SubscribeI found this book in the Romance section, but decided to not hold that classification against it, and read it despite it being from my least favorite genre. I generally enjoy books that include characters who are vampires, and this one promised to include a vampire, so, I gave it a chance. Overall, I am glad that I picked this one up. I found parts of this book to be hysterically funny, and I liked the overall story line, despite it being the typical “girl meets guy, girl hates guy, girl falls in love with guy anyway” romance novel concept. MacAlister’s wonderful, dark, sarcastic, sense of humor made this book entertaining for me.
I thought when I first picked up the book that the main character would be a vampire. Instead, Allie Telford is a Summoner. The company she works for has sent her to London to hopefully go find some proof that ghosts exist. Any ghost will do, as it seem that Allie is about to lose her job due to the fact that so far, she hasn’t summoned even one ghost to work with. She’s smart, and jaded, (due to her past with an abusive husband), and, what with her psychic powers and her mismatched, freaky looking eyes, I found her to be very interesting.
Her best friend, who didn’t come with her on this trip, made her promise to go to a book signing that would take place in London while she is there. Allie has no interest in these vampire romance books, and knows nothing about them or the writer, (named Christian Dante, of all things!), but, for her friend, she reluctantly decides to go. The night before she gets there, she has this bizarre experience while investigation a haunted house, where she meets what what she is certain is the ghost of a man who is in pain. What really is going on is much more confusing that she first suspects. The man turns out to be the writer her friend was so interested in. And then things get really weird.
Turns out, he’s a vampire, (but prefers to be referred to as a “Dark One”), and he is convinced that Allie is his Beloved. Allie, of course, needs lots of convincing, especially since she finds him equally arrogant and attractive. So, part of this book is the simple story line of how these two unlikely partners fall in love. Only, it gets a bit more flavor than usual, because he’s a vampire and she’s a summoner. There are some love scenes, some of which are laced with humor as the two argue back and forth, and all of which are “romantic” without crossing the line into porn. Some parts of those scenes were just to saccharine for my tastes. This is why I don’t generally enjoy reading romance novels!
What really made me decide to finish reading this story is the wicked sense of humor that Allie has, and the odd little things that pop up. She manages to summon a ghost, but, it’s the ghost of a three legged cat, and it won’t sit still and let her gather data. All of the ghosts she interacts with are quirky, and full of very distinctive personalities. They provide comic relief in what could have turned out to be a much darker story without their distractions. What until you read what happens when she tries to summon a demon! You will never guess the form this demon decides to take, and the explanation of why that form was selected will make you laugh.
A big part of this book is about trust. Does Allie trust Christian enough to fall in love? Is Christian sure she is really his “Beloved”? What exactly does that mean, anyway? (Turns out there are specific steps to becoming a Dark One’s Beloved, and not just any woman will do). The two do team up to find out what is going on with a new psychic group that is fishing around for more recruits, and in doing so get involved in a huge mess that includes hell, mind control, and true love. If you enjoy the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series, you might just want to give this book a read!
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