About the Book
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Author:
- Jenna Levine
First Impressions: Cute As Hex
What’s Your Type?: Age Gap Romance, Forced Proximity, Roommates to Lovers, Slow Burn.
Meet Cute: Room For Rent
The Lean: Lust At First Sight
Dirty Talk: Say My Name, Say My Name
We Need to Talk: What Vampire?
Was It Good For You?: Stake Me
Content Warning: Blood bags and blood drinking because vampires. Also an arranged marriage.
First Impressions: Cute as Hex
The symmetry is working for me, and the depiction of the main characters is done well. They’re the cutest, and I ship them already.
What’s Your Type?
- Age gap romance
- Forced proximity
- Roommates to friends to lovers
- Slow burn, like really slow
- Insta lust/love
Dating Profile
Cassie Greenberg is a part-time artist, barista, and librarian. She’s trying to make art her thing, but our girl has bills to pay, and her art is unconventional, to put it nicely. Cassie is stubborn and self-loathing, making her a complicated character to root for. So, with a minimum-wage bank account and eviction looming, she has some decisions to make. Her rich and lovely friends try to help with money or a room, but she’s too proud to accept any charity; an endearing vice that leads her to our main undead man.
Frederick Fitzwilliam (what a mouthful: no pun intended) is a centuries-old vampire who grew up in some Regency era *waves hand dismissively*. All you need to know is that he’s old and doesn’t understand the internets, the TikToks, or modern anything. He’s sweet, endearing, and a looker to boot. He’s also in desperate need of someone to help him navigate the modern world, and although he has one friend and some family, he is set on using the random human who rents the room in his home.
Meet Cute:
Cassie is in desperate need of a place to live. Her BFF Sam finds her a room on Craigslist for a steal. $200 a month *jaw drop*. This ad seems like some trap or a misprint, but desperate times make for desperate people, and so Cassie reaches out to the owner of the ad.
After being in a coma for 100 years, Frederick needs a modern roommate to help him acclimate to the 21st century. His friend, Reginald, suggests getting a roommate to observe and help him navigate everything 2023. Reginald posts the ad, and Cassie applies. Et Voila, meet cute.
The Lean: Lust At First Sight
My previous comment about shipping the characters can be deleted from your brain, Men in Black style. The Vampire allure is strong, and of course, Cassie is pining for the hot, mannered, eloquent Roommate. You don’t get that from Frederick right away…until he sees her in a towel, and then his man urges take over. (I’m sorry; I will never say man urges again.) It’s all very surface level, and I grew bored with Cassie questioning her worth and Frederick babying her, telling her what a fantastic person she is.
Dirty Talk: Say My Name, Say My Name
The build-up to the sex scene was LONG, and I was tired of waiting. If you can get past Cassie and Frederick saying each other’s names constantly, along with the words “please” and “oh,” you shall be rewarded.
“His face was contorted into the same ecstatic, blissful expression he’d worn when he’d buried his face between my legs earlier that evening, and fuck if I couldn’t have spent the rest of my life looking at him when he was mindless with pleasure like this.”
Ms. Perky’s Prize for Purplest Prose
I enjoy Levine’s writing style. It was descriptive and flowed nicely. The book was a quick read for me, and although I wasn’t in love with the characters, Levine added in sweet moments and interactions with side characters that helped push the plot along while adding some fun for the reader. There were pop culture references that I appreciated (BUFFY). Mentioning Taylor Swift in your novels will always get you bonus points from me.
We Need to Talk: What Vampire?
The concept of this novel is excellent. I wish it had a dual perspective. You get some vague backstory on Frederick and a little insight into his day and thoughts, but I wanted to meet his family, hear about life in the 1700s, and learn about other vampire powers because his “power” is HELLA weird. It’s a delicate balance between giving enough information and background while highlighting the romance, and I feel like adding Frederick’s point of view would have enhanced the reading experience. I won’t spoil anything, but I had a lot of unanswered questions that would have been simple enough to address while adding depth to the characters and the story.
I was disappointed that the vampire detail seemed like an afterthought. I wanted more vampire lore and to be engaged in that world, not watch some hot dude (vampire or not) fumble around a main character and try to order a coffee with ancient coins. Okay, that part was funny; I just wish Levine had Cassie and Fredrick run around the city doing more fun things and experiencing the modern world like he wanted.
The ending and ultimate resolution to the main miscommunication/problem felt rushed. I hoped for a more complex solution or engagement between characters, but it was pretty cut and dry.
Was It Good For You?: Eviction Notice
I wanted to love this one; I honestly did. Vampires and romance?! What a dream. However, I would need help getting past the one-dimensional characters…and, frankly, that’s a lot more work than this book was putting in.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received this book from Berkley | Penguin Random House and have not received payment for this review, but I am now binge-watching Buffy. My Roommate is a Vampire is available now.
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I wanted to like this, but it was just too silly. (And took far too long to get to the good stuff.) Also, Buffy exists in this universe, yet Cassie somehow didn’t recognize all the signs when she was living with a vampire? Girl.