Review: Take it Like a Vamp by Candace Havens

  Take it Like a Vamp by Candace Havens

  Publisher: Entangled Publishing

  Publication Date: July 21st 2012

  My rating: 3.5 Stars

 

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?

Take it Like a Vamp is a sweet romance with a little paranormal and spice mixed in.

Casey is not very lucky in the romance department.  Every man she’s dated in the last few months has turned out to be a loser.  What she’d really like is to find someone like her best friend and neighbor, Nick. He’s sweet, thoughtful, and gorgeous.  Only trouble is, she doesn’t think he’d be interested in her.  His normal date is the anorexic, tall, blond model type and Casey is anything but.  This doesn’t stop her from lusting after him in secret, though.  Even if he was interested, she worries about ruining her friendship with him, and she cherishes their closeness.

Little does Casey know that the reason Nick has been holding back is because he’s a vampire.  He’s drawn to her like no other woman, but he doesn’t dare cross the line with her and put her in danger.  This is what he once thought, but things change when Nick starts closing in on a deadline with his vampire council.  He has to marry soon or lose his seat as their leader.  The vampires have a lot of candidates to fill the spot, but Nick can’t think of anyone other than Casey as his wife.  He’s afraid that exposing his true nature will scare her off, and he’ll never see her again. 

When Nick goes against his better judgment in a moment of weakness and takes Casey out to a public event, he puts her in grave danger.  Now that she’s drawn attention from his murderous ex, Nick must take steps to protect Casey forever, but he wonders if Casey will go along once she finds out the truth. 

This was a fun and sexy story.  I loved the comical inner musings of Casey; she was so easy going and down to earth.  Her warm personality would draw anyone in.  The one thing I didn’t care for so much is her lack of self-confidence.  She never believed any compliments, even when she got sooo many!  I guess this happens often to women who are not the stereo-typical beauty that is commonly accepted.   Casey was not stick thin, but instead, very curvy which Nick, along with many other men, appreciated.  If your man loves you the way you are, accept it and own it!!

Nick was such a sweetheart and so very protective over Casey.  I fell for him instantly.  I loved how he wooed her, and resisted trying anything with her until she knew the full truth about him. 

Favorite spicy quote: "Well for the record," she said saucily. "I'm a fan of losing control. So feel free to do so whenever you like."  "Oh, I plan to," he said seriously. "I'm going to lose control over and over again with you."

One weakness in this story is the whole paranormal aspect.  I felt there was great potential, but the whole world and lore is only superficially touched on.  This wasn’t a huge issue for me, because as all my friends know, I’m all about the characters and the romance!  There is a possibility of this series continuing with a focus on some of the secondary characters, so maybe this world will be more developed.  I hope we get a story involving Linc and Casey’s assistant, Bennett, because there were some definite sparks between those two!

A copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you Candace!