Book 100, 2023
Stakes & Stilettos by Michelle Rowen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was on a roll last night, and I also finished reading Stakes & Stilettos by Michelle Rowen. It's the 4th book in her "Immortality Bites" series of lite paranormal, featuring newly-turned vampire Sarah Dearly.
Sarah is still mourning the loss of her normal life, which makes her determined to attend her class reunion. There, she encounters a powerful witch, who curses Sarah for being a mean girl to her back in high school. Sarah is now a nightwalker--the worst kind of vampire there is. Her new incarnation makes her a danger to everyone, even those she loves. Sarah is determined to break the curse, no matter the cost. In the meantime, she has more than one encounter with the Red Devil, a legendary, masked vampire thought dead more than a century ago. Sarah's love interest, Thierry, thinks the Red Devil is an imposter, but Sarah isn't so sure. Nor is she sure what a future with Thierry may look like. He's still married to Veronique, and while Thierry would like to annul the marriage, Veronique is being stubborn. It's all enough to make a fledgling vampire cry.
While I enjoyed this book for the most part, it ended without any resolution. None whatsoever. Absolutely nothing was resolved. Douse me with lemon juice and call me bitter. At least I warmed up a bit to Thierry in this one, and I knew who the Red Devil was all along. Called it!
Favorite lines:
♦ They always talk about love at first sight. They never mention seething dislike at first sight.
♦ "We're still together. Even though everybody and their pet rabbit thinks we're doomed." // "Who thinks we're doomed?" // "Everybody. And their pet rabbit."
Once again, what would have been a rating of four stars is getting knocked down to three for that shoddy ending.