This witty, unconventional small-town story could use a bit of renovation.
After a case of mistaken identity leads her to inherit a rundown Vermont inn, a lonely vampire struggles to adjust to small-town living.
Tiffenie Ruba has been trying to live under the radar as a vampire for the last 300 years, but maintaining the secret has led to some serious loneliness. Borrowing an identity from a human who shares her name—Tiffany Blair—she moves between a job at a blood bank and the LA apartment she shares with her cat. With nothing but eternity ahead of her, though, Tiffenie’s secretly longing for a more Hallmark-movie lifestyle. When she learns that the real Tiffany has inherited a Vermont inn, she seizes the opportunity to start over. Unfortunately, she’s bringing her own baggage on this unexpected road trip, chiefly a neighbor she sort of accidentally turned into a vampire, too. Settling in isn’t the cozy experience Tiffenie envisioned, since the inn is days away from being condemned and she’s forced to keep pretending to be someone she isn’t in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. At least there’s a deeply attractive Christmas tree farmer named Tyrone who seems genuinely interested in her, but the situation is made complicated when Tiffenie’s ex-boyfriend Vlad, the vampire who made her, decides to pay a visit—and his presence is a reminder of everything that used to be good about their relationship. Tschida’s latest is billed as a rom-com, but the romance takes a backseat to the comedy, in large part because Tiffenie’s quirky inner narration is so strong. The novel has all the makings of the Hallmark holiday love story Tiffenie longs for, but with limited space afforded to all sides of the relationship triangle that emerges—especially as even more characters and hijinks start to occupy the narrative—it’s hard to fully buy into her ultimate choice. More time spent building to that happily-ever-after would have given the ending more weight and significance.
This witty, unconventional small-town story could use a bit of renovation.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781683694724
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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