Alice Shepard needs one thing: a date for her sister's wedding. And not just any date. A hunk who will make her fiancé rue the day he left her for her best friend. Her drop-dead gorgeous neighbor fits the bill—even if he is a bit quirky and never comes out during the day—and Alice has downed just enough appletinis to ask him. But she makes it quite clear that there will be no funny business.

Spending a week on a cruise ship full of humans while sleeping close to his sexy next-door neighbor sounds like a helluva bad idea to vampire Noah Thorpe. But his friends need time to get him out of a shotgun wedding—a vampire bonding that will tie his fate to a female vampire he's never met. And Alice's offer comes at just the right time.

What could possibly go wrong?

I enjoy Allee's other paranormal series, Files From the Otherworlder Enforcer Agency, so I was pleased to see this new series (which as far as I can tell does not tie into OEA).  With her engaging wit, surprising characters and a couple surprises Allee had me hooked on what would happen between Alice and Noah.

This is lighter in tone then OEA, which has horrific crimes at the center of each book, though it doesn't make the vampires any less broody.  Noah's 'brother' Alex is a good example of this, though I'll toss his 'father' Kanehito in the mix.  Noah himself does his darnedest to appear to be having fun during the cruise--despite the possibility of sun poisoning, the likelihood that he wouldn't be able to keep his hands off Alice and his impending nuptials.

The chemistry between them was hot, even as they both bumbled around trying to convince the other to do what they wanted and ignore what their bodies were telling them to do.  It led to some amusing scenes as Alice tosses herself at him left and right, and Noah is almost as shocked as a virginal debutante and equally as scared.

Alice's ex is a sleaze, though I wish we had more characterization from Kristen (his fiancé) and her mother--oh my shiny stars her mothers was HILARIOUS.  I can't fault a woman for teasing her daughter or making it obvious what she wants.  She was largely played for comedic value, but she had some very touching lines.

The ending was a bit rushed--both Alice and Noah brought up good points, but we don't see too much resolution beyond 'I screwed up, forgive me?'.  Which I was fine with; this is only the first book in the series (following the 'sons' of Kane[hito] as they find love I presume) so there's plenty of time to have mentions of what's going on with Noah and Alice.  I *do* hope we find out what was up with Alice's brother and his own fiancé.  I kind of felt like a big piece of the puzzle was missing, but really it just made me hope for the next book to give more clues.