Review: When Life Gives You Vampires

When Life Gives You Vampires by Gloria Duke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was provided an audio ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. I do think the narrator did a great job with the book, she was able to give a distinct voice to all of the characters and bring life into all of the dialogue.

Parts of this were really cute and cozy, while parts of it felt a bit over the top. Lily was a bit too immature for my taste. The overuse of "Obvi" in this book grated on my nerves after a while. She also drops alot of F-bombs. Perhaps a younger reader wouldn't mind those types of expressions. I think it was an attempt to keep things light and comical and connect with a millennial audience. Lily's inability to communicate with everyone in her life is also a turnoff for me. I'm not a fan of the miscommunication trope in general, which is a big part of the book when she's dealing with Tristan. With both of them being writers, they are terrible communicators.

This follows 25 year old journalist Lily the night after she has been accidentally turned into a vampire. She doesn't remember what happened only that she has a thirst for something a bit different than her usual cravings. Fast-forward to Lily finding her maker Tristan and getting pulled into all sorts of vampire drama. Despite the fact that Lily is a modern millennial and Tristan is kind of old fashioned, they have an instant connection. Tristan is always trying to protect Lily, so in turn she is always angry at him for treating her like a damsel in distress. When they aren't fighting they are making moon eyes at each other.

I was really excited to read this as it sounded like a great body positive paranormal romance, however almost every chapter we are hit over the head with Lily's negative body image, negative self-talk, jealousy of people around her, and inability to accept that people actually accept and like her. She is constantly reminding us that she is damaged goods in some way. Every time you think she's made a step forward in her self acceptance journey, she takes several large steps back into the negative self talk. I'm glad that Lily's best friend finally called her out on, and again she is called out by Evan the Vampire Hunter later. That being said, she does eventually come around and find self acceptance of not only her situation of being a vampire but also being worthy and loving the body she has. I wish that revelation ha occurred much earlier in the book not in the final chapters. I wanted more of the book to be about her loving herself and being smart and sexy and powerful for eternity.

Overall, this book was fun. It was a quick and easy listen. It cozy if you are looking for something to read going into spooky season that isn't scary. While I wanted something a bit different from this book, I think there is an audience out there that will love it.

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