Book 98, 2022
Holiday With A Vampire: Christmas Cravings / Fate Calls by Maureen Child
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
At work today I finished reading Holiday with a Vampire. It was a two-fer anthology, containing stories by Maureen Child and Caridad Pineiro.
The first story, by Child, was "Christmas Cravings". Vampire Grayson Stone has returned to what was his home when he was mortal, as he has done each Christmas since he was turned. He is surprised to find the home occupied. Tessa Franklin has been on the run for years from a stalker, but she's done running. She's putting down roots by buying a home and opening a Bed and Breakfast. When she finds an injured man in the snow, Tessa brings him in. She soon learns he's a vampire, and that he's brought danger to her doorstep.
This story was confusing, in that Grayson was refusing to align himself with either the vampire king or the 'other side' in a vamp war. As a result, the 'other side' wanted to kill him. Wha? Why not attempt to woo him to your side? It made no sense. Also, Grayson can't tell when another vampire is near, nor when Tessa's mortal stalker was around? Plus, the stalker ended up getting killed (of course). Um, what did they do next? Bury the body? Call the police? I don't know.
The second story was "Fate Calls" by Pineiro. This one was worse. It skipped around in time, back to when Hadrian was turned. He was an utter ass, hating on Connie Morales just because she was dressed as Santa and doing the bell ringing for the Salvation Army. He kidnapped her, tied her to the bed, fed from her without her consent, and enthralled her to moon over him. Who the hell considers this to be romance?! There was also explicit sex between Hadrian and other characters, which is a big no-no in a short romance. Even bigger in a novella. Connie, of course, is too vapid to stay away when she finally escapes captivity.
What an awful story to market as a holiday romance.
Favorite line: In her experience, promises weren't worth the breath used to make them.
The first story was average, but the second story disgusted me, frankly. It drags the rating as a whole down to a two. Blah.