make Halsten forget about her, and now he’s very different–he actually saves her from a devil dog, and he believes she is a powerful and important sorceress and pledges his life to her.
Overall, I thought it was cute, but I did have a hard time suspending my belief that a spell would end the feud and that they were actually soulmates. It was funny, though, and I enjoyed the fact that her iPhone was her familiar.
It’s weight-neutral, as the cover shows a straight-sized person and there’s no mention of Marley’s body size, although Halsten is described as being 6’5″–an ancient, Viking vampire.
