Friday, October 15, 2010

Review: The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts

Synopsis (via Goodreads):
In Heidi Betts's collection of holiday novellas, vampires turn to Angelina Bertolli—vampire matchmaker extraordinaire—to help them find that special someone to curl up with under the mistletoe...

"All I Vant For Christmas"
Connor loves trimming the Christmas tree, baking gingerbread cookies, and hanging the mistletoe. But his vampire siblings won't help. His friend Angelina sends party planner Jillian to the rescue. But when Jillian, who's mortal, discovers she's decking the halls for a family of vampires, will she run—or will Connor have a beautiful woman to share the holidays with?

"A Vampire in Her Stocking"
When Vivian learns that her secret crush Sean is terminally ill, she's heartbroken. Confiding in Angelina, Vivian refuses to turn Sean into a vampire. Deciding to play Santa, Angelina changes Sean and leaves him wrapped in a red bow on Vivian's doorstep...

"It's A Wonderful Bite"
Although Angelina is happy with her boyfriend Ian, she's ready for a commitment. After drinking eggnog and watching It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve, Angelina falls into a dream where she is mortal and Ian isn't interested in her. Talk about the nightmare before Christmas! But Santa must have checked his list twice because this Christmas Angelina's wishes are coming true... 
My Thoughts: I usually stay far away from short story collections because I nearly always end up disappointed, but this was a free Kindle download and I couldn't resist.  I've never read anything by this author before and I already had lowered expectations due to the whole short story thing, so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself genuinely enjoying the characters and the alternate world that Heidi Betts has created.

My favorite was the first story.  Jillian was genuinely clueless when it came to vampires and it made her sweetly endearing.  One thing that confused me in the second story is that Sean seemed to be taken by surprise that vampires existed at all, even though in Connor and Jillian's story vampires are more or less fully integrated into mainstream society.  Since all these stories take place in the same alterna-verse I had a couple of head shaking moments.

So there you have it.  Vampires, Christmas trees and some hot sex.  Isn't that what every girl wants for Christmas?

More books by Heidi Betts

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
 

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