Do I love Halloween? Eh. Not really. I used to hate it more, but now I guess I’m ok with it. It’s still not my favorite holiday, but I’m not gonna hide in my closet until it’s over. If you need some motivation to get into the Halloween mood, may I offer you the latest from the world of Paranormal Romance. I used to read these all the time, but I’d kind of gotten away from them. I tried to find all the monsters - we have zombies, vampires, demons, werewolves and ghosts. There is something here for every taste, so jump and see what bites…in a good way. 

I should start by confessing that I don’t love zombies. I’ve never watched The Walking Dead, Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later. Yeah. No thanks. But I picked this one up because I’ve read Olivia Dade before and really enjoy her writing. I figured if anyone can make me tolerate zombies, it would be her. And I wasn’t wrong. Mostly. This one starts with a diagram of a circular structure composed of four walls, three zones and one access road. In my head, this meant that the humans were living in the zone with the compound safe in the middle to protect them from the outside world. It took me 50 pages to realize that the zombies - created by a military accident - were living in the middle of the compound and the humans surrounded them to keep them in. That’s my weakest link. Why would the humans stay and not just move to somewhere a monster couldn’t eat them in their sleep? Dade does an ok job trying to explain it so I stayed with the story. However, she really excels at characters. Her Scooby gang involves a next-door vampire, a half-fae Girl Scout troop, a witch and an oracle. Be warned - this is just book one of her Supernatural Entanglements series (the second book titled: World's Okayest Oracle (Reluctantly) Seeks Demon - right?). But I liked it enough to keep going. Check it out and see what you think. If you like zombies, this may be the book for you.

This one was a toss up for me because I love food books, but I’m not the biggest fan of ghost stories. It got such great reviews online, and even won a Goodreads Choice award, that I knew I had to explore. And I’m glad that I did. Costia can taste the dead. I’m mean, not literally licking their decaying bodies. Yuck. But certain folks who’ve crossed over send back their favorite food memories and if he can figure out how to make the dish, the dead can return to see their loved one for one night and get closure. Of course things never work out that easily and things start to pile up. I don’t want to give you more because I don’t want to spoil the story. I have to say I really enjoyed the food parts of this. That’s really what kept me in. I chose audio but NPL also has print if you would like that version instead. I’d say this is a level two out of five on a scary scale. Maybe don’t read it before bed if you are sensitive, but other than that it wasn’t bad. Good read to stretch my comfort zone.

I’d kind of forgotten about this trilogy until I decided to write this post. All three of these are good reads, but I think this one might be my favorite. The other two feature demons, which is not necessarily my best character of choice. This one is between sweet werewolf, Ben, and a half-vampire/half-succubus. See - isn’t that better? One night, in a drunken stupor, Ben orders a magic, plastic rock that contains said succubus for the low, low price of $.99 on eBay. When the post office delivers it, the sparks fly. I wouldn’t say that you absolutely have to read the other two books in the series if you don’t want to. This one does stand on its own a little better than those two do. If you want to read them, and they are worth the time, the first book is A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon and the second book is A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch. I’m sad that this is just a trilogy right now. I felt like the author was just hitting her stride. Who knows - maybe she’ll right more in the future, but for now, at least we have these three to enjoy.
 

Some vampire stories are dark and broody. This one is not. This has all the upbeat fun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but none of the hellmouth drama. Amelia is an accountant with an absolutely horrible client. When she bumps into someone outside the office and all her reams of carefully organized papers go flying, she has had it. Until she looks up and sees the most handsome man - even if he’s peculiarly dressed. Pretty good starting meet cute, right? I enjoyed this one. It pulled me in more than the first one - My Roommate is a Vampire. There is also a third one, Roadtrip with the Vampire, that I haven’t read yet, so there’s plenty here to enjoy. I would say you don’t have to read them in order, but it would be better if you did. Also, I chose the audio version for this, but NPL also has print if you want it. Good series if you want vampires without all the angst. 

I would probably say that vampires are the most popular when it comes to PNR books. There must be something about their dark and broodiness that makes them sought after. They are the ultimate bad boys after all. Unless…you’re like Brennan. Who was turned one night after getting hit by a car. Don’t worry, the vampire that turned him also turned the driver of the car because she hit a tree after being surprised by Brennan in the middle of the road. Brennan’s just a nice guy who is not the most fond of the fact that he now needs to drink blood. And when his cute crush, Library Blanket Guy, aka Cole, sees him do it - well, isn’t that just great? I liked this one more than I thought I would. It had a little more of the traditional vampy-ness than a couple of the others. It gave me more Buffy vibes - which I’m here for (plus we got another Scoopy Gang! Yes!). Right now this is just a stand alone, but it is a fun read. Check your copy out today before the other vamps swoop in and grab it.

Ok friends. I hope you have exactly the Halloween that you are hoping for. If you are a big party-goer or trick or treater - I hope you costume rocks. But if you are like me and would rather stay home with a good book, I hope one of these makes your night. Either way - eat some candy.

Happy Halloweening…
:) Amanda