Nook // // Candace Havens // Blog Tour

Vampire Nick Christos might have been born in the Middle Ages, but those days seem tame compared to the last eight years spent ruling the Supernatural Council. The only respite in his long days of governing is with his sweet neighbor Casey Meyers. Sure, he’s forced to take a cold shower after every encounter, but no way will he risk anything more with a human. Not with his blood thirsty ex on the prowl and out to ruin Nick’s life.

But when said crazy ex shows up at the ball and flies her freak flag high, Nick has more to worry about than keeping his hands off his neighbor. He’ll have to stay closer than ever if he hopes to keep her alive, but will she want to leave him forever when she learns the truth?

Dear Candace, I have one simple wish--please make a book about Linc and please find some way to have Kris Holden-Reid model as him for said book somehow someway in the promo material because Linc owned my heart. Love, Me.
 
At first glance Take it Like a Vamp doesn't come off as a paranormal.  If it wasn't for the fact the blurb mentions Nick being a vampire, a reader wouldn't know it until several pages in.  The alternating third person viewpoints between Nick and Casey, gives us a rounded idea of what they're both thinking in any situation, but Casey doesn't know he's one and Nick doesn't seem to think about the fact all that often.  So yeah, I was a bit puzzled for the first 5% or so.

Nick manages to avoid many of the pitfalls that vampires of his age and means seem to require in paranormals.  He's not particularly brooding, isn't given to being a jerk and he genuinely tries to take Casey's opinion into consideration (when it doesn't means she'll end up dead).  Casey for her part takes things pretty well.  She's pretty sensible, for all her self-confidence issues, when it comes to adapting to things and doesn't let Nick waylay her from her goal (which is for them to remain friends, to earn his love and sex--mostly in that order).

This is one of the more fun paranormal romances I've read in a while. The world building is a bit iffy and seemed more arbitrary then firmly set (the Council for one seemed to have some weird laws--if the Council leader had to be married after 200 years in office, because it promoted 'stability', what's to stop a megalomaniac from marrying to engender trust and then abuse his authority?) and it got annoying how often either Casey or Nick would mention how insecure Casey was.  Casey also lives something of a charmed life despite things.  Three guys hit on her, two more seriously then the third, and yet she is convinced she's barely passably pretty. 

The good news is that the humor and interesting characters made up for that. As mentioned above I love Linc, and hope there's a story for him. There wasn't a whole lot of her Aunt Teddie, but when she did pop up she was pretty fabulous. The easy humor between Nick and Casey was adorable, and it shows how comfortable they are despite the rapidly changing nature of their relationship.